USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Historical sketches of the discovery, settlement, and progress of events in the Coos country and vicinity, principally included between the years 1754 and 1785 > Part 8
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Lebanon, to procure help for the burial, and Fenton is left "alone " in the town ! Now, let us take this which way we will, it is nothing but jargon ; and it shows conclusively that there was not one moment given to the examination of dates by the compiler of this work, but whatever was sent to him in the form of a statistic, was received as authentic.
I notice these egregious blunders to confirm what I have already said, that gazetteers cannot be relied upon for statements which are not supported by written documents. And I have another object in view, which is, to show those who would be compilers of gazetteers, that they have something to do besides calling for crude papers, and publishing them. No man ought to think of publishing another gazetteer, either of New Hampshire or Vermont, in a less com- pass than nine hundred pages of large octavo, first expending three thousand dollars in collecting and arranging materials, and then giving it to the public at three dollars per copy.
There is but one apparent discrepancy between Dr. Burton's statement, and Col. Otis Freeman's. I say apparent, because it can be easily reconciled. Dr. Burton says there were but two families in the town when he came in 1766; whilst Freeman says, Smith and Slafter were there in 1765, and the fami-
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lies mentioned by Burton bore the name, Messenger and Hutchinson. But suppose Smith and Slafter were there in 1766, Burton was not speaking of single men, but of men with families. I find the first settlers made this distinction in all their state- ments. Again, nothing was more common than for young men to come in, and labor one season, and then retire, and we never hear of them again : they have sold out to another ; or they were in the service of another man. Smith and Slafter might have been in Norwich in 1765, and not in 1776, but there again in 1767. But we must keep in mind that Mr. Jacob Burton, father of Asa, said there was no one in the town in 1764.
I again take up the thread of history. Asa Bur- ton continued to labor for his father until he was twenty-one years of age, at which time he entered upon his studies preparatory for college, under the tuition of Mr. John Smith, subsequently the pro- fessor of the learned languages in Dartmouth College, and he entered college in a little more than one year from the commencement of his studies.
There was one adventure of young Burton, at the age of eighteen years, which deserves a place in these sketches, and which cannot fail to call the attention of the people of Norwich to times gone by. A large
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female bear had followed a cow belonging to Jacob Burton, until they both came near the house ; when the bear was discovered by one of the sons of Jacob Burton, and was driven off from the cow on to a ledge of rocks, north of Norwich Plain, and east of the road which runs north and south. But the young man was not content with releasing the cow from danger, but he determined to worry the bear ; and as he saw she was clambering up the rocks to pass over the ledge, he ran round, and gained the top of the ledge first; and here he hallooed Asa, who was chopping on the plain south of them. As soon as Asa heard the call, he ran at the top of his speed with his axe to the scene of action. By this time,
the bear had ascended to the verge of the rocks, where Asa's brother stood, and she seemed inclined to contest for a prior claim she had to a passage that way. Asa saw the predicament of his brother, and fearing he should lose his game, if the bear made good her standing on the top of the precipice, he pressed up the rocks in the rear of the bear with all the haste he could possibly make. This inspired his
brother aloft with fresh resolution to keep the bear
from gaining the top, and with kicks and thrusts he succeeded in keeping her below the precipice .. And so sharp was this contest, that the bear did not ap-
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pear to notice the approach of her assailant in the rear, until Asa drew upon her with the head of his axe, and laid the blow upon her rump, which knocked her down; and as he was unacquainted with the hardiness and strength of the bear, he sup- posed the victory was already achieved ; but she soon found her legs again, and plied them with greater diligence than ever in making her escape. The bear now relinquished her hope of ascending the precipice, and commenced descending the hill in an oblique direction, with Asa pressing hard upon her rear. But in his endeavors to surmount some windfalls over which the bear had passed, he fell backwards upon the ground ; at which moment the bear turned back, sprang upon the log, showed her terrific teeth, and appeared in the very attitude of leaping upon him. This was the first moment that taught young Burton his danger, and it brought him upon his feet with new inspiration, and he resolved that henceforth he would neither give or take quarter. He made at the bear with redoubled fury, and compelled her to retreat down the hill, and as she came near the base she became entangled among the logs, and here our young hero made a second onset, and fetched her to the ground ; then turning the edge of the axe, he sunk it into her throat to the very bone, and the vic-
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tory was his. This bear was one of the largest class, and gave tokens that she was then employed in rear- ing her young. My only remark in the conclusion is, that others may kill bears, and I will record their deeds.
