USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Hampstead > A memorial of the town of Hampstead, New Hampshire : historic and genealogic sketches. Proceedings of the centennial celebration, July 4th, 1849. Proceedings of the 150th anniversary of the town's incorporation, July 4th, 1899, Volume I > Part 3
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" Voted in ye Negative."
" That whereas John Hogg refuses to pay his proportion of the rates towards the support of ye ministry and building ye meeting house under pretence of his being of a different persuasion from ye church and congregation of this Town," "Voted-to see if ye Town will endemtify and save harmless ye constable in making distress on ye s'd John Hogg and de- fend any reasonable charges."
Aug. 31st, 1752.
Voted, "That the Town will stand by ye constable and pay any of his reasonable charges in making distress on John Hogg for his rates, and that ye present selectmen shall be a Committee on his case."
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE TOWN OF HAMP- STEAD, STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
BY JOHN KELLY, A. M.
[As Published in the Collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society, in 1837.] -
Hampstead is a town made up of two segments, one from the town of Haverhill and the other from the town of Ames- bury, both in Massachusetts, it being cut off from those towns by running the State line in 1741, which threw this town into the State of New Hampshire. It is 30 miles west of Portsmouth, 30 south of Concord, 20 on a straight line from the seashore at Hampton Beach, and the same distance W. N. W. from Newbury Bar, at the mouth from Merrimack river.
It is on the most great road from Concord, N. H., to Salem, Mass., 30 miles from each. It is on the great northern road from Concord to Boston, and on the most direet road from Londonderry to Newburyport. It is a small town, in lat. 42º 53' and in long. 5° 48' E. from Washington, containing 8350 aeres of land, 400 of which are covered with water, and in 1830 there were 913 inhabitants. The roaring of the sea has been sometimes heard at this place. It is an elevated and hard tract of land, on account of which it was originally called Timber Lane, there being an abundance of oak tim- ber, considerable walnut, some chestnut, maple, elm, pine and cedar. The last named is in a swamp, which contains one of the most western sources of Exeter river. Most of the town, however, lying on the height of land between Pis- cataqua and Merrimack rivers, sends its waters S. W. from Wash pond and other parts, through Islandy pond and Spig-
(27)
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got river, whose outlet is at Methuen, Massachusetts, into Merrimack river. Some little part of the water, however, goes south, through Little river to Haverhill village, and some more to Amesbury Hills, east through Powow river from Angly pond, lying partly in Hampstead and partly in Sandown.
The town having been made up of fragments, is much out of square, having about thirty angles. And yet, although it is irregular and small in dimensions, a person passing through on the most direct road from Haverhill to Chester, would consider it a large and rich township; for he would travel almost six miles on a good road, bordered with well culti- vated fields and handsome buildings.
Hampstead is bounded N. by Sandown and Danville (for- merly Hawke), E. by the S. W. part of Kingston; S. E. by Plaistow ; S. by Atkinson, and W. by Derry (which was originally part of Londonderry).
It appears that the soil of this place was originally so stubborn that the Indians made no great account of it only for fishing and hunting grounds, and to pass and repass to more favorable places to be cultivated. And I recollect that when I was young an aged man told me that when he was a young man he had contemplated being one of the first set- tlers of Concord, about A. D., 1726; and as he passed through Hampstead and Chester he considered the land of no value for a settlement.
It is reported, however, that one or two Indians had a temporary abode near Angly pond, in the N. E. part of the town, where some of their implements, I believe, have been found.
Three white families, of the name of Ford, Heath and Emerson, moved into the place about the year 1728. Mr. Emerson came from Haverhill, and settled near a brook in the south part of the town. Some of his posterity remain here still, and are among the most respectable inhabitants.
The people soon had a small house in which they some-
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HAMPSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
times met for public worship ; and in about twenty years they so increased, mostly from Haverhill and Newbury, that some of the most sober individuals united together, as we suppose, in the year 1748, to raise and cover a meeting-house ; for the next year, on the 19th of January, 1749, the town was incorporated and named Hampstead, from a pleasant village in Middlesex County, in England, five miles north of Lon- don. (An old writer says that Hampstead, in England, is a very delightful village, situated on a small eminence four miles north of London.) This name was given to it by Gov. Benning Wentworth, who (it is said) reserved an island of three hundred acres, in the southwest part of the town, as his own farm. This island is now owned by Mr. Gilman, of Exeter.
