Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886, Part 34

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 34

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"CANAAN, July 9, 1768.

" PROVINCE " At a meeting legally warned of the proprietors of the OF township of Canaan, in said province, the following votes were passed, viz. :-

NEW HAMHSHIRE

" Chose Mr. George Harris, moderator.

" Made choice of Joseph Craw, proprietors' clerk.

" Made choice of George Harris, first committeeman ; Capt. Josiah Gates, second committeeman; Samuel Benedict, third committee man; John Bur- dick, fourth committeeman, and Joseph Craw, fifth committeman.

224

TOWN OF CANAAN.

" For assessors, made choice of Samuel Benedict, John Burdick and Joseph Craw.

" Chose Samuel Dodge. collector, and John Scofield, treasurer.

" Voted, to raise three dollars upon each proprietor's right, to defray the charges of making and mending roads.

" Voted, that the above mentioned tax of three dollars be worked out un- der the care and direction of the proprietors' committee, to be done by the middle of November, next, and that said committee allow 4s. per day for said labor.

" Voted, to raise one dollar on each proprietors' right, which the proprie- tors will give, with 100 acres of upland to be laid out in the undivided land with a stream, where it shall be judged best and most convenient to build mills, to any person who will appear and build a good corn-mill and saw-mill within sixteen months from this time, so as to have said mills well done and going for the benefit of said town.

" Voted, that the proprietors' committee is hereby directed to lay out to those proprietors as are already settled in the township, ten acres of meadow and also one hundred acres of upland, where they have already made their pitch, to be allowed towards their right or share in said township ; and also, the said committee are further directed to lay out ten acres of meadow and one hundred acres of upland as above said [to such persons] as shall appear to make a speedy settlement in said town ; and furthermore, the proprietors' clerk is hereby directed to put the returns of said Io-acre and 100-acre lots upon record as they shall be laid out and returned by the committee to each proprietor, as aforesaid.

" Voted, that the owners of more than one-sixteenth part of the shares or rights in the township shall make request to the proprietors' clerk, setting forth the reasons for calling said meeting, and also the articles to be acted upon, and of the time and place of holding said meetings ; that the clerk warn a meeting by setting up a notification, agreeable to said request, four days at least before the time of holding it, at the house of John Scofield, shall be a sufficient warning for the purpose.

" Voted, to raise 6s. on each proprietor's right, in labor of proprietors, to be given the first settlers in said Canaan, as was proposed, to give them en- couragement, to be proportioned among them as follows, viz. : to John Sco- field, ye vallew of $26.00; Asa Williams, ye vallew of $18.00 ; Samuel Jones, ye vallew $8.00 ; and Daniel Crossman, ye vallew of $8.00.

" GEORGE HARRIS, Moderator, " JOSEPH CRAW, Clerk."

A young child of Joseph Craw died this year, 1768, and was buried in the ground now embraced in the Street burial-ground. the first death in the township.

In 1769 the charter of Canaan was declared forfeited, by reason of non- compliance with any of its provisions. The grantees sent their prayer to the governor for an extension, and he, considering their hardships, granted their prayer by reissuing their charter, in the terms of the old one. No town meet- ing had yet been held to organize the town. In June, 1770, application was made to Benjamin Giles, one of the king's justices of the peace, at Orford, who issued a call, pursuant to which the people met at John Scofield's house, July 3, and elected the following officers : John Scofield, moderator ; Samuel

225

TOWN OF CANAAN.

Benedict, clerk ; John Scofield, Joseph Craw and Samuel Benedict, assessors; Asa Williams, tithingman ; and Ezekiel Wells, highway surveyor.

The proprietors found themselves involved in the same difficulties as the town in reference to their organization. The charter having been re-issued to them, they applied to Israel Morey, Esq., one of the king's justices of the peace, at Orford, to call a legal meeting of the grantees, which he did, and appointed the 10th of May, 1770, at John Mann's inn, in Orford, as the time and place of said meeting. The meeting was held agreeably to the call, and continued in session two days. They chose John Scofield, modera- tor, treasurer and assessor; Joseph Craw and Asa Kilburn, assessors ; Jede- diah Hibbard, proprietors' clerk and collector, and then adjourned to meet at Canaan on June 12th, and it was continued by adjournments during three and one-half years, very many important votes being passed.

The absence of corn-mills and saw-mills had seriously embarrassed the settlers, and the proprietors had constantly increased the premiums for a builder, until three 100-acre lots were offered, together with the privilege of the water-power selected. This premium was finally accepted by Dr. Ebe- neezer Eames and Nathan Scofield, who built the first mill in the town, on the site of the old tannery at "The Corner," upon . the brook running from Heart pond .. It was completed and opened for use December 1, 1771.

