USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Sullivan > A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I > Part 11
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SETTLEMENT AND FIRST SETTLERS.
Grindall Keith place, which Dexter Spaulding, F. A. Wilson and others have since used for a pasture. It is quite possible that he lived here a year or two, but he was not a signer of the petition for the incorporation of Sullivan, hence, if he settled there, his stay was brief. The place passed into the possession of Grindall Keith. A man named William Burnham was living, a short time, both before and after Sullivan was chartered, on the lot directly east of where Samuel Seward settled. Mr. Burnham had a child born there. He did not own the lot. It was purchased by Archelaus Putnam of Wilton, and passed into the possession of Stephen Burnham of Greenfield. The latter two men were both non-residents. Stephen sold the place, partly to Samuel Seward, and partly to Ebenezer Kendall. The Keith place was first settled by Ezra Osgood, who came from Lancaster, Mass. He was the father of the late James W. Osgood. He purchased it, Apr. 24, 1784. Elijah Carter, also of Lancaster, Mass., purchased it of Osgood, on the day after Sullivan's incorporation. They had not heard of that important event, for they described the place as in Stoddard. Carter had been living in the vicinity for a short time, and signed the peti- tion for the new town. His brother . Oliver Carter, on Jan. 21, 1783, had purchased the place where Abijah Hastings died. Oliver was not then married, and his family never lived here. It is likely that Elijah lived, at first, in a house which Oliver built on his place. Oliver was in town some and probably lived in the family of Elijah. Samuel Wyman of Pepperell, Mass., purchased the lot north-east of the place where Asa Ellis lived, immediately east of the old Wilder farm, Oct. 5, 1785. He lived here a few years. Only five days before Sullivan was char- tered, Michael Sartwell bought the place where Ebenezer Ken- dall and Harrison Rugg afterwards lived. He was a tailor and came from Wilton. It is difficult to believe that he could have carried on a very extensive business, at his trade, in that place, and at that time. After living a year in Gilsum, Sartwell be- came the first occupant of the place where Samuel S. White and his ancestors have lived since 1793, considerably more than a century, the longest that any Sullivan farm has remained in the same family, with no change of surname. This includes all settlers upon the Stoddard section of the town, before the charter.
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
Packersfield was another Masonian town and was granted by the Proprietors, May 10, 1752, the same day as Monadnock No. 7 (later Stoddard). This grant was called Monadnock No. 6. The grant was renewed, Sept. 30, 1767, and again, Feb. 23, 1774. On the day preceding the last date, Feb. 22, 1774, the legislature of New Hampshire incorporated the township by the name of Packersfield, in honor of Thomas Packer, Esq., Sheriff of New Hampshire, and a leading man of Portsmouth, to whom many of the original shares were granted. He purchased and, at one time, owned the lots which include the entire portion of that part of Packersfield which was taken into Sullivan. The name Packersfield was changed to Nelson, June 14, 1814, to take effect on the first day of October in that year. Besides the corner lost to Sullivan, Sept. 27, 1787, Packersfield lost land when Roxbury was made a town, Dec. 9, 1812, and still another small piece was annexed to Roxbury, June 15, 1820. The Tarbox farm was taken from Stoddard and added to Nelson, June 25, 1835. Nelson also lost a very valuable part of the town when Harrisville was incorporated, July 2, 1870. The part of Packers- field included in Sullivan covers the whole of District No. I of the latter town, and all of No. 3 south of the Dunn and old Wilder farms, and some of No. 2. In all that section there had not been a single settlement when Sullivan was chartered.
We have now named all the settlers of what is Sullivan who came previous to the incorporation of the town. We have omitted no name known to us and have given the approximate dates of set- tlements and the exact dates of purchases, so far as ascertained. Thirty-four families were established in homes of their own. Taking the modern districts as a guide, imagining their bound- aries to have been then as they are now, one would have found in No. I no inhabitant. In No. 2 there would have been seven families, those of James Rowe, Joseph Ellis, Jr. (with whom his mother and her family lived), John Rowe (who married the widow of William Comstock), Jonathan Baker, Thomas Morse, Lockhart Willard, and James Locke ( with whom James Locke, Jr., also lived.) In No. 3 were ten families, those of Jonathan Burnham, Samuel Wyman, Nathan Bolster, Grindall Keith, Samuel Seward, William Burnham, Ezra Osgood, Josiah Seward, Elijah Carter (with whom his unmarried brother, Oliver,
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SETTLEMENT AND FIRST SETTLERS.
