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 3
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George Gould and wife Mary came from Salem, and owned a good deal of land. They bought, January 25, 1739, one half of a right of home lot 46 and second divi- sion lots 74 and 27, but in 1768 they were living on lot 70, opposite where the town-house now stands.
Elias and Mary Taylor lived on Kilburn Curtis's place for some years, and sold to Adam Johnson March 17, 1758.
John and Elizabeth Carkin settled on the farm now owned by Robert Lynch.
Captain Peter Clark and wife Hannah came from Brain- tree, Mass., in January, 1775, and settled on lot 110, where the Holden family now live.
Joseph Richardson, Jr., millwright, of Woburn, Mass.,
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was prominent in the early history of Salem Canada, and lived in the portion that was set off to form the town of Temple.
April 4, 1766, Nehemiah Rand, of Charlestown, Mass., bought a lot adjoining that of his brother, Rev. John Rand.
April 8, 1767, James Boutwell, of Amherst, and previ- ously from Wilmington, Mass., bought where his descend- ant, Charles, now resides. He bought of Ebenezer and Elizabeth Coston, who lived in town and owned consider- able property, and afterward removed to Wilton.
Eleazer Woodward, in 1770, bought where Jacob Wood- ward now lives.
Dr. Benjamin Jones bought the Harvey Holt farm in 1774; and Jacob Butler, Jr., of Pelham, bought a farm in the south-west part of the town, December 23, 1776.
Many other families have been traced, but there is no time to speak of them to-day. The progress of the town was very slow through the first twenty-five years, for the reasons already given. In 1764 there were only about forty families in town. But with the fear of Indians removed, and with a town charter, the growth was rapid and permanent. March 1, 1762, the people voted to ask for the incorporation of the town; and March 5, 1764, John Stephenson was appointed a committee to obtain a charter, which was secured April 23, 1764. The charter began,-
PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
George ye 3rd, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith &e.
To all whom these presents shall come, Greeting: Whereas our loving subjects inhabitants of a tract of land within our Province of New Hampshire, by the name of Lyndeboro, have humbly peti- tioned and requested that they may be erected and incorporated into a body politick and corporate to have continuance until his majesty's pleasure shall be signified to the contrary, &c.
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The charter reserves to his majesty and his heirs all white pine trees fit for use for the royal navy. The char- · ter closes as follows :
In testimony whereof we have caused the seal of our New Hamp- shire Province to be hereunto affixed. Witness Benning Went- worth Esq. our Governor and Commander in Chief in and over said Province of New Hampshire the twenty-third day of April in the fourth year of our reign anno domini 1764.
[Signed] B. WENTWORTH.
John Stephenson was authorized to call the first meet- ing, which was held May 15, 1764, with John Shepard, Jr., moderator ; John Stephenson, town-clerk ; Jonathan Cram, Benjamin Cram, and William Carson, selectmen. A con- stable, surveyors, tithing-men, deer-keepers, hay-wards or field-drivers, and a pound-keeper were chosen. Jeremiah Carleton, for some reason, entered a dissent against accept- ing the charter.
It was a custom in the early history of New Hampshire to warn out of town, through a constable, all new comers and strangers, so that the town might not be liable for their support if they should come to want. Such a war- rant, issued in 1765, after stating the facts concerning a certain widow who had recently come to Lyndeborough, concludes as follows :
Pursuant therefore to the laws of this Province in such cases made and provided you are hereby in his majesty's name required instantly to warn the said widow to depart and leave this town.
It is said one constable, unacquainted with this formal custom, performed his duty in a very literal way, by say- ing with great official importance, " I have come, Mr. Wil- kins, to warn you off of the face of God's earth: so now you step !"
