USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Acworth > History of Acworth, with the proceedings of the centennial anniversary, genealogical records, and register of farms > Part 12
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The most interesting locality to the mineralogist, is " William's Ledge " or "Beryl Hill," celebrated for the immense size of its beryls which have been sold to cabinets, in various parts of the world. Some of these crystals are more than a foot in diameter and eighteen inches in length, but they are defaced by striæ and cracks. They are however, valued for their huge size. There is one of them in the Imperial cabinet in Vienna, highly prized even in that superb collection. The Acworth beryls, when perfect, have a fine light blue green color, of that variety known as aqua marine. Some pure fragments might be cut and polished for jewelry. These beryls have been obtained by much labor, it being necessary to remove the overlying quartz, which is white, smoky and rose-colored. This quartz vein runs N. W. and S. E. and, forms the summit of the hill. It is of the purest and best kind, suitable for the manufacture of glass and sand-paper. From it fine glass tubes, suitable for chemical purposes have been pro- duced, almost equal to the celebrated Bohemian glass.
Other minerals have been found here, black tourmaline largely crystallized, white soda feldspar, or Cleavelandite, Columbite, and asbestos. Feldspar has been taken from this ledge to make porce- lain ware at Bennington, Vt. James Bowers expended much labor- and capital in developing the resources of this quarry. On the western side of the hill is a bed of hornblende slate, cut through in a remarkable manner by a broken vein of compact feldspar.
The town of Acworth is situated upon territory once elaimed by Massachusetts. According to the Masonian charter, the boundary line of New Hampshire commenced three miles north of the mouth of the Merrimac, and followed the river to its head, and extended thence in a north-western direction until a point sixty miles from the sea was reached. At the time the charter was granted, the bend in the Merrimac was unknown. New Hamp- shire claimed, that the spirit of the charter required that the line should run west from the bend in the river. Massachusetts, on the
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THE HISTORY OF ACWORTH.
other hand, claimed a literal construction of the charter. The case was decided in favor of New Hampshire.
Massachusetts then called upon New Hampshire, to provide for the forts which she had established in the disputed territory. This New Hampshire refused to do, as her settlements being east of the Merrimac were not sufficiently benefited by these forts to warrant the expense. In 1752, the question of reimbursing Massachusetts for her expense in keeping up Fort Dummer by granting her the disputed territory was agitated. This quickened the Governor of New Hampshire to grant several charters for towns in that quarter, chiefly towns previously settled under Massachusetts charters. This was doubtless the occasion of grant- ing the charter of the town of Burnet in 1752, although at that time the hostility of the Indians made it impossible to live at any distance from Fort No. 4. This charter of course was forfeited by failure to settle. In the description of its boundaries Unity is called Buckingham. Burnet covered exactly the same territory granted in 1766 to the same leading proprietor, Col. Sampson Stoddard, though with different associates, under the name of Acworth. The conquest of Canada had put an end to the Indian wars several years before Acworth was granted, and only now and then was a wandering Indian seen by its early settlers.
The name of Acworth was probably given to the town by the Governor, in honor of a friend of his, Lord Acworth. The pro- prietors were mostly citizens of towns bordering on the Merrimac River in Massachusetts, and of Londonderry, N. H. Among them we find the names of Benning Wentworth the Governor, John Wentworth, last Colonial Governor of New Hampshire, Theodore Atkinson, Secretary of State, Matthew Thornton, afterwards signer of the Declaration of Independence and delegate to the Continental Congress from New Hampshire. None of these pro- prietors ever settled in Acworth.
The land was divided into seventy parts. Five hundred acres, to be reckoned as two shares, were allowed to the Governor. This was set off in the north-western corner, on "Perry's Moun- tain." One share each was allotted to the "Society for the prop- agation of the Gospel in foreign parts," and for a glebe for the church of England. The lands which fell to these shares are now held by a perpetual lease, and the income from the rent is enjoyed by the Protestant Episcopal Church in West Claremont. One share was allotted to the first settled minister in town, and fell to
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THIE CHARTER OF 1766-FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
Rev. Mr. Archibald, and was sold by him when he left town. One share was reserved for schools which was sold, and the in- come is devoted to school purposes. One share, as near the cen- ter as possible, was to be laid off in town lots, one being assigned to each proprietor. The remaining sixty-three shares were dis- tributed among the sixty-three proprietors.
