Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886, Part 33

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Company, Printers
Number of Pages: 1266

USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886 > Part 33

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David Bartlett, a native of Newburyport, Mass., came to Campton in 1783, and was the first settler upon the farm where J. M. Calley now lives on road 20. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, married Johanna Hazelton, of Chester, and reared a family of six children. He removed to a place on road 15, where he died in 1844. He was a deacon in the Congregational church fifty years. His son David married Eunice, daughter of Edmond and Eunice (Cook) Marsh. Four of his eight children are living, one of whom, Gardiner S., the oldest son, married Rebecca S., daughter of George and Lydia Burrows, of Bradford, Mass., has two children, David G. and Martha P., and resides on the homestead.

Jeremiah Dow, a native of Newmarket, N. H., served in the war of 1812, was at the battle of Plattsburg Bay, and came to Barnsted, N. H., about

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1810. He married twice, first, Mary Hall, of Strafford, who bore him eleven children, and second, Mrs. Mary Wentworth, daughter of Gee and Phebe (Littlefield) Nason, of Dorchester. Lieut. Samuel H., one of the four chil- dren now living, married Catharine L. Munson, and has reared five children. His eldest son, Walter H., married Clara A., daughter of Luther and Eliza Sanburn Osgood, has one son, Luther O., and resides in Campton. Ernest W., second son of Lieut. Samuel H. Dow, is now located at Knoxboro, N. Y., as a licensed minister, married Blanche Hinman, of Munnsville, N. Y., and has one child, Helen K. Mary C., eldest daughter of Lieut. Samuel H., married Dea. William Chase, of North Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, where they now live. Mr. Chase is a farmer and a carpenter.

William Preston, son of John, is a resident of Cabot, Vt., married Eliza Bradford, and has three children. His son Henry C. married Selina, daugh- ter of Henry C. and Eliza (Packard) Houston, of Thornton, and has four chil- dren, namely : Mrs. Cory N. Bugbee, of Hartford, Vt., Charles M., Fred H. and Herbert R. He resides in this town on road 8. Henry C. Preston was a soldier in the late war, enlisted in 1862, in Co. H, 12th N. H. Vols., and served until the close of the war. Adin Packard was a pensioner of the war of 1812.

Thomas Jefferson Sanborn was born in Sanbornton, in 1812. He was educated at Sanbornton academy, and in early life was engaged in teach- ing our primary schools. He married Relief Rogers Morrison, of Plymouth, in 1841, and soon after was engaged in keeping a hotel at Sanbornton Square. In 1848 he bought a farm in West Campton, to which he removed. He soon after commenced taking a few city boarders, the house then being only a common farm-house. The number of his boarders annually increased, and he enlarged the house from time to time until he could accommodate nearly seventy-five guests, and it is now among the popular summer boarding- houses of the county, managed by his only son, Edward H. Sanborn. While a resident of West Campton he was elected to all the important town offices, was postmaster twenty-five years, moderator twenty-nine years. representa- tive two years, and county commissioner two terms, and discharged the du- charged the duties of every office with the greatest fidelity. He was also quite extensively engaged in the insurance business. He was a great reader and a man of great general knowledge, a member of the Congregational church, a life member of the Bible society, and a good temperance man. He died September 8, 1883, aged seventy-one years. Mr. Sanborn was distin- guished for his fine sense of honor, and at the time of his death it was uni- versally remarked, "A good man has fallen." Many will long remember his kind and gentle nature.

Gideon A. Wallace married Eliza V., daughter of John and Olive A. (Chad- wick) Knowles, and resides at Campton Village.

Sylvester Marsh, the originator and constructor of the Mount Washington railroad, is a native of this town.

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TOWN OF CANAAN.

The First Congregational church of Campton, located at Campton Center, was originally formed by Rev. Selden Church, June 2, 1774, who was ordained the 26th of the following October ; but it was not until 1807, that a strictly orthodox creed was adopted. Some preliminary steps were taken towards erecting a church building, when the Revolutionary war came on and stopped the proceedings. In 1779, the "dwelling of Joseph Pulsifer" was purchased by the town, and fitted up for a church. In 1791 it was moved to a more conven- ient spot, near the Pemigewasset river, re-modeled and made more conven- ient. The present building was raised in 1799, and finished in 1802. It is a wooden structure, valued, including grounds, at $6,000.00. The society now has seventy-eight members, with Rev. Quincy Blakely, pastor. The Sab- bath-school has 112 scholars.

