USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Peterborough > Historical sketches of Peterborough, New Hampshire : portraying events and data contributing to the history of the town > Part 6
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1858.
1858. Henry H. Kimball
1859.
Riley B. Hatch
1860-I. Charles H. Goulding
1861.
Sylvester B. Partridge
1862. . Henry C. Tenney
1863 George Mason
1863. Samuel N. Bartlett
1864. Martin H. Fisk
1865-6-7 John L. Hildreth
1867-8. . William Moore
1868. Miss Mary Neville
1869. James E. Vose
1870. Alfred B. Spaulding
Miss E. M. Wood commenced a select school in the academy building Feb. 25, 1871, with but little success; then followed the vote of the town of March 14, 1871, to establish a high school, the vote of the academy corporation, as previously stat- ed, of April 12, 1871, to lease the building to the town and Thomas P. Maryatt, (S) a graduate of Dartmouth College, became the first principal of the high school, which commenced under the supervision of the town, Aug. 21, 1871, and here continued until the close of the fall term of 1889, when the academy building was vacated and thereupon ceased to be used for school purposes. In 1890 the spring term of the high school commenced in the new school building which had been erected for the accommodation of all the village schools.
(8) Mr. Maryatt taught the high school from the fall term, 1871, until the close of the summer term, 1875 ; he subsequently moved west and be- came Judge of Probate for Washington coun- ty, Idaho, with residence at Weiser, where he died Oct. 2, 1903, at the age of 59 years ; (see Peter- borough TRANSCRIPT of Oct. 22, 1903.)
[From page 16 to here was published in the Peterboro TRANSCRIPT, Oct. 22 and 29, and Nov. 5 and 12, 1903.]
THE "OLD STREET ROAD" IN PETERBOROUGH, N. H. ·
BY JONATHAN SMITH.
Read Before the Peterborough Historical Society, October 26, 1904.
The Public Way is an index of the character and culture of the people who make and use it. The roads of ancient Rome were a striking feature of the civil- ization of the Imperial City. Their solidity of construction, their importance as facilities for business and commerce, the wisdom evidenced in their lay-out- connecting all the commercial centres of Italy with the Mother City, and their great importance in war and peace, had vast influence in building up the power of the State. They typified the genius of that great people in the Art of Govern- ment almost as much as did their marvel- lous code of law, which to-day underlies the jurisprudence of the civilized world. What a facinating story could be written of the old Appian Way, which led from Rome to Brundisium-the reasons which led to its construction, the incidents of its building, the use made of it, the scenes it witnessed, the dwellers along its borders, and the works of art which once lined its boundaries ! If we knew the details of its story, we should have one-half of the his- tory of Rome, and would be able to shrewdly guess at the other half.
And so the Street Road has a promi- nent place in the early history of Peter- borough. Uufortunately, many details of the story of its beginnings are hopelessly lost, but something is still left which is worth preserving. Among the first acts of the proprietors was to lay it out to point the way from the older settlements in Massachusetts to the new land of promise. It gave to the adventurous spirits in the border towns of the Bay State, who were seeking for another per- haps a better home, a way of getting to Peterborough and it led them to the very center of the town. Many of the first
houses erected beside it were once centers of the social and political life of this com- munity. Some of these have of them- selves an interesting history ; others which witnessed important events have entirely disappeared. On this Road stood the first tavern, the first store probably, the first town pound, the first lawyer's office, one of the first industries, and the first church and cemetery. Many of the more prominent in the settlement and in the social and municipal life of the town for the first 50 years had their homes here. It is now so far from the center of busi- ness and travel that it is hard to realize its importance in the early years. It divided the town into two equal parts, was five rods wide, straight, smooth and was the best constructed of all the early ways. "All roads," says the old proverb, "lead to Rome." So all the old high- ways connecting with this road either started from or terminated in it-none were laid out across it. For these rea- sons it early obtained the name of the "Street Road." The saw and grist mills at the South, Centre and North Villages were more separated than united by the heavy, almost impassable ways which ran between them over the sand hills west of the river. But the Street Road was hard and with two or three exceptions its grades were easy. For many years, prob- ably down to 1800, and to a large extent for some years thereafter, all public gatherings for worship, business, pleas- ure and social intercourse met at one of two places-for worship and town meet- ing at the old Church, and at one of the Wilson taverns for other assemblies. The Wilson Tavern, on the hill or at the cor- ner, was the center for all week day gatherings, until Loring Hall at Carter
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Corner held out superior advantages. Over this road came the Pioneers when they first came to spy out the land or establish their houses here, and over it to the south they fled in fear of savage ven- geance. The first permanent settlers front Lunenburg and Townsend entered the town by this way. On it the men gathered on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, at the Lexington alarm, and over it they marclied to join their Massa- chusetts brethren in resisting British ag- gressions. At the point where it passes over the high hill east of the Joseph Mc- Coy place the anxious people were wont to assemble during the Revolutionary war and watch for the Couriers bringing mes- sages of victory or defeat in the battles of that protracted and trying struggle. It was the only road to the Massachusetts towns below, and in the early days when farmers personally marketed their prod- ucts in Boston, their heavy teams carried the surplus produce of their farms over this way and returned equally well laden with household supplies for the coming year.
