USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Lyndeborough > Historical address given at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the town of Lyndeborough, N. H., September 4, 1889 > Part 2
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The subject was finally left to a board of commissioners from Nova Scotia, New York, Rhode Island, and New Jer- sey, who met at Hampton, Angust 1, 1737. The legisla- tive assemblies of the two provinces met also within five miles of each other, one at Hampton and the other at Salis- bury. The occasion was one of great pomp and parade. No doubt this procession, with the governor riding in state attended by the great and general court, was an impos- ing speetaele, which at the time was made the subject of burlesque in true Hibernian style :
Dear Paddy, you ne'er did behold such a sight As yesterday morning was seen before night. You in all your born days saw, nor I didn't neither, So many fine horses and men ride together. At the head, the lower house trotted two in a row, Then all the higher house pranced after the low ;
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The governor's coach galloped on like the wind, And the last that came foremost was troopers behind, But I fear it means no good, to your neck or mine, For they say, 'tis to fix a right place for a line.
This commission did not settle the dispute; but it was decided by his majesty in council, March 5, 1741, sustain- ing practically the claims of New Hampshire, the line run- ning west from a point three miles north of the mouth of the Merrimack and parallel to it, to a point three miles north of Pawtucket Falls, now Lowell, then a straight line due west. This brought Salem Canada within the limits of New Hampshire.
But the settlement of this vexations question soon brought the proprietors of Salem Canada into still deeper trouble, for they found that their township was within the limits of an old grant made to John Mason in 1629, from the council of Plymouth, England, and confirmed Angust 19, 1635, by King Charles the First. For a long time this grant remained unclaimed, but finally John Tufton Mason, a great-grandson of John, succeeded in bringing his claims to the attention of the government and having them allowed. Then he sold his title in 1746 to twelve men, residents of Portsmouth and vicinity (who have been already mentioned as the Masonian proprietors).
As soon as the proprietors of Salem Canada found that their title to the township might be disputed, they sent a strong committee to Portsmouth with full power to settle with the Masonian proprietors on the best terms they could. Meanwhile the matter was complicated still more by the grant which the Masonian proprietors made, of a town called Number 2, now Wilton, that covered quite a portion of the south part of Salem Canada. The Masonian proprietors agreed, however, to give a quitclaim deed to the proprietors on two conditions,-first, that they should take land to the north of the township in place of that
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covered by the grant to Number 2, and second, if the Masonian proprietors could have reserved for them three farms, one of five hundred acres, and two of one hundred and fifty aeres each, and also have reserved to them, free from all charges and incumbrance of settlement or taxes until improved, six thousand and sixty-six acres of undi- vided lands.
This new grant did not interfere in any respect with the rights of the settlers already in the township, nor with their division lines. The old plan of Salem Canada, with lots and bounds, was retained in the new title, so far as they covered the territory, the new grant being simply a quitclaim deed to secure a perfect title to the land. The same proprietors continued in office, and held their meet- ings in the same place, but as the name of the township was cumbersome, and as Benjamin Lynde, Jr., owned sev- eral rights in town and had shown a deep interest in its settlement, they gave to the township the name of Lynde- borough, and the new grant was dated Dec. 5, 1753. The grant was signed by Joseph Blanchard as agent for the Masonian proprietors, and the modified township was to contain twenty-eight thousand acres with lots reserved for minister, ministry, and schools.
The township of Salem Canada was to be of the con- tents of six miles square, though it was neither a square nor a rectangle. It was nearly square with the exception of a large corner missing, toward Boystown, or New Boston. The south-east corner, as nearly as can be ascertained with- out running the lines, was a little north of the Deacon Bartlett place on the road to Milford. The south line, run- ning from that point west, passed back of the Congrega- tional church in Wilton, crossing the Forest road not far from Mr. Levi Putnam's mill, running past the old north burying-ground in Wilton, and a little to the south of the present county farm to a point south-west and near to the Benjamin Whiting house in Temple, about half a mile
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from the county farm. The west line extended north to a point not far from the Dr. Fitch place, a short distance east of Greenfield Centre. The north line extended north of the summit of the Pinnacle to New Boston fine, then after leaving to that town the north-east corner, already described, it passed south along the Amherst line, now Mont Vernon and Milford, to the point first mentioned.
