USA > New Hampshire > Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: history of New Hampshire > Part 12
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This was probably a move for color of title and possession for some of the parties. There was a compromise made by admitting certain persons of the Massachusetts party, and also of Exeter, and a grant was obtained Jan. 4, 1720; but the char- ter of the town was dated May 8, 1722. The governor and lieutenant-governor had each a farm of 500 acres, and a home lot, by a vote of the society ; and the charter provided that the first settled minister should have a right, also one for a parson- age, and one for a school. The boundaries commenced at the south-east corner, at the supposed intersection of Haverhill and Kingston lines. In 1674, Haverhill lines were run from Holt's Rocks (a little east of the Rock bridge), north-west ; and from Merrimack river due north, until it cut the first line.
At this spot was " erected a great pillar of stones," which two old men, more than sixty years ago, told Benjamin Chase they had seen in Chester South Woods. When the Province line was settled in 1741, Daniel McDuffee and Hugh McDuffee, who lived near Kimball's corner in Derry, were cut off from Haverhill.
When the town was laid out into lots, there were 1 17 grantees ; and each member of the council had a right. The home lots of 20 acres, from the corner by Kingston, and the old Haver-
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hill line, to the head of Chester street, and a ten rod way cross- ing at right angles where the Centre now is, on which the first meeting-house was built, were laid out in 1719, before any grant was made. In 1724, an additional lot of fifty acres was laid out to each grantee. The beavers had built dams on the stream, which killed the growth, and when the beavers were killed and the dams went down, the grass came in, and in 1728 a meadow lot was laid out to each right. There is a stream, which heads near the Congregational church in Auburn, extending into Londonderry, with meadows, which was called the "Long Meadows"; and what is now Auburn was the " Long Meadows." In 1728, the first part of the second division of 100 acres, called the " Old Hundreds," which is the present town of Raymond ; in 1736 the second part of the second division of 100 acres ; in 1739 the third division of 80 acres, all in Candia; in 1745 the fourth division of 60 acres ; and in 1752 the fifth division of 40 acres, all in Hooksett, were laid out. Maps of these divisions were made at the time, and have been preserved by copying, and all deeds gave the number and division of the lot, so that one can locate every settler whose deed is on record. The first settler was Samuel Ingalls, born in Andover, 1683, and moved to Haverhill, and had six children before coming to Chester ; and his daughter Meheta- ble, born 1723, was the first child born in Chester. She married Samuel Moore, who afterwards lived at Candia corner. She died in 1818. There is a tradition that he came to Chester in 1720. In March, 1722, Samuel Ingalls of Winfield, otherwise Cheshire, sold a right, reserving the home lot, number 64, "on which I live." He built the first farmhouse about 1732 ; held the office of moderator, selectman and town clerk. In 1731, Samuel Ingalls is styled captain on the record and Ebenezer Dearborn, lieutenant, and Jacob Sargent, ensign, which was the first military organization. January, 1720, he and three others had land and a privilege granted to build a saw-mill, and in 1730 John Aiken had a grant of land to build a grist-mill.
Londonderry was granted to settlers, already on the ground, but there were but six of the original grantees of Chester who
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ever lived here, except the Rev. Moses Hale, the first minister who settled on the minister's lot. The first settlement was at Walnut Hill, near the south-east corner, but settlers soon came in from different parts and settled in different places. The charter provided that every proprietor should build a house and settle a family in three years, and break up and plant three acres in four years, and a meeting-house should be built in four years, provided that there should be no Indian war in that time. The settlers, who were grantees, were Samuel Ingalls, William Healey of Hampton Falls, Dea. Ebenezer Dearborn of Hampton, who had five sons; Nathan Webster of Bradford, who had three sons; John Calf, who lived in Chester, and Thomas Smith of Hampton.