It is by many years the oldest highway. One of the first acts of the proprietors, after they had ordered a survey of the town and laid a portion of it into lots, was to lay out the road. At an adjourned meeting held at the house of Luke Verdy in Boston, on Dec. the 4th, 1738, Pro- prietors voted "that the former Com- mittee," namely, John Hill, Jeremiah Gridley, John Fowle, Jonathan Prescott and Peter Prescott, "be and hereby are empowered to agree with some suitable person to cut and clear a good road front New Ipswich to the Meeting house lot in said Township soon as may be." This was very soon done at the Proprietors' ex- pense. The Proprietors' Records contain no further allusion to the matter. On the 17th of December, 1760, the town formally voted to lay it out from the Sharon line to the Meeting House hill. The record says, "on the old road as now cleared and improved," showing that it
had already been graded as a travelled way. This phrase, "as now cleared and improved," occurs in the recorded laying out of many of the highways prior to 1761, and is evidence that the settlers before the incorporation of the town, had projected many of the oldest ways, cleared and so far graded then as to make them possible for travel. This work must have required great labor for the infant settlement, and heavy expense, which they met by an assessment upon them- selves. There is no intimation anywhere that the Proprietors ever had anything to do with any other than the Street Road. The width of the latter, five rods, was determined by the Proprietors, for the town record further says, "Said road to be as wide as originally allowed, in laying out the same." Some of the Proprietors' deeds of the lots expressly state it thus.
New Ipswich had been granted for set- tlement in 1736, and by 1738 probably had road connections with Townsend ( 10 miles below), from which many of the settlers came. As originally cleared and laid out the road was straight, crossing the Town Line brook in the town of Sharon, 40 or 50 rods east of its present location and going straight up over the high hill, some 1100 feet above the sea, east of the McCoy place, and thence direct to Meeting House hill. We have here the reason for the location of the house now owned by Henry K. French so far to the east of the present line of the way. When first built this house stood only a few rods from the road. It fixes also the date of the build- ing of that house as before 1794, for in that year the town voted to change the location. Beginning at a point a few rods north of the residence of John Stone, its direction was changed to the west and then south until it reaches a point just be- yond the old Bagley store in Sharon where it swerves to the east on to the original location. No other change was ever made in it so far as the record or tradition recalls, at least between the Cemetery and the Sharon line.
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The "Old Street Road" in Peterborough, N. H.