Among the privileges granted was the holding of an annual fair and weekly markets, which the inhabitants never availed them- selves of. Among the conditions was the annual tribute of one ear of Indian corn, if lawfully demanded, during the first ten years. Tradition does not say that the demand was ever made. After ten years, each proprietor or settler was to pay a tribute of a shil- ling for each hundred aeres possessed, which first fell due on the 25th of December, 1776, but the Declaration of Independence effect- ually stayed the payment. Another condition was inserted to in- duce the speedy settlement of the town : five acres for every fifty owned, were to be brought under cultivation by every proprietor, under pain of forfeiture, and reversion to the crown.
As the charter was not signed until the 19th of September, there was no time for settlement that year, but in 1767 three young men from Connecticut, William Keyes, Joseph Chatterton, and Samuel Smith, were induced to choose farms in the newly granted town. They immediately began to clear these farms, and in the spring of 1768 William Keyes brought his young wife to the cabin he had built. She with an infant a few months old made the journey from Ashford, Ct., in an ox-cart, in which also was stowed all the household goods they brought with them. They settled on the farm now occupied by Hon. Jesse Slader.
They were joined during the year by Joseph Chatterton, who boarded with Mr. Keyes and cleared a farm near by, and Samuel Harper who erected a. cabin where Hiram Hayward now lives, and John Rogers of Londonderry, who built his cabin where Alonzo Mathewson now resides.
The first settlements near the center of the town were made the next year by Henry Silsby, where Mrs. Willard Perham now re- sides, and by Ephraim Keyes, near William Hayward's present house, and by Samuel Smith, Sr., a little below the old burying- ground: These were all Connecticut men. They were followed from their native State by comparatively few. But the Con- necticut settlers wielded a large influence in town, and most of them were the progenitors of a numerous posterity, and a large
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proportion of the inhabitants of the town during the last two gen- erations could claim relationship to them, besides very many who have emigrated from Acworth.
According to the charter, the first town meeting was to be held on the 2d Tuesday of October, 1866, to be called and moderated by Colonel Stoddard, which of course was not held because no one was living in town, but upon petition of the settlers, a town meet- ing was first called on the 2d Tuesday of March, 1771.
The condition of the charter, as to the amount of land to be brought under cultivation, within the term of five years, not being complied with, the charter was forfeited in September, 1771. The proprietors immediately petitioned for an extension. A committee was sent in May, 1772, by the Governor to inspect the settlement and report upon its growth and improvement.
They reported two hundred and sixty-seven acres of improved land in town, and one hundred and twenty-one acres partly cleared. This land was all in what now constitutes school districts Nos. 1, 2 and 3, except one dozen acres on the Ira Wheeler place, in No. 4, and about twenty acres partly cleared in No. 5, where George W. Lathrop now resides, and about four acres partly cleared at the grist-mill in South Acworth.
There were thirteen houses in town, six of which have already been spoken of, and the other seven were situated thus : Dean Carleton's, a little out of the village on the road leading to Derry Hill ; David Cross, where Ira Wheeler afterwards lived ; Elijah Parker, where Lauriston Keyes now resides ; Joseph Chatterton and James Pease, west of Deacon John Grout's,-they were the only persons in town who had a barn ; Robert Davidson, where Thomas B. Hayward now resides ; Solomon Bigelow on what is best known as the Jacob Hayward place. Thomas Putnam had built a good grist-mill, saw-mill and house at South Acworth. There were but two carriage roads in town, one leading from Charlestown, over the hill, past Hiram Hayward's, and running near Benjamin P. Wood's, then across to Henry Silsby's inn, (Mrs. Willard Perham's, ) over the hills, past the Jonathan Mitch- ell farm, and so on to East Acworth and Lempster. From Charlestown to Mr. Silsby's it was a good carriage road, the re- mainder of the way a wagon might pass with difficulty. There was also a good road from the middle of the town to the mill. Besides these, there were bridle paths to the various houses.
This was the condition of Acworth in 1772. Thirteen houses,
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FIRST SETTLERS.