The first annual meeting was called in March, the same year, to be in the new meeting house, by Daniel Little, Esq., under authority of the province. This being in 1749, leads us to conclude without any record, that the meeting house was raised in 1748.
The first inhabitants of this town were mostly like the soil- rough and hardy-and easily excited. But they were very much favored in the choice of a minister, Rev. Henry True, who came from Salisbury, Massachusetts. He was graduated in June, 1752, and continued in the ministry almost thirty years, till his death 22 May, 1782, in the 57th year of his age. He always maintained the character of a Good Man, agreeably to the text (Acts 11: 24) which Rev. Edward Bar- nard, of Haverhill, preached from at his ordination.
During the first half of the term of Mr. True's ministry, no clergyman was more highly esteemed, or better treated by the people in general than he was. He was permitted to go into the army as a chaplain in 1755, if not more, for his benefit ; and as his family increased the people added to his salary, a number of years, so that, for four years successively his an- nual salary amounted to five hundred and sixty-eight dollars a year; and taking twenty years together, the average salary
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was three hundred and sixty dollars; and the whole sum that the people gave him more than his stipulated salary was two thousand seven hundred and fifty-six dollars. This was when the daily wages of a selectman were only two shillings, or thirty-three cents per day.
Mr. True's original settlement and salary were the follow- ing :--
1. That he should have the parsonage lands, alotted by Haverhill, to Timberlane, which was sometimes called Haver- hill distriet, but now Hampstead, for the first settled minister.
2. That he should have £1000 old tenor-that is, about four hundred and fifty dollars, to assist him in building to be paid, half in one whole year after his ordination, and the other half within the next full year.
3. That he should have annually, after he should have a family, twenty cords of wood, delivered at his dwelling house.
4. That his salary the two first years, should be £450 old tenor; that is, about two hundred and three dollars and fifty cents a year; and afterwards it should be £500 old tenor- that is, about two hundred and twenty-five dollars annually during his ministry.
But after the people had added to his salary, in the course of twenty years, as has been already mentioned, $2,756, they cut it down to $200 a year, for several years towards the close of his ministry.
For after Mr. True had been settled about twenty years, Baptist ministers came into the place, and by the zealous and loud speaking, they produced a great commotion, but no re- vival, among the people, who were very sanguine and ver- satile in their dispositions.
This did not, however, unsettle the good minister, nor sully his character in the view of any man, but it reduced his salary, and reduced the number of his hearers, and greatly injured the character of the people ; for almost all the followers of the new teachers became downright infidels, and sowed the seed of
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HAMPSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
wickedness so much that another minister could not be settled for more than ten years after Mr. True's decease.
In the interval of ten years after the death of Mr. True, the infidels, of which this town, it is believed, had more than any other then known in the state, gave themselves up to reproach- ing the saints and blaspheming the name of their Saviour; of course the goodly number of sober people were in trouble, longing to have a minister to speak the word of truth, and to break the bread of life to them.
They sometimes had preaching, but they had not cour- age to give a man a call to settle among them as a minister until four years had passed away, and they then found it a fruitless attempt, unless they inserted in the warrant an ex- emption for all those who were freed from paying a minister tax.
This measure so quieted the minds of all opposers, that the friends of religion proceeded, without hindrance, to give a man a call, 11th of September, 1786; but he not being a suitable person to settle in the ministry, the call was disannulled. The next year, 11th October, 1787, another man had a call, but the stipulation of a salary was so small, and there were so many open infidels in the place, that he gave a negative answer. The next year, 2d June, 1788, another had a call with the promise of more salary ; but being invited away where he could have a still larger stipend, he left the people without giving any answer.
The next year, 19th of February, 1789, another man had a call, but the offer was so small, and the infidels were so many, that he did not consent to stay.
