USA > New Hampshire > Colony, province, state, 1623-1888: history of New Hampshire > Part 15
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At the Court of St. James the 9th. April 1740
Present
The King- most Excellant Majesty in Council
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Whereas: His Majesty was this day pleased by his order in Council, to signify his approbation of a Report made by the Lords of the Committee in Council upon the respective Appeales of the Provinces of the Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire for the Determination of the Commissioners - ap- pointed to settle the Boundarys between the said Provinces, and to direct in what manner the said Boundarys should be settled, and also to require the Governor and the respective Councils and Assemblys of the said Provinces to take especial care to carry His Majestys commands thereby signified into due execution, as by a copy of the said Order hereto annexed may more fully appear. And His Majesty being desirous to remove all further pretence for continuing the Disputes which have subsisted for many years between the said Provinces on Account of the said Boundary, and to prevent any delay in ascertaining the Boundary pursuant to the said order in Council, Doth Hereby Order that the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations do prepare the Draught of such an instruction as they shall conceive proper to be sent to the Governor of those Provinces, for enforcing the due execution of the said order and requiring him in the strongest terms to cause His Majestys Commands in this behalf to be executed in the most effectual and expeditious manner, to the end that his Majestys Intentions for promoting the Peace and Quiet of the said Provinces, may not be frustrated or delayed. And they are to lay the said Draught before the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs .-
(Signed) Temple Stanyan
No. II. Order of Committee of Council 9 April 1741
Indorsed (with petitions) Massachusetts Oreder of the Lords of ye Com- mittee of Council dated ye 9th of April 1741 referring to this board ve Petition of Thomas Hutchinson of Boston Esq. praying his Majesty to direct that the several Line Townships which by the Line directed to be run by his Majestys Order in Council of ye 9th April 1740 will be cut off from the Province of Massachusetts Bay may be united to that Province.
At the Council Chamber Whitehall
the 9th. of April 1741 By the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs.
His Majesty, having been pleased by his order in Council of the 9th of February last, to refer unto this Committee the humble petition of Thomas Hutchinson of Boston in his Majesty Province of Massachusetts Bay Esqr. humbly praying that His Majesty will be graciously pleased to direct that the several Townships, commonly known by the name of the line townships, which by the Line directed to be run by his Majestys Order in Council of the 9th of April 1740, will be cut off from the said Province of Massachusetts Bay may be United in that Province - The Lords of the Committee this day took the said petition, together with several others thereto annexed, from the said Township into Consideration, and are hereby pleased to refer the same
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to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, to examine into the said Petitions, and report their Opinion thereupon to this Committee (Signed) Temple Stanyan.
Benning Wentworth to the Board of Trade Sth December 1742
Indorsed New Hampshire Letter from Mr. Wentworth Governor of New Hampshire to the Board, dated Portsmouth ye Sth December 1742
Referring to the petitions of the inhabitants who had without their consent been summarily transferred from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts to that of New Hampshire, and who had petitioned the King to be returned to Massa- chusetts, Wentworth says,-
And unless it should be His Majesty's pleasure to put an end to Applications of this Nature, It will be impossible for me to carry his Royal Instructions into Executi on.
New Hampshire sits down by his Majesty's determination, and has showed the greatest obedience thereto by paying the whole expense of running and marking out the boundaries in exact conformity to the royal deter- mination, and therefore thinks it a great hardship that Massachusetts should lead them into any new charge, in a dispute that had subsisted near four score years, and which has been so solemnly determined.
And it may be added here, also, that the legislature of New Hampshire supplemented the above appeal of Governor Wentworth with a prayer to the King, never, under any circumstances, to admit of the slightest infraction of the boundary line, thus determined and established according to his royal will and pleasure; and to the credit of that Province and State it may also be stated here that that work, the boundary line as then established and recorded, has never been called in question by either, and the State has never gone back on her own record
Jonathan Belcher to the Board of Trade. 7 May 1741.
Indorsed Massachusetts, new Hampshire Letter from Mr. Belcher Governor of New England, dated at Boston ye 7th of May 1741, concerning a difficulty, arisen upon ye construction of His Majesty's Judgment respecting ye Bounda- ries betwixt ye Province of Massachusetts Bay and that of New Hampshire.
