USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Portsmouth > Early Portsmouth history > Part 14
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During this early period in which executive officers, deriving their authority directly from the Crown, governed New Hampshire, Portsmouth, in spite of Indian warfare, developed from a frontier settlement to an important colonial capital.1 Some degree of wealth had also been accumulated in the town, though Palfrey says that the poverty of New Hamp- shire, in 1692, "was undeniable." 10 There were already promises of the architectural development that occurred later. As early as June, 1683, Cran- field wrote: "The country grows very populous." 7 The environs of Portsmouth were growing. Stratham became a township in 1716.14 Politically, New Hampshire showed its initiative during this period in
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many ways. As stated, a simple constitution had been prepared by the convention which met at Ports- mouth January 28, 1690, representing Portsmouth, Exeter, Hampton and Dover, "the first by popular initiative, ever submitted to the people for adoption." While the four towns were waiting for a more satis- factory constitution to be prepared, Allen and Usher obtained their commissions, and the opportunity for self-government was gone.
During this period the religious growth of the town was noteworthy. In 1692 the parish of Ports- mouth consisted of two hundred and thirty-one families,5 forty-three at Great Island, sixty-eight at Greenland, and one hundred and twenty at Straw- berry Bank.5 After the engagements of the Rev. Gilbert Lourie and the Rev. John Cotton, Ports- mouth obtained the services of the Rev. Nathaniel Rogers as minister. Mr. Rogers was ordained May 3, 1699, over a church consisting of twenty males and fifty-nine families.5 "He was to have use of the parsonage and the glebe, besides one hundred pounds a year." 5 Mr. Rogers was a graduate of Harvard College, of the class of 1687, and was the youngest son of the president of the college.5 He died, still in charge of his pastorate, at Portsmouth in 1723, leav- ing the reputation behind him of having been a most excellent minister.5 "Tradition adds that he had a very agreeable manner of preaching, and was very elegant in person and deportment. He was buried at the expense of the parish, at the Point of Graves." 5
It was during Mr. Rogers' pastorate that, in 1712, "an unhappy division arose which was attended with sharp controversy and strong feeling, and which resulted in the forming of the South Church and
The Langdon-Pickering House
Published through the courtesy of the Rev. William S. Jones
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parish."4,5 "In September, 1711, it was voted in general town meeting, to build a new meeting-house on the corner of the minister's field" "on the north- east corner of the glebe," "which should be the stated meeting house of the town." 2 This occurred by a close decision, the vote being sixty-five to forty-five. "The trend of population was north and west," 5 and the south end seemed to offer no suitable place for the meeting-house. Also, by this time Newcastle had been granted her own ministry.2 Mr. Rogers, when he was confirmed as pastor of the new meeting-house, preached from a point considerably north of where the old meeting-house stood.
The inhabitants at the south end opposed the change.2 They held a town meeting, in 1713, which was attended with disorder and tumult, and declared dissolved by the justices present;2,4 but, under the leadership of the doughty John Pickering, a vote was passed that the old meeting-house should continue the town meeting-house forever, and when out of repair, so that it could not be conveniently repaired, to build a new one on the place. 4 The controversy was referred to the Legislature. The result was that when Mr. Rogers was confirmed as the established minister of the new meeting-house, provision was made, in 1714,2 for the support by the town of a minister at "the other meeting house at the mill dam." "At this meeting house, Rev. John Emerson 4 was installed as minister of the remonstrant people, but the town authorities refused to pay his salary." "This resulted in the practical formation of a second parish." "Thus arose the division of the original town parish into two sep- arate organizations - the North and South Parishes." 17 Local religious schisms were of importance in town
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affairs. In 1740 the two parishes conferred in an at- tempt to reconcile their differences, and an exchange of pastors followed.5 "Such was the attention to the preached word, women used frequently to walk from Greenland to Portsmouth, six or eight miles, in order to attend publick worship." 4 As in other New Eng- land towns, the religious democracy of the town was in close keeping with town politics, and was interwoven with all other town affairs.
