USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > Haverhill's historic highlights > Part 3
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Captain Hazen came as pre-arranged to join Johnston and Pattie in the spring of 1762. He brought a few other men with him and material for a primative saw mill and a grist mill. These mills were erected on Poole Brook, which was probably the later site of Obadiah Swasey's mill near the present iron bridge on Depot Street in North Haverhill.
While Hazen was traveling the route he was familiar with, via No. 4 and the Connecticut River, Joshua Howard and two others came up the Baker River route and down the Oliverian. They were the first settlers to come here in a direct course from Salisbury. They employed an old hunter at Concord to guide them. They made the trip in four days, traveling west of Newfound Pond.
Early that summer (1762) after Hazen and his men got located, Johnston & Pattie were permitted to go down the river in the canoe they had made dur- ing the winter. They probably intended to go first to Charlestown and then to Hampstead which was their home, but Johnston never made it. Their canoe was wrecked at Olcott Falls, where the present Wilder Dam is located. Johnston drowned and his body was later found on the shore of an island below the falls, which still bears his name. Pattie reached No. 4 safely but was never heard from later.
The only other mention of Webb is found in Wells History of Newbury (Page 17) where he states, "The next year (probably 1763) Webb, who was partly mulatto and partly Indian, was drowned in the river at Newbury, and was the first man buried in the cemetery at the Ox-bow."
Among those who came with Hazen in 1762 were Thomas Johnson, who
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later became a settler in Newbury, Vermont, John White, Uriah Morse, and Joshua Poole. With Joshua Howard were Jesse Harriman and Simeon Stevens. Howard lived many years on the island just north of the present County Farm Buildings, which island still bears his name. He died in 1839 at the age of 99. Jesse Harriman, whose real name was "Jaasiel," a grantee of Haverhill, Bath and Newbury, later moved to Bath and was the first family to settle there. Stevens was a grantee in Haverhill and Newbury and his family later settled in Piermont.
Charles Johnston, a younger brother of Michael Johnston, came to Haverhill in 1769. He settled at the Corner and became one of its most in- fluential citizens. He died in 1813. Soon after he came to Haverhill he visited his brother Michael's grave on the lonely island and placed a simple marker on it.
This, in brief, is the story of the first settlers who came to the Coos Region. They were truly pioneers, bold, courageous and rugged. It also pro- vides a glimpse of the great contrast between marked trails of that era and our modern highways. It is a story of self-reliance and confidence in the future almost extinct in the individual today.
PAGES AND PAGES
Over three hundred and thirty years ago two men came to America from England. Both had the same name, but probably were not related; came from different places, at different times; and settled in different localities. Both landed in the Massachusetts Colony during the summer of 1630.
One John Page (1) moved his family (a wife and three children) from Dedham, England to Watertown, Mass., where he died December 15, 1676.
John Page (2) (John 1) born Watertown, Massachusetts 1639.
Samuel Page (3) (John 2, John 1) born 1672.
Nathaniel Page (4) (Samuel 3, John 2, John 1) born 1702.
John (5) (Nathaniel 4, Samuel 3, John 2, John 1) born 1741.
This John Page came to Haverhill, then known as Coos Meadows, in September, 1762 and stayed through that winter caring for cattle for John Hazen and Jacob Bayley. In payment for these services he was named one of the proprietors of Haverhill on condition he would settle here. Aside from a short time he worked for an uncle, David Page, in Upper Coos (Lancaster), he spent his life from 1762 to 1823 in Haverhill. He had four children, all by his third wife, Hannah.
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The following inscriptions are on the stones in the Page family lot in Haverhill Corner Cemetery.
Here lie the remains of Mr. John Page who was born in Lunenburg, Mass. July 10, 1741:
Came to this town in 1762 and was one of its First Settlers.
He bought the land on which he labored nearly sixty years, and of which he died, possessed
October 15, 1823. Industry, sobriety and integrity, characterized his life Under his hand and the blessing of God the wilderness became a fruitful field.
He enjoyed many years of domestic, civil and religious life, and died in full hope of Blessed Immortality. Here lie the remains of Mrs. Hannah Page, widow of Mr. John Page, and daughter of Samuel and Deborah Royce who died July 29, 1827 aged 70 years.
In her eighteenth year she embraced the religion of Christ, united with the Baptist Church, continued through life an humble persevering follower of the cross, and distinguished patronage of the Missionary and other Benevolent Societies.
John (6) (John 5, Nathaniel 4, Samuel 3, John 2, John 1) born May 21, 1787 in Haverhill, N.H. and became one of her most valuable and honored citizens.