This is a very important document, and, as will be seen, effectually disposes of all claims New Hampshire may have been supposed to have to a slice of Massachusetts, and forms a very valuable and important State paper.
In connection with these documents, Mr. Spofford has also received copies of three very important and valuable maps relating to the boundary line con- troversy of 1741.
No. I is a map of Merrimack river and the boundary line at three miles distant on the north side thereof, by George Mitchell, surveyor. This map is about ISx24 inches, and bears the following inscription on the upper left hand corner, enclosed in scroll work :
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To His Excellency Benning Wentworth Esqr. Captain General & Commander in Chief over His Majesty's Province of New Hampshire This map is humbly inscribed by His Excellencys Most Obdt. Servt. George Mitchell Surv'r.
And immediately under this we find the following note :
By Lines drawn on the North side of ye River there is as much land as water, which have their corresponding parallels at three miles distance; but as ye Sudden Bends renders it impracticable to come up to the Truth, the dif- ference is divided equally in General.
In the lower left hand corner is the following note :
Received April 20th, with Governor Wentworth's Letter dated at Portsmouth in New Hampshire 6th March 1741&2
In the lower right hand corner is the title enclosed in scroll work.
A MAP Of the River Merrimack from the Atlantick Ocean to Pawtucket Falls de- scribing Bounds between His Majesty's Province of New Hampshire and the Massachusetts Bay, agree- able to His Majestys Or- der in Council 1741
On the back of the map we find the following sworn statement :
George Mitchell makes Oath, that this survey made by him of the River Merrimack, from the mouth of said River to Pawtucket Falls, is true and exact to the best of his skill and knowledge, and that the line described in the plan is as conformable to His Majestys determination in Council, as was in his power to draw, but finding it impracticable to stick to the letter of said deter- mination, has in some places taken from one Province, and made ample allow- ance for the same in the next reach of the River.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, March 8th, 1741.
George Mitchell,
Sworn
before H. Sherburne }
Jotham Odiorne -
Jus. of the Peace .
Thus it will be seen that Mitchell was no tool or emissary of Belcher's, but he drew the boundary line according to his interpretation of the King's De- cree, as it appears from examination of the map that he surveyed the river, made his plan, and then proceeded to lay off a strip of land three miles wide on the north side thereof. This he did by first drawing straight lines along
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the north shore of the river, passing so as to take one half of the river into. his estimate, projecting these lines from the ocean to Pawtucket falls, and then draws the boundary line at three miles distance from these straight lines. Consequently no part of his line appears on the south side of the river. Mitchell does not seem to have understood the gymnastics of modern survey- ing.
This map shows no small degree of artistic ability in the surveyor who pro- jected it, so much so that Mr. Spofford already has applications for copies. from parties interested in works of this description.
But this map not only indicates a superior draughtsman, but a remarkably skilful and accurate surveyor.
His plan of the river, reduced by pantograph to the scale of the map accom- panving the recent report of the New Hampshire Commissioners to the leg- islature of that State, shows the survey to have been made and platted with a wonderful degree of accuracy.
This latest survey and plan were executed with the very best of modern ap- pliances, by a skilful and experienced surveyor but recently from the United States Government survey of the Mississippi river, and neither time nor ex- pense was spared to make it as accurate as could be platted on a scale of 2,500 feet to one inch ; still, on comparing the latest product of modern skill, it is little more than a fac simile of Mitchell's work done with the rude instru- ments of a century and a half ago.
MAP No. 3.
This map is on a sheet about 24x36 inches, and is the work of the same surveyor, and executed in the same general style as No. 2. The title reads as follows :
A Plan of the Rivers and Boundary Lines referred to in the Proceedings and Judgment to which this is annexed. George Mitchell Surveyor
Note
Recd. Dec. 20 1737, with Letter from ye Commissioners for settling the Boundary Lines between ye provinces of Massachusetts Bay & New Hamp- shire
Cenr 79
The commission of 1737, it will be remembered by persons familiar with this question, reported in substance as follows :
That if the second charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay covered all the territory that the first charter covered, then the line should commence at the Atlantic ocean, three miles north of the mouth of the Merrimack river, and thence running westerly and northerly, keeping at three miles' distance from the river to the junction of the Winnipiseogee and three miles further north, thence due west to his majesty's other dominions; but if it did not. then the dividing line should begin at a point three miles north of the Black Rocks and thence due west to his majesty's other dominions. These lines are all shown on the plan.