With the end of the period directly under discussion, the town entered on a new phase of its existence, so- cially, politically and religiously. Even the old glebe land was by this time well broken up, which was indic- ative of the changing times. Leases of parts of the glebe land, one in favor of Richard Wybird, had then been made for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, in accordance with an arrangement as to leases effected in 1705.13 The glebe land was of importance. It is stated that the differences of opinion as to the new meeting-house, voted in 1711, would not have been so great if the site selected had not seemed to dwellers in the south part of the town to give the dwellers in the north part undue advantage as to the old glebe land. 4 The eastern section of the glebe was in the heart of the town, "44 poles upon Pleasant and Court Streets, and extending to the westward."4 This part of the glebe was bounded by what are now Congress, Pleasant, Court and Chestnut streets. Two lots were on the western side of Chestnut Street. 13
CHAPTER XI
A COLONIAL CAPITAL
A BOUT 1730 a new era began in the history of Portsmouth. Primeval forests and the uncul- tivated banks of the Piscataqua had given way, between 1623 and 1730, to a small township which had been many times torn in its struggles with the frontier, with the Indians, with Massachusetts, and with its own duly appointed Lieutenant Governors. Very slowly but steadily this little township had won its way through struggle, and had gained inherent strength and solidity. By 1730, though still poor, Portsmouth was on a sound political and civic basis, and stood ready to reap the benefits of its earlier well- fought battle for existence, progress and independence of action. The one-hundred-year period, 1730-1830, saw Portsmouth relatively important in colonial and revolutionary history, and in the early civic life of the United States.
Private letters in 1732 showed that there was still lack of money in Portsmouth; but such lack was not apparent much longer, for shortly after 1730 Ports- mouth began to acquire wealth. This arose chiefly from imports by sea, which in turn were bought with the proceeds of the considerable export trade in lum- ber, masts and fish. The wharves bustled with the loading and the unloading of deep water and coast- wise vessels, and the town showed many signs of successful merchants. Up to 1741 the advance of
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Portsmouth in wealth and importance was slow; but in 1741 a tide of emigration set in to New Hamp- shire from England.8 Mr. George Barstow says, in "The History of the United States," that in 1749 the population of New Hampshire had doubled in eighteen years.8
The seeds of distinction had sprouted in Portsmouth before 1730, and still more by 1741, even though the town was not in a flourishing state before this latter date. There is a mass of available information show- ing that Portsmouth from 1741 on rapidly became a colonial capital and a polite center where intelligence, beauty and dignity were much in evidence. The files of "The New Hampshire Gazette," the records of the Library Society, founded in 1750, the architec- ture of the town, all give evidence to this effect.
As was natural, this development of Portsmouth found particular expression in architecture. The period beginning in 1741, and lasting until about 1820, brought into being in Portsmouth most of the beautiful houses for which the town is famous. The social background for this architectural expression was es- pecially rich, and the result was a colonial style of building that has not elsewhere been surpassed.
Early types of houses were noteworthy. The Jackson house, still standing, built about 1664 by Richard Jackson,1 was over seventy-five years old in 1741. The Samuel Wentworth house, still standing, built probably before 1671, is another example of very early Portsmouth architecture. The first brick house built in Portsmouth, erected by Richard Wibird toward the close of the seventeenth century,2 no longer standing, had also given evidence of the am- bition of one home builder. Another old house, still
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standing, said to have been built about 1709, on the old glebe land, back of the North Church and the post office, represented good early style. This is perhaps the third oldest house now standing in Ports- mouth. The Warner house, built 1718-1723,1 still standing, gave the strongest evidence of the early architectural good taste existing in Portsmouth, and a few years later the beautiful Buckminster house, built in 1720,1 still standing, confirmed the same, and gave promise of the distinguished colonial type of which so many examples were soon to be built in Portsmouth. The Livermore-Hatch house, still stand- ing, built about 1730,1 is also noteworthy.
After 1735 all courts in New Hampshire were held at Portsmouth.4 A fairly brisk trade in 1735 was carried on in the exportation of lumber and fish with Spain, with Portugal and with the Caribbean Islands.7 In 1732 the first Episcopal Church,1 Queen's Chapel, was erected on the hill over the river, near where St. John's stands today. The church was named Queen's Chapel for Queen Caroline. "The bell was brought from Louisburg in 1745." 1 Queen Caroline presented the Church with several folio prayer books,7 and with an altar service of plate.1 The Rev. Arthur Browne was inducted as minister in 1736. St. John's was built in 1808.1 In 1740 the North Parish gave permission to any person or persons, who desired, to procure a clock at their own cost and to set it in the steeple. This resulted, in 1749, in the purchase of a clock by Daniel Peirce and others, who had it placed in the steeple of the North Meeting House, and who presented it to the town.6 In 1746, during the war with France, a battery was placed on Jeffrey's Point, which Mr. Brewster in "Rambles
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about Portsmouth," First Series, says is a name that probably is a corruption from Jaffrey's Point.