From 1765 to 1775 there was a large addition to the number of families in town. In the last mentioned year
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there was, by census, a population of 713, New Boston at that time having 569, Wilton 623, and Francestown 200. Lyndeborough was among the first of the towns to respond to the call to arms in securing the rights of the colonies. The town had twenty-seven in the army in 1775, and more than one hundred and thirty of her citizens spent more or less time in the service, some of whom participated in the prominent battles, from that of Bunker Hill till the close of the war. But this story is to be told to you by another, who is well qualified to present the scenes of war and the glories of victory, for he himself led a regiment of soldiers against the foe during the civil war, and helped perpetuate the liberty purchased by our Revolutionary fathers.1
There are still some matters that can be briefly men- tioned before the church history of the town is noticed. The first appropriation for schools was made June 6, 1771, when the town voted to hire a school, and chose a commit- tee of five to effect the same, for which they raised twelve pounds lawful money. In 1772 fifteen pounds, and in 1773 forty dollars, were voted. In 1777 the town was divided into eight districts, but all were regarded as one, and one man was hired to keep school in eight parts of the town. The next year school was kept in four places by one person, who was hired for a year. It is a noticeable fact that deeds signed previous to the year 1800 have usually the mark of the wife instead of her signature, showing that education was very limited in extent in those days. There were but very few books in use in school. The arithmetic of the teacher was a manuscript, from which the scholar copied his rules into a book of his own, with the examples after they were wrought. The book used by Jacob Cram in 1762 is still preserved by his descendants, and contains this statement : " Examples in Arithmetic
1 Brigadier-General Alfred F. Holt, Surgeon-General on the staff of the Commander- in-Chief of Massachusetts, died at Martin, Florida, December 28, 1890.
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done by me Jacob Cram in the year 1762 it being the twenty-third year of his age. Lyndeboro' March 18, 1762."
The teachers employed in those days were poorly quali- fied for their position. In one town, one of them sought assistance in adding his school bills, saying, "I could do it easy enough if it were not for those half cents. If those were only mills I should know what to do." In another town the people were so wrought up by the intro- duction of the study of grammar that they voted to dismiss the teacher for his audacity ; and one person present at the meeting, his heart swelling with pride over the victory, moved "that a vote of the town be taken not to employ a teacher who knows grammar,"-and the vote was carried.
The girls of those days were kept busy from morning to night carding and spinning, or caring for the little ones while the mother sat at her loom. Many of the girls, like . those of to-day, longed for an education, but saw no way to secure it. The story is related of one such girl in Lynde- borough, who was told that she could not go to school unless she took the baby with her, which she did, rocking it to sleep in a sap-trough.
In 1790 the population of Lyndeborough was 1,280, the largest in its history. At that time it was larger than any other town in the vicinity except Amherst, which then included Mont Vernon and Milford, and which had 2,369; while Wilton had 1,105, Peterborough 861, New Boston 1,202, and Francestown 982. In 1800, Lyndeborough had a population of 976; in 1810, 1,074; in 1820, 1,163.1
During the War of the Revolution the paper money so depreciated that it made serious trouble, and the town chose a committee October 11, 1779, to set a value on the necessaries of life sold in town; and they voted to the min- ister as his salary that year seven hundred and fifty pounds lawful money, in corn, rye, wood, flax, pork, beef, or labor,
1 The loss of population from 1790 to 1800 was due to the incorporation of the towns of Greenfield and Temple.
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at the price of such articles in 1774, that is, before the war. In 1780 the minister's salary was three thousand pounds lawful money, and men had thirty dollars a day for work- ing on the roads. At the same time a man was voted two hard dollars for the care of the meeting-house for a year.
In 1795, after they were rid of the poor paper money, the town allowed for working on the road three shillings (half a dollar) a day for a man, the same for a yoke of oxen, two shillings for a cart, and four pence for iron bar, hoe, shovel, or axe, but from November 1 to April 1 it was half the above rates.
In 1784 there were fifty-seven families west of Lynde- borough mountain, and only one road leading directly to town.
In those times it was legal to imprison a man for unpaid taxes, and a warrant made out in 1787, after giving the facts, closes in this way :
These are therefore in the name of the state of New Hampshire to require you (the constable) to distrain the goods or chattels of the said - - (if you can find the same in your precinct) sufli- cient to satisfy and pay the above sums, with the charge of making such distress by sale thereof, the overplus if any return to said and in case no goods or chattels of the said - can be found whereon to distrain, as aforesaid, then commit him to the common jail in said county and the jailor is required to receive him, there to remain without bail or mainprize until he pay or sat- isfy the sums aforesaid.
The stone pound, which still stands as a monument of good work, was built in 1774.
August 19, 1782, the town voted to build stocks for the punishment of disorderly persons. Whether they were ever built and used, tradition does not tell us.
May 24, 1798, the town voted thirty dollars "to the pur- pose of teaching singing in town under the direction of the selectmen, ten in the north, ten in the south, and ten in the
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centre of the town." Later, sixty dollars was appropri- ated for a similar purpose.