The Calvinistic Baptist church, located at Campton Village, was organized by elders Chapin and Baker, with fifty-one members, in 1812, Rev. Shubael Tripp being installed as the first pastor. The church building, a brick struc- ture, erected in 1826, will seat 250 persons, and is valued, including grounds, at $3,500.00. The society now has 122 members, with Rev. William Bart- lett, pastor. Its Sabbath-school has 114 scholars.

The Campton and Thornton Free Will Baptist church, located in the north- western part of the town, was organized by Elder Horace Webber, with ten members, in 1835, Rev. Moses Fulson, being the first pastor. The church building, a wooden structure, erected in 1853, will seat two hundred persons, and is valued, including grounds, at $1,000.00. The society's present pastor is Rev. J. L. Demont. Its Sabbath-school has fifty scholars.

C ANAAN lies in the southern part of the county, in lat. 43~ 40' and long. 72° 3', bounded north by Dorchester, east by Orange, south by Enfield and west by Hanover. The surface of the land is very uneven, arranged in hills and valleys, much of the hill land being at the present time bare and almost barren, from the denuding of the forests and from unskilled agricultural labor. The earth is very full of stones, there being a very small portion of it which will not yield from each square rod stones enough to build a four-foot wall around it. The soil is good when nourished and cared for. Many of the farmers are poor men, whose necessities compel them to work so much from home that the farms are neglected, and thus their poor lands have grown up to bushes, brakes and hard-hacks. These disparaging remarks, however, do not apply to all the farm lands, as very skillful and thrifty farmers are located in communities, who are proud to show their well preserved buildings, clean fields and nice, growing crops.

The only stream of importance is the Mascoma river, which has its source in the northwestern part of Dorchester. and, after a serpentine course of some fifty miles, empties into the Connecticut, at Lebanon, first passing

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through Mascoma lake, in Enfield. Indian river, called by the early settlers North branch, has its source in the southeastern part of Dorchester, and, after a winding course of twelve or fifteen miles, unites with the Mascoma, in the meadows near Benjamin Norris's. There are several brooks and ponds, the waters of which finally reach the Mascoma, and many of these brooks, after more than one hundred and fifty years' labor by the patient fish- erman, are still alive with speckled trout; but it requires very skillful handling of the rod to make the beauties rise to the hook. Heart pond, near the center of the town, is 1, 150 feet above tide water, a beautiful sheet of clear water, with shallow edges and sandy bottom. It is 560 rods long by 320 in width. On its western shore is a level stretch of land which afforded so much attraction to the early settlers that they laid out, in 1788, a highway eight rods wide and 288 rods long, extending by compass "north 12° east," which they named "Canaan Broad Street," and which name it has always since borne. That strip of highway became the business center of the town- a thriving village, with churches, schools, stores, and traders and artisans who died in the belief that their village was to flourish forever. Twelve years ago Heart pond was stocked with bass and land-locked salmon by the State Commissioners, and these, with the pickerel, afford legitimate and exciting sport. The air in this section is pure and healthful, and in recent years The Street has become a popular resort for city people. Goose pond, in the northwest corner of the town, four miles long, is well stocked with pickerel. Clark pond, in the northeast part, is stocked with perch and pickerel. Mud pond and Bear pond are famous for their turtles, snakes and lillies, and for the wavy, undulating motion of the shores all around them, indicating that a crust is forming over their muddy waters, which will some day be covered by a grassy plain.

The charter of Canaan bears the same date as twenty-two other townships, having been issued July 9, 1761. According to this charter the town was divided into sixty-eight shares, among sixty-two men and six societies. All of these proprietors, except twelve, were from Norwich or Colchester and vicinity, in Connecticut, and intended to become bona-fide settlers. The twelve excep- tions were Gov. Benning Wentworth and his friends in the vicinity of Ports- mouth. Their names were written in the charter through court favoritism, a system of rewards for political services well understood in courts and cabi- nets, and by which men of genius and wit got lands and property without work. Among these court favorites were Daniel Fowle, the printer, two cousins of the governor, and George and William King, merchants.