But both parties appealed from this decision, and the matter was carried before the King in council. This august body seems to have been run by
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New Hampshire s paid agent, one George Thomlinson, and the line was estab- lished at three miles north of the river to Pawtucket falls, and thence due west, etc. This gave New Hampshire some 700 square miles of Massachu- setts more than that Province had ever claimed, consequently her willingness to pay all the expenses of running the lines that make the area of that State to-day 1,400 square miles larger than Massachusetts.
These records and maps are not only interesting historical documents, but they show past all controversy that the boundary line matter was settled by the king's decree, that the execution was served, the land set off, the lines run and marked on the ground, the plans returned, accepted and recorded, and the whole business executed as perfectly and thoroughly as it was possi- ble to fix any division line anywhere at that time. It was all done with the cordial assent and concurrence of New Hampshire. Massachusetts protested against it, but without avail. The line thus established has been the line of jurisdiction ever since. Massachusetts set the bounds stones at the angles in 1827 : they are all there to-day. and mark the angles in the line. Mr. Spof- ford has run on the ground, and there is not the slightest doubt of its correct- ness substantially, and why any person should now suppo se for a single mo- ment that a boundary line thus established by both parties can be changed at the option of one, and without the consent and against the wishes of the in- habitants living near it, is a mystery we shall not attempt to solve.
East Kingston was incorporated in 1738. Rev. Peter Coffin was settled as minister the following year and was dismissed in 1772.
1 The Scotch settlers of Londonderry came to this wintry land to have
" A faith's pure shrine,"
and
" To make a happy fireside clime For weans and wife."
They were hard-headed, long-headed, level-headed, uncompromising, uncon- quered, and unconquerable Presbyterians. They were of a stern and rugged type. They clung to the tenets of the Presbyterian faith with a devotion, con- stancy, and obstinacy little short of bigotry, and in it was mingled little of that charity for others of a different faith " which suffereth long ;" nor is this surprising, when we consider the circumstances of their lives, and the stock to which they belonged. They were the descendants of a brave and heroic race of men and women, who had resisted the encroachments of the " Estab- lished Church" of England, risen in opposition to it, and in 1638 entered in- to a " solemn league and covenant" to maintain the reformed religion in Scotland, and to resist and put down popery and prelacy : hence the name of " Covenanter."
For the preservation of their religious liberty and their form of faith the Covenanters had struggled, and fought, and suffered amid the moors and mountains and fastnesses of Scotland with a fortitude and heroism unsur- passed. Many laid down their lives to secure its preservation ; many strug- gled bravely on during the troubled years, bearing aloft the ensign of their
I Hon. L. A. Morrison.
-
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faith. which they believed to be the only true faith, and their banner the only true standard of the cross.
The foot of the persecutor followed the faithful to Ireland, and there they felt the avenging arm of resisted and arbitrary power. Some of those who had taken part in the brave defence of Londonderry, Ireland, owned land here which was occupied by their sons. The story of the past, of the conflicts in Scotland, the flight to Ireland, the endurance and sufferings and sacrifices and final triumph at the "siege of Derry," were fresh in their memories, they were engraven on the tablets of their souls, and the lessons influenced their lives. So the faith of the stern, grim Covenanter was transplanted to Londonderry. It took root and flourished on this soil, and grew with a strong, steady, and solid growth. The Scotch settlers were a conservative and thinking people, and their institutions were the result of thought. Many of the characteristics, sentiments, and much of the feelings of the Cove- nanters were here, and these have not entirely died out of their descendants. The religious side of the characters of the first residents was largely developed.
The town of Windham, incorporated in February, 1739, has been strongly orthodox from the beginning. Many families attended meeting at what is now East Derry. After attending to their morning duties, the whole family,- men, women, and children,- would walk eight or nine miles to meeting, listen to two long sermons, and then return to their homes, seldom reaching them until after dark. So they prized the sanctuary, and appreciated and dearly loved the faith in which they trusted.