The town as thus laid out was well situated and propor- tioned, and gave good promise of becoming a prosperous and thickly settled community, but circumstances doomed it to be stripped of its fair proportions, and it came very near utter destruction. The Masonian proprietors invaded it on the south, and took a large slice for Number 2, or Wilton, in 1749. In 1764 there was an attempt made to divide the town at Boffee's mountain, so called, thus form- ing a town on each side. At another time it was proposed to divide the town by a line running north-east from the north-east corner of Wilton, near the residence of Mr. Joel Perham, to a point on the New Boston line.
In 1780 three families petitioned to be set off to Amherst north-west parish, now Mont Vernon, and about the same time others in the south-east corner desired to be joined to what is now Milford. June 15, 1791, the north-west portion of the town was set off to help form Greenfield. June 11. 1796, the south-west corner was taken to become a part of Temple. June 5, 1853, a large slice was annexed to Mont Vernon, and finally, June 27, 1873, another portion was taken by Milford.
It is said that Lyndeborough has more corners in its boundary than any other town in the state, and Dr. Her- riek said in his poem concerning its outline,-
Thus we have been pinched and hackled all raw,
Which leaves us in shape of a circular saw With a piece broken off; and yet we are here, And keep on our course, in hope, without fear.
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We are now prepared, after this long preliminary state- ment, to look at the town itself, and to trace, so far as we can, the first movements toward a settlement of Salem Canada. When the grant was made in 1735, the fifteenth in the state, it was in reality the planting of a town in the wilderness. There were then no other towns located in Hillsborough county north of Dunstable, or Nashna, with the exception of Narragansett Number 3, or Amherst and Bedford, and no towns to the north and west settled nearer than Keene and Winchester (then called Arlington ). The grants of Amherst and Bedford, as Narragansett Num- bers 3 and 5, were made two years before, and settlers had already taken up land. It is thought that there were not more than 10,000 people in New Hampshire in 1730.
The first thing to be done after laying out the town was to open a road toward its centre and through the home lots, as they were called. These were located in the south- east part of the township, in what is now Perham and Johnson corner. The usual plan of a town was to have the settlers locate on small or home lots at first, so that they might be near each other for mntnal protection; but when the first settlements were made in Salem Canada, it was thought that all danger from the Indians was over, and so the settlers took their best land in different parts of the town.
At the second meeting of the proprietors, November 21, 1737, they voted to clear a road to the centre of their town- ship from Amherst, and to let out the building of the road " by the great," that is, by the job. They also voted that "upon Mr. Cornelius Tarbell and Mr. Joseph Richardson's clearing a good and sufficient eartway from the place where Mr. Timothy Cummings left off clearing a way from Mr. Waltron's in Narragansett Number 3. to or near Wain- woods brook, and to clear said way to or near the centre of said Canada township and building a good bridge over said Wainwoods brook, and laying the bodies of trees and
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making good passable causeways over miry places and over gullies and small brooks, so that a laden cart may pass con- veniently, that the said Tarbell and Richardson be paid fifty-eight pounds."
Mr. Waltron lived a mile south of Amherst centre. The road thus opened entered the township near its south-east corner, and the brook called Wainwood's was the one formed by the union of Purgatory brook and the one that flows out from the Badger pond down through Johnson corner. The proprietors' records speak of Trail's brook, which was probably the branch just mentioned flowing from the pond, as the trail followed near it into town ; and Half-way brook is also mentioned, which might mean Pur- gatory brook, as half-way between the two grants, Narra- gansett Number 3 and Salem Canada. This first road came up by what used to be called the crotch of the brooks and into Johnson Corner by the place formerly occupied by John Carson, south of David Clark's; after passing Willis Perham's place, and near the Israel Curtis place and George Rose's, it came out at what was then the centre of the town, Putnam hill in South Lyndeborough, near where Mr. Edward H. Putnam now lives.
The next year, December 26, 1738, they voted twenty pounds to John Cram and the lot thirty-nine, "on condi- tion that he build a good and sufficient saw-mill on said lot and cut boards for the proprietors at the halves, or equivalent for such as shall bring logs. To be finished on or before the last day of August next, and kept in sufficient repair for sawing during the term of fifteen years." The next year, May 28, 1739, the proprietors voted that " the committee be empowered to take bond of Mr. John Cram for his performing the condition of building a saw-mill on the terms previously voted, only the said Cram have lib- erty of building said mill on his lot, Number 41, it being represented that there is the best and most convenient place for a saw-mill."