boarded), and Michael Sartwell. In No. 4 were but four fam- ilies, those of Eliakim Nims, Zadok Nims, Roswell Hubbard, and Erastus Hubbard. In No. 5 were the five families of John Chapman, Benjamin Chapman, William Corey (his brothers having, at this time, moved their house over the line into Gilsum), Ebenezer Burditt, and Bezaleel Mack. In No. 6 were eight families, those of Joshua Osgood ( who belonged to the Keene section, but was taken into the sixth district), Jesse Wheeler, Timothy Dewey, Jonathan Heaton, Timothy Dimick (with whom his father lived), John Dimick, Jr., Benjamin Ellis, and " Dr." Joseph P. Peters.
It is probable that most of these families were living in log houses, many of which did not stand on the exact sites of the houses which were later built upon the same farms. They endured all of the hardships and trials incidental to a new settlement in a wilderness. There is no evidence that they endured any trials which would have been unusual under the circumstances. They were not molested by Indians and there are no traditions of any severe encounters with wild beasts. Bears were the only wild animals which gave them much serious concern. There is one interesting and authentic account of a quite wonderful adventure with one of these formidable beasts, in which Joshua Osgood played a prominent part. Mr. Hay- ward thus tells the story, in his History of Gilsum (page 156) : " Early in June, 1777, Eleazer Wilcox, Senior, had a noted fight with a bear. The story is told with many variations, and the exact truth is difficult to get at. The locality had been claimed for Keene, but the best authority asserts that it was very near the line in Gilsum, east of Lansing Wilder's meadow. Mr. Wilcox had previously wounded the bear, and sent for Joshua Osgood of Sullivan [then Gilsum ] to come and help him. After hunting a good while, they were separated some thirty or forty rods, when the bear disturbed by the dog, suddenly came at Mr. Wilcox from behind the root of a tree. His gun missed fire, and the bear rising on her hind legs struck it with such force as to bend back the guard and make a heavy dent, still to be seen in the stock [which also shows six marks of the bear's teeth near the breech, the gun being in the possession of the family of the late Edwin C. Ware, formerly of Milford, a descendant of Mr.
6
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
Wilcox]. The man and bear then clinched. Mr. Wilcox was a large, powerful man, noted for his strength in wrestling. He seized the bear's tongue and held on with all his might. The dog kept attacking the bear from behind, and his barking and the shouts of Mr. Wilcox soon brought Mr. Osgood. He feared to fire at first, lest he should kill the man, but seeing that the bear would soon dispatch him, if let alone, he watched his chance and fired. The bear dropped her hold and ran away. She was found dead the next day near a little pool of water. Mr. Osgood went immediately for assistance and they carried Mr. Wilcox home on a litter of boughs. He had forty-two wounds on him, some say sixty. It was a wonder that he recovered. He said his worst hurt was in his back, by struggling to hold up against the bear, who, with her paws on his shoulders, was trying to push him over backwards. He was never as well as before, and occasionally had ill turns, that he called his ' bear fits' ".
The Bearden, on the west side of the mountain of that name, was appropriately named, for it is known to have been a resort for bears. Hayward's History of Gilsum (page 155) names a specific instance when one was seen there. When pro- visions grew scarce our forefathers resorted to hunting and fishing to supply the deficiency. A deer was found now and then, whose flesh was always most acceptable. Their usual meat consisted very largely of salted pork, with chickens, fish, and game for luxuries. They could not afford much beef, for cows and calves and oxen were very precious in those days. Mutton was scarce. Until considerable land had been cleared, they did not have pasturage for more stock than their domestic service absolutely required. Wheat flour was a rarity. Rye and Indian bread was the staple article of diet. Bean porridge, hominy, Johnny-cake, Indian pudding, bread and milk, berry pies in their season with rye pie-crust, together with potatoes, completed their articles of diet. A short-cake was an occasional dainty, as was also tea at first. Coffee was not used.