In the same year, 1st of December, 1789, another man had a call ; but soon after, both sides were willing to relinquish the proposal. All these ministers had trouble where they went. The people about this time appointed a saving committee to make such proposals that a minister should by no means have too much salary. This committee calculated to give a minister two cows and six sheep, so as to stock the par-
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sonage, and then to give him the use of the parsonage, and fifteen cords of wood annually, worth about one hundred dol- lars ; and also two hundred dollars in money, as an annual in- come, which would be as much as the people could afford. At the same time, they supposed further that this stipulation, amounting to about three hundred dollars, would enable the minister to live and lay by one hundred dollars a year, but I believe they would have been nearer the truth, in most cases, if they had calculated that the minister would need into debt one hundred dollars every year in order to live.
This saving plan, for three more years, paralyzed every ex- ertion and every hope of obtaining a minister. The people were discouraged, that they could not get a vote to raise one cent to his preaching.
But at last, early in the year 1792, there was a subscription set on foot ; and even some who were thought to be no friends to preaching put their names to the subscription for this object, perhaps thinking it disreputable for a town to have no preach- ing neither in winter nor in the summer. This measure opened the door, after some trial of others, for the present minister to come in, who was not much afraid of poverty, and less afraid of infidels. He was born in West Parish, in Amesbury, Massa- chusetts, 22d of February, 1763, graduated at Dartmouth College, 24th of August, 1791, and ordained at Hampstead 5th of December, 1792. The sermon was delivered by Moses Hemenway, D. D., of Wells, Maine, from Philippians III. 8: " I count all things as lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."
There was no dissenting vote nor voice against his settle- ment. He accepted of the terms proposed by the committee and voted by the town without making any amendments, ex- cept stating his expectation, but the parsonage buildings would be put and kept in repair, suitable for a family, and it would have been better than it is if he had not been disap- pointed in this particular. It ought to be noticed, however, in this connection, that some individuals have done well in
NELSON ORDWAY.
1
HENRY CHOATE ORDWAY AND DAUGHTER HELEN FRANCES.
REV. MYRON P. DICKEY.
METHODIST E. CHURCH, WEST HAMPSTEAD, AND GOOD TEMPLAR HIALL.
CALEB MOULTON.
THE OLD GEORGE HOMESTEAD.
NEW AND OLD SCHOOLHOUSES. DISTRICT NO. 4.
JOSEPH DANA BARTLEY.
RESIDENCE OF CHARLES OSGOOD.
WILLIAM C. LITTLE.
RUFUS C. SMITH.
HENRY PUTNAM.
OLIVER R. BRAGG.
-
JUHN D). ORDWAY & Co.
ORDWAY'S STORE, WEST HAMPSTEAD,
RESIDENCE OF JOHN D. ORDWAY.
CLARENCE E. ORDWAY.
-
THE NELSON ORDWAY HOMESTEAD.
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HAMPSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
contributing two hundred and three dollars to assist the min- ister to build for himself, which was effected some years since (1808).
The above terms of settlement, voted by the town of Hamp- stead, 23d October, 1792, was so far complied with that the selectmen assessed the salary, and the town collector gath- ered the taxes, and paid the money and the wood over to the minister thirty-nine years, and since that time, that is, since the fifth of March, 1832, the Congregational Society has attended to the concern.
In giving a more clear view of things in this place, it will be necessary to look back to the year 1788. Then the friends of religion obtained the consent of the town to sell the parsonage meadow, which was but little profit, and with that money with the addition of about as much more-paid, not by the town, but by those people who wanted a minister, and who were then called the minister people-they bought a small farm, of about thirty-five acres, with a house and barn upon it near the meeting-house.
No man paid anything towards this parsonage, as a towns- man, except one who gave the minister people four dollars to help them make up the other half, which the parsonage meadow money did not, and which the town would not pay for .- (See the first town book, pages 181-3.)
In January, 1793, soon after the settlement of the second and present minister (1835) the minister people, or in other words the congregational people, undertook to repair the meet- ing-house, which was in a wasting and miserable condition, and to build a steeple and porch by subscription-for the town would do no such thing. The congregational people pro- ceeded to make considerable repairs on the parsonage house, and to repair the meeting-house, to build a steeple and a porch, but as they found that some of the subscribers failed, and as there was no hope that the town would do anything, the se- lectmen for 1798, that is, five years after the steeple was built, added the arrearage due for the repairs of the meeting-house
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to the minister tax, which increased it one-third more than usual ; so that the minister people paid it and not the town. And I believe it was generally conceded that the meeting- house belonged to the congregational people, as they at first built it, had occupied it above eighty years, and had mostly kept it in repair forty years, and had added the steeple and the porch and most of the pews. In view of all these things anyone can see if the town of Hampstead vote away the meet- ing-house to other denominations, and to people out of town, and so turn the congregational church and society out of their own house, and out of their own pews, or subject them to hearken to what, if they were to be honest, they must consider as false doctrines, it is cruel oppression and bitter persecution.