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The first place proposed for the mill (on lot 39) was on the stream west of the south village, and the place chosen was east of the south village, just below where a mill now stands, south of Putnam hill. There is no record that Mr. Cram built the mill, but not long after that stream is called Saw-mill brook ; and as he had given bonds to build, he no doubt did so within a few years. But it was not built within the time mentioned, for May 9, 1740, nine months after the specified time, Nathaniel Putnam presented the following petition to the proprietors :
The petition of Nathaniel Putnam (one of said proprietors) hun- bly sheweth, That he hath lately builded a good saw mill in said town at his own cost and charge, and as he apprehends will be of great service to the said proprietors now before any other saw mill will be erected and fitted for sawing, he therefore most humbly prays that the said proprietors would give him some consideration as they in their wisdom shall see meet, and as in duty bound shall ever pray.
[Signed] NATHANIEL PUTNAM.
The proprietors voted a consideration of ten pounds to Mr. Putnam, which was paid the following year, September 15, 1741.
This first saw-mill in Salem Canada was in all probabil- ity just above Barnes's falls in Wilton.
The following record is found dated March 7, 1739 :
It being represented to the proprietors that it is proposed by some of the proprietors of the Ashuelots (afterwards Keene) to ent and bring the road from said townships across the woods and so into this Canada township which if effected may be of great advan- tage to this propriety : wherefore voted, that to encourage the bring- ing of said road from the Ashuelots into this township, this propri- ety engage and will make a good and sufficient way from the place where the said road is brought into this town to the end of the road cleared by Tarbell and Richardson to or near the centre of said township.
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A committee was chosen, and the work of opening a horse road was completed in a short time. It was improved subsequently, and must have been highly appreciated by the settlers. It passed from Putnam hill by Emery Holt's place, around Stephenson hill, and by David Grant's and Deaeon MeIntire's over the mountain, and was the first and only road for many years to what is now Greenfield.
But there were untold difficulties that hindered the rapid settlement of the town. The country was a wild, unbroken forest. There were no neighbors nearer than Amherst, and no grist-mill nearer than Dunstable or Nashua, for a long time. A settler would start in the morning with a bag of grain on his shoulder, and make his lonely, toilsome way to Dunstable and back in two days, if prospered on his jour- ney. The renewal of hostilities between the French and English brought terror to those scattered families, because of the atrocity of the Indians.
In the first year of the war, New Hampshire furnished Amherst and Salem Canada each with a scout, and they also had a guard of soldiers from Massachusetts. May 13, 1747, Sonhegan West, or Amherst, petitioned Governor Wentworth and the General Court of New Hampshire for a guard of soldiers to act as scouts, saying that " the diffi- culty of war happening so early on our settlements, and the defenceless state they are in, has obliged them all, namely, Peterborough, Salem Canada, New Boston, and Hills- borough, so called, entirely to draw off as well as the forts on the Conn. river." This indicates that the settlement of Salem Canada was sadly broken up in the first fifteen years of its history. It is shown also by the records that some of the children of these first families were born in other towns. The second child of Ephraim Putnam was born in Salem; the oldest child of Melchizedeck Boffee was born in Litchfield; the oldest son of Jacob Wellman was born in Dunstable, because, as the family record says, " his
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parents had gone there on account of the depredations of Indians."
There are many traditions in town concerning the incur- sions of the Indians, but there was no loss of life so far as can be ascertained. More or less persons were killed at Salisbury, Charlestown, Hopkinton, Keene, and Walpole, but nothing authentic has been found concerning hostile Indians nearer Salem Canada than Peterborough and Hills- borough. Tradition says that there was a fort or block- house on Putnam hill, but nothing has been found in the records of the proprietors or of the town that confirms the story. It is probable, however, that the building, put up for a church and never finished, was used for such a purpose. It is said that the Boffee family, hearing the firing of guns one day, and supposing that there was an attack on the fort, fled to Amherst for safety, but found afterwards that it was a false alarm. Tradition says that the Indians vis- ited Jeremiah Carleton's family, and so frightened them by killing their live stock that they went to Connectient and remained for several years. This story of the heroic con- duct of Ephraim Putnam's wife has been handed down in the family :
Mrs. Putnam and daughters and a boy were left in the fort one day while the men were away at work. Seeing an Indian approaching, she stationed the children in different parts of the building and began calling the roll. As the children replied in different places and tones, the Indian supposed the men were all inside. The same Indian re- turned after peace was declared, and told of his surprise when he heard the calling of the roll. It is said that the early settlers used to ascertain each others' welfare by blowing a conch shell each morning at sunrise. The skele- ton of an Indian was found in a sand-bank on the north shore of Badger pond in 1848, but no evidence of a per- manent camp has ever been discovered.