The women of the settlement carded wool, and spun and wove, as well as cut and made, the garments for the men and boys. They were their own dressmakers and milliners, as a rule. They spun the flax on their little flax wheels, and wove their table linen, towels, and bed linen. They nursed the sick,
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SETTLEMENT AND FIRST SETTLERS.
and often aided their husbands out of doors, especially in the care of the garden. The men felled the heavy trees in the forests, cleared the land, made charcoal, brought the soil into a tillable condition, sowed and planted crops, harvested the same, laid stone wall, cleared the rocks from their mowing lands, cut wood in winter for the great fire places, made maple sugar in the spring, using hollowed logs for sap troughs, and gathering the sap in buckets which they carried upon the two arms of a yoke placed about the neck upon the shoulders. At first they got little grass from their cultivated patches and had to utilize for hay the wild grasses of the swamps and meadows about ponds and along streams. They made the larger part of the clumsy tools which served their purposes in those primitive times. The modern machinery of the farm was totally unknown to them. They had to purchase usually only the iron portions of their tools. Indeed very many of the early settlers were practical blacksmiths and made their own iron tools. Even more were practical carpenters, or housewrights, as they called themselves. When their orchards had begun to bear, many of the settlers made their own cider. It is really interesting to note how many different things a farmer of that day could do and do well. Such versatility of mechanical talent is now seldom seen. In these modern days of specializing work, where each man learns to do only one thing, and does not always learn that trade well, it is worth observing how many industrial accom- plishments the men and women of former days possessed.
The hard routine of daily life did not extinguish the possi- bility of social amenities. Apple bees, huskings, quiltings, dona- tion parties and the hauling of the minister's wood (after they had one), and occasional visits of courtesy helped to soften the asperity of life in a new settlement where privations were so many and comforts so few. Weddings were very unconven- tional. The bride and groom usually went to the house of a clergyman or justice of the peace, where a brief ceremony started them upon their matrimonial career. The first bride of the settlement was Miss Mary Ellis, daughter of Joseph Ellis, Sr., who was married to James Sawyer, then living in what is still Gilsum, Nov. 13, 1777. The ceremony was performed in Swanzey by Rev. Edward Goddard. The first bridegroom was
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
Eliakim Nims, who was married in Keene, Feb. 19, 1778, by Rev. Aaron Hall, to Abigail Briggs of Keene. The first mar- riage solemnized in the settlement, being also the first in the new town of Sullivan, was that of Simeon Ellis and Lydia Com- stock, who were married by Roswell Hubbard, Esq., Dec. 8, 1788. It is a unique fact that the first birth (of a living child), the first death, and the first wedding upon the soil of what is now Sullivan should have been in the same family. It seems proper to note in connection with this statement another wed- ding, which was probably wholly unique, that of Fred A. Davis to Althea S. Barrett, Nov. 23, 1897, at the house of Hon. D. W. Rugg, at East Sullivan, when the bride and the groom, as well as the town clerk who issued the license and the clergyman who officiated (Arthur H. Rugg and Rev. Herbert Walker), all resided, for the time being, under one roof.
A funeral in those days, though simple in the extreme as compared with the elaborate arrangements for such an occasion in our day, was a sincere and heartfelt demonstration of sym- pathy and friendship on the part of all in the settlement. The expenses were the smallest possible. A dollar and a half for a coffin and a dollar for digging a grave are items mentioned in the settlement of an estate as late as 1815. Probably in the early days of the settlement the neighbors dug the graves as acts of friendship, and even the coffins were sometimes made without charge. The neighbors also furnished food for the funeral dinner and generally did all the work for the family from the time of the death until after the burial. Every neighbor, and usually everybody in the settlement, was present at the obsequies. A more complete account of the funerals of a later date will be given in a subsequent chapter.
The early settlers had occasional preaching, but not until after the incorporation of the town. Their first meetings, con- ducted by the favor of visiting ministers, were held in barns. Their first roads were bridle paths over which rude wheeled vehicles and ox-carts were taken with difficulty. People travelled horseback, the women sometimes riding on separate horses, but more frequently upon pillions, behind the saddles upon which the men were riding.