In 1774 it was voted that Thomas Miner have the liberty of pitching one hundred acres of the undivided upland, as encouragement for building a saw-mill in said town. This saw-mill is said to have been erected on Moose brook, south of the road. The land was deeded to Mr. Miner by Capt. Caleb Clarke, Capt. Charles Walworth and John Scofield. This deed is very neatly written, in the fair hand of Thomas Baldwin, and by its terms the people of Canaan were "well accommodated." It is dated " This 15th day of September, - annoque domini, 1777," with Thomas Baldwin and Asa Kilburn as witnesses.

After this period the people suffered no more inconvenience on account of the lack of mills. Jonathan Carlton came in from Amesbury and built mills at Factory Village ; Robert Barber came from New Market and built the mills afterwards known as Welch's ; John Pearley came from Gilmanton and built a mill at Goose pond, and lumber became abundant and cheap.

In 1775 the selectmen sent a letter to the " committee of correspond- ence," at Exeter, by the hand of John Scofield, assuring them of the sympa- thy of the people in the movement for independence, other than which no record appears for this year. If Paul Revere's message was heard in Canaan, we do not know it ; if any of the young town's laborers joined that band of patriots, we do not know it ; the old yellow leaf where the record should ap- pear is a blank ; the whole year went by, with all its momentous events, and nothing was recorded in Canaan.

In 1776 more new names appear. Thomas Baldwin was chosen constable, Jonathan Bingham, surveyor ; Jehu Jones, tithingman; and Asa Williams, 15*

226

TOWN OF CANAAN.

pound-keeper. The pound was located near Samuel Chapman's. Capt. Samuel Jones, Thomas Miner and Caleb Welch were appointed a committee to lay out a burial-place, and selected and laid out the grounds known as "The Cobble," near Jehu Jones's house, on South Road. This closes the record for that great year. That some of the Canaanites did engaged in the struggle for independence, however, is evident from the record of the follow ing very liberal bounty, offered by the town to the soldiers :--

"Voted, that every person who has been in the Continental service, or may enlist the ensuing year, and may be gone through the usual season for busi- ness, shall not be liable to pay any highway taxes for that year he is gone."

Thomas Baldwin was elected clerk for the years 1777, '78, '79 ; beyond this fact, and for a period of six years longer, until 1786, the town records are a failure, nothing appearing, save the notices of marriages, births and deaths, and even these are in an unknown hand. Thomas might have done much for our enlightment, for he was a young man of ability. He gained a great rep- utation in the Baptist church, but as a town clerk he was not a success.

The first settlers, as we have said, were from Connecticut, and came chiefly through the influence of George Harris, one of the grantees who was much interested in the new colony. Williams, Craw, Jones, Crossman, Benedict, the Wellses, Welch, Joslyn, Walworth, Gates, Lathrop, Eames and others came with, or followed soon after Mr. Harris. These first comers located, most of them, upon the ridge of land called "South Road." Their pitches and purchases extending from John Scofield's, near Mascoma river, to the Grafton line, near which William Ayer had built a house. The South Road, then called the "Post Road," was laid out by the county court, and was a continuation of the Post road from Boston to the upper Coos country. It crossed the Mascoma river near Mr. Harris's house, and passed up over Town hill and Sawyer hill, to Lyme, and beyond. The proprietors' committes laid out roads to accommodate the houses of the settlers, and they thus passed over high hills and through deep valleys. There were no wheeled carriages, and as the people all went on horse-back or afoot, the roads were straight, with no reference to the inequalities of the ground.

After 1780, when the soldiers were returning from the war, immigration received a fresh impulse, families from Haverhill, Amesbury, Plaistow, Hamp- stead, New Market, and other eastern towns, were induced to settle here, chiefly through the representations of the friends of the Governor, who had been made grantees, and were anxious to realize some profit from their grant. Among those who came at that time were Jonathan Dustin and his son David, whose descendants now occupy the lands of their ancestors, Parrot and Daniel Blaisdell, William Ayer, Nathaniel Bartlett, Robert Barber, Moses Sawyer, the six Richardson brothers, Joseph Flint, Henry Springer, William Longfellow, Matthew Greeley, Daniel Colby, John Worth, Richard Clark, Richard Otis, Warren Wilson and Joseph Wheat-thirty-eight in all, and thirty-two of whom lie buried here, many of them in unmarked graves.

227

TOWN OF CANAAN.