Other traditions might be given, but history is of more
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value than legends, though not so romantic. We are pre- pared now to speak more definitely of some of the early settlers, and to touch briefly their record.
EARLY SETTLERS.
John Cram stands at the head of the pioneers of the set- tlement, and well deserved to have his name embahned in that of the town. Cramborough might not be as euphoni- ous as Lyndeborough, but it would be a significant and well deserved name, and would have given credit where credit is due. John Cram and his wife Sarah, with married sons and grown-up daughters. came from Wilmington, Mass., where he owned a farm, and at once set to work to make homes for himself and children. He and his oxen are mentioned as doing the first work in cutting roads and drawing logs for the meeting-house. His lot covered the east part of Putnam hill at the centre of Salem Canada, and he donated ten acres of it next to the meeting-house for the use of the town. He is mentioned by the proprie- tors as one of the first settlers, and when he met with severe misfortune in the loss of cattle, in the winter of 1740-'41, the proprietors voted him a gratuity of fifteen pounds out of their treasury. He was chairman of the committee chosen to secure the first preaching in town. and was identified with all the interests of the settlement. He sold his home farm ou Putnam hill in 1753 to his son-in-law, Ephraim Putnam. His wife died in 1757, and he passed away at Amherst in 1759, aged about eighty years.
John Cram's son Jonathan, and his wife Mary, daughter of Daniel Chamberlain, took up land at the same time with his father, and settled the next lot south of where his descendants Joseph and James Cram lived. Benjamin, another son of John, and Elizabeth his wife, settled on lot 54, where Mr. Sargent lives. Another son, John, Jr., and
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his wife Mary, improved land where Artemas Woodward lived, but settled in what is now Wilton, not far from Jacob Putnam's, where his brother-in-law, Ephraim Put- nam, had lived. Still another son, Joseph, owned the Emory Holt place, but probably had no family, as his broth- ers and sisters deeded seventy-five aeres of the south part of their father's lot 41, April 8, 1768, to Jonathan Cham- berlain, for caring for their brother Joseph and giving him Christian burial. He died December 24, 1794. aged eighty- seven.
Phebe, a daughter of John Cram, married Moses Stiles, and settled on lot 42, east of the south village cemetery. Sarah, another daughter, married Ephraim Putnam (son of Nathaniel, one of the proprietors of the town), who settled near his brother Jacob in what is now Wilton, near the pres- ent Jacob Putnam's. This Ephraim, afterwards deacon and prominent in the history of the church and town, remained with his father for some time, but took a deed of the home farm of Jolm Cram, his father-in-law, February 23, 1753. It is probable that the house was on the top of the hill near Mr. Edward H. Putnam's. Most of the children of John Cram had large families, and many of his grandchildren settled in town. Jonathan, son of Jonathan, lived at one time on Charles Boutwell's place ; David, another son of Jonathan, and Mary Badger his wife, located where his grandson Luther lives; and Jacob, another son of Jona- than, who married Isabel, daughter of John and Jennie Hutchinson, settled ou the. Harwood place now owned by Mr. Melendy.
Without dwelling longer on the history of the Cram family, it is evident that Cramborough would have been a very appropriate name for the town.
One of the first settlers in town was John Hutchinson. of Litchfield, who July 10, 1736, gave a bond to Jonathan Peal, of Salem, Mass., one of the original proprietors, that he would have within four years on home lot 60, where
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Charles Perham now lives, a dwelling-house 20 by 18, and cleared, broken up, and brought to and fenced in. twelve acres. When the deed was given, September 27, 1760, the statement is made that these conditions were fulfilled.