In the course of these remarks, it may be proper to notice the circumstances of procuring the bell. Deacon Timothy Huse, of West Newbury, Massachusetts, owning, and living for a time on the Island formerly called the Governor's Island, surrounded by the Islandy pond in Hampstead, and being a particular friend of the minister, said to him one day in the year 1809, " You have a steeple here and need a bell, and if you will go to Brookfield, to Mr. George Holbrook, and speak for a bell I will pay for it." Agreeably to Deacon Huse's or- der the minister went to Brookfield, Mass. The bell was pro- cured and brought to the ground in Hampstead, before any- one in Hampstead knew anything of it, except two other men whom the minister engaged to make a frame for the bell, to be ready when it should come. It weighed 1,212} pounds, and cost $600. It was given especially for the use of the congre- gational church and society, and it was raised into its place 19 December, 1809.
But with a view to conciliate all parties, and to secure the bell in a legal manner, it was agreed between the donor and the minister that the bell should be deeded to the town for their use in civil matters and on funeral occasions, and in par- ticular, for the use and benefit of the congregational church and society forever, not to be obstructed by any denomina-
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HAMPSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
tion whatever. This was the understanding between the donor and receiver when the bell was given, no one imagining that the people of Hampstead would ever be so wicked as to appropriate the use of the bell to any other denomination, when the congregational people had built the steeple and pro- cured the bell, and had done almost everything at their own cost forty years to keep the meeting-house from falling into the room.
Having now given a general view of the situation, quality of the soil, state of Society and improvements, for 107 years in the town of Hampstead, I shall notice a number of partic- ulars."
(Then followed a sketch of the principal men of the times, as mentioned in Judge Smith's address in 1849 practically the same, namely :- Richard Hazzen, Daniel Little Esq., Gen. Jacob Bayley, Capt. John Hazen, Hon. Charles Johnston, Hon. John Calfe, and Dr. Jabez True.)
" John True Esq., fourth son of Rev. Henry True, was born 26th December, 1761, and died 3d December, 1824. aged almost sixty-three. He was one of the Deacons of the church, and was endued with more than ordinary powers of mind. He directed in his will that two thousand dollars should be for the use of the congregational church and so- ciety of Hampstead, for the support of an orthodox minister. He was early employed as a town clerk, selectman, and a rep- resentative to the State Legislature. When he was about fifty years old, he became much devoted to the cause of Christ. At his death, he was treasurer of the Ministers' Widows Charitable fund.
The church in this place was organized 3d of June, 1752, consisting of thirty-one males and thirty-seven females, fif- teen of them were from the first church in Haverhill, Mass- achusetts. This church has been favored with the ministra- tions of two pastors, who in eighty-three years have done sev- enty-two years of labor-the first, thirty years, and the sec- ond forty-two years. The first had for twenty years, nearly
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as much to support him, according to the stipulation of arti- cles, as the second has had in forty years. This church has also had, in the same term of eighty-three years, eleven Dea- cons, three of whom are yet alive. Their names are, first Daniel Little ; Peter Emerson ; third Benjamin Kimball ; fourth John Calfe; fifth Timothy Goodwin; sixth Samuel Currier ; seventh Moses Little; eighth Job Kent; ninth John True ; tenth John Emerson ; eleventh Jonathan Kent. Besides these principal men there have been selectmen, Justices, and Rep- resentatives to the General Court : but, as in these later days, there is not so much discrimination of character, as in some other ages, it is not of much importance to know the name of a person who is up on a high place, where he is in danger of falling down, in proportion to his elevation. I would just mention, however, that this town, which never has sustained a lawyer, has one now residing in the place, who appears to be a gentleman of promise. His name is Isaiah P. Moody, from Maine. He was born in York, in the County of York 3d of December, 1804, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1837.
