USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > Haverhill's historic highlights > Part 2
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Benjamin Wright was the third son of Sergeant Samuel and Elizabeth Wright. He was born July 13, 1660, and married Thankful Taylor on March 22, 1681. He became an early settler of Northfield, Massachusetts when it was re-settled in 1682, seven years after its destruction by Indians (1675)
*Benjamin Wright, in his Journal of 1725, mentions "the fort at the mouth of Wells River." There is a tradition that one Captain Wells came up the Connecticut River in the fall of 1704, possibly to negotiate with Indians for ransom of captives taken from Deer- field, Massachusetts when it was raided and destroyed on February 29, 1704. They were on their way to Canada when one man fell sick with smallpox at the mouth of this stream. A small building was erected here, and some of the Wells party stayed there part of the winter. The stream has been called Wells River ever since. This structure was apparently the same as referred to by Benjamin Wright as "the fort." Also, when Er Chamberlin came to Wells River in 1770, he found the ruins of a building just a little above the junction of the two rivers. This may have been the first building erected by Englishmen in this part of New England.
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where his father was killed .** He became a famous Indian fighter (died 1743).
Remembrance Wright, the third son of Benjamin Wright and Thankful Taylor Wright, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, January 26, 1685. He married Elizabeth- in 1710. They had 11 children, including Abigail Wright (April 27, 1719) and Jemina Wright (April 30, 1717). Remembrance Wright died in 1765.
At this point, the family name changes, as Abigail Wright (born 1719), married Richard Chamberlin in 1735. They had 13 children. He died in 1784 in Newbury, Vermont. The date of Abigail's death is unknown, but she was alive in 1795. The Chamberlin family, like the Wright family, was a very substantial one, and can be traced back to great-grandfather Richard Cham- berlin, born in Orfordshire, England in 1620. Moses Chamberlin, a brother of Richard Chamberlin, married a sister of his wife, Abigail. This was Jemina Wright. Moses and Jemina were early settlers in the lower part of the Town of Newbury (about 1772), and remained there until he died on June 25, 1796. Moses was the second son of Nathaniel Chamberlin (born 1716). Richard was his older brother (born July 9, 1714).
The children of Richard and Abigail Chamberlin were (1) Abigail, (2) Joseph, (3) Abiel, (4) Uriah, (5) Er, (6) Nathaniel, (7) Benjamin, (8) Rebecca, (9) Louisa, (10) Silas, (11) Richard, (12) Martha, and (13) Eri.
Some of the direct descendants of Joseph (2) are Hope Jeffers and Undine Waldron of Woodsville, John Leonard, late of Haverhill, Frank W. French, of , Helen C. Dodd and David Dodd of Newbury.
Descendants of Abiel (3) are Frances D. Larty and her late brother, Henry Deming of Woodsville, Bernice Baldwin and her late father, Hammond T. Baldwin of Wells River, Hugh and George Poor of Bath, N. H., the late Nell T. Lang Buffington of Lisbon, the late Mary Louise Mayo of Haverhill, the late Henry L. Bailey of Haverhill, Barbara Jones and her late father. Martin Howland, of Woodsville, Annie Hibbard of Bath, Ted Chamberlin of North Haverhill, Carl Chamberlin and his late father, Waterman Chamberlin, Edwin Chamberlin and his late father, Sam Chamberlin, of Bath, and the late Luther Butler.
Descendants of Benjamin (7) are the late Tracy Robie of Woodsville, the late Carlos A. McAllister, formerly of Wells River, the late Maude Ramsey Dearth of Woodsville, and the late Herman Chamberlin of Woodsville.
** It was natural that Benjamin Wright hated Indians and spent much time hunting and fighting them. When he was only 15 years old his father was killed by them at North- field. And, in 1704, when he was 44 years old, the Deerfield Massacre took place when Rev. Williams was captured and taken to Canada by way of this locality. Williams was later ransomed and wrote and talked a great deal about his experiences.
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Er the fifth child of Richard and Abigail Chamberlin was born at North- field, Massachusetts in 1744, and moved to the town of Newbury in 1762. He married first Fowler 1768. They moved to Wells River in 1770, and were probably the first permanent white settlers there. They had nine chil- dren, all born in Wells River. After the first wife died in 1784, he married Mercy Wright (1785), and they had nine children, all born in Wells River:
Children of first wife-1. Sarah, born 1770; 2. Nicholas, born 1772; 3. Stephen, born 1774; 4. Eri, born 1776; 5. Hardy, born 1777; 6. Dudley, born 1779; 7. Adolphus, born 1781; 8. (son), born 1783; 9. Dudley, born 1784.