Outside political events disturbed these earliest settlers but -
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SETTLEMENT AND FIRST SETTLERS.
little. The last of the colonial wars, known as the French and Indian War, had come to an end before any settler arrived. That war resulted in two most important historical finalities. It decided once and forever that the dominance in North America, north of Mexico, would be lodged in persons of English descent, or at least using the English language, whose customs, principles of civilization, and modes of government would mould the character of the institutions of this continent. It also finally settled the vexatious religious problem. Under French influence, if that nation had prevailed in the struggle, the Roman Catholic church would have dominated America. Any dominating church, no matter whether Roman Catholic or any other, is an evil. This war resulted in the nominal suprem- acy of Protestantism. But the Protestants, actuated by good sense, have shown the most commendable toleration. They have often, in sporadic cases, shown bigotry and intolerance, but the general course of Protestant history in America, north of Mexico, has been to tolerate, yea even to welcome hospitably, persons of all sects and all religions. All that is demanded is good and pure character. Unless a sect should advocate immor- ality under the guise of religion, such as the polygamy of the Mormon church for example, it would never be disturbed in its operations.
The contest about the " New Hampshire Grants " probably did not raise much of a breeze among our forefathers in the early settlement. Both New York and New Hampshire claimed the soil of what is now Vermont, owing to indefiniteness in the wording of early province charters, with respect to their bound- ary lines. The royal government of New Hampshire granted many towns west of the Connecticut. Gov. Wentworth granted as many as 125 such towns. When the settlers in those grants, appropriately called the New Hampshire grants, found them- selves outside of all provinces, they very naturally set up a government of their own. Eventually, certain people in the towns of the present New Hampshire, east of the Connecticut, thinking that the latter state ought properly to be bounded on the west by the Patent Line, proposed to the people dwelling west of that river that the towns upon both sides form a new state. Such a state was finally formed and named Vermont,
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
and the towns south of the north line of Claremont and between the Connecticut and the Patent Line were made a county called Washington County. Of course, New Hampshire resisted this action and successfully. The towns east of the river were finally kept in New Hampshire. Those west of the river, did, at last, succeed in being admitted to the union as one of the United States by the name of Vermont. We have only outlined the controversy. The western side of Sullivan would have theoreti- cally been included in this Washington County of the first-made Vermont. A session of the assembly of that state was actually held at Charlestown, beginning Oct. 1I, 1781. Ebenezer Dewey was the representative from Gilsum, which then included a part of what is now Sullivan. He was the father of Timothy Dewey, then living where M. J. Barrett lives. Our ancestors, on the edge of the disputed territory, had only this shadowy connection with the struggle, which we shall develop no further.
Our soil had been settled before the Revolution began. Nearly every one of our earliest settlers had seen service in that memorable war for independence. Of the few who were actu- ally living within our limits when the struggle began a good proportion left their new abodes to help on the cause. Two of them, Asahel Nims, killed at Bunker Hill, and young Josiah Comstock, who lost his life in the service also, never returned to the homes which they left. A more complete account of these soldiers of the Revolution is given in the chapter on MILITARY HISTORY, where it properly belongs.
The 34 families who had settled upon our soil at the time of the incorporation contained about 162 inhabitants. Of these about 43 were men of voting age.
II. THE INCORPORATION.
A church and church attendance were happily regarded as things essential by the early settlers of New England. We recently heard a Sullivan person say, " We really have nobody to go to church anyway." The fact is that there are persons enough in Sullivan today to pack the meeting-house every Sun- day, if the same idea of the need of church-going possessed the present inhabitants which characterized our forefathers. To them it was regarded as a necessity, as much so as eating and sleeping. Town meetings were nearly as highly valued. They
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THE INCORPORATION.
delighted to argue in such municipal parliaments. Hence new settlers always thought about their nearness to the " middle of the town," where the plain building which served for town meetings and religious meetings was located as nearly as pos- sible, even if it were upon a lofty hill, as was often the case.
The settlers in the corners of Gilsum, Keene, and Stoddard before mentioned (there being none in the Packersfield corner ), feeling the necessity for such privileges as we have just men- tioned, and realizing their great distance from the centres of their respective towns, addressed the following petition to the General Court :
Humbly shew your Petitioners, The Subscribers, Inhabitants of the Towns of Keene, Packersfield, Gilsom, and Stoddard. That they live remote from the centre of their respective Towns and by reason of distance and bad roads are deprived of their town privileges-That they cannot enjoy these conveniences of public worship-That some of their duties as members of their several towns are by their situation very burdensom .- That if they might be incorporated into a separate and distinct township it would be highly advantageous to them, and no detriment to the towns to which they now belong-That they are encour- aged to hope that no objections will be made to their being thus incorported unless by the town of Gilsom, and that these objections may be easily obviated.