Capt. Asa Pattee removed to Canaan from Warner, and settled on the farm known as the "Pattee place," located on the South road. This place was first occupied by John Scofield, whose story we have told as the first white inhabitant of Canaan. Scofield remained on this forest home with his family till his death, and was buried on the place. The headstone that marked his grave has been removed to the State Historical Society's room, at Concord, for safe keeping. The first stone chimney and cellar constructed in Canaan now plainly mark the spot where Mr. Scofield erected the first cabin. To this "lodge in the vast wilderness" Capt. Asa Pattee brought his family, and through all these intervening years it has remained a heritage of his descend- ants bearing the name of Pattee. He was succeeded by his son, Col. Daniel Pattee, who was a farmer, and father of four sons and six daughter. His sons were Barnard, Daniel, James and Moses B.

Barnard, the only surviving child of Daniel Pattee, now nearly ninety years of age resides in Canaan, and is a farmer. He married Betsey Howe, and they had born to then three sons and one daughter, only two now living, Daniel Pattee, Jr., second son of Daniel was born in Canaan in 1799, was a prominent farmer and also early in life took an active interest in military and political affairs. At the age of twenty-eight years he was commissioned by Governor Merrill captain of a company of Artillery in the 37th Regt., of N. H. He was selectman of his town several years. He married Judith Burley and they were blessed with six sons and three daughters. One of the sons died in infancy, another at the age of twelve years. The other four and two of the daughters are living. Mr. Pattee was a life-long resident of his native town and died in 1875, aged seventy-six years. Mrs. Pattee survived her husband until May, 1883, when she died aged eighty-three years. The sur- viving children of Daniel Pattee, Jr., are Gordon B., a prominent and exten- sive manufacturer of lumber of the firm of Perley & Pattee, in Ottawa, Can- ada. He married Miss Mary Read, and they are parents of five children, four now living.

Hon. Lewis C. Pattee, the only representative of this branch of the Pattee family now in Grafton county, resides in the pleasant village of Lebanon, and is one of the leading business men of his county. Like his brothers, he had a good academic education. He is now engaged in manufacturing lum- ber in his native town of Canaan, where he first engaged in business, and is also one of the firm of the Woodsville Lumber Company, and a member of the Pattee Plow Company of Monmouth, Illinois, which is an extensive manufacturing enterprise in agricultural implements. Mr. Pattee is not with- out civil honors. In politics he is a staunch Democrat, conservative, not ultra. He has held the position of county commissioner six years, and was elected to the office of sheriff two terms of two years each. In 1858 Mr. Pattee married Miss Rebecca Perley, of Enfield, and they are the parents of six children, four of whom are now living, a son and three daughters. James H., son of Daniel, Jr., in his early manhood emigrated to Monmouth, Illinois,

228

TOWN OF CANAAN.

where he now resides. He organized the Pattee Plow Co., of which he is now a member, and is the inventor of the New Departure Tongueless cultivator, which has been extensively adopted throughout the great West. He married Miss Mary E. Nye, of Monmouth. They had two sons, one of whom died at the age of three years. Henry H. son of Daniel, Jr., also removed to Monmouth, about twenty years ago, and is one of the firm of the Pattee Plow Co. He is also an inventor and patentee. He married Miss Lizzie R. Morgan, of Canaan, who was the mother of one daughter, who died in early childhood, and her mother died in early life. Mr. Pattee married second time Miss Anna Willets, of Monmouth, and they had born to them one son.

Louise M., daughter of Daniel Pattee, Jr., inarried Ithamar P. Pillsbury, and resides in Monmouth, Ill. Mr. Pillsbury is of the firm of the Pattee Plow Co. Mr. and Mrs. Pillsbury are parents of three daughters.

Eliza D., youngest daughter of Daniel Pattee, Jr., married John Q. Perley, of Enfield, and also resides in Monmouth. Mr. Perley is of the firm of Pattee & Perley, manufacturers of lumber in Canaan, and has an interest in 'the Pattee Plow Co. They are parents of one son and two daughters.