probably all log cabins, one barn, one grist-mill, one saw-mill, eight miles of carriage road, and perhaps twenty-five legal voters. The town, however, continued to receive accessions through the troublous times preceding and during the Revolutionary War. Thomas Putnam was soon joined at South Acworth by Joseph and William Markham, Alexander Houston and Christopher Ayres, and at the close of the war, by Thomas Slader and others. Near the close of the Revolution, the McClures made the first set- tlement in the neighborhood which has ever since borne their name. In 1781 Isaac Gates made the first settlement on Gates' Hill, joined in a few years by Jabez Alexander, and Ezra George. Thomas Clark made the first settlement in the Tracy district, fol- lowed soon by Issachar Mayo, Joseph Blanchard and others. Col. Ebenezer Grout settled first upon "Grout Hill" in 1782. Jonas Keyes built the first house in East Acworthi, or "Keyes Hollow." The settlers for the first twenty years came from Londonderry, New Hampshire, except a few influential families, as the Keyeses, Sladers and Silsbys, who came from Connecticut, and the Grouts and others from Massachusetts. From that time, for several years, a tide of immigration set in from New Boston, Weare, and the surrounding towns, settling mainly on Grout Hill, and in the north part of the town. The earliest settlers brought their effects on ox-carts, up the river from Connecticut, and around through Keene from Londonderry. When on horseback they came through Washington and Lempster.
It was in many respects more of an undertaking for a young wife to leave her parents in Connecticut, Massachusetts or Lon- donderry, and follow her hardy pioneer husband into the for- ests of Acworth, than it is now to go to the far West. Though parents wept, expecting to see their faces no more, yet in a few years at farthest, the young couple would pay a visit to their old homes, the wife on horseback, with a babe in her arms, and per- haps another child on a pillion, while the husband walked by her side. Many visits were paid in this way. These women were worthy mates of their daring husbands. Many incidents are still related of their courage and fearlessness.
While Mrs. William Keyes one day was alone in her cabin, she heard an outcry in the pig-pen. Fastening her infant child in the house, she ran out to ascertain the cause, when lo, a bear was seen seizing their pig, the only reliance for meat during the coming winter. The exigency called for prompt action. Seizing a cudgel
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THE HISTORY OF ACWORTHI.
she attacked the bear. But he patiently endured the beating, being intent upon his prey, which he bore off in triumph. But his day of reckoning speedily came. Through the efforts of Mr. Keyes he took the place of the pig in the meat-barrel, so the family were supplied with meat, inferior in quality indeed, but more in quantity than they had anticipated.
Often during the first season a coverlet sufficed as a door to the cabins. The wolves were sometimes bold enough to lift the edge of the coverlet and survey the household as they sat around the blazing hearth on winter evenings ; or if a solid door pre- vented this their faces might be seen against the window-panes. But the women did not go into hysterics, nor refuse to be left alone in the house under these circumstances.
So far from having carpets on their floors, they were -sometimes forced to have only the earth for a floor, which became hardened and polished by use, and the housewife took special pride in mak- ing it shine. The big stone chimney sometimes served a double purpose, and supplied the only staircase in the house. Hemlock bark always constituted the first roof of the cabin. The single room down stairs often served the purpose of kitchen, dining-room, parlor and bedroom, while the loft was reserved for strangers. Two rooms on the first floor were considered amply sufficient. Yet these humble cabins were as generally the abodes of happi- ness as the more comfortable dwellings in which the inhabitants of our town are now housed, and probably were the witnesses of more mirth and hilarity. The people had the generosity and open- heartedness common to pioneer settlers. The new-comer always found neighbors ready to assist him in rolling up the logs of his cabin and in making his first clearing.
For this purpose a "frolic" was made, and undoubtedly they made a frolic of it. There were also husking-parties and apple-bees innumerable, besides many other gatherings for young and old. There were also "road-breakings" in the winter. Those who lived at the outskirts of the town would start first through the drifts to their nearest neighbors with their teams, when another yoke of oxen would be attached, and so on from house to house, until long teams might be seen pouring into the middle of the town from every direction ; when there a rush was made upon the stores and taverns, " black-strap " flowed freely for the time, sending some home in not a very fit condition to meet their families. But when we consider their privations and
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FIRST SETTLERS.
hardships, and the age in which they lived, we can pardon these infirmities. We have no need to speak of their industry to those who know that these hills and valleys were heavily timbered, and those who have seen the " stone fences " of Acworth.