Another of the first settlers was Melchizedeck Boffee and Margaret his wife, from Londonderry, who improved the land on the hill east of David Clark's. but who bought. January 30, 1744. ninety acres of land where David Grant lives. Several of his family settled in town, and two sons at least, Lieutenant Thomas and John. were in the Revolu- tionary war.
David Stephenson and wife settled on the farm still called by that name, and owned early in the history of the town the lots north and north-west.
Jacob Putnam settled on second division lot Number 3. where Jacob Putnam now lives in Wilton.
John Dale, Jr., settled on home lot Number 11. the Abel Fisk place, now owned by 'S. H. Dunbar in Wilton, and John and Mary (McFarland) Badger on home lot 10, just east of John Dale's, taking deed of his lot July 2. 1739. The sad story of his life has been well told in the history of Wilton. His son, David, and his wife Rachel settled on the James Karr place. north of the Badger pond, and Rob- ert and his wife Hannah on the hill where Nathan Richard- son lives, and Mary, the daughter, married David Cram.
Samuel Leman (of Wilmington, Mass., dish-turner, son of Samuel and Margaret (Hutchinson) Leman, of Charles- town. born August 16, 1691) married Mary Bryant, and settled, probably in 1736, on lot 59. south of D. C. Grant's. and his son Samuel, Jr. (born September 9, 1721. and who married Love Wheeler, November 7. 1746), settled on David Grant's farm. but soon sold to Melchizedeck Boffee. and probably moved to Hollis. On the plan of the town two lots near the Artemas Woodward place are marked as owned by Dr. Leman, but whether or not he was Abraham. son of Samuel, has not been ascertained.
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Timothy Cummings, son of Timothy, of Marblehead, Mass., settled on his own right, very likely his home lot 26 in Perham Corner. He was the first to work at clear- ing a road into town, and his wife was paid twenty-five shillings for the use of her pewter, and for her service at the raising of the first meeting-house.
James Stratton settled on Cornelius Tarbell's right, probably the home lot 25 in Perham Corner, as the second division lots of that right were sold to William Holt, of Andover, who settled on lot 76, or the Dr. Herrick farm, taking a deed August 9, 1753.
Ephraim and Sarah Putnam, as already stated, settled on second division lot number 5, in what is now Wilton.
Edward Hardy was early in town, and probably was on home lot 24 in Perham Corner.
Ephraim Powers and wife Lucy were early in town, and settled on 100 acres of the east end of lot 53, near Deacon Benjamin Cram's.
David Stratton took a deed of forty acres of lot 68, De- cember 31, 1745, a part of the same lot on which Melchize- deck Boffee was located, and now occupied by Captain Andy Holt. He may have been a son of James.
John and Tryphena Kidder, of Londonderry, took a deed of lots 77 and 78, October 14, 1757. Lot 77 was just north of Mr. Grant's place.
John and Mary Rowe were early on the Israel Cram place.
Jacob Wellman, of Lynnfield, Mass., son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Taylor) Wellman, and his wife, Jane (Johnson) Wellman, bought a proprietor's right April 16, 1742, and occupied home lot 57, where David Clark now lives. The first house was in the field north of the present buildings. The house now occupied is probably one of the oldest in town.
John Johnson, cordwainer, of Lynnfield, and wife Mary, bought one full right, and settled west of their brother-in-
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law, Wellman, on Aaron Russell's farm ; and his son James, and Hannah his wife, on the next lot west, where W. II. Bowen lives; and another son, Adam, and wife Abigail, on Willis Perham's place; and the family at one time and another owned a good share of what has been called ever since "Johnson Corner," though it is many years since one of that name has lived in that part of the town.
Edward and Elizabeth Spalding, of Hudson, father of Captain Levi of Revolutionary fame, bought lots 113 and 122, May 30, 1765. These lots were over the mountain, where the descendants have lived so many years. Stephen, a brother of Edward, bought in the same year seventy acres of lot 112, east of his brother and north of Jonas Kidder, who bought lot 105 the next year. Reuben, an- other brother of Edward, came from Hudson and settled later on part of Edward's lot.
Jeremiah Carleton and wife Eunice settled on land now owned by E. C. Curtis, and the log house was near the buildings east of Mr. Curtis's house.
Edward Bevins settled on one half of home lot 19, in Perham Corner, near the George W. Parker place, and John Hutchinson on home lot 27, perhaps where Perham Holt lives.
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