The physicians who have resided in this place were the following :- John Bond, his son John Bond Jr., Samuel Flagg, James Knight, Joshua Sawyer, Isaac Tewksbury. None of these were favored with a liberal education, or honored with a medical degree from any of our literary institutions ; two or three others have had a transient residence here, but they are all gone now, except Drs. Knight and Tewksbury.
Dr. Bond Senior, was an early member of the New Hamp- shire Medical Society, and was a very respectable and devout man; and though feeble in health for many years, he lived to be eighty-six years old, and died 4th of January, 1804, in a happy frame of mind.
II. DIFFICULTIES.
The religious part of the community in this town has been subjected to many troubles, as has been noticed. I shall now
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HAMPSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
speak of those which have had a bearing on the whole com- munity.
In the year 1735 was the great mortality, by the malignant sore throat, which began in Kingston, and extended through a great part of New England, and continued more or less for fifteen years, taking away some whole families of children ; but I cannot learn that this town suffered much from the disease.
In the year 1737, in the latter part of the winter, hay was so scarce that many cattle died, and many families that same year suffered extremely for the want of bread.
In 1738, there was a remarkable worm, which ate the leaves from the oak trees, so as to make the forests appear in the summer naked as it does in the winter, They were larger than the caterpillar, wooly under the belly, but smooth on the back, with a line of black from end to end, and white specks in the black streak. Some called it the Palmer worm.
In the year 1741, the winter was colder than almost any man ever knew before in New England. The ice in the most rapid part of the Merrimack river, little above Newburyport, was, on the 28th of February, 1741, two feet and a half thick.
In 1749, the year this town was incorporated, there was the greatest drouth there was ever known in this land; a man told me his father had three loads and a half of hay on two acres, in 1748, but in 1749 he had only one load from the two acres added to three more acres ; that is, five acres of good land, newly laid down, produced but one small load of hay. The same man writes, " I mowed several days, and could not cut two hundred a day." Some people sent to Virginia for hay, and many cut down trees for their cattle to browse. It was very favorable, that the corn yielded well that year, by means of the later rains. The drouth which occurred in 1761, was very severe.
Another very serious difficulty befell the town of Hamp- stead, which continued six years before it was completely set- tled. It has been already stated, that a part of the town was
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MEMORIAL OF THE TOWN OF
claimed by Amesbury, before the town line was fixed in 1741 ; and it was called Amesbury Peak, as the other larger part of the town was called Haverhill District, the whole having been Timber Lane at first.
Now it is certain that when the state line was settled, all that is now called Hampstead would fall into New Hamp- shire ; and Kingston comprehended all that is now Kingston, East Kingston, Damville, (formerly called Hawke) and San- down, and being incorporated fifty-five years before Hamp- stead, it would also embrace the easterly part of Hampstead, which was called Amesbury Peak ; and accordingly we find, that, though Kingston had slept fifty-five years, or at least, eleven years from the incorporation of Hampstead, yet, at last they waked up, and fell upon Hampstead, with redoubled force, of writ after writ, to recover their lost territory in 1760.
But it is generally understood that the dispute was set- tled by Hampstead's paying £1000, old tenor, to Kingston and the costs and by a grant of Unity, because the granting of it made peace between Hampstead and Kingston. But after all, it is difficult to say whether Hampstead paid any- thing to Kingston, but the cost of suing, because the ac- counts of the town back are very inaccurate.
There is a vote of £1000, old tenor, recorded, which Hamp- stead offered to give Kingston, and another to give Kingston £3000, and after that there is something recorded about being released from paying the £3000, which was once offered as a settlement. But the settlement in any case was effected in 1766. And soon after this, came on ecclesiastical, or rather irreligious difficulties, as has already been mentioned, and in 1775 came on the Revolutionary war with Great Brit- ain, which tried men's souls throughout the land.
III. IMPROVEMENTS.
As this is an age of enterprise and improvement, it would be expected, that even in the history of a small town, some- thing would be said on this subject. And I would say that
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HAMPSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
whoever recollects the aspects of the roads, the fields and the buildings, as they were forty years ago, and look on them now, and consider what vast labor and cost of a hale and en- terprising people, have been expended, he would be surprised at the change.
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