The first religious meetings were holden in barns during the warm season for eleven years, when, in 1753, the first meeting house was built, on a high elevation south-east of Cobbett's pond, now known as " Cemetery Hill."
Their Scotch ancestors, exiles from the lochs and glens of Scotland, could not forget the customs of the dear old father-land. So they located the burial- place of themselves and their kindred in the shadow of the kirk. It is a beautiful spot. The lovely lake nestles at the foot of this white-washed hill, shimmering with brightness in the summer sun. and in the autumn mirroring in its bosom all the beauty of the forest trees. It is a pleasant place on which to pitch one's tent after the weary march, when with folded arms the silent ones will rest undisturbed till the reveille call at the great awakening. So the · dead rested near where the living worshipped, where in summer days, through the opened windows which let in the sunshine and the breath of flowers, the words as they fell from the lips of the living preacher might be borne by the breezes which gently waved the grass that grew and the flowers that bloomed on the mounds of the peaceful sleepers.
The first pastor was Rev. William Johnston, who received a call to settle here in July, 1746.
The towns cut off from Massachusetts petitioned to be re- annexed, but their plea was met and successfully combated by Thomlinson. " About the same time, Governor Belcher procured a petition, from his six friends of the council of New Hamp-
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shire, to the King, praying that the whole Province might be annexed to the government of Massachusetts. This matter had been long in contemplation with these gentlemen ; but was now produced at the most unfortunate time which could have been chosen. Their petition was at once rejected." 1
The boundary line between the two Provinces was finally surveyed and determined in 1741; the curved line from the ocean to Pawtucket Falls being determined by George Mitchell ; the line thence to the Connecticut river being surveyed by Richard Hazen ; and the eastern boundary by Walter Bryant.
The enemies of Governor Belcher in both Provinces finally triumphed and accomplished his downfall. He was succeeded in Massachusetts by Governor William Shirley, and in New Hampshire by Governor Benning Wentworth.
Governor Belcher was soon after appointed governor of New Jersey, where he was held in the highest esteem, and where he died in August, 1751, in his seventy-sixth year. In some in- stances Governor Belcher was imprudent and unguarded. He was zealous to serve his friends, and hearken to their advice. He paid no court to his enemies, but openly treated them with contempt. His language to them was severe and reproachful. He had by far too mean an opinion of their abilities, and the interest which they had at court. He had a consciousness of the general integrity of his own intentions, and appears to have been influenced by motives of honor and justice.1
I Belknap.
JNWARD
-
PISCATAQUA GUNDALOW
-
CHAPTER IX.
ROYAL PROVINCE, 1741-1760.
GOVERNOR BENNING WENTWORTII - WENTWORTH HALL - MARTHA HILTON - A COLD WINTER -EPPING - WINDHAM - BRENTWOOD - FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR - LOUISBURG -SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL - PEPPERRELL HOUSE - WILLIAM VAUGHAN - NUMBER FOUR - INCORPORATION OF VARIOUS TOWNS - RUMFORD (CONCORD) - WRESTLING MATCHES -OLD STYLE AND NEW STYLE -THE BOW CASE -COOS COUNTY - THE " SEV- EN YEARS' WAR "- ROGERS' RANGERS - REV. JOHN HOUSTON - AN AUDA- CIOUS RECONNAISSANCE - A FIERCE FIGHT IN THE WOODS - JOHN STARK - CONQUEST OF CANADA - SAINT FRANCIS INDIANS -QUEBEC AND MONTREAL -PONTIAC AND MAJOR ROGERS - ROGERS HOUSE.