The Rev. Lyman Potter was ordained over the church and congregation in Norwich, in 1775, and was dismissed, 1800. Rev. James Woodward was in- stalled over this church and society, 1804. Previous to 1820, a new church and society was formed upon Norwich Plain, and the Rev. Rufus W. Bailey was settled over them in 1820, and was dismissed in 1824. Rev. James Woodward was dismissed from the north church, and the Rev. Samuel Goddard was installed their pastor, 1822. The Rev. Thomas Hall has been settled over the church and society upon the Plain, but is now dismissed from that charge.
Thetford was first settled, in 1764, by John Cham- berlain, from Hebron, Conn. And in 1765, at the time when Esquire Mann came into Orford, there were two other families, one by the name of Baldwin, and the other by the name of Hosford. Chamberlain was very industrious, and somewhat parsimonious withal, and soon rose to a kind of independence of his neighbors, which he, as well as they, seemed to be fully conscious of. Chamberlain did not rise, how-
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ever, above the reach of envy, and the wags of that day selected him for their butt, at which they aimed their pointed arrows of wit and sarcasm. It was not long before Chamberlain was furnished with a penult- ima to his gift name, as he seemed to feel that his parents had wronged him in infancy by deciding that he should bear the undignified appellation-John, it being only a monosyllable. He was, therefore, dub- bed Quail John, for what reason I have never learned ; but it adhered to him through life. And in proof of the fact that the Muses either preceded in their flight to this section of country the first settlers, or very soon followed their trail, I will put down some lines which were composed, and often repeated in the hear- ing of him whose praises they would celebrate :
" Old Quail John was the first that came on, As poor as a calf in the spring ; But now he is rich as Governor Fitch, And lives like a lord or a king."
Fitch, to whom reference is here made, was one of the governors of Connecticut about these days. But Chamberlain was destined to higher and less perisha- ble honors than the simple elongation of his name. To him was born the first English child that was ever born in the town ; his name was Samuel.
Thetford did not settle a minister until the summer of 1773, when a man by the name of Clement Sum-
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ner was installed their pastor. We know not the place of his nativity. He graduated at Yale College in 1758, settled in Keene, N. H., June 11, 1761, and was dismissed, April 30, 1772. He remained in Thet- ford but little more than two years. He became a tory, left them without asking for a dismission, and went to Swanzey, N. H., where he became a Univer- salist preacher, and continued in that persuasion until his death. He was the source of much trouble to the town of Thetford. He took from them a fine right of land which fell to him by settlement, and divided the church and town. Wallace says, " He was no more fit to preach than a fox is to make a gold watch." We do not learn that there was ever any lack of fel- lowship between him and his Universalist brethren at Swanzey.
Wallace settled in the west part of Thetford, six miles from the river, where he lived to an advanced period of life. He relates a distressing scene which was occasioned by an alarm that was spread through the country in the summer of 1777. Wallace was at Charlestown, N. H., when an American scouting party came in with a British scouting party, as pris- oners of war, from Burgoyne's army. Upon these prisoners were found papers, purporting that three detachments of British soldiers and tories were to be
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sent out to the Connecticut valley-one to Newbury, one to Royalton, and one to Charlestown, N. H. This was nothing but a strategem of Burgoyne's to divert the Americans from his army, and the scout was sent out for the purpose of being taken with these papers on their hands, and it succeeded wonderfully. The news spread through the country like electricity.