Children of second wife-10. Fanny, born 1786; 11. Sophia, born 1788; 12. Elsie, born 1790; 13. Reuben, born 1792; 14. Electa, born 1794; 15. Phila, born 1796; 16. Anna, born 1798; 17. (daughter), born 1800; 18. (daughter), born 1802.
Er Chamberlin built a saw mill, a grist mill, and a blacksmith shop in Wells River. He ran a ferry across the Connecticut River from 1772 to 1805, when the bridge was built. He was one of the incorporators in the First Bridge Company .* Er moved to Ryegate in 1808, and died there in 1830. Er was buried in "Whitelaw Cemetery" in Ryegate. His body later was removed, with the consent of his great-grandson, Lewis Chamberlin, to the Wells River Cemetery. As a veteran of the Revolutionary War, he was buried in the lot for soldiers.
The first child of Er Chamberlin was a daughter Sarah, born in Wells River, November 1, 1770, and believed to have been the first white child born there. She married one Calvin Titus of Lyman (1801). They had eight children. One of her direct descendants is the late Eugene M. Dow, formerly of Woodsville, and the first graduate of Woodsville High School.
Reuben Chamberlin (1792-1883), 13th child of Er Chamberlin, was the great-grandfather of the late Lewis W. Chamberlin of Wells River.
Thus, we find a direct chain of events and relationships which connect this vicinity and numerous people (only a few have been mentioned here) with Captain Benjamin Wright, who first visited the area in 1708, 247 years ago.
*He reserved his ferry rights in case the bridge should be washed away. The first bridge went out by freshet in 1807, and was promptly rebuilt. This second bridge went out in 1812, and was not replaced for eight years. Er Chamberlin operated the ferry until 1817, when he sold his rights to John L. Woods who ran the ferry three years. He is the man for whom Woodsville is named. Woods also bought the Chamberlin home in Wells River which, years later, became the Deming property (now the location of the Cromwell & Veayo filling station) .
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FALL OF MONTREAL
To say that the settlement of the twin towns of Haverhill and Newbury had a direct relationship to the fall of Montreal is not the exaggeration which it might appear to be on first thought. Prior to 1760, the French and Indian War had made the Coos County unattractive for settlement because of the many Indian raids. Charlestown, N.H., then known as "Number Four," was an outpost, and white settlers considered the wilderness north of that place un- safe even for exploration.
Four young officers who saw much service in the regiment of Colonel John Goffe were present when the French surrendered Montreal in September, 1760. They were Lt. Col. Jacob Bayley, Captain John Hazen, Lt. Jacob Kent, and Lt. Timothy Bedel. These men, like many others in the victorious army, were allowed to go directly to their homes from which they had been separated for a long time. Whether others made the trip with them from Montreal to Coos is not known, but one may guess a few privates were along to carry some of these officers' equipment. Both Bayley and Kent left written statements many years later telling of the days spent examining the area which is now the town of Haverhill and Newbury. It was felt to be a good place to settle and that it could be developed as a trading center with the expansive northern area to be later settled.
As soon as these four tired but courageous heros returned via Charles- town (No. 4) to their homes in the Hampstead area, they became very active and enthusiastic in their efforts to obtain charters of two towns in the Coos region from the Colonial Government. Bayley and Hazen had an inside ap- proach with officials at Portsmouth because of their outstanding service in the late war. Both also had influential relatives whom Governor Wentworth wished to aid. Hazen had a brother Moses Hazen, and Bayley a brother-in- law Moses Little, who gave them valuable support and advice.
Between the late fall of 1760 and the spring of 1763 a great deal of planning, strategy and hard work took place. Others were seeking charters for the same area, notably Major Joseph Blanchard and Oliver Willard. How- ever, Governor Benning Wentworth denied Blanchard's and Willard's claim and recognized Bayley and Hazen as being first to apply. A Charter for Haverhill was granted May 18, 1763 and one for Newbury on the very same day.
Hazen and Bayley returned to Coos in the summer of 1761 to make plans
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for their proposed settlement. Hazen came again early in the spring of 1762 and continued to be the outstanding influence in Haverhill affairs until his death in 1774.
Of the four men who explored Coos in 1760, all were named in both Haverhill and Newbury charters. Hazen headed the list in the Haverhill charter and Bayley in the Newbury charter. Each was second on the other list of grantees. Bedel was a settler in Haverhill and Kent in Newbury.