The sons of grantees were John and Samuel Robinson, sons of Ichabod of Hampton Falls; Ephraim, Thomas, and John Haselton, sons of Richard of Bradford; Anthony and Francis Towle, sons of Caleb of Hampton, and Elisha, a grandson, settled in Raymond; and John Shackford, son of Samuel of Portsmouth ; and Samuel Emerson, son of Jonathan of Haver- hill. His name first appears on the records in 1731, when he was elected town clerk, and was re-elected every year until 1787, when he died. His son John succeeded him until 1817. He was a land surveyor, and laid out the second part of the second division in 1736, and all subsequent divisions. He did all the surveying and wrote most of the deeds. He was a man of such judgment and integrity, and the people had such confi- dence in him, that nearly all the minor controversies were referred to him without any legal formalities, and his decision was beyond appeal or review. His son, Nathaniel, was a promi- nent man in Candia. Among the early settlers were Enoch and Benaiah Colby, and Paul and Sylvanus Smith of Hampton ; Ensign Jacob Sargent from Amesbury, Sampson Underhill from Salisbury, Cornet John Lane from Rye; Henry, Jonathan, and Nathaniel Hall from Bradford ; Thomas, Moses, Daniel, and Caleb Richardson ; also, Benjamin Hill, who was the first representative elected, but not received; and Abel Morse, who was the first representative received, from Newbury: who were
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Congregationalists. Then of the Scotch-Irish, who were Pres- byterians ; the grandfather, James Wilson, who died 1739, aged 100 ; the son, James, and his four sons, William, James, Robert, and Hugh. They came from Ireland to Stratham, thence to Chester in 1728; Alexander Craige, William White, William Crawford, John Talford, William and Robert Graham, John Aiken, and James Shirley. In 1728, the meeting-house was located at "Centre where four principal roads met," near the minister's lot. The dimensions were fifty by thirty-five feet, and each proprietor was to pay forty shillings. The house was not fin- ished until several years afterwards, and in 1737 land was granted to Peter and Thomas Cochran, the builders. This house stood until 1773, when a new and noble house was erected, and since has been modernized.
In 1729, Mr. John Tuck of Hampton was called to be the minister, with a salary of £120, which he declined. January 15, 1729, Rev. Moses Hale was called to be the minister with a salary of £120. He was ordained October 20, 1731. He was born at Newbury, 1702 ; graduated, Harvard, 1722. He built a house on the minister's lot, and purchased Governor Wentworth's home lot, which was sold to his successor, Rev. Ebenezer Flagg. Mr. Hale soon became deranged, and was dismissed in 1735, and moved to Haverhill. June, 1735, Rev. Timothy White was called, but declined. June 23, 1736, Rev. Ebenezer Flagg was called, with a salary of £120, silver at twenty shillings per ounce. He was ordained September, 1736. He was born at Woburn, October 18, 1704; graduated Harvard, 1725 ; died November 14, 1796, and was succeeded by Rev. Nathan Bradstreet, 1792.
The Presbyterians joined in building the meeting-house and paying Mr. Hale; but before he left they had hired the Rev. John Wilson, and afterwards built a meeting-house about a mile south of the other, and they protested against hiring or settling any other minister. They appealed to the governor and coun- cil by a document, in an excellent handwriting and language and noble sentiments ; and the result was an act was passed, 1740, incorporating two parishes. There is in existence one of
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Mr. Wilson's manuscript sermons, dated 1734. There was a small meeting-house built at the Long Meadows, and about one third of the preaching was there. In 1793, the two were taken down and a new one built at the Long Meadows. Mr. Wilson died February 1, 1778, succeeded in stated supplies by a Mr. Clark, Mr. Amran and others, and Mr. Colby, installed 1863.
The first grant for a saw-mill was made to Samuel Ingalls and others, and a grist-mill to John Aiken. About 1734, John Calf moved to Chester, and in 1735, had a grant of land and privilege to build a fulling mill on the stream running into the pond, above the present mill-pond. There probably was none to the north of it for a long time, and an extensive business was done. His son Robert succeeded him, and built a saw- mill there. Samuel Shirley had built a corn-mill on the present site, and Calf's dam being cut away, he and his son-in-law, Joseph Blanchard, purchased Shirley's in 1777, and the privi- lege has been used for a grist-mill, saw-mill, clothing-mill and for other manufactures.
In 1739, land and privilege was granted to John McMurphy to build a grist-mill on Massabesic river, below the pond, re- serving the right to build iron works, should ore be found. The first inventory on record was, in 1741, returned to the secretary's office to make a proportion of Province rates, on which are 150 names, 124 houses, 97 horses, 78 oxen. In 1776, there were 916 inhabitants. In 1744, a writ for the election of a representative was sent to Chester by the governor, and Benjamin Hill was elected, but was sent back because the writ was not issued by the Assembly. In 1748, Captain Abel Morse was received.
The committee of the society voted that when the next pro- prietor forfeited his lot, it should be appropriated to a school ; January, 1721. In 1737, £30 were raised for a school ; the master to be removed to different parts of the town. In 1740, . it was voted that a school should be maintained through the year, partly by masters and partly by dames. In 1744, the town was divided, and school-houses built probably then. It was voted in 1750, that Charming Fare (Candia) and Freetown (Ray-
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mond) should have their share of the school money. The town was required by law, having 100 families, to have a grammar school. The selectmen were once indicted for not having such a school.