He became prominent in town, county, and state affairs. He served Haverhill as town clerk, was selectman fourteen times, and representative three times. He was registrar of deeds for Grafton County for five years. He served on the Governor's Council, later in the U.S. Senate, and then was thrice elected Governor of New Hampshire, 1839, 1840 and 1841. He was the first Governor of New Hampshire from Haverhill; the only other one was Henry W. Keyes who served from 1917-1919. Page was also our first U.S. Senator and Keyes our only other. John R. Reding 1841-1845 was our only congressman (mentioned in Big Cucumber story) .
During his term as Governor of New Hampshire in 1840 he secured the repeal of the law which permitted imprisonment for debt (which is still lawful in Vermont). During his later years he was active in bringing the railroad
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into this town. He was one of the organizers of the present Republican party in this state. He conducted a large farm and died on his homestead, more recently known as the Laura Page place, in September, 1865. Laura Page was the widow of his ninth and youngest son, Edward L. Page.
The Governor's brother, Samuel, was a very successful storekeeper and farmer in Haverhill. He had fourteen children of whom one was William Hazen Page, father of the late Fred W. Page and the late Charles P. Page, whose daughter, Mildred W. Page still resides at Haverhill Corner.
Another John Page, a single man, came to America from Old England about 1630 and settled in Hingham, Mass. He moved to Haverhill, Mass., in 1652. He married Mary Marsh, of an early Hingham family, and they had eleven children, seven of whom were baptized at Hingham.
Benjamin Page (2) (John 1) had ten children, all born in Haverhill, Mass.
Jeremiah Page (3) (Benjamin 2, John 1) oldest son of Benjamin, had seven children, all born in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Joshua Page (4) (Jeremiah 3, Benjamin 2, John 1) married Hannah Dustin, granddaughter of the famous Hannah Dustin. They had nine chil- dren.
A brother of Joshua, Caleb Page, was the father of Elizabeth Page, who later married John Stark and became famous as Molly Stark.
Joshua Page (5) (Joshua 4, Jeremiah 3, Benjamin 2, John 1) had thir- teen children.
Samuel Page (6) (Joshua 5, Joshua 4, Jeremiah 3, Benjamin 2, John 1) had eleven children. He moved from Haverhill, Mass. to Haverhill, N.H. about 1812. He lived for several years in the Jeffers neighborhood, also known as School District No. 6. Then he moved across the town line into Coventry (now Benton).
James Jeffers Page (7) (Samuel 6, Joshua 5, Joshua 4, Jeremiah 3, Ben- jamin 2, John 1). He was born in Haverhill, Mass. in 1800, lived for many years in Benton, then on a farm on the river road in Haverhill, near the Haverhill-Newbury toll bridge. He had six children. He died in 1884.
James Page (8) (James J. 7, Samuel 6, Joshua 5, Joshua 4, Jeremiah 3, Benjamin 2, John 1). He had three children of whom one, a daughter Ella, married Frank H. Pope, a business man in Woodsville for many years. Their daughter is Mrs. Norman Guttersan, now of Ryegate Corner, Vt. A son, Ernest T. Page is well remembered by many residents of this town, whose daughter, Theda Page Brigham, now resides in Benton.
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Another son, Norman J. Page (9) had five children, all well known to residents of Haverhill. Norman Frederic Page is now a senior vice president of the American Express Company in New York City. Barbara Page Hutchins is the wife of Samuel Hutchins and lives in Brattleboro, Vt. Lincoln Page is a geologist, employed by United States Geological Survey, and lives in Melvin Village, N. H. Miriam Page, a resident of Benton, and employed in the Dept. of Welfare for the State of Vermont, and James Jeffers Page, formerly a geolo- gist in United States Geological Survey, now residing in Benton, N. H.
In nine generations there are seventy-three Page children in this family tree.
Norman J. Page (9), although born in Benton in 1866, was very much a part of Haverhill. His father died when Norman was only eleven years old. He attended school in District #3, West Benton and No. 6 District at East Haverhill, then at Haverhill Academy, then at Dartmouth College where he graduated with honors in the Class of 1895, a member of Phi Beta Kappa. His college education was several times interrupted while he taught school to earn money for his expenses.
In 1899 he received his master's degree from Boston University. He later studied in Harvard, Dartmouth and Grenoble, France. He taught school in Bethlehem, Salem, Henniker, Pittsfield, Woodsville, and Lisbon, N.H. In 1911 he became superintendent of schools for the Bath Woodsville-Haverhill District. He lived in Woodsville from 1911 until his death on February 10, 1930. During the last nineteen years of his life he endeared himself to every resident of Haverhill. He continued as superintendent of schools until his death and established himself as one of the outstanding superintendents in the state. He was President of the Woodsville-Wells River Rotary Club in 1928.