The trade of New Hampshire flowed chiefly through Portsmouth, the only seaport of the province. Exports at this time, 1730, were almost wholly of lumber and fish.14 "Such commodities were sent to Europe and the West India Islands to the value of £1000 ster- ling." 4 "The coast trade in timber and lumber amounted to about £5000." 4 "The sea-faring men numbered only forty,8 and five ships of one hundred tons burden belonged to the province. There were three or four hundred tons of other shipping that traded in Portsmouth annually." 4 Portsmouth later, as shall appear, built a very large number of vessels on the Piscataqua, or, as Belknap spells it, the "Pas- cataqua."13 Belknap says: "There are no workmen more capable of constructing good ships than the carpenters of New Hampshire;" 13 but this outlet of civic industry and enterprise appeared in very vigorous form only beginning at about the time of the Revolution. The fifty-four gun "Faulkland" had been built in 1690; the thirty-two gun "Bedford" galley in 1696. The next ship of importance launched on the Piscataqua was the forty-gun "America," built in 1749, "at the north end of the town," 6 for the royal navy under the direction of Col. Nathaniel Meserve of Portsmouth.6 She was the first ship of the line built in America, and she was one of the four vessels ordered by the British Admiralty to be built in New England.11 Her interesting model is in the Portsmouth Athenæum.
"Launching a ship in these early times was an event of great importance, and always attended by all persons of both sexes living in the vicinity, who
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expected an ample supply of good cheer. We read in the life of Sir William Pepperell, that on the occasion of his launching a vessel at Saco, he allowed and sent down to his agent a barrel of wine and a barrel of rum for the festivities of the occasion, and that the vessel was launched with her sails bent, it being dangerous tarrying on account of hostile indians, and expensive to keep the men upon pay." 12
It was over a Portsmouth full of promise that Governor Jonathan Belcher and Lieutenant Governor Daniel Dunbar held office in 1731. Belcher was Governor of both Massachusetts and New Hampshire; Dunbar was Lieutenant Governor of New Hampshire only. Like so many of their predecessors they both of them failed to make the most of their opportunities for successful administration. Governor Belcher wished to unite Massachusetts and New Hampshire, but he was at a loss to know how to accomplish it.7 A party arose in New Hampshire in opposition to him, working to have New Hampshire made a separate province, one wholly distinct from Massachusetts, and under its own royal Governor.7
Lieutenant Governor Dunbar joined the party in opposition to Belcher, and he was soon at odds with his Governor. Dunbar was "rigorous in the conduct of his office," which was in keeping with his previous record. Dunbar, also, as Surveyor General of the Woods, was called "violent."7 Mr. Stackpole quotes Dunbar as called "that bull-frog from the Hibernian fens." 4 Dunbar became unpopular. Incidentally, Dunbar tried to be made Governor of New Hampshire. 4 There was much political intriguing going on at Portsmouth from 1731 to 1735.4,7
One of the principal causes for political friction,
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in 1731, was the dispute with Massachusetts over the boundary line.7 Both the Massachusetts and the New Hampshire governments claimed the power to allot land on the disputed border.4 During the dispute Massa- chusetts bought from John Tufton Mason (Robert's grandson) the right to certain of the border territory; this, regardless of the sale earlier of the Masonian grants to Allen.4 This purchase brought on further ill feeling in which Governor Belcher was a conspicuous figure. New Hampshire claimed that Belcher did not play fairly in the border controversy.4 Justly or unjustly, he was very unpopular in Portsmouth and in New Hampshire. Mr. Stackpole says, "False- hood and forgery were employed to misrepresent him to the King's ministry." 4 Mr. Stackpole goes on: "His interest was in Boston rather than in New Hampshire. During eleven years it is not easy to point to any progress due to his activity and influence." 4 In 1641 Governor Belcher was superseded in the Governorship of Massachusetts by William Shirley, who at that time was appointed Governor of Massa- chusetts. 4,7 Before this happened, however, on March 5, 1740, the King in Council settled the boundary dispute between Massachusetts and New Hampshire by defining the dividing line as commencing at the sea three miles north of the Merrimac and following the course of the Merrimac River on the north side three miles from the river. This was a better result than New Hampshire had dared to expect.7 The line that was at once run was excellently laid down and stands today practically unchanged. 4