It will be seen that Chester was a very large town, and now constitutes several towns. At the annual meeting, March, 1751, it was voted that "a tract at the south-west corner of the town, four miles long and five miles and three quarters wide, may be adjoined to a part of Londonderry, and the lands about Amos- keag may be set off as a separate parish." The land between Chester and the river called Harrytown had never been incorpo- rated into any town.
Chester old line was about a mile from the city hall of Man- chester. This was incorporated into a township, called Derry- field, September 3, 1751. The name was altered to Manchester, in 1810.
At the annual meeting, March, 1762, "voted that a tract about four miles and a half long, and four miles wide, may be incorporated into a parish ;" incorporated December 17, 1793 ; named Candia. At a meeting, January 22, 1763, it was voted "that the north parish or Freetown shall be set off as a town or parish ; " incorporated by the name of Raymond, May 9, 1764.
The inhabitants of that part of Chester, commonly called " Chester Woods," extending to Allenstown, suffering inconven- iencies, the farthest having to travel seventeen miles to town meeting, preferred a petition to be set off, and at the annual meeting, March, 1822, the town passed a vote in favor, and July 2, this, with a part of Dunbarton, was incorporated by the name of Hooksett.
In 1845 the town was divided, and the west part, which had been called the Long Meadows, containing about two-fifths of the territory and inhabitants, was incorporated by the name of Auburn.
Settlements were not commenced at Nottingham and Roches- ter until after the Lovewell war. Barrington was settled about 1732.
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In February, 1717, occurred the greatest fall of snow recorded in the an- nals of New England - almost burying under the frozen mass the small log- houses of the new plantations. In Boston the snow was six feet deep. Dur- ing the year the laws of the Province were printed for the first time, at Boston, in a folio volume of sixty pages.1
I Whiton.
-
: NEW CASTLE FISHERMEN:
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CHAPTER VIII.
ROYAL PROVINCE, 1722-1740.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR JOHN WENTWORTHI -GOVERNOR SAMUEL SHUTE - FOURTHI INDIAN, OR LOVEWELL'S WAR -INDIAN GRIEVANCES - DEPRE- DATIONS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE - ATTACK ON NASHUA - JOHN LOVEWELL'S THREE EXPEDITIONS - SUNCOOK - PEACE - PENACOOK - RYE - RUM- FORD -TIMOTHY WALKER - FIRST CHURCH OF CONCORD - HOLLIS - Bow - SUNCOOK SETTLED - OTHER SETTLEMENTS - NEWMARKET - WILLIAM BURNET - JONATHAN BELCHER - DEATH OF WENTWORTII - CHARACTER - DAVID DUNBAR- DURHAM - AMHERST - BOSCAWEN - CHARLESTOWN - RIOT AT EXETER -COMMERCE - EPISCOPAL CHAPEL - THROAT DISTEMPER - SUNCOOK - BOUNDARY LINE ADJUSTED - MASSA- CHIUSETTS DOCUMENTS - WINDHAM - RETIREMENT OF BELCHER.
T HERE were within New Hampshire at this period not far from ten thousand inhabitants. Except for the Lovewell War, in which the Indians were by far the heaviest losers, it was a time of foreign and domestic peace ; and the Province advanced rapidly in numbers and in wealth. From the unfortunate quarrel between the royal governor and many of the leading men of the Province, the way was prepared for an independent and a separate government. The older towns continued to be nurseries for hardy and stalwart pioneers, who steadily pushed the settlements further and further into the wilderness. The gun had done its share in conquering the land, and now the axe and the plough became the instruments of civilization. The log huts of the settlers were rapidly replaced by the old- fashioned frame houses, and the adjoining fields became more and more extended. Husbandry, the chief occupation of the people, produced a race of men hardy, healthy and happy. Large families were the rule ; and sons, when they had chosen
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their mates, were sure of obtaining a home in the woods, where their industry would soon provide them with a farm.
Lieutenant-Governor John Wentworth was chief magistrate of New Hampshire from the date when Governor Samuel Shute left the colonies for England, in June, 1723, to the arrival in America of his successor, Governor William Burnet, in 1728.