Under the survey of 1738, 12 lots begin- ning at the Sharon line were laid out on the west side of the way, extending from the southern border to a point north of Meeting House Hill. Each lot contained 100 acres and was subdivided into two of 50 acres each, one for the settler and one for the Proprietor. By this survey none were laid out on the east side. So far as known no settlement was made on the road prior to 1750, for up to that time all beginnings had been made in the south- west part of the town. Among the first to settle on the Street Road were Alexan- der Scott, Thomas Cunningham, James Robbe, William Stuart and William Smith. These located there in 1750-1 or 2. On all these lots only one house now stands upon the site where the first one was placed-that of Mrs. Geo. E. Adams. The house owned by Mrs. Bass on the cross road leading to the pond, is situate some rods east of the first location, but the houses of John and Alexander Scott, Cunningham and Stuart have long since disappeared. It would seem that the road was originally laid on the east end of the west side lots. I am speaking of that part of the Street Road first laid out-the southerly half. According to the plans in the Proprietors' records the lots on both sides of the way were 165 rods east and west. The descriptions there record- ed of lots 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 64 and 65, con- tain such expressions as these: "The highway is 5 rods across it;" "the high- way that is allowed across it is five rods wide ;" "the highways are five rods wide, and lie the length and breadth of the lot." This last is from the description of lot No. 8 near the old meeting house. No description of the lots on the east side of the road contain any such reservations. This evidence, far as it goes, tends to show that the east side of the Street Road is al- so the east line of the west side lots.
Many circumstances connected with the history of some of the old places are full of interest. Beginning at the Sharon line on the east side of the way, the first
place is that now owned by Mr. French. August 9, 1774, William McCoy and Wil- liam Smith together bought 3 lots, 150 acres, beginning on the Sharon line, of John Hill. The grantees subsequently divided the purchase, Wm. Smith taking the southern part of 85 acres, which in 1792 he conveyed to Jeremiah Chapman. From Chapman it come ultimately into the possession of Samuel Clark. The house must have been built prior to 1794, perhaps soon after Chapman purchased. If Wmn. McCoy built here, it was much earlier, but that is uncertain. The north- erly part was taken by Wm McCoy, who conveyed it to his son, Willianı. The latter sold to Ethan Melvin, Feb. 4, 1792, and a year later, January 21, 1793, Melvin sold to Dudley and David Chapman. Dudley Chapman is supposed to have built the house formerly standing under the hill, about 75 rods east of the house of John Stone. There used to be a tradi- tion that he placed his house there to pre- vent his wife wasting her time in looking out of the window and talking to the passers-by in the road. The story must be a slander on the memory of both, and I decline to vouch for the fact about it in any particular, except to the existence of the tradition.
The next to be mentioned is that of William Stuart, which stood about 20 rods west of the road and 75 rods south of Mrs. Adams' house. It was erected in 1750 or 175I, and was cleared away about 1793 when Jonathan Smith bought the farm of the Stuart heirs. Wm. Stuart's death, 1753, was the first in town, and he was buried in the little cemetery near Mrs. Mary L. Cheney's house. John Stuart, killed in Roger's fight in 1757, was his oldest son. The cellar hole of the house was plainly visible 40 years ago, but every trace of it has now disappeared.
Next to the Street Road, one of the very first ways laid out began on the Street Road some 15 rods north of this Wm. Stuart's house, and went straight west to the Ritchie place, connecting with
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Peterborough Historical Society Collections.
the road west of it. It was laid out No- vember 18, 1760, and closed in 1794. The stone walls which bounded it and the graded part of the way are still visible in the woods on the south side of the Elm Hill farnı. In 1794, a new way was laid out to take the place of it, leaving the Street Road on the south side of Mrs. Adams' house, going west down the hill and thence in a southwesterly direction until it struck the old highway at the southwest corner of the Smith farnı. This road, in turn, was discontinued in 1814.
The Gowing place was originally settled by Samuel Miller of Londonderry, about 1751 or 1752. How long the title re- mained in him cannot be ascertained. It subsequently came into the possession of Moses Cunningham, who in 1805, con- veyed it to Wm. Gowing, the father of Moses Gowing. The purchase price was $1500.
The story of the Smith place has been given in print, and the only thing con- nected with it which need be mentioned here is that in it was the first lawyer's office. It was in 1786 that Jeremiah Smith was admitted to the bar and began practice at this place. His father, Wm. Smith, was Justice of the Peace from 1776 to 1803, and it was in the same house that he held his Court. Until his son began practice, he also made most of the deeds and other legal papers in town. No doubt the office was the scene of many a hard fought contest between Jeremiah Smith and James Wilson, after the latter came to the bar in 1792, for both were able lawyers and strenuous men. In those days there was a vast amount of litigation. Business was done almost wholly on credit, money was scarce, and people were slow to pay. When the day of reckoning could no longer be put off, debtors settled by giving notes or bonds, many of which found their way on to the lawyer's desk for collection. The size of the debt was no hindrance to a suit, and the amount involved was often very
small. Land titles, too, were unsettled, the boundaries of the lots uncertain, and cases of trespass frequent. Then the set- tlers were a people tenacious of their rights, quick to resent a wrong, and were quite as fond of controversy in matters civil as in matters theological. These things made the position of magistrate an important one, and the lawyer's office a very busy place. It takes a people more than 100 years to learn that arbitration and compromise are wiser methods of settling disputes than Courts, and the settlers did not grasp the fact until long after the Street Road had ceased to be the business center of the town.