Members of his family assert that the middle initial J of his name was honorary, window-dressing only. At his birth his mother firmly declared he would not be called "Jimmy" yet in honor of the John, Jeremiah, two Joshuas and two James in his own family tree, and also for his Jeffers ancestors and his grandfather, Jonathan Hunkings, he was awarded the very significent "J".
This in brief is the story of two John Pages who came to America over three and a quarter centuries ago, and of their descendents, many of whom played an important part in the history of Haverhill.
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HAVERHILL INDIAN NAMES AND LORE
In most of the early records, the area which is now Haverhill and New- bury was called Cohos, other varieties of spelling were Cohas, Cowass, Kohass, Coos and Corvass. Tradition has it that in the Indian tongue Cohos meant "crooked". It accurately described the course of the river especially at the "Little Ox-bow" in Haverhill and the "Big Ox-bow" in Newbury. A similar crooked course of the river in the vicinity of Lancaster accounts for naming that territory the "Upper Cohos" and Haverhill and Newbury then became known as "Lower Cohos".
"Connecticut" very literally means the long-deer-place or river. The Indian spelling was Quinne-Attuck-Auke.
"Ammonoosuc" was the Indian word for fish-place or river (Indian spelling Namoos-auke). Some of the best authorities spelled it with one "m" and a "k" at the end.
On an early map of the Cohos country published in London (1768) is a stream called "Umpammonoosuck" which means some-sort-of-a-fish place or river. Its present name is Oliverian which is easier to spell and pronounce.
It is unlikely that any Indian tribe ever made its permanent home in the Coos country. Most of the early writers have expressed their doubt about it. It is known that the St. Francis tribe lived on the St. Francis river in Canada but made many sorties through the Coos area. After the Deerfield Massacre (1704) Rev. John Williams was taken through Coos to St. Francis in Canada. Again in 1709 when Deerfield was burned, Thomas Baker was taken there via Coos. In 1752 John Stark was captured by St. Francis Indians and taken to Canada. The further evidence of corn being cultivated on the "cleared inter- vals" prior to the earliest settlement by white pioneers in the 1762-64 period has prompted some historians to express an opinion that sometime prior to 1760 the St. Francis Indians may have had a permanent settlement here. Indian relics of various kinds were found in Haverhill, such as stone arrows, spear heads, stone mortars and pestles which suggest some Indian occupation at a very early date. If they did not live here on a year round basis, they must have spent many summers here to have transformed thick forests into clearings such as reported by Stark, Hazen, Bayley and others. Also they provided hay for Johnston and Pettie in 1761.
Another indication that the Indians were in this area at some time was the old Indian fort, traces of which were still visible on the Vermont side of
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the river when the first white settlers arrived. Also ash heaps and human bones were turned up when the land was plowed.
Grant Powers even reports (pg. 37) that there were amicable Indians on both sides of the river when Johnston and Pettie arrived. Also he states that "trees about as large as a man's thigh were growing in the old Indian Fort" which may indicate it was abandoned at least 20 to 25 years earlier.
Undoubtedly the abundance of wild game and the large variety of fish found here by the early settlers had been among the attractions or reasons for the Indians visiting or living here in the early years. It is known that fine salmon were in the Connecticut river. The brooks were filled with trout. Large numbers of mink, otter and beaver inhabited the river bank, and bear, moose and deer filled the forest. These fish and wild game furnished food for the Indians as they did later to the earlier settlers. Prior to the white man taking over the Coos country it may well have been the happy hunting ground for Indians.
Whitcher (pgs. 9-10) says the Indians of the interior of New England were Algonquins and were called "Nipmucks," fresh-water Indians, by the seashore tribes. There were twelve tribes or families of "Nipmucks." They were always located near lakes or rivers. Some well known "Nipmucks" were the Pemigewassets in the valley of the same name, the Nashuas, Amoskeags, Penacooks, Ossipees and Coosucks who lived and hunted in the Coos country.
Among many yarns about experiences with the Indians in the early days in Coos, is one supposed to be based on an actual event which is reported by Grant Powers and repeated by Whitcher concerning three murder trials of one Toomalek. In two of these trials he was found not guilty once because of no intent (or motive)-and the second time because it was held to be in self- defense. However, in the last trial he was found guilty. Under Indian law the nearest by blood to the slain has to be the executioner. In this case another Indian known as Captain John had to avenge the murder of his own son, which he did with his gun. This was Indian justice with no appeal or delay.