A violent party in Massachusetts had made such strenuous opposition to him, and caused him so much vexation, that Governor Shute found it desirable to ask leave to return to England. He is said to have been a man of humane, obliging and friendly disposition ; but having been used to military com- mand, for he was a colonel in the English army before his ap- pointment, he could not bear with patience the collision of parties, nor could he keep his temper when provoked. Fond of ease, and now in the decline of life, he would gladly have spent his days in America, if he could have avoided controversy. The people of New Hampshire were satisfied with his administra- tion, as far as it respected them ; and were more liberal to him in voting him a salary than Massachusetts, in proportion to their means. He died April 15, 1742, at the age of eighty years.1
Governor Shute left New England suddenly, while the people were in the distress and perplexities of Lovewell's Indian war. Upon his departure Lieutenant-Governor Wentworth conducted the affairs of the Province with prudence and energy. A system of garrisons and scouts being adopted, he saw that the garrisons were supplied with stores, and frequently visited the frontier posts personally, to see that duty was performed. He joined with Lieutenant-Governor William Dummer of Mass- achusetts in remonstrating with the governor of Canada for assisting the Indians.
The fourth Indian war, commonly called Lovewell's War, broke out in the summer of 1722. France and England were at peace at the time. The Indians were thought to have been instigated to assume the offensive by the French of Canada and by Jesuit priests resident among them. Fr. Ralle, at
I Farmer's Belknap.
.
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Norridgewock, escaped from a force sent to arrest nim ; but his papers, which fell into the hands of the English, confirmed their belief in French intervention. The chief grievance of the Indians was the rapid growth of the settlement along the coast. of Maine, interfering with their fishing and hunting privileges. At first disputes arose between the settlers and the Indians, quickly followed by active hostilities, until the authorities of Massachusetts were at length forced to declare war. New Hamp- shire, situated between the two divisions of Massachusetts, was drawn into the controversy. Colonel Shadrach Walton, Col- onel Thomas Westbrooke of the council, and Captain John Penhallow, were New Hampshire men, who were active in carry- ing on the war to the eastward. The military of the Province was organized, garrison houses fortified, and scouting parties were kept in the field. A bounty of one hundred pounds was offered for every Indian scalp; a sum equal at that time to about two hundred Spanish dollars.
The first appearance of the enemy in New Hampshire was at Dover, in 1723, where they surprised and killed Joseph Ham, and took three of his children captives. The rest of his family escaped into the garrison. Soon afterwards they killed Tristram Heard. At Lamprey River, in August, they killed Aaron Rawlins and one of his children, taking his wife and three other children into captivity
In the spring of 1724, the Indians killed James Nock, at Oyster River, and in May, captured Peter Colcord and Ephraim Stephens and two children. Colcord soon afterwards escaped. A week later they killed George Chesley and Elizabeth Burn- ham at Oyster River ; and took Thomas Smith and John Carr at Chester, who both escaped. In June, Moses Davis and his son were killed at Oyster River ; and one Indian was killed and two were wounded. In Dover, Ebenezer Downes, a Quaker, was taken ; and a part of the family of John Hawson, another Quaker, were killed and the rest taken into captivity. On account of these atrocities an expedition was planned to Norridgewock, which resulted in the death of Fr. Ralle and eighty Indians, the release of several captives, and the recovery
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of considerable plunder. The Indians who were out on the war path continued their depredations, killing Jabez Colman and son at Kingston, but avoided their own villages, to escape a similar fate to what befell Norridgewock.
On the morning of September 4, 1724, Thomas Blanchard and Nathan Cross started from the harbor with a basket of lunch, a jug, and the indispensable gun, for the pine forest on the north side of Nashua river, to " box" trees for the manufac- ture of turpentine. Tradition in the Cross family locates their operations .on Lock street, immediately back of the cemetery. The day proving wet and drizzly, they put the gun and dinner basket into a hollow log, for the purpose of keeping the powder and food from getting wet. How long they pursued their work is unknown, but some time before night a party of seventy French Mohawks from Canada fell upon them and made them prisoners. The people at the Harbor, or Salmon Brook, finding they did not return at night-fall, started out a party of ten to look for them. Arriving at the place where they had been at work, they found several barrels of turpentine had been spilled on the ground, and judged, from several marks made upon the trees with wax and grease, that the men had been carried away alive. The party, under the lead of Lieutenant French, decided to follow them and rescue their friends, if possible; but on arriving near the brook which flows from Horse Shoe pond, in Merrimack, to the Merrimack river, they were ambushed by the savages, and all killed except Josiah Farwell. 1 This, of course, ended pursuit, and Blanchard and Cross were taken to Canada as prisoners. After nearly a year's confinement they succeeded in effecting their own ransom, and returned home, finding their basket, jug and gun 2 in the hollow log as they had left them.