James, son of Daniel Pattee, Sr., succeeded to the homestead, and was also a farmer. He was twice married. His first wife was Rebecca Currier, who was the mother of four sons and one daughter, viz .: Wyman, who resides in Enfield, a sketch of whom appears in the historical chapter of that town. James F. Pattee was a prominent citizen, held the office of postmaster ten or twelve years, and was a general merchant in trade in Enfield about twenty years. He married Marion F. Blake, and they were the parents of two children who reside in San Francisco. Mr. Pattee died in 1871. His wife survives him and is living with her second husband, Mr. Flint, who holds a good posi- tion in the employ of the Central Pacific R. R. and is located at San Francisco. Ann R. Pattee married James Currier, and resides in Springfield, Mass. Burns W. Pattee in early years commenced labor as an employee of the Northern R. R., and by his merits alone attained the position of passenger con . ductor, which place he held until ill health compelled him to resign. He is now engaged in the general merchandise business in Enfield, is a Democrat and leader of his party in his town, and has held the position of representative in the legislature two terms. He married Miss Tryphena Leeds, of Canaan. The second wife of James Pattee, who was Miss Rosamond Jones, sur- vives her husband and retains the old homestead, but resides in the village of Enfield. They had born to them one daughter who resides with her mother. Moses D., son of Daniel, was a farmer, married and reared four children, all deceased except Jesse P. Pattee, who resides in Enfield.

Joshua Currier was born in South Hampton, and removed to this town in 1804. He married Mary Farrington, of Amesbury, previous to his coming. He settled on road 64, and resided near the same farm on which he first located, until his death, which occurred June 16, 1871, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. He was a prosperous farmer, and for many years was

229

TOWN OF CANAAN.

a deacon in the Baptist church. He had a family of eleven children, the eldest of whom is Eben F., born in 1805. He married Sophia Noyes, in 1832, and has always lived near the place of his birth, on road 64. He had four children, of whom Moses E. married Arabella Hadley, and resides with his father. Amos N. lives at Iowa City, where he is professor of languages in the Iowa State University. Elizabeth R. and Mary A. both died many years ago. Moses Currier has one daughter (adopted). Eben F. Currier is now deacon of the Baptist church at East Canaan. Amos N. was a soldier in the late rebellion, leaving a professorship in college at the time of his enlist- ment. He served in an Iowa regiment three years.

William W. George was born in the town of Sunapee, formerly Wendall, in this State, in 1807. When a boy he went to Croydon as an apprentice to the trade of manufacturing woolen cloth. He removed to this town in 1832. Previous to this time he married Lucy B Whipple, of Croydon. He, in company with Nathaniel Currier, established the manufacture of woolens at Factory Village, which business they carried on successfully for many years. He afterwards carried on a lumber business a number of years. For fifteen years he was deputy sheriff, doing business in three counties. For a number of years he was first selectman of his town, a member of the State legisla- ture at different times, and was at one time a candidate for State senator. He had a family of five children, one dying in infancy. Isabell married Dr. Asa Wheat, of this town. Harriet S. married James H. Kelly, a merchant for many years at Factory Village, now deceased. Mrs. Kelly resides with her daughter, at Lebanon. Frances K. married Charles Day, a very prominent man in all the affairs of this town. Mr. Day died in March, 1885. He was town treasurer at the time of his death. Allen H. married Jane E. Wheat, of this town. He has been in the railway postal service for seven years, between St. Albans and Boston. Previous to that service he had been in the mercan- tile business in this town. In the late war he served as lieutenant in Co. H, IIth N. H. Vols., and was on Gov. Walter Harriman's staff, with the rank of colonel. William George was one of the foremost of Abolitionists when it cost something to maintain the principles of that party. During the Rebel- lion he furnished a soldier at his own expense, receiving a certificate for the same from Chester Pike, then provost marshall of the third district of New Hampshire. The maintenance of this volunteer cost Mr. George more than seven hundred dollars. He was always noted for his acts of benevolence in all the walks of life.

Elder Nathan Jones was born in Wilmot, September 1, 1818. In Janu- ary, 1845, he removed to this town. Eastman, Balch & Kittridge had started the manufacture of steel hammers at Factory Village, and about 1855 he suc- ceeded William Butterfield in the business. He carried it on for twenty-five years, manufacturing large quantities of nail, shoe, blacksmiths' and farriers' hammers. This business he continued until 1880. He married, first, Polly C. Bailey, of Newbury, with whom he lived nine years. His second wife was

230

TOWN OF CANAAN.

Mary A. Gile, of this town. He has two children living and has buried four. Mr. Jones has been a preacher of the Free Will Baptist denomination forty years. He has spent a busy life, as the record of one year's work will testify. He forged with his own hands 610 dozen hammers, preached 114 sermons on Sabbath days, attended ninety-eight social religious meetings, spent eighteen days in protracted meetings, baptized seven converts, married eleven couples, and attended fifteen funerals. For the forty years of his ministry he has at- tended ten funerals per year. He is now preaching, but not over a settled charge, and is also a farmer.