A few similarities are interesting. Hazen was the first Moderator in Haverhill in 1763 and Bayley was the second in 1764.
Newbury's first Town Meeting was held on Monday, June 14, 1763, and Haverhill's first Town Meeting on Tuesday, June 15, 1763. Both meetings were held in John Hall's Inn, Plaistow, N.H. Hall was a grantee on the Haverhill charter but never settled here.
Hazen and Bayley were the outstanding leaders in their towns, after obtaining the charters, until their death. Hazen died in October, 1774, and Bayley in March, 1815.
Jacob Kent moved his family to Newbury from Plaistow in 1763 and remained there until his death in December, 1812, a period of almost fifty years (Wells, Pg. 604). He lived on a large farm (550 acres) about two miles south of Newbury village.
Timothy Bedel stayed with Hazen in Haverhill. He held many town offices and distinguished himself in the Revolutionary War and was later made a Major General. He died in Haverhill in 1787.
It seems clear that had not Montreal surrendered in 1760, these four courageous, strong young pioneers, Hazen, Bayley, Kent and Bedel would not have had any occasion to return to their home via the Coos region. Had they not seen the inviting valley with some land already cleared by the Indians along the beautiful Connecticut River, they would never have become enthu- siastic about getting charters to settle Haverhill and Newbury. If they had not done this, of course someone else eventually would have come along, but it doubtless would have been at a later time and we would not be observing a 200th Anniversary in 1963. What is much more important is that there never could have been four other such outstanding men as Hazen, Bayley, Kent and Bedel, who worked so well together. They had a background of war experience which tied them closely together in their undertaking.
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EARLY WHITE VISITORS
From all known records it appears that the first white man actually to visit any part of Grafton County was Rev. John Williams who was brought up the river a captive after the French and Indians had destroyed Deerfield, Massachusetts on February 29, 1704. He lived to return and published an account of his captivity describing the Coos meadows on the Connecticut River where they camped. Two of the captives, Daniel Hix and Jacob Holt, died here and were doubtless the first white men to be buried here.
One Thomas Baker who was captured by Indians in Deerfield, Massa- chusetts in 1709 was brought up the Connecticut River to Canada. The next year he was ransomed and returned by the same route to his Massachusetts home. The following year he raised a company of 34 men with a friendly Indian as guide and returned over the same route to find and destroy the Indians encamped on the Pemigewasett River. He led his group to the Coos intervales near the mouth of the Oliverian. They followed the Oliverian to the height of land and then a small stream south through the area later known as Warren, Wentworth, Rumney and Plymouth to the mouth of the river. Here Indians were encountered. Many were killed and the rest fled. A rich bounty of furs was captured. Baker and his men withdrew hastily by way of Hill and returned safely to their homes in Massachusetts. Baker's river is supposed to be named for this Thomas Baker. Further proof of this expedi- tion is the fact that the Massachusetts Legislature voted to pay for Indian scalps in 1712 which he took on his trip to Coos and the Merrimack River.
During the next forty years there is no other record of white visitors here. The reason probably was the continuous warfare between France and England with the French colonists and their Indian allies always carrying on open hostilities with English Colonists in America. In 1748 a peace treaty between England and France was signed. Then the New Hampshire Govern- ment began planning settlements in the Conecticut Valley. Charlestown, known as No. 4, had been established and was once abandoned.
In 1751 several hunters came up the Connecticut River from No. 4 as far as the mouth of the Ammonoosuc, examining the country on both sides of the river.
In the spring of 1752 John Stark, later the famous General John Stark of the Revolution, Bunker Hill, and Bennington, with three others were on a hunting trip in the Baker River area. Stark and one Eastman were captured by Indians near Rumney. They were brought down the Oliverian to the Ox-
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bow meadows and then to Canada. They escaped and returned home over the same route.
In 1753 Governor Wentworth determined to send a company of 16 men over the route from Concord (Rumford) to the Coos region known to Stark and Eastman. Stark was guide. They came up Baker's River to Warren Summit and then to the Connecticut River on March 17. Fearing Indians they stayed only one night and returned to Concord. This established a route from Concord to Coos.
On June 15, 1754 Captain Peter Powers of Hollis, N.H. and a company left Concord over the same route established by Stark the previous year. They camped at the brook later named Oliverian, then moved up to the mouth of the Ammonoosuc (now Woodsville) and continued northward to a point above Lancaster. On July 5 they were encamped at the mouth of the Wells River on the west side of the Connecticut River. The next day they crossed the river near the Ox-bow at the Keyes Farm. Then they returned to Concord over the same route they traveled when coming north.