The prayer of this their humble Petition therefore is-That the tract of land marked out upon the plan herewith exhibited may be set off from the several Towns aforesaid into a distinct Township by the name of orringe and the Inhabitants of it incorporated as aforesaid-and Your Petitioners as in duty Bound shall ever pray.
August 22ª 1786
Roswell Hubbard
Zadock Nims
Erastus Hubbard
Joshua Osgood
Inhabitants of Keene
Grindall Keith
Oliver Carter
Inhabitants of Packersfield
[Jonathan] Burnham
Josiah Seward
Ezra Osgood
Nathan Bolster
William Burnham
Samuel Seward
Samuel Wyman
Elijah Carter Inhabitants of Stoddard
James Row
John Chapman
Timothy Dewey
Timothy Dimmock
Benjamin Chapman
Thos Morse
James Pratt
Benja Ellis
Jesse Wheeler
Joseph Ellis
Simeon Ellis
Lockhart Willard
William Cory
Nathan Ellis
Jonathan Baker
John Dimick
Samuel Cory Joshua Cory Jonathan Heaton
John Chapman Jun" James Locke Jun™ James Locke
Ebenezer Birdit
John Row
Inhabitants of Gilsom
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
There is obviously a bit of trickery in this petition. It assumes to be a petition of people living in all of the four towns named, including Packersfield, and two of the signers are repre- sented as living in Packersfield. As a fact (as the document next quoted will show) not a person was yet living in that part of Packersfield which became Sullivan. G. Keith and O. Carter were both living in the Stoddard corner. This deception was evidently practised to make it appear that all four of the towns were practically in favor of the new town. There is also a bit of diplomacy in their saying that they hoped for no objections unless from Gilsum. As a fact, Gilsum offered no objections, so far as known, but Packersfield did send a formal remon- strance, which they very likely feared, although, as the remon- strance shows, the friends of the movement had managed to get Packersfield, at a town meeting, to vote in favor of the proposi- tion. It will be observed that the petitioners requested that the new town be called Orange (orringe), but politicians then, as now, loved to perpetuate their names, and our town perpet- uates the name of the state's chief magistrate of that time.
The remonstrance of Packersfield was as follows :
To the Honourable the Senate and House of Representatives for the State of New Hampshire in General Court Conveand At Portsmouth December A. D. 1786
The petition in behalf of the Town of Packersfield Humbly Sheweth that your petitioners have ben Servd With a Copy of a petition and order of Court thereon signed by a number of the Inhabitants of the Towns of Gilsom Stoddard & keen Setting forth in Sd petition that the Situation of a number of the Inhab- itants of the Towns aforesaid Togather with Part of the Inhabitants of the Town of Packersfeild is such that they Cannot be accomedated with Privilege Equal to the other Inhabitants of their respective Towns, one Part of which Ascertion your Petitioners absolutely Deny Because there is not one Inhabitant on the Land in packersfeild Praid for in Said Petition-
Althougheeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Packerfield in the month of March A. D. 1784 There was a Petition Signd by a Number of the Inhabitants of the Towns of Gilsom Stoddard and Keen Preferd in Said meeting praying that the Town of Packerfeild would Vote off a Certain part of Packer- feild to be Erected into a Town Sd part to Contain Two Miles East and west and Two miles and a half North and South which would Contain one Eighth Part of Said Packerfeild and from the reasons offered at that Time and through inadvertency of the People the prayer of Said Petition was granted upon Con- ditions that all the respective Towns Concernd ware mutually agreed thereto (Sence Which Period) not supposing that the petitioners referd to would obtain
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THE INCORPORATION.
their request before the general Assembly) have proceeded to agree upon a Center for Erecting a meeting House and have made provision for the Same therefore if the Prayer to the Inhabitants of the town of Gilsom and others Preferd to the General Court Should be Granted it will be a means of removing the Present Center and frustrate our Design in Building a House for Public Worship and thro the Town into the uttermost Confusion imaginable and as we look upon your Honours as Guardians of the State your Petitioners flatter themselves that your honours in your known Wisdom Will not Erect a New Town on the ruins of older ones : therefore your Petitioners pray that the prayer of the petition referd to may not be granted.
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