At the foot of the hill, where A. A. Farnsworth formerly lived, was located one of the earliest industries of Peter- borough. Sometime between 1755 and 1760, Robert Smith, father of William, who was a tanner by trade, sunk four tanning vats in the yard afterward owned by John Field, and in a small way carried on the tanning business for sev- eral years. The elder John Field was from Braintree, and came here in 1786. It is not certainly known, but from the text of one of the deeds to him, it is clear- ly implied that the tanning business was carried on there between the death of Robert Smith in 1766 and the coming of John Field, but by whom it does not ap- pear. April 24, 1787, the latter purchased of James Smith 234 acres of land on the west side of the road "with all buildings, privileges and appurtenances thereon." This purchase was the tannery site, and from the reading would seem to indicate that the business was or recently had been conducted there. Jolin Scott originally owned lot No. 4, the lot next north of Wm. Smith's, part of which was the tan yard, the deed of which is dated Septem- ber 28, 1758. Scott sold this 50 acres in 1784 to Wm. Scott, and the latter sold to James Smith, and James conveyed the 234 acres to Field. In the deed of John Scott to Wm. Scott, lot No. 4 is described as bounded on the north by land of Jona-
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The "Old Street Road" in Peterborough, N. H.
than Felt, but there is no deed of lot No. 67 to Jonathan Felt on record. William Johnson bought lot No. 67 of the Pro- prietors. Lot No. 67, next north of No. 4 (the lot conveyed to John Scott) was conveyed by John Fowle to Wm. John- son, by deed dated January II, 1745 ; by Wm. Johnson to James Gordon ; James Gordon to William Wallace; by Wn1. Wallace to John White. After that it was divided up and sold to different parties. Wm. Smith sold the small corner next to the road and the Elm Hill farm to Field in 1791, and about the same time Field purchased of Thomas and Moses Cunningham the land afterward occupied by himself and family on the east side of the road. The tanning vats put in by Robert Smith were used as long as the business was carried on there. Asa boy I examined them many times, and the boards were as sound as when first put in more than 100 years before. The date when the tan yard on the east side of the road was built is not known, but it was prob- ably made by John, the son of the first John Field. At this yard the bark was ground by water power, but on the west side of the road horse power was used down to 50 or 55 years ago. It was a useful industry to the neighborhood. Here the farmers found a ready market for their Hemlock bark, for which they got from $3.50 to $5.00 per cord, and here they brought the hides of animals they had slaughtered, to be tanned into leather for the family boots and shoes. The tanning process was by cold liquors, tak- ing from 6 to 10 months, while now in the use of hot liquors it can be done in as many weeks.
John Scott had a house situated on the east side of the ledge near the road and north of the Field house on the west side. When James Smith purchased, the house was sold to William Smith, and the lat- ter moved this building and made it into a lean-to to his own house at the Elm Hill farm, where it remained until the property was purchased by A. C. Wheel-
wright. The original site of this house disappeared long ago, and the only monu- ment to its location are some apple trees which bore a fruit known to the boys of the neighborhood as "Scott apples." The trees are still standing. It was a fine flavored early apple, and a great favorite with the boys of 50 years ago.
The land on the opposite side of the road, south nearly to the Gowing house, was originally owned by Thomas Cun- ningham. His house stood some five rods back from the street nearly opposite the point where the ledges project into the public way, about 10 or 15 rods south of the residence of Mrs. Bass. I remem- ber the cellar hole very distinctly, and it is, I think, still visible. Near it formerly stood a large pear tree, which was a pro- lific bearer within my recollection. Thomas Cunningham sold the south half of his lots to his son, Moses, and another part to John Field, both on the same day, June 23, 1790, but a few months before his death. The remainder was probably disposed of in the settlement of his estate. Thomas Cunningham was a leading man in town affairs, was one of the petitioners for the charter, a selectman, and a soldier in the French and Indian war.