The briefness of this sketch points up the fact that not much is known about the Coos country Indians.
It is interesting to note here that 25 of our 50 states have names of Indian origin. A few examples are Massachusetts (near the great hills), Mississippi (great long river), Nebraska (shallow water), and Connecticut (long river without end).
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COLONEL JOSHUA HOWARD Born in Haverhill, Mass. April 24, 1740 and died in Haverhill, N.H., Jan. 4, 1839.
Among the earliest settlers of Haverhill was Joshua Howard, a grantee of Newbury, who came here with John Hazen in April, 1762, via Baker's River and the Oliverian Indian Trail. With the consent of Jacob Bayley, Howard remained with Hazen. He purchased land from several original proprietors of Haverhill who failed to settle here. This included a large island in the Con- necticut River just north of the present Grafton County farm buildings. This island soon became known as "Howard Island" which name it still retains. It is now part of the County farm property and is excellent meadow land due in part to the fact the Connecticut river overflows it in every high water period.
Joshua Howard was a quiet man who became a highly respected citizen of his town. He was just 22 years old when he arrived and he lived here 77 years until his death at the remarkable age of 98 years, 9 months.
Howard had two companions when he came to Haverhill over 200 years ago (1762). They were Jesse (Jaasiel) Harriman, a blacksmith, and Simeon (Simon) Stevens, both grantees in the Haverhill charter. These three men were the first settlers to come via the Wilderness route (Salisbury, Newfound Pond, Tarleton Pond, and Oliverian) with an old hunter to guide them. Hazen and several others came the same spring from Number 4 (Charlestown) via the Connecticut River route which had been used by Hazen and Bayley the previous year. Upon arrival their first task was to set up a primitive saw mill and a grist mill on Poole Brook. With the boards, plank and slabs pro- duced, they built the first very crude houses. One of the earliest houses was one built for John Hazen on the Ox-bow which is well remembered by many present residents. It was unfortunately torn down about 25 years ago. So many slabs were used in the construction of these early homes that the settle- ment was known as "Slab City" for many years before it was given the more dignified name of North Haverhill.
After a few years Howard established himself on his island where he lived for many years with his wife, Susan, who came from Massachusetts when her husband sent for her. One report says that they operated a hotel for a time on the site of the present County buildings. His oldest son, Joshua Howard, Jr., lived his entire life in Haverhill. He died in 1848 at the age of
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Grafton County Farm as it looked prior to 1900.
60 in the Howard Island homestead. He lived with his parents until his mother died in 1816 (aged 73). After that he maintained the island home and cared for his father until his death in 1839.
Rev. Grant Powers speaks in flattering terms of Joshua Howard in his "History of Coos Country." He describes Howard as a man of strict veracity to whom he was much indebted for material furnished concerning the early settlement of the Town.
Not much is now known about the Howard family. There was a second son, Benjamin, who went to Ohio as a young man. Another son, Rice H., went to live in the South. There was also a daughter, Susanna, who married one Ephraim Knapp.
During his long residence in Haverhill, Joshua Howard was one of its outstanding citizens. He served as selectman and was on the committee of safety. In the Revolution he served as a lieutenant, and he represented his town in the Windsor, Vt. Convention. It is believed that he acquired the title of colonel from service with the State Militia.
By a strange coincidence, four of the outstanding leaders in the early settlement of Haverhill had the same initials "J. H.": John Hazen, Joshua Howard, Jaasiel Harriman, and John Hurd.
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FIVE HAVERHILLS
Of nearly 175,000 towns and localities listed in the World Atlas there are only five by the name of HAVERHILL, an English name. Haverhill, England is a market town in Essex County, eighteen miles south of Cambridge. It is chiefly one long street with large shops, well kept estates, pretty homes with with beautiful lawns and some very wealthy families. How these other Haver- hills came into being is of peculiar interest to the residents of Haverhill, N.H. at this time.
Rev. Nathaniel Ward came to New England in 1634 from Haverhill, England, and became pastor of the church at Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His son, John Ward, was born in Haverhill, England in 1606. After completing his education there he followed his father to New England in 1639 where he hoped to have a church with the help of his father. After a year during which the young man had received no call, the father proposed a new settlement on the Merrimack at a place then called Pentucket. Twelve families from Ipswich and Newbury were persuaded to start building new homes there. This settlement grew rapidly and in October, 1641, Rev. John Ward became their first minister. The Indian Name Pentucket was soon changed to Haverhill in honor of their first minister and of his English birth- place. Clearly Haverhill, England was a township in 1606 and probably much earlier. Haverhill, Mass. dates from about 1641. A period of nearly a century and a quarter elapsed before the next Haverhill was founded.