The charter is an interesting document, its tone being very grand and kingly. Attached to it are the names of the sixty-two original grantees, among them all it does not appear by the record that more than twelve ever visited their grant, Amos Walworth, Lewis Joslyn, Ebenezer Eames, George Harris, Daniel Harris, Samuel Meacham, Thomas Gates, Thomas Miner, James Jones, Samuel Dodge, and perhaps a few others, became residents.

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These gentlemen appear to have made explorations and to have performed various labors, leaving honorable names upon the records. There were also other men than those mentioned in the charter, to whom Canaan was in- debted for opening up highways in the wilderness which enveloped all her hills and valleys.

But few authentic papers exist relative to the early settlement of the town. No diaries detailing the events of daily social life have ever been discovered. Very few letters are extant relating to the prospects or fate of those who came here, many of whom departed hence without leaving their address. The information to be obtained from the public records is meagre. These records give the appointment of committees and the election of officers, whose re- ports, after being " excepted " are not even placed on file. There are votes authorizing the raising of money for various purposes, but it does not appear how the money was expended. Not until 1793, thirty-two years from the date of the charter, is there a record of the taxpayers. The list for this year gives I24 names.

In 1880 Canaan had a population of 1,763 souls. In 1885 the town had twenty-one school districts, thirty-one common schools, and two graded schools. Its twenty school-houses were valued, including furniture, etc., at $2,050.00. There were 317 children attending school, eighteen of whom were pursuing the higher grades, taught during the year by two male and tweny-three female teachers, at an average monthly salary of $33.00 for males and $15.89 for fe- males. The entire amount raised for school purposes during the year was $1,470.92, while the expenditures were $1,534.03, with S. R. Swett, superin- tendent

EAST CANAAN is a post village located in the southeastern part of the town, it is a very thriving little community and a station on the Boston & Lowell Railroad.

CANAAN STREET is a post village located in the central part of the town, on an elevation commanding a fine view of the surrounding country. It has one church (Methodist Episcopal) and a general store.

FACTORY VILLAGE (Canaan p. o.) is a bright little manufacturing village located in the central part of the town.

WEST CANAAN is a small post village and station on the Boston & Lowell Railroad, located in the southern part of the town,

The Cardigan House, George W. Miller, proprietor, located near the R. R. station at East Canaan, is well kept, clean and wholesome, by a courteous and accommodating landlord. A stable is attached, whence travelers may be conveyed at their pleasure into the surrounding country.

The Parker House, at East Canaan, Freeman S. Parker, proprietor, is a nice resort for quiet people. It is pleasantly located about eighty rods from the Railroad station.

The Jerusalem Spring House, E. A. Hibbard proprietor, was built seven years ago, at an expense of $15,000.00. The great attraction is its spring of

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pure ærated water, which boils out from a fissue in the rocks. The eleva- tion of the house is 2,000 feet above the water. All its appointments are neat and tasty.

The Sunset House, near Canaan Street, by Mrs. H. B. Tenney, is a new house for summer boarders. It has accommodations for about twenty guests, is situated 1, 100 feet above tide water, and is easy of approach.

Crystal Lake Hotel is the name of the old tavern on Canaan Street, Mrs. M. S. A. Derby and daughter, proprietors. It was built in 1791; but has been enlarged and repaired so as to make a very desirable resort for sum- mer boarders. It has an elevation of 1, 200 feet and fronts on Heart pond.

Several other farm houses have been fitted up for the accommodation of summer guests, and by the aid of the newspapers the town has been made the home of large numbers of strangers during the summer months.

Peaslee's saw-mill and chair stock factory .- Stephen Peaslee carries on the manufacture of lumber on an extensive scale, at Factory Village, where he commenced business in 1875. He manufactures hard wood lumber, shingles, chair-stock, lath, and dimension lumber of all kinds. He gives employment to fifteen men and a number of teams. He has turned out a million and a half feet of lumber yearly. He has also a steam saw-mill at East Canaan, of the capacity of 10,000 feet of lumber daily. He also has a grist-mill in the same village, which has two runs of stones, and does a custom and merchant milling business.

Fred J. Collins & Co., of Boston, carry on the manufacture of leather- board, at Factory Village, in the factory owned by Stephen Peaselee, and formerly used for the manufacture of straw-board. This business was estab- lished in February, 1885. They employ ten hands, turning out twenty-five hundred pounds daily.