Harry L. Follansbee was born in Enfield, where he lived until twenty-six years ago, when he removed to this town, settling on road 35, then known as Springer Hill. This name was derived from a man by the name of Springer, having been the first settler in this portion of the town, and who built the first house. It was of logs and on the farm now occupied by Mr. Follans- bee. His grandson, Mr. Follansbee, married Susan Day, a native of Enfield. They had two children, Mary A. and Lewis. Lewis married Florette Peeler, a native of Vernon, Vt., and has two children, a son and a daughter. Mr. Follansbee has always occupied the same farm since his coming to this town, and has always lived within three miles of his birth-place.

Stephen Williams came to this town, from Enfield, about 1797, with his parents, and died here in 1853. He married Elizabeth Longfellow, of By- field, Mass., and had born to him seven children, four of whom are now liv- ing, of whom Samuel was a lieutenant in Co. C, 7th N. H. Vols., during the Re- bellion. He was obliged to resign on account of sickness, and of which he died in Enfield. Stephen was also a soldier during the war, in the 8th N. H. Vols. Lorenzo D. was lost at sea in January, 1838, while on a fishing excursion. William was a farmer in this town and died in 1882. Susan married James Eastman, and resides in Hanover. Mary married Leonard Hadley, and resides in this town. Abraham L. married Chastina Burnham, of Hanover, who died in 1861. He has been a farmer for many years on road 33, where he has built neat and comfortable farm buildings.

Stephen R. Swett was born in Salisbury, June 18, 1820. He removed to Andover with his parents in 1821, where he lived until 1836, when he re- moved to Wilmot. His education was acquired at Franklin academy. From 1840 to 1861 he was a manufacturer of shoes at Wilmot Flat and Andover Center, for the southern trade. In 1861 he entered the service of the United States as captain of Co. I. Ist R. I. Cavalry, which company he raised in this State, which, with three others from this State, joined eight companies from Rhode Island as the Ist Regt. R. I. Cavalry. In 1862 he was promoted major in the same regiment. On account of wounds received at the battle of Kelley's Ford, he was honorably discharged in 1864. Since the war he has been deputy sheriff for seven years, has been a surveyor and land convey- ancer, and has also been town superintendent of schools for seven years. His first wife was Sarah Cheney, of Sutton, who died in 1871. His second

23I

TOWN OF CANAAN.

wife is Sarah Clough, of this town. He was chosen representative from Ca- naan for 1885.

Hazen F. Wooster, born at Maidstone, Vt., July 11, 1846, removed to Manchester with his parents in 1849, and from there to Bristol, and to this town when sixteen years of age. His father was an engineer for many years on the Northern railroad, and also had the contract for sawing the wood for the Northern railroad and Concord and Claremont and Bristol branch for seven years, sawing more than 25,000 cords yearly. He bought the hotel at East Canaan, in 1868, then known as the Granite Hotel, which he kept for seven months, and died there in October, of the same year. Hazen F. was then twenty-two years of age, and thrown upon his own resources, having worked for the railroad company since fourteen years old. When twenty-one he engaged in the purchase and sale of real estate, which he has followed since that date. He has become one of the most prominent men in that business in the State, and it is said has bought and sold more real estate than any man living in the State, of his age. His wife was Chestina H., daughter of Noah B. Hutchinson, one of the brothers of the famous Hutchinson family of singers, of Milford They have two sons living, one son, David H., having died August 17, 1883, aged two years.

Charles Davis was one of the nine children of Samuel Davis, born in Plain- field, in 1824. In 1846 he came to this town and settled on road 65, in the south part of the town. He lived there seventeen years. From there he removed to the farm he now occupies, on road 42. He married Caroline T., daughter of Elisha Miner, whose father, Thomas Miner, was the early settler of Canaan.

LAWYERS.

For a detailed account of the members of the legal profession in Canaan the reader is referred to the " Bench and Bar " in the County Chapter.

DOCTORS.

From its first settlement the town has always been well supplied with physicians. Dr. Ebenezer Eames was the first. He came in 1769. Then came Dr. John Harris ; Dr. Caleb Pierce, who built the hotel now known as the " Crystal Lake House," and died of spotted fever in 1813 ; Dr. Amasa Howard, who built the old house where Mr. Perry's house now stands. He was a surveyor, also, and, after several years left town. Dr. Timothy Tilton came in 1813, and remained until his death in 1836. On his (grave-stone he desired to have engraved, "The Slave's Friend." Dr. Cyrus B. Hamilton and Dr. Daniel Hovey practiced here each a year. Dr Daniel Stark was too poor when he graduated to pay his matriculation fees. He practiced here many years without a diploma, and became a very skillful physician. Then came Dr. Jones, who married Miss Sophia Martin, re-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886, Part 34

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