In 1799 the second New Hampshire turnpike was incor- porated, from Amherst to Claremont, running through the eastern part of Lyndeborough. The Forest road was not opened until 1831.
In 1797, Seataquog was first mentioned in the proprietors' records, where common land was sold at a dollar an acre. Other good wild land sold at that time for five or six dol- lars an acre. About this time the term " Purgatory " was applied to the falls in the east part of the town. From a list of non-resident land at this time, the following descrip- tions are taken :
In the east part of the town with a small barn 24 by 30, and a shell of a house 24 by 18.
In the south part of the town, pasturing miserable poor land.
In the east part of the town about twenty acres under improve- ment with a barn 70 by 30 and two small hints called houses.
In the east part of the town middling good.
Certificates of marriage of those days are interesting, and two specimens are given :
Jan. 27 1794 This certifieth that the intentions of marriage between Mr David Jennings and Miss Hannah Wellman both of this town have been twice published and it is more than three weeks since the first time and there has been no objection nor like to be any as I am informed nor any difficulty in case they should be married
[Signed] Peter Clark, Town Clerk.
A couple brought the following certificate to Rev. Mr. Goodridge :
This may certify all whom it may concern that Robert Burns of the town of Bedford and Molly Smith of the town of New Boston has been published according to law and order and may proceed to marriage for anything I know.
[Signed] Wm White Town Clerk. Jan 23, 1781.
aseos:1
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A will dated Nov. 10, 1779, gives the widow the improve- ment of lands and buildings for her support and that of the children so long as she remains a widow; and if she should become a widow a second time, the will says, "if she see fit she may return to the possession of my land and buildings, with the other privileges thereof, to remain in the enjoyment of the same until her death."
The following release from the payment of a debt for a year, in 1792, is a curious specimen of a business contract :
Know all men by these presents that we the subscribers having considered the circumstances and condition and being requested by Lieut Thomas Boffee, who being indebted to us, do give and grant free liberty to him the said Boffee that he may go and come, pass and repass, and not be hindered or troubled, or put to any cost or charge or damage by us, or any by or under us, for, or on account of, what is due to us for the term of one year and if there shall at any time within said year from the date hereof be any cost or charge or dan- age arise by suit at any court or in any preparation for suit or exe- cution after suit whatsoever; Do hereby promise each one for him- self to said Boffee, the subscribers will free said Boffee from said charge and from any part thereof by paying it ourselves and after said year is ended, the debt to be paid and if not paid, to be recov- ered by suit in any court where said action may be tried and this writing to be no bar or hindrance in the recovery of the debt and interest and cost thereof, after said year is ended and in testimony of our free consent to the above writing we have set to our separate hands and seals at Amherst this 30 day of Oet 1792
Samuel Pollard Benjamin Epes.
At the opening of the century a company was organized to mine for gold on Seataquog mountain, but like many later efforts of the same kind it proved a failure.
As late as 1809 there seems to have been only one post- office in this section of the county, the one at Amherst ; for at that time there were letters advertised in the Am- herst Cabinet, directed to all the towns in the vicinity, and
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as far away as Temple and Weare. It was the practice in many towns for the men to take turns in going to Amherst for the mail and the Amherst Cabinet. The mail was car- ried on horseback for some years from Mont Vernon to Greenfield, through Lyndeborough. Some of the merchants at the centre were Major Gould, John Ordway, Nathan Wheeler, Jonathan and William Clark, Oliver Bixby, Man- ahan & Tubbs, Samuel T. Manahan, Daniel Woodward, William J. Herrick, William W. Curtis.
At the south village were Holt & Hardy, Hardy & Stephenson, Cram & Daniels, Burns & Wallace, Peter Smith, G. P. Fletcher, J. H. Tarbell, W. W. Young, and J. H. Tarbell & Son.