Wallace made all speed for Thetford, and found on his arrival that the people had gained the intelligence that they were to be invaded by the enemy, and they were pressing in for the river from Strafford and other settlements, in the utmost consternation. This was done by order of the Committee of Safety. Strafford was literally emptied. There were a number of tories in that town. There were eight brothers in one fam- ily went over to the British at once, and they carried some others with them ; and their property was all taken and sold for public use. Those who remained true to their country's cause expected to feel the ven- geance of these enemies ; and when Wallace came home, he met, between the place where Thetford meeting-house now stands and his habitation, men, women and children, who had forsaken houses and lands, and everything which they could not conven- iently carry ; some in carts, some on sleds, some in sleighs, in mid-summer, and some on foot. They had
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their hands full of light articles of clothing, and packs stuffed upon their backs, and were driving before them cattle, horses, sheep, and swine. The mixed noise of these different kinds of animals, and the cries of women and children, who expected to be overtaken every minute, murdered and scalped by the infuriated Indians, tories, and British, were enough to affect the stoutest heart. Wallace was looking out for his wife, whom he supposed to be in the caravan ; but they all passed him, and he saw nothing of his beloved Creusa. Several times he was confident that bright image appeared to his view in the motley throng ; but, as they advanced, behold ! it was an- other, and not she-
" _ tenuesque recessit in auras."
Wallace now put spurs to his steed, that he might the sooner dissolve the doubts which had arisen in his own breast, allay the anxiety he felt for his better self. When he arrived at his hut, he found his wife stick- ing by the stuff. Having no horse or oxen to aid her in transporting the goods to the river, she had re- solved to wait and see if there was cause for all this trepidation and flight. She had, however, com- menced carrying their household stuff into the woods, and covering it with bushes, that it might not fall in- to the hands of the invaders, should they suddenly 7
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appear. They both completed the work which his wife had so heroically commenced, and then both mounted their horse, and rode for the settlements at the river. The next day, Wallace and another took a team, and went and brought in the goods ; and as soon as they were disposed of, Wallace enlisted to go in pursuit of Burgoyne and his army, wisely conclud- ing it best so to press the lion in his den, that his whelps should not feel at liberty to go abroad and de- vastate the surrounding country. And this was the effect of Burgoyne's stratagem generally. It returned upon his own head. After the surrender of Burgoyne and his army, October 17, 1777, Wallace returned to his hut in December, where he and his wife lived through the succeeding winter, without any chimney, hearth, or floor, except three or four loose boards to set their pole bedstead upon, that was corded with elm bark.
Mrs. Wallace deserves distinct notice in this place. At the time of the alarm, Wallace had corn, oats, and potatoes growing on his newly-cleared land. After he had gone in pursuit of Burgoyne, and the alarm had somewhat subsided, Mrs. Wallace travelled out six miles to see to their crops. She found the oats ripe for harvesting, and many of them lodged. She was all alone, and no man could be procured to
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assist her in gathering them, for all that could be spared had gone to the field of battle. Nothing daunted at this, she took a scythe and mowed them, dried them, raked them into bunches, bound them, and stacked them in good style. She then took an axe, cut poles, fenced them about, and then went back to the river. When her corn-stalks were ripe for cutting, she went out, cut them, bound them, and put them on the top of her stack of oats. In like manner she went out and gathered the corn, and dug her potatoes, and secured both. She then went to work at clearing some ground which had been felled, and was burnt over the year before; and when her husband returned from the army, she had cleared and sown one acre of wheat ; and during the absence of her husband she had travelled, in going to and from the river, seventy-two miles !
The following year they procured some sheep, which they had to yard in a pen near the house every night, to preserve them from the wolves, which were numerous. Wallace being at work at the river on a certain time, Mrs. Wallace could not find her sheep to yard them at evening, and as soon as it came on dark, the wolves set up a frightful howling, as it seemed, within twenty rods of the house. What to do for the safety of her sheep, she did not know ; but
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on examination she found the gun was loaded ; she at once sallied forth and discharged the gun, to inform the wolves that something was there besides mutton. At twelve at night, she reloaded, and went forth and discharged her piece a second time. And before day- light, they heard from her the third time ; and at sunrise, she went out and found all her sheep near the pen, safe and sound, and the wolfish gentry swift on the retreat.