While Governor Belcher was undergoing political difficulties, his Lieutenant Governor in New Hamp- shire was in similar circumstances. Dunbar's rights
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of office brought him into easy conflict with those under him. The Lieutenant Governor was commander of the Fort on Great Island, and as such had authority to grant passes to outward bound vessels. His income from this post was about £50.4 He also had the power to grant marriage licenses.7 In addition the Lieutenant Governor was Surveyor General of the Woods, for which he received a salary of £200 and £100 extra, which he had to divide with his deputies. 4 By tactless and ill-judged conduct in office Dunbar antagonized many.4 He seized trees on lands granted to individuals, claiming these trees in the name of the King and reserving them for the royal navy.7 Dunbar's office must have been profitable, for when a little later Benning Wentworth wanted to become Surveyor General of the Woods in addition to being Governor of New Hampshire, he paid Dunbar £2000 to turn over the Surveyor's office to him. 4
In 1737 Lieutenant Governor Dunbar went back to England.4 From then until New Hampshire be- came a separate royal province, a determined effort was made in New Hampshire to bring this end about, and to have the province under its own Governor, not under a Lieutenant Governor subordinate to a Governor who was over both New Hampshire and Massachusetts.6 It so happened that about this time Benning Wentworth, of Portsmouth,7 son of former Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth, was in England. Benning Wentworth was born July 24, 1696.4 He graduated from Harvard College in 1715, and he was one of the leading merchants in Portsmouth.4 He had entered into a contract with an agent of the Spanish Court to deliver oak timber in Spain.6 He had borrowed money in London to
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finance this deal.6 Wentworth delivered the lumber at Cadiz, 4 but was refused payment.6 On the return voyage the ship that had carried the lumber foundered, all of which very much injured Benning Wentworth financially. He pleaded his cause in England, where were many similar complaints against the Spanish government. Benning Wentworth aroused sympathy among British merchants, but owing to the war between England and Spain he secured no financial redress.6 Wentworth did, however, obtain the promise of being made Governor of New Hampshire as soon as this province should be separated from Massachusetts, which it was expected would soon occur.
In 1741, by the King's decree, New Hampshire was made a royal province apart from Massachusetts. Benning Wentworth was appointed Governor as he had applied to be.4 Wentworth sailed for America, arriving in Portsmouth December 12, 1741.6 He was met there by "a large concourse of people," 6 who hailed him after his long absence "with great marks of popular respect." One remark made to him was "that he had been instrumental in rescuing New Hampshire from contempt and dependence." The Assembly voted him a salary of £250,7 then granted him £250 more.6,7 Later they voted him further sums and "usually added something for house rent." 6,7 In 1743 Benning Wentworth secured from Dunbar, who was still Surveyor General of the Woods, the title and rights of that office.6 From this office Wentworth received a salary of about £800, but from this he had to pay the wages of four deputies. 4
For twenty-five years after the inauguration of Benning Wentworth as Governor, there was no Lieutenant Governor in New Hampshire. For twenty-
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five years Benning Wentworth ruled, not supreme, for the people would not let that happen, but without. much interference until toward the end of his tenure of office. 4 "Governor Benning Wentworth was careful to conserve all the dignity and power that belonged to his office." 4 There was constant friction over his salary, yet "with some presents and large grants of land he managed to redeem his fortunes and after ten years or so to build himself one of the oddest and most spacious mansions in New England," 4 "about two miles from old Strawberry Bank, and situated near the shore of Little Harbor." 4 Originally this house had fifty-two rooms.4 Finally, Governor Benning Wentworth was accused of charging exorbitant fees for passing patents of land, and he was also charged with neglect of duty in his office as Surveyor General; but this was years after he was first hailed as Governor on his return from England, and much that was im- portant occurred in Portsmouth in the interval.