The residence of Mrs. Bass was former- ly the property of Esquire John Smith, and the house was built by him not far from 1790. It is uncertain from whom he got his title to the land on which the house stands, for there are no deeds on record enabling a positive statement. The first owner of the lot was John Scott, a Revolutionary soldier, who was a brother to Alexander and William Scott. He was 75 years old when the war closed, and was never married so far as known. He passed his last years in the family of Wm. Smith, where he died in 1798, aged 92 years, and was buried in the Smith lot in the large cemetery on the hill. There is carved upon his stone a worthy tribute to his character and worth as a citizen.
In the John Smith house was born Robert Smith, for many years a member
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Peterborough Historical Society Collections.
of Congress from Illinois, and also James and William H. Smith, afterward wealthy merchants of St. Louis. They were among the founders of Washington Uni- versity in that city, and gave to it large sums of money. Wmn. H. Smith was one of the three principal contributors to the Town Library building, and James Smith gave to it a handsome fund which now amounts to over $14,000. Their father was a prominent man, of exceptional ability, a keen wit and a merciless joker and hector. He represented the town in the Legislature for 12 successive years, succeeded his father as trial justice, and was largely influential in shaping town affairs. His house, an example of the best architecture of his day, is a good repre- sentative of the man himself, for it is large, substantial and hospitable in every detail. The road just north of this house and leading east was voted Nov. 18, 1760. It was originally laid out to the foot of the mountain, and thence by a line of marked trees east to the town line. This was the first way over the East Mountain to Temple. About sixty rods east from its westerly terminus, on the north side of the road stood the first No. 3 School House, built in 1790 and occupied until about 1825. The site is still visible, but every vestige of its brick successor which stood half way down the Wilson Hill has disappeared. And though the ground on which it stood has been smoothed off and is overgrown with grass and weeds, there are those still living who will long cherish the spot as hallowed ground. On the site of the brick house just north of the John Smith house stood the first and far as known the only blacksmith shop ever located on the southerly part of the Street Road. It was established by Jonathan Felt who came to town in 1780. The present brick structure was erected by his son, Ira Felt, in 1825. How long the blacksmith business was carried on there is not definitely known, probably not af- ter 1830. In its early days it was a great resort of the people on the road, and liere John Smith liked to gather a crowd about
him and tell stories and make sport of the idiosyncracies of any of his neighbors at whose expense he could raise a laugh.
The next site of historic interest and the most important on the road was the Wilson Tavern, which stood about 20 rods down the hill, north of the old brick school house on the west side of the way. This was the first tavern in town, opened by Alexander Scott prior to 1753, and continued by Robert Wilson and possibly by his son William, until it was removed down to the Wilson Corner. It is one of the most interesting historic places in Peterborough, and for nearly 50 years was the center of the public social life of the town. In those days public houses had a much greater part in the life of the community than they do to- day. They were not opened wholly for the convenience of travellers, they were for the comfort of the towns people, a sort of social and business clearing house or exchange. The church was for wor- ship and town meetings, but all other public gatherings were at the tavern. It took the place of the rear end of the country store of a later date, and tlie pub- lic hall, the Church vestry, and the Lodge room of the present. There the people met in their idle or less busy hours, es- pecially evenings, for the interchange of news and gossip, to make and complete bargains and to indulge in the solacing contents of the bar, with all the incidental good cheer and sociability. Its import- ance to the neighbors was greater than to the traveling public. The early settlers were pre-eminently a social people fond of meeting togetlier, great talkers and full of wit and humor and loved to hear and tell stories. If they went to Church one day out of the seven, on the other six they went to the public house on errands of business and pleasure. The place was first settled by Alexander Scott, wlio began here in 1750 or 51, and prob- ably opened his tavern very soon after, though he did not get his deed from John Fowle until May 1, 1758.
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