Aroused by these depredations, John Lovewell, Josiah Far- well, and Jonathan Robbins petitioned the Provincial Govern- ment of Massachusetts for authority to raise and equip a com- pany of scouts to " kill and destroy" their enemy, the Indians. Receiving proper encouragement, Capt. Lovewell, with a com-
I Josiah Farwell was one of the grantees of Suncook.
2 At the January meeting of the Nashua Historical Society, in 1874, the musket was presented to the society by Levi S. Cross.
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pany of men zealous to revenge their injuries, caried the war into the country of the enemy, ranged up the Merrimack valley and to the northward of Lake Winnipiseogee, and succeeded in obtaining one captive and slaying one Indian.
On the second expedition of Captain John Lovewell's com- pany, the following January, 1725, they surprised and killed ten Indians in the neighborhood of Tamworth. The third expedi- tion, of forty-six men, left Dunstable April 16, 1725.
The following detailed account of the battle is taken from the work of Rev. Thomas Symmes, edited by Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Bouton, and published in May, 1861:
They had travelled but a short distance before Toby, an Indian, falling sick, was obliged to return, which he did with great re luctance.
When they had marched as far as Contoocook, Mr. William Cummings of Dunstable became so disabled by a wound that he had received from the enemy some time before that the cap- tain dismissed him, together with a kinsman of his to accompany him back.
They proceeded on to Ossipee, and at this place Mr. Benjamin Kidder of Nutfield, falling sick. the captain made a halt, and tarried while they built a small fortification for a place of refuge to resort to if there should be occasion.
Here he left his doctor, a sergeant and seven other men, to take care of Kidder. And they left at this place, also, a con- siderable quantity of their provisions, to lighten the loads of the men and facilitate their march, and which they intended should serve as a recruit on their return.
With his company now reduced to only thirty-four men, with himself, Captain Lovewell, not at all disheartened by his mis- fortunes, proceeded on his march from his fortification at Ossipee for Pigwacket, about forty miles distant from said fort, through a rough wilderness.
The names of those who proceeded on from Ossipee, and who engaged Paugus, with his gang of about eighty Indians, are as follows (except one who, like a coward, ran from them at the be- ginning of the engagement, and sneaked back to the fort, and
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whose name is unworthy of being transmitted to posterity), - being those brave fellows who boldly and successfully contended with more than twice their number, namely, Capt. John Lovewell,
Lieut. Joseph Farwell, Sergeant Noah Johnson, 1 Lieut. Jonathan Robbins, Robert Usher, Ensign John Harwood, Samuel Whiting,
all of Dunstable.
Ensign Seth Wyman, Ichabod Johnson, Josiah Johnson,
Corp. Thomas Richardson,
Timothy Richardson, -
all of Woburn.
Eleazer Davis, Josiah Davis,
Josialı Jones, David Melvin,
Eleazer Melvin, Jacob Farrar, Joseph Farrar,
all of Concord, Mass. Chaplain Jonathan Frye, of Andover. Sergeant Jacob Fullam, of Weston. Corp. Edward Lingfield, of Nutfield.
Jonathan Kittridge, and of Billerica.
Solomon Keyes,
John Jefts, Daniel Woods, Thomas Woods, John Chamberlain,
Elias Barron, Isaac Lakin, Joseph Gilson,
all of Groton.
Ebenezer Ayer, and Abiel Asten,
of Haverhill.
From the Thursday before the battle the company were ap- prehensive they were discovered and dogged by the enemy; and on Friday night the watch heard the Indians about the camp and alarmed the company, but it being very dark, they could make no further discovery.
On Saturday, the 8th of May, while they were at prayers,
I Noah Johnson was the last survivor of this company. He was one of the first settlers of Pem- broke, where he was a deacon of the church. He received a pension from the Massachusetts govern- ment of £15 per year. He removed to Plymouth, N. H., in his old age, and died there August 13, 1798, in the one hundredth year of his age.
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very early in the morning, they heard a gun; and some little time after they espied an Indian on a point that ran into Saco pond.
They now concluded that the design of the gun and the Indian's discovering himself was to draw them that way. They expected now without fail to be attacked, and it was proposed and consulted whether it would be prudent to venture an en- gagement with the enemy (who they perceived were now sufficiently alarmed), or endeavor a speedy retreat. The men generally and boldly answered : " We came to see the enemy ; we have all along prayed God we might find them ; and we had rather trust Providence with our lives, yea, die for our country, than try to return without seeing them, if we might, and be called cowards for our pains."
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