A glance at English history seems advisable at this moment. George II succeeded to the throne in 1727, reigning until 1760. In 1739 war occurred between England and Spain. In 1743 France entered the conflict, and joined forces with Spain against England. It was this that brought about the capture of Louis- burg by the New England colonists in 1745. Peace was made at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 by which Louis- burg was restored to the French, but this peace was inconclusive, especially as it affected India and America. Soon France and England were fighting again. The American colonists and the French were in military opposition to each other in the Ohio Valley, and the conflict that began between them in the American wilderness in 1754 spread quickly to Europe and
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initiated the Seven Years' War in Europe, 1756- 1763, and the French and Indian War in America, which closed only with the Peace of Paris in 1763. During this period Quebec was captured, in 1759. George III succeeded George II in 1760; but he and his ministers had not learned the lesson of successful diplomacy, and the immediately succeeding years brought intensively increasing friction between England and the American colonies. These same American colonies had united and had in a way become national- ized by the stress of the French and Indian War in America. The Stamp Act was passed in England in 1765, and aroused every bit of the national spirit in the American colonies. It was repealed in 1766. The tax on tea, however, followed. Not taxation, but inexpedient and wrongly proportioned taxation, and taxation without representation, was the torch that lit the fire of the American Revolution. 15
Benning Wentworth became Governor of New Hampshire at a propitious moment in the affairs of Portsmouth. The spontaneous development and suc- cess of the town during his administration lent glory to his tenure of office. Early in his administration came the capture of Louisburg, in 1645.7 The attack on this fortress was part of the war then being waged by England against France and Spain.7 William Vaughan of Portsmouth - Harvard, 1722 4 - is said to have originated the idea of the capture of Louis- burg,7 though the resulting expedition was really a Massachusetts undertaking. 4 Vaughan urged Gov- ernor Shirley of Massachusetts to put the plan he sug- gested into effect; but it was because of the executive effort of Massachusetts that the expedition sailed against Louisburg on Cape Breton Island in the early
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summer of 1745.4 Louisburg was "the strongest for- tress in the western world." 4 The land forces were under the command of William Pepperell of Kittery. 4,7 The sea forces were commanded by Commodore Peter Warren.4 Vaughan acted as a Lieutenant Colonel. 4 The total English colonial force was not large, but New Hampshire had only one regiment with it. This: was commanded by Col. Samuel Moore of Portsmouth and had a complement of only three hundred and four men.4 New Hampshire later sent one hundred and fifteen men more to this regiment,4 and she also fur- nished the crew of one armed sloop and had some additional men with the Massachusetts forces.4 Offi- cers from New Hampshire serving against Louisburg were: Lieut. Col. Nathaniel Meserve; Maj. Ezekiel Gilman; Captains Whitton, Waldron, Dudley, Mason,, Seward, Ladd, Sherburne, Fernald, Hale, Tilton and Williams.4 The colonials took forty-two pound can- non balls with them, though they had no guns large enough to hold them. They expected to capture the larger guns to fit the balls from the French, in which they were not disappointed. 4
Without firing a musket Vaughan and a party under him took an important outlying Louisburg battery of thirty cannon, and then bravely defended it against attack until reinforcements came.7 Thus well begun, the siege finally accomplished its purpose, and after forty-nine days, on June 16, 1745, Louisburg sur- rendered.4 "Col. Pepperell was knighted for this exploit,"4 the first colonial who received a baronetcy. "The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle restored the fortress to the French,7 and another siege was necessary after a few years, yet the efforts and sacrifices of the people of New England were not in vain. They helped to
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determine the character of western civilization and to bring all America under the sway of English people." 4 "The very drums which led the triumphal march into Louisburg sounded in the ears of the patriots at Bunker Hill." 4
Sir William Pepperell, Commander-in-Chief against Louisburg, was "of unblemished reputation and en- gaging manners." 7 He was the son of William Pep- perell, a native of Cornwall, England, who emigrated to the Isles of Shoals in 1676, settling there as a fisher- man. He was poor. The story goes that the lady at the Shoals to whom he paid his addresses would not listen to him. He applied himself industrially, the tale goes on, and by frugality acquired enough to send out a brig. "The lady now came forward and gave her consent. After his marriage he removed to Kittery where he became a very wealthy merchant."
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