Captain Powers gave a fine report of the Coos region, its fertility and great resources.
The French and Indian War soon broke out and delayed all plans for occupancy of this new country.
In 1759 a part of Rogers Rangers under the personal command of Major Robert Rogers returned from St. Francis in Canada to the mouth of the Ammonoosuc. Expected supplies from No. 4 were not there as planned. Rogers left most of his men and went down the river by raft and brought back boats and supplies. During his absence the men strayed over the area nearby. Several are said to have died here. Their remains were later found by the early settlers.
In early 1760 Tom Blanchard was hired by Governor Wentworth to survey the Connecticut River from No. 4 to the mouth of the Ammonoosuc. This is reported in the Piermont Boundary article.
The Fall of 1760 also saw Col. Jacob Bayley, Capt. John Hazen, Lt. Jacob Kent and Lt. Timothy Bedel stop off at the Ox-bow meadows, on both sides of the river, as they returned from Montreal where they fought in the siege of the city and witnessed its surrender on September 8, 1760. While here they examined both the valley and adjacent uplands. They were so impressed that they determined to apply for two charters for towns on oppo- site sides of the Connecticut River. This they did at once after their return. Also in 1762 Major Joseph Blanchard and others applied to Governor Went- worth for charters to the Ox-bow towns. The Governor recognized Hazen and Bayley in 1763 when the charters were given.
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Both Hazen and Bayley came to Haverhill and Newbury in the summer of 1761 to make more careful examination of the area. It was agreed at that time that Hazen would settle east of the river and Bayley on the west (more about the charters later in another chapter). Hazen returned to Hampstead and hired three men to come to Coos with some cattle that Fall. They are said to have arrived here in October, 1761, and to have cut no less than ninety tons of hay on clearings on both sides of the river. They built rough shelters for themselves and the stock. They are doubtless the first white people to spend a winter in Haverhill.
JOHN STARK AND HAVERHILL
1728-1822
Archibald and Eleanor Stark, emigrants from the north of Ireland, were among the original settlers of Dunbarton later called Starkstown. On August 28, 1728 their fifth child, John Stark, was born in Londonderry. Their home burned in the Spring of 1736. On June 15, 1736 Archibald Stark bought 30 acres of vacant land near Amoskeag Falls. By 1750 he owned 600 acres.
The early life of John Stark was that of a frontier woodsman and hunter. He lived with his father until 1752, when he went on a hunting expedition to Baker's River, now Rumney, New Hampshire, where on April 28, 1752, the party was surprised by a group of 10 St. Francis Indians, and John Stark, not quite 24 years old, was captured together with Amos Eastman.
The Indians took John Stark and Eastman to Coos, now Haverhill, where they camped one night on the Ox-bow Meadow by the Connecticut River. John's older brother William and David Stinson were in this hunting party. William escaped and Stinson was killed. Stinson Lake was later named for him.
Then the party moved up the Connecticut River to Upper Coos (Lan- caster). Three of the Indians took Amos Eastman directly to St. Francis in Canada. The others hunted along the John's River and kept John Stark with them. They arrived at St. Francis June 9, 1752. John Stark reported he was well treated during the six weeks he was held captive. Then two men arrived from Massachusetts, who were sent to redeem some Massachusetts captives. These were not at St. Francis, but they were persuaded by John Stark to ran- som him and Eastman for a price of $103.00 for John Stark and $60.00 for Eastman.
In early March, 1753, John Stark was sent out from Rumford (Concord)
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by Governor Wentworth to establish a route, or more properly, to blaze a trail from Concord to the Coos Region. This trip took 19 days on snowshoes. Following this expedition, John Stark did much talking about the fertile valley of the Connecticut and the Coos Region. He may properly be called the original and first booster of the region.
In 1754 John Stark led a party of 30 men to the Oxbow over the route he had blazed the previous year, and continued on to the Upper Coos over the route he traveled as a captive of the Indians two years earlier.
In the years that followed, John Stark was active in many Indian scouting expeditions with the famous Rogers' Rangers. During this period, he became very friendly with Caleb Page, a lieutenant in Rogers' Rangers. Caleb Page introduced John Stark to his sister, Elizabeth Page, who later became his wife, and achieved lasting fame as "Molly" Stark. Caleb Page was killed near Lake George, New York, and John Stark had the sad duty to report his death to his sister Elizabeth in Dunbarton.