John Hazen was born in Haverhill, Mass. in 1731 in the north side ot that town. This area was north of the boundary line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts which was established in 1741. That part of Haverhill, Mass., which was north of the new boundary between the two states soon became the Town of Hampstead N.H., which it remains to this day.
The life story of John Hazen is briefly told elsewhere in this booklet. He became vitally interested in an area known to the Indians as "the Cohos Region" which he saw for the first time in 1760. He later obtained a charter for a new town which was named Haverhill at his request, after his native Massachusetts town of the same name.
Today there are two other Haverhills in the United States. One is in Ohio and was settled by a party led by Asa Boynton who went "out west" from Haverhill, N.H. The other is Haverhill, Iowa, settled by men from Haverhill Mass. Thus it appears that all the Haverhills are related. The
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four in this country are off-springs of Haverhill, Eng. Haverhill, N.H. has two ancestors and one descendant. Haverhill, Mass. has one ancestor and three descendants.
These are little known facts which should be of real interest to all-present and future residents of HAVERHILL, N.H.
WOODSVILLE
BATH
-
0
RIVER
10
FRENCH POND
NORTH HAVERHILL
CENTER HAVERHILL
-
BENTON
HAVERHILL
PIKE
EAST HAVERHILL
25
"
-
O
1
2
I
SCALE 2 MILES
PIERMONT
NEWBURY, VT.
CONNECTICUT
-
WOOD POND
- -
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MAJ. URIAH STONE
Among the very earliest married couples to settle in Haverhill was Uriah Stone and Hephziba Hadley Stone. They came from Hampstead, N.H. in 1763, and built a log cabin on the bank of the river, not far from the present site of Bedel's Bridge (our South Newbury to Haverhill Bridge). Stone was a German and his real name was Stein, the German word for Stone. He was a soldier in the old French War. His reputation was that of a man of high character and of great energy.
In the early days of Haverhill's history there were no bridges over the Connecticut River. Stone conceived the plan of the first ferry for public use by Haverhill and Piermont settlers and those of Moretown (now Bradford, Vermont) and Newbury. No lumber was available and no saw mill either, therefore the energetic, broad-shouldered Uriah Stone had to build his ferry boats the hard way. He hewed logs, plank and boards by hand.
His home was washed away by high water and is reported to have landed on the Piermont meadows. Whether he salvaged something from this original log house is unknown. But he is known to have moved his family to a log cabin in Piermont where he continued his ferry business. He cleared and cultivated a large farm there and later conducted a tannery. He raised a family of 13 children. He died and was buried in Piermont in 1819. His gravestone bears the following quaint inscription:
"You may go home an dry your tears, I must lie here till Christ appears."
While Uriah Stone was not a long resident of Haverhill, and did not exert any great influence in the town's early history, however, he is worthy of special mention as the first ferry operator in the town, and even more than that, for his relation to a later important event in history-one of his children was George Washington Stone, who must have been born during the Revolutionary War. George W. Stone later went to Canada where he married. His daughter was Melvina Stone who later became the wife of Rev. William Arthur, D.D. Their son was Chester A. Arthur, who became the 21st President of the United States.
Thus we find that Uriah Stone was great-grandfather of a President of the United States. It should be noted here that Chester A. Arthur is described in history as the son of Rev. Wm. Arthur and Melvina Stone of an old N.H. family. Chester Arthur was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 5, 1830 and was elected Vice President with President James Garfield. Arthur became President when Garfield was assassinated in 1881.
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"HORSE MEADOW"
The origin of this name is given in a book printed in 1841 called "His- torical Sketches of Coos Country" by Rev. Grant Powers .* In 1763 John Foreman and several others, who had previously enlisted in Pennsylvania in the British Army early in the French War and had been retained in Canada after the war ended, deserted and made their way to the headwaters of the Connecticut River, then down the river to the northern part of Haverhill. They were nearly exhausted and had no supplies. They had no knowledge of any settlement nearby and were in search of something to eat when a horse appeared on the plain east of the river. They supposed, of course, it was a wild horse and shot it. After cutting up the carcass and having a good hearty meal, they filled their packs with horse meat and started along their journey only to discover smoke from some houses on what is known as the Ox-bow. They fled across the river.
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