This woman became the mother of eleven children, nine of whom lived to enter into the married state, and to have families. In 1828, these parents had fif- ty grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
But the best part remains to be told. This woman served as an accoucheuse forty-five years, rode in sev- en towns, was present at the birth of twenty-one pair of twins, and one thousand, six hundred and twenty- four single births ; making, in all, one thousand, six hundred and sixty-six, and never lost a mother of whom she had the care.
Gentlemen and ladies of 1840, sitting in your broadcloth, silks and satins, what say you to these things ? Could not some things be done without steam, railroad, or piano forte ? I would leave you to pleasant reflections. Fidelity in a historian is a jewel.
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There is one adventure of Wallace which must be recorded before we take leave of him. It took place in the fall of 1777, a little time before he returned to Thetford from the pursuit of Burgoyne, as I have al- ready stated. I receive the facts in this case from two sources, viz, from David Johnson, Esq., of New -. bury, Vt., to whom Wallace and Webster both related the story, and from the Hon. Simeon Short, Esq., of Thetford, who was Wallace's agent in procuring a pension, and who had, in behalf of Wallace, trans- mitted the following particulars to the Pension Office at Washington.
It will be recollected by those who are acquainted with the history of the war of the revolution, that as soon as the battle was fought at Bennington, and the Americans began to hope that Burgoyne's army would fall into their hands, they set about retaking the forts of 'Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, on the shores of Lake Champlain, which forts Burgoyne had left in his rear, supplied with troops for their defence. Ticonderoga was taken, and Mount Independence was straitly besieged for some time. There was a good deal of hard fighting, and it was confidently looked for, that Mount Independence would surren- der ; but they did not. The British shipping had full possession of the lake. Ticonderoga was upon
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the west side of the lake, and Mount Independence on the east side. Our troops on the west side could hold no communication with those who had invested Mount Independence, and of course they could have no concert in action. It was at this time, when the greatest solicitude was felt by the two American com- manders to know each others' minds, that the follow- ing expedient was adopted by the commander at Ti- conderoga. He called on his men to know if there were any two of them who would volunteer to swim the lake in the evening, and carry dispatches to Gen. Lincoln, near Mount Independence. For a time, none offered to undertake the hazardous enterprise ; but when informed how much was probably depend- ing upon it, Wallace of Thetford stepped forward, and said he would attempt it ; and then followed him Ephraim Webster, of Newbury, who originated in New-Chester, N. H. The documents were made out and about sun-down, an officer took these two men on to an eminence which overlooked the lake, and he pointed out to them the course they must take to avoid discovery by the British shipping, and then about where they would probably find the American camp. At dusk of evening, the same officer attend- ed them to the margin of the lake, assisted them to prepare for the voyage, and saw them set sail, little
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expecting, probably, ever to hear from them again ; for as they had to swim up and down the lake, in a zigzag course, to avoid the enemy, they must swim more than two miles before they could make terra firma, and it was so late in the season the water was quite cold. They rolled their dispatches in their clothes, and bound their clothes upon the back part of their neck, by cords passing round their foreheads and their clothes. As soon as they entered the water Wallace said to Webster, “ We shall never reach shore, it is so cold ; " but this he said without any thought of relinquishing the enterprise. When about mid-way of the lake, the cords which fastened Wal- lace's clothes to his neck slipped down from his fore- head to his throat, and it cut him so hard as almost to strangle him. He made several attempts to re- place the string upon his forehead, but failed, and he was on the point of giving up all for lost. The thought, however, of the importance of his under- taking seemed to inspire him with new life and vigor, and he succeeded in replacing the string, and passed on without saying a word to dishearten Webster. They passed so near the British shipping as to hear the oft-repeated cry, " All's well !" They took no care to contradict that report, but buffeted the waves with stout hearts and sinewy limbs. They
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kept in company until they came near the eas- tern shore of the lake, when Webster seemed to fall into the rear, a few rods at the north of Wallace ; and just as Wallace struck the twigs of a tree which lay extended into the lake, he heard Webster say, " Help, Wallace, I am drowning !" Wallace sprung to the shore, caught a stick, and rushed into the water, and extended it to Webster in the act of sink- ing, and drew him ashore. Webster could not stand ; but Wallace rubbed him briskly, and got on his clothes, and he soon recovered so as to walk. How aptly the poet's description of Ulysses, when cast up- on the coast of Phæacia, will apply to Webster, as drawn ashore by Wallace, the reader will judge :
"From mouth and nose the briny torrent ran,
And lost in lassitude, lay all the man ; Deprived of voice, of motion, and of breath, The soul scarce waking in the arms of death."