The New Hampshire Gazeteer of 1823 speaks of Lynde- borough as having two taverns, two stores, four saw-mills, three grain mills, one clothing mill, and two tanneries. The clothing- or fulling-mill was on Rocky river, where Warren Eaton's mill now stands, and one grain mill was on the same stream above, at the Stephenson mill ; another on the same stream below, and west of south village ; and the other south of Putnam hill, and below the present saw- mill. There was a tannery at the foot of the hill, west of Charles Boutwell's, carried on by Nehemiah Boutwell ; and another north of the Badger pond, owned by John Wood- bury. Elias MeIntire kept a hotel at that time where his son Nathaniel now lives, and the other was on the turn- pike. During the Revolution a hotel was kept by Capt. Barron, north of the Badger pond, where F. B. Tay lives. When Burgoyne was captured, a large number of people gathered there to celebrate the event. A cask of tar was raised to the top of a pine tree, over which was placed an image of the British commander, and after dark the enemy was burnt in effigy.
A pottery was once carried on by Peter Clark, north of the mountain; there were potash works west of Charles Boutwell's, owned by Nehemiah Boutwell; and there was a
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forge and furnace owned by Henry Cram's sons, east of Putnam hill.
February 24, 1826, the seleetmen licensed Daniel Put- nam to keep a tavern at his house for the term of forty- eight hours, to commence at six o'clock on the morning of February 28.
The town has been very free from accidents and ex- tended epidemies. No serious crimes have been committed, so far as known. But there were casualties of course. Timothy Carleton was killed at the raising of the Wilton meeting-house, in September, 1773. In the winter of 1812 the spotted-fever raged for a short time, and thirteen per- sons died in as many days. In November, 1809, three chil- dren of Mr. Lakin were burned in a barn while the family were at an ordination in Mont Vernon. John Fish was killed May 4, 1846, on the road between the Forest road and Warren Eaton's mill. Mrs. Artemas Woodward was thrown from a carriage and killed May 8, 1852, at the foot of the hill west of George Spalding's. Samuel Hodgeman was killed by lightning June 17, 1860.
A disastrous fire in Portsmouth in 1814 led the people of Lyndeborongh to make a contribution in money and provi- sions, with subscriptions from ten cents to four dollars, the whole amounting to one hundred and fifty-three dollars and eleven cents.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
We come now to the ecclesiastical history, which was an integral part of that of the town for nearly a hundred years, as during this time the minister was paid by the whole town.
The first settlers were trained in the Puritan faith, and brought with them the Bible and catechism. They observed the Sabbath, and understood the advantages of public worship. They were men and women of fortitude, cour-
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age, and perseverance. Such men were needed to effect a permanent settlement here. It was a wild wilderness, far from the villages of eastern Massachusetts, from which they came. They desired to have the Gospel preached in their new home, and it was a part of their contract that they should have a meeting-house and preaching within five years after the settlement began. The proprietors were also interested to do their part, so far as possible. But it was so much easier to vote at Salem than it was to carry out the votes in Salem Canada, that the progress at first was slow and discouraging.
The proprietors voted, March 7, 1739, to place the meet- ing-house as near the centre of the township as it could be, and a committee was appointed to " look out a convenient spot for the same, and make report at the next meeting, and to clear a road from the end of the road already cleared to the said meeting-house place." The place selected was on Putnam hill, cast of south village, in the upper end of the field north of Edward H. Putnam's, partly on lot 41 and partly on lot 44, at the western part of said lots. Benjamin Lynde donated twenty acres and John Cram ten for the use of the meeting-house, which was to be set on the road adjoining said lots. They voted to " build and set up a good frame thirty-five feet long, thirty feet wide, and twenty feet stud at on or before May 10, 1740, and to underpin the same with good handsome stones." But for various reasons the frame was not raised until September 24, 1741. The bills for raising this frame, as approved the next January by the proprietors, indicate that the rum and sugar used on the occasion cost more (sixteen pounds and six shillings) than the bread, fish, and cheese (eleven pounds and five shillings). It took liquor in those days to hew timber and put up frames, and one would judge that it was not used sparingly. The frame stood uncovered for a long time. The proprietors voted, August 23, 1743, to finish the meeting-house :
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Viz. boarding sides and ends with feather edged boards, to board and shingle the roof and put on weather boards and finish the covings, to make and hang all the outside doors; to lay a double floor below ; To make six seats on each side ; To fix pillars under the galleries, to make a conveniency for the minister to stand in to preach, and to glaze the said house with glass seven inches one way by nine the other way and to make five windows.