John Stark served as a second lieutenant, then as first lieutenant, under Rogers. He was made captain on March 8, 1757, following the battle of Fort William Henry. Later he returned to Amoskeag Falls with a very strong anti- pathy for the British. He was married in 1758. Their first child was born in December 1759, and named Caleb for his friend, and his wife's brother, Caleb Page. The second son was Archibald, named for his grandfather, Archibald Stark, who died in 1758. John Stark settled his father's estate, and paid all his bills by the end of 1761.
John Stark continued as a farmer at Derryfield (now Manchester) until the news of Concord and Lexington reached him in April, 1775. He left at once on horseback for Massachusetts. Many of his New Hampshire friends and neighbors followed him to Cambridge where, on April 26, 1775, he was made a full colonel of over 700 volunteers, nearly all from New Hampshire frontier towns, by the Massachusetts Government. He played a prominent part in the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, and had his two young sons, Caleb and Archibald, with him. Colonel Stark and his New Hampshire volun- teers remained at Winter Hill (now Somerville) until after the evacuation of Boston by the British nearly 11 months later, on March 17, 1776.
Of particular interest to Haverhill residents is the fact that Caleb Page and his sister, Elizabeth Page "Molly" Stark were brother and sister of Joshua Page who married Hannah Dustin, granddaughter of the famous Hannah Dustin. The late Norman J. Page was a fifth generation descendant of Joshua Page, which makes the children of Norman Page, most of whom now live in Haverhill and Benton, eighth generation descendants of Hannah Dustin.
The brilliant career of General John Stark during the entire Revolution-
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ary War is well known to all. His success at Bennington, 1777, is perhaps best known. A toast sent by John Stark to a veterans' meeting there in 1809 was, "Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils." This was the source of the New Hampshire motto, "Live free or die," adopted by the New Hamp- shire Legislature in 1945.
John Stark died May 8, 1822 at the remarkable age of almost 94. Molly Stark died June 29, 1814, almost eight years before her famous hero husband.
It is of interest, also, that the State purchased 100 acres of the John Stark farm in 1858 for a reform school, now the New Hampshire Industrial School. Also, on December 20, 1865, the school building and the John Stark home were totally destroyed by a fire believed to have been set by boys of that school.
The statue of John Stark in front of the State House in Concord, and his picture on the Senate Wall Mural by Faulkner, should mean more to all citizens of Haverhill, as they realize his connection with their town.
JOHNSON, PATTIE AND WEBB
While sitting comfortably before a TV set it is difficult to realize that only 200 years ago there were no TVs, radios, autos, airplanes, electric lights, highways, wagons, boats or telephones -- in fact there were no white settlers or domestic animals in the Coos Region. There were a few friendly Indians and an abundance of wild game and fish. However, in 1761 plans were under- way to purchase young stock and steers. and to hire young men and equip them to drive the cattle to the Coos country from Hampstead, New Hamp- shire. Hampstead is the area separated from Haverhill, Massachusetts by the new boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire (established in 1741) and officially named in 1749.
In August, 1761, Michael Johnston and John Pattie started out from Hampstead for No. 4 (Charlestown)-One report includes the name of Abra- ham Webb's making this trip. They came to Coos over a route spotted by surveyor Blanchard in 1760 from No. 4 on the east side of the Connecticut River. They arrived in October 200 years ago. Their first task was to con- struct a crude log shelter for themselves and their cattle before winter overtook them. It is certain that these men had a long, lonesome winter. By enduring the severe hardship of this wilderness, they earned the unique distinction of becoming the first white men to settle in this entire area.
As early as 1754 Captain Peter Powers led a party in exploration of the "Great Valley." He came from Penacook, later known as Rumford, and in
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1762 it became Concord. A journal of his trip is recorded in Rev. Grant Powers' History (pages 17-32). He reported several clearings in the area where Indians had raised corn.
Again in 1760 after the fall of Montreal to Hampstead, John Hazen, Jacob Bayley and others came down the Connecticut River and saw these clearings and were much impressed. The next spring Captain Hazen returned to the Oxbow area to consider settling there. On his return to Hampstead via No. 4, he hired several men to go to Coos to cut and stack the hay on these clearings. Reports say that nearly 90 tons of hay were thus made available for winter feeding of the cattle by Johnston and Pattie.
During the long cold winter at least 60 miles north of No. 4, the nearest white settlement, Johnston and Pattie were doubtless very busy keeping them- selves warm, caring for the cattle, breaking the steers so they would be ready for spring work, and making a canoe, probably of saplings and birch bark for use on the river in the spring. They also must have done some hunting and fishing to provide some fresh food.
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