Webster was so full of expressions of gratitude to Wallace for the preservation of his life, that Wallace had to caution him not to speak so loud, for the ene- my would hear them.
But new difficulties now presented themselves. It was now dark, and they were in a strange place. The enemy was near, and had their sentinels on shore as well as the Americans. And, what was worst of all, they knew not the countersign of the Americans on
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that side of the lake. They started, however, in quest of the American camp, and after travelling about, nearly one hour, they were hailed by a British sentinel, and did but just make their escape. . They then took a different direction, and Wallace gave both despatches into Webster's hands, and told him to keep in the rear, and he would go forward, and if he should happen to fall into the hands of the enemy, Webster might have opportunity to escape with the despatches. But they had not proceeded a great ways before Wallace was hailed by a sentinel-" Who comes there ?" " A friend," says Wallace. "A friend to whom ?" says the sentinel. " Advance and give the countersign." This was a fearful mo- ment. Wallace hesitated for an instant, and then re- plied by way of question-" Whose friend are you ?"
The sentinel responded-" A friend to America !" " So am I," said Wallace, "and have important de- spatches for your general." They were immediately conducted to the general's quarters, the despatches were delivered, and Wallace and Webster were re- ceived with every mark of surprise and gratitude, and every thing was done to render them comfortable and happy. But Wallace never enjoyed the degree of health afterwards that he did prior to that chill and almost incredible effort. Wallace departed this life,
7 *
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February 7, 1833, aged eighty. Mrs. Wallace died, May, 1831, aged eighty-one.
Webster's subsequent history is worthy of a passing notice. The last time he visited Newbury, he was residing among the Oneida Indians, New York. They had adopted him as their brother, promoted him to be chief in their tribe, and, to render the tie indis- soluble, they had given him one of the black-haired maidens of the forest. Webster's health was not per- manently injured by his dangerous adventure.
The church and people in Thetford remained in a divided state more than three years after Sumner left them, until Dr. Burton came among them, in 1778, at the age of twenty-seven years. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1777, read divinity with Dr. Eleazer Wheelock, president of the college, until he was licensed to preach the gospel, and he then went and read with Dr. Hart, of Preston, New London Co., Conn. As soon as Dr. Burton came into Thet- ford, the unhappy divisions which had existed among them were all dissipated as by enchantment. They were all united in him, and all reconciled to each other. They gave him a unanimous call to settle with them in the gospel ministry, and he was ordain- ed their pastor, January 19, 1779.
There were fifty-seven families in the town when
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Dr. Burton settled among them. There were but two families then living west of the present meeting- house, viz, Richard Wallace, and a Mr. Osborn, liv- ing near Mr. Wallace. They had no meeting-house ; and in the summer they held their meetings in a barn, and in a private dwelling in the winter. The first meeting-house was built of logs, and stood near the place where Dr. Solomon Heaton used to live, from half to three-fourths of a mile north-east of the present meeting-house, on the road leading from Thetford to East Fairlee and Orford. The seats in this meeting-house were movable forms, or benches, like those often found in school-houses for children to sit upon, and they were ranged on each side of the house, the ends pointing towards one broad aisle in the centre.
Dr. Burton related, in much good humor, one in- cident which occurred in that house, that was of a stirring quality. The doctor had a parishioner by the name of John Osman, and he was an abominable sleeper in the house of God. His habit in this was so inveterate as to resist all remonstrance. It so hap- pened, on a very warm Sabbath in mid-summer, that Osman was seated on the end of one of those benches next to the aisle. He was facing the aisle, and, in order to find secure repose, he placed his elbows upon
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