It is evident from the records that the house was boarded and shingled, but there is no indication that it was ever finished. No doubt it was used for a time, but no evidence of it can be found in any of the records. Eleven years later (October 10, 1754) a committee was appointed to "view the meeting-house and see in what manner it can be made suitable for public worship," and five years later, in 1759, the proprietors voted an appropriation "for a new meeting-house to be ereeted for the accommodation of the present inhabitants." After the strip was taken from Salem Canada and given to No. 2 or Wilton, the first location of the meeting-house was no longer near the centre of the town, and this explains the reasons for building a new house. But they did not wait to have a meeting-house built before they provided preaching, for the records of the proprietors for December 10, 1741, read, " It being put to vote whether the word of God should be preached in the town this winter passed in the affirmative, and six pounds were granted for that purpose."
August 23, 1743, " John Cram, Jacob Putnam, and John Dale, Jun., were appointed a committee to procure a min- ister to preach, and three pounds old tenor were allowed for as many days as they shall have preaching for the next six months ensuing." The following letter was sent to Lyndeborough by the proprietors December 25, 1755, in answer to a petition for a minister :
To the inhabitants of Lyndeboro':
The committee of the proprietors met together on your petition for having the preaching of the Gospel continue among them, and
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considering your earnest request (with which we are well pleased) and the advantage it may be to the spiritual and temporal interests of the town, have resolved to allow to such Gospel Minister as you shall get to preach for the three following months £6.10 old tenor for every Sabbath after the twenty-fifth of the instant month.
I am in the name
Your assured Friend
B. LYNDE.
Salem Dec 25, 1755.
The first meeting in Lyndeborough in the interests of a settled ministry of which we have any record, is suggestive of the practical piety of those days. It was held at the house of Ephraim Putnam, September 3, 1756. After electing Jonathan Cram moderator, and Jacob Wellman society clerk,-
Voted, To keep a day of fasting and prayer for the blessing of Almighty God in choosing a minister and settling church order.
They sent for three of the nearest ministers to assist them in the service, and give "advice in the weighty matter of settling a minister." This society, thus organized, con- tinued to care for the religious interests of the community until the town was incorporated eight years later, which served the church in a business capacity until 1835, when a society is again mentioned. September 27, 1756, Mr. John Rand, who had been supplying the church for some time, was invited to settle as pastor, but he did not accept the call until the next year. He was absent from town so long that a committee was sent to his father's to find him. During his absence Mr. Nathan Holt supplied for a time, but was settled in South Dennis, Mass. December 5, 1757, a church was organized with eight male members,-and, per- haps, twenty or more in all,-the pastor of the Amherst church, Rev. Daniel Wilkins, and two delegates, assisting in the service. This was the seventh church organized in the county. There was no church on the north and
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west nearer than Keene, and the nearest on the south and east were Amherst, Nashua, and Hollis.1 Two days after the organization of the church, December 7, Mr. John Rand was ordained. The churches on the council were,- Townsend, Rev. Phineas Hemingway, pastor; Hollis, Rev. Daniel Emerson, pastor ; Hudson, Rev. Nathaniel Merrill, pastor ; Amherst, Rev. Daniel Wilkins, pastor; and the church in Pepperell. Mr. Rand was to receive forty pounds from the proprietors as a settlement, payable in three instalments, and a yearly salary of forty pounds, and the society were to provide a certain amount of wood, and "one shilling each for each soul in town, and to increase the number of shillings according to the increase of the number of souls." Mr. Rand lived the last part of his pas- torate where Charles Boutwell now lives, but his term of service was very brief for those days, and after four years and four months he was dismissed April 8, 1762.
Rev. John Rand, son of Jonathan and Millicent ( Esta- brook) Rand, was born in Charlestown, Mass., Jan. 24, 1727; was graduated from Harvard in 1748, and afterwards married to Sarah, daughter of Captain John Goffe, of Derry- field, now Manchester. After leaving Lyndeborough he lived in Goffstown and Bedford. Hle represented Bedford in the convention that formed the constitution of New Hampshire, and died October 12, 1805. He was said to have been Arminian in doctrine, but inclined to the Epis- copal form of worship. He occasionally ministered to a few persons of the latter denomination then resident in Goffs- town and Bedford, but was never settled again in the min- istry. Twin sons, John and Jonathan, were born to him June 24, 1762, and twin sons, Nehemiah and Thomas, were born May 22, 1776. The other children were,-Mille, born February 5, 1764; Robert, born May 13, 1767 ; Sarah, born January 20, 1774.
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