Joseph F. Stockbridge carries on the business of a dealer in granite, and manufacturer of all kinds of cemetery work in granite, at East Canaan.

C. H. Butman's grist-mill, on road 45, a half mile from East Canaan, was built about 1870, is run by water-power, and has three runs of stones.

The story of the first settler in Canaan is partly legendary; but some authentic facts have been obtained concerning him, from his descendants now living in Canada. John Scofield left Connecticut in the spring of 1766, in search of a home. He had worked his way up the Connecticut river, from the vicinity of Norwich, with the intention of going on to Canada. In De- cember, 1766, he was wandering about in the neighborhood of Lebanon and Hanover, and from passing hunters and woodsmen learned of the rich inter- vales, large trees and abundance of game to be found in the wilderness of this town, where as yet no man had stopped for a longer time than was needed to take up his traps. He started for the dew region, hauling his effects on a hand-sled, followed by his wife and three children-two young sons and a daughter-the distance being fourteen miles, marked by blazed trees. He reached the Mascoma river, and crossed it on the ice toward dark. He

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TOWN OF CANAAN.

brought his axe, shovel and rifle, and locating on a convenient spot about a mile from the river, he built a great fire, cleared away the snow, and packed up brush to serve as a night's shelter for his family, then ate a frugal supper, and slept. His first brush house was woven together in the valley, about twenty-five rods north from the school-house, in district No. 10, and, as soon after as possible, he built a log house, in the same place, which served for a comfortable shelter during his first winter here. It was at this place that he was startled by the report of the gun of Thomas Miner, on that eventful morning, in the following spring, which was a signal to him that he was no longer a lone settler in Canaan. Sometime after this event, and before the lands were taken up by the slowly arriving grantees, he built a house nearer the river, where he spent the remainder of his life. The field where his remains now lie was his property, deeded to him by Thomas Miner. He cleared it, and dedicated a portion of it as a burial place. Several young per- sons were buried here previous to his own death, which occurred July 5, 1784. Mrs. Sarah Scofield, his widow, survived him until 1796, and is sup- posed to have been the last person buried there. It does not appear that Mr. Scofield's intention to set aside this ground as a burial place, was ever com- pleted, no record being found of the fact, and when the farm was sold to Capt. Daniel Pattee, in 1803, no reservation was made in the deed as to these graves, and they became the property of the purchaser of the farm.

The family of Mr. Scofield consisted of Sarah, his wife, and three children, Eleazer, twelve, John, Jr., ten, and Miriam eight years old, at the time of their arrival. Miriam afterwards became the wife of Maj. Samuel Jones, one of the early settlers from Connecticut.

Mr. Scofield was a strong-minded, self-reliant man of fifty-one years at this time, and had been accustomed to the comforts of social life. That his labors and virtues were appreciated is evident from the fact that when the proprietors awarded sixty dollars to those pioneers who had contributed most towards the good of the colony, Mr. Scofield was mentioned first of four, his share being twenty-six dollars.

Thomas Miner was the second man who came on to colonize the town. He was a resident of Norwich, Conn., and at the date of the charter, in which he is mentioned as a grantee, he was eighteen years of age. He was a restless man, of great energy and activity all his life ; not much of a scholar, a poor writer, and not always mindful of the courtesies of life. Several of his early years were passed upon the sea. In 1765, at the age of twenty-two, he married Eleanor Lamb, of Norwich, and their first child, Allen, was born in September, 1776. At this time he was out of business, and had consulted with several of the grantees upon the propriety of making a journey into New Hampshire to look after their township. Had he followed his own inclinations he would have been here in advance of Mr. Scofield. There were then no mails, no postmasters ; all communications being passed by private hand. 'He could learn but few particulars concerning the locality.

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Emigrants to the Upper Coös had passed through it by the foot trail, but they could give no description of it except that it was covered with goodly trees, had plenty of stone for building purposes, and that the water abounded with fish and the woods with game, some of it dangerous.