B1 ENNING WENTWORTH was commissioned governor of the royal Province of New Hampshire in 1741. From the graceful pen of Fred Myron Colby is the following tribute to his memory :-
Few names hold more exalted rank in the annals of the old thirteen colonies than that of Wentworth. The progenitor of our colonial family was William, a cousin of the ill-fated chan- cellor of Charles the First, who arrived in New Hampshire as early as 1640. Benning Wentworth was a great-grandson of William. His father was John Wentworth, who was lieu- tenant-governor of New Hampshire from 1717 till 1730. The son graduated at Harvard, and afterwards was associated with his father and uncle in the mercantile business at Portsmouth. He several times represented the town in the Provincial As- sembly, was appointed a King's councillor in 1734, and finally, in 1741, became the royal governor of the Province. His life
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was long, active and distinguished, and during his career New Hampshire advanced rapidly in wealth and prosperity, though
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Old Wentworth House
not so fast as the governor did. He laid heavy tribute on the Province, and exacted heavy fees for grants of land. He had
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the right perhaps. That he was a right brave and distinguished looking cavalier, and well fitted to lead society at a provincial court, his portrait at Wentworth Hall abundantly shows. It represents him dressed in the height of fashion, with a long flaxen peruke flowing in profuse curls to his shoulders. He has a handsome, dignified face, the lips wearing an engaging smile, and the air generally of face and figure of one who is " lord of the manor." Indeed, there was everything in the career of the worthy governor to give him, what in Europe used to be called, the "bel air." Fortune had taken him by the hand from the very cradle, and some beneficent fairy, throughout all his life, seemed to have smoothed away all thorns in his path, and scat- tered flowers before him. He died at the age of seventy-four, having lived as fortunate and splendid a life as any gentleman of his time in the new world.
Despite its air of grandeur, Wentworth Hall, at Little Harbor, is an architectural freak. It is seldom that one will find so large a house that is as irregular and straggling as this one is. The rambling old pile looks as if it had been put together at different periods, and each portion the unhappy afterthought of the architect who designed it. It is simply an extension of wing upon wing, and this whimsical arrangement is followed up in the interior. The chambers are curiously connected by unlooked for steps and capricious little passages, that remind one of those mysterious ones in the old castles, celebrated by the writers of the Anne Radcliffe school.
It was in 1749 that he commenced to build this mansion, and it was completed the next year. He had been fascinated by the beauty of the place, and the magnificent structure which rose at his command was worthy of its situation. Where he obtained his plan no one knows, but perhaps the irregularity of the structure was compensated by the grandeur and sumptu- ousness of its adornments. Everything about the mansion was on a grand scale. The stables held thirty horses in time of peace. The lofty gateways were like the entrance to a castle. The offices and out-houses might have done credit to a Kenil- worth or a Middleham. As it now stands, girt by its ancestral
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trees, looking out upon the sea, the house seems a patrician of the old regime, withdrawing itself instinctively from contact with its upstart neighbors. Having an existence of four gener- ations and more, a stately, dignified, hospitable home before Washington had reached manhood, the Wentworth house may claim the respect due to a hale, hearty old age, as well as that due to greatness.
Few houses in America have had as many illustrious visitors. Rooms under its roof have been occupied by Governor Shirley of New York, Lord Loudon, commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, Sir Charles Knowles, Admiral Boscawen, George Whitefield, and other worthies of that period. Stately merrymakings have been celebrated in its old halls.
The first door on the right hand of the hall opens into the grand parlor of the old governor, which still retains all of its former magnificence. The paper on the walls is the same that was put on at the time the mansion was erected, and the carpet on the floor was put there by Lady Wentworth more than eighty years ago.
In this room, surrounded by the wondering invited guests of the governor, was consummated the marriage ceremony which Longfellow has celebrated in his "Tales of a Wayside Inn," between Wentworth and his chamber-maid. It was something of a change for Martha Hilton. She was a girl, of matchless beauty, but very poor. When young she had scandalized her neighbors by glimpses of bare ankles as she promenaded in scant costume. A puritanic dame one time remonstrated with the maiden in rather severe terms for exhibiting so much of her beauty. But Martha answered not abashed, "Never mind how I look ; I yet shall ride in my own chariot, ma'am." It was a true prophecy. After a lapse of years, attracted by her grace, her beauty, her wit and good sense, Benning Wentworth offered her his hand, and they were married on the governor's sixtieth birthday.
Around the Council Room are some grand old portraits, thir- teen in all. They are all in handsome gilt frames and some of them have rare histories, if they could be told.
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At the entrance of the Council Chamber are seen the racks for the twelve guns, carried when occasion required by the governor's guards. In the billiard room, which adjoins this
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