Many of the proprietors, particularly the Harrises,-George, Gibson, and Daniel,-and Dr. Eames, James Jones, Amos Walworth, and Samuel Mea- cham were arranging to come. Joshua and Ezekiel Wells, Sam and Jehu Jones, Lewis Joslyn, and Samuel Benedict also intended to come, and did come afterwards, but were not quite ready then, and persuaded Miner to wait until the spring of 1767, when, they assured him, they would all go together and strengthen and support each other. When the spring opened they were still undecided, desiring to hear something more definite of the territory. Miner told them they were too slow for him, that he should start about the first of April, and if any of them chose to go along, he would be pleased with their company. At his own appointed time he took his wife and child, and such implements as he could pack upon a horse, and with a compass in his pocket to guide him when he became uncertain of the way, he started for the new territory, driving a cow. His journey was a quiet one, unmarked by any disturbing incidents. Arriving at their land of promise, they first camped upon a rise of land afterwards called the South Road.

Thomas took his axe and soon cleared away the brush and arranged the branches of the trees for a shelter. Then, with flint and steel, he struck a light, and while his wife mixed the corn bread he milked the cow, and they soon sat down to their first frugal meal in Canaan. On awaking the next morning, their ears were greeted with sounds as of chopping. Thomas dis- charged his rifle and awaited the result. This was soon answered by the report of another rifle. Working his way cautiously through the bushes, he soon found himself in the presence of our first settler and oldest inhabitant, John Scofield.

After the departure of young Miner, the scheme for emigration often came to the surface with those left behind, but the faith of many was so weak that it was several months before a conclusion was reached, and that was to send up a small company of explorers, who should view the land, observe all its beauties and deformities, and report upon the uses to which industrious men might put it. This party consisted of George Harris and his brother Daniel, Amos Walworth, Samuel Benedict, Samuel Jones, Lewis Joslyn, Asa Williams, Joseph Craw, and Daniel Crossman, several of whom had the courage to bring their families with them. This expedition arrived here late in the summer of 1767.

George Harris, a man of energy and superior intelligence, was recognized as the leader among them. He immediately organized parties for exploring, and in a few days they had visited the southern, northern and western por- tions of the town. These parties returned to Mr. Miner's camp at the time appointed, bringing favorable reports of the lands they had examined.

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In their travels, each one had selected a spot on which to build his home. George Harris, Samuel Jones, David Crossman and Samuel Benedict se- lected lands on "South Road " so as to form a neighborhood. Asa Will- iams, Daniel Crossman and Joseph Craw selected lands south of the cen- ter of the town, and they, having their families along, in imitation of Sco- field and Miner, went immediately to house-keeping under the brush.

Mr. Harris and Mr. Walworth returned to Colchester to convey the result of their observations to the waiting ones. These were not yet ready, how- ever, and did not start for more than a year, except Mr. Harris, who with his wife and two sons, Joshua and Hubbard, accompanied by Samuel Dodge and Capt. Josiah Gates, returned to his new home and busied himself in assign- ing lands, laying out roads and other matters in the interest of the grantees. Before winter set in, each of these families had built log houses and were pre- pared with their slender means to meet the rigors of the season. Fortunately for their comfort, the snow was not abundant and the season was compara- tively mild.

Their numbers increased slowly. In 1776, ten years after the arrival of Mr. Scofield, the total male population above twenty-one years of age was twenty-four, all of whom signed the "association test," by which "we, the sub- scribers, do hereby solemnly engage and promise that we will, to the utmost of our power, at the risque of our lives and fortunes, with arms, oppose the hostile proceedings of the British fleets and armies against the united Ameri- can colonies."

There was much to discourage these new settlers-no roads to pass from house to house, no grist-mill, no saw-mill, no crops to be gathered. The mode of their coming not being favorable to the transportation of food or grain, their slender stock slowly diminished and they began to feel alarm for their future. At Lebanon a mill had been erected. Only a foot trail led there, obstructed by swamps and fallen trees ; rafts of logs served for bridges ; hither a man must walk, work a day to earn a bushel of "bread- corn" and have it ground, then pack it upon his back to his home. We can imagine how carefully that bushel of bread-corn was husbanded. During the winter and spring of 1768 there was but little variation in the labors of the settlers. Some progress had been made in laying out roads, several acres of trees had been felled and the land burned over preparatory to putting in seed. The first legal meeting of the proprietors was held this year. The following is a copy of the record of proceedings :-

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Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886, Part 33

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Company, Printers Number of Pages: 1266

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Company, Printers
Number of Pages: 1266