The chief problem presented to them was not, What can I most profitably raise, and what can I more economically buy ? Money was scarce, and the means of intercommunication and transit were few and expensive. They studied therefore to live as much as possible within themselves. They studied to produce not only food, but clothing for their families, and thus they became manufacturers as well as farmers. Linen, tow and woolen goods were manufactured, and soon in such abundance as to become an article of export, some families selling one hundred dollars' worth annually. . Nor were all these fabrics coarse. Acworth linen was. noted for its fineness as well as its abundance. Miss Peggy McClure received the premium at the county fair for the quality of her linen. In those days of large families and industrious habits, there was little anxiety as to the future of their sons and daughters. The sons had but to buy a tract of the wilderness which was cheap and near at hand, and begin to make for them- selves homes as their fathers had done. The daughters did not go to the city to purchase their trousseau in anticipation of their wedding, but they were provided with flax, wool and often raw cotton in abundance, and their busy fingers wrought a bountiful supply of material for setting up housekeeping usually long before it was needed. Thus it required no long purse to start a son or daughter in life. The simple habits of the early settlers did not require that calculating prudence which our more artificial man- ner of life and accumulating wants compel us to exercise. Some- times we think it would have been more for their comfort to have exercised more forethought. For instance they had no wood- sheds, and a wood-pile was seen at every door with the axe in the end of a log, ready for use in cutting the daily supply, which we have no doubt was often forgotten. One instance at least has come down to us, where the farmer went to his day's labor for- getting to cut the usual supply of wood. On returning at noon he found the dinner-pot hanging in the fire-place with the dinner all prepared in it, ready to boil when a fire was made. He took the hint, but whether he ever forgot to chop wood again for his wife we know not.
The settlers from Londonderry were large of stature, with mus-
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THE HISTORY OF ACWORTH.
cular frames. They were conservative, which peculiarity is still marked in their descendants. They were tenacious in their opin- ions, and jealous of their rights.
They were reverent and scrupulous observers of the forms of religion, even when there was no hearty piety. One peculiarity seems strangely blended with these. They delighted in rough practical jokes and boisterous fun. Fighting was a common prac- tice on "town meeting " and " muster days," even by those who seemed very sedate and dignified on other occasions. Part of this doubtless must be credited to New England rum, which most of them unfortunately loved, and a part to their rough pioneer life. In regard to this, their descendants have very much improved, for the peaceableness and propriety of Acworth assemblages at the present day is a matter of remark. The following inci- dent illustrates their love of practical jokes : While Capt. John Duncan was commander of the military company, some of the younger members headed by Parley Keyes, were guilty of some neglect of duty, and thereby incurred a fine. Keyes had con- siderable influence in the company, and the Captain foresaw that there might be difficulty in enforeing a collection of the fines. He saw Keyes privately, and unfolded to him a plan whereby he might play a practical joke upon his brother delinquents. At the next training Keyes should step out before the company, acknowledge his fault, pay over the fine, and advise his com- rades to do the same. Duncan intimated to him, however, that he would refund to him his own fine. Keyes agreed to play his part of the joke, and the plan worked most admirably, the delin- quents following the example of Keyes, walked up and paid their fines. Time passed on, and Keyes not having his money refunded as he expected, complained to the Captain. With a toss of the head, Capt. Duncan replied, "Some I flatter and some I drive."
At a subsequent training, after the above incident had appar- ently been forgotten, Capt. Duncan, as the custom was, wanting to treat his company, handed some money to Keyes who was a ser- geant, and directed him to go to Mr. Henry's store and buy some rum. The liquor came and was used. A few days after Mr. Henry called Capt. Duncan into his store and presented a bill for rum on training day. Capt. Duncan settled the bill, and on meeting Keyes inquired, with much indignation, why he had not paid for the rum. Imitating the captain's manner, he replied, "Some I flatter, and some I drive."
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A SECESSION MOVEMENT.
The Governor of New Hampshire had claimed what is now the State of Vermont as part of New Hampshire, and had granted numerous town charters within that territory. The colony of New York also claimed the territory. The dispute was settled in 1764 by a royal order extending the jurisdiction of New York to the Connecticut River. The settlers holding their titles under the New Hampshire grants, were unwilling to agree to this settlement, and during the troubles of the Revolution erected an independent gov- ernment. This produced discontent through the valley of the Connecticut, the towns on both sides of the river being intimately associated and unwilling to be separated. Some movements werc made to erect a new State in the valley, to be called New Con- necticut. To prevent this movement, in March, 1778, Vermont admitted sixteen towns on the west side of the river to represen- tation in her Legislature, but she gave them up upon the remon- strance of New Hampshire. However strongly the people of Ac- worth may have felt upon this subject, they did not act officially, until December 11, 1780, when, in connection with Lempster and Unity, they chose Daniel Grout to represent them in the General Assembly of New Hampshire, raising at the same time a large committee to instruct him whether to go, and upon what condi- tions. They also chose Henry Silsby and John Duncan to attend a convention of the New Hampshire grants held at Charlestown. This convention was the result of a previous one held at Walpole, at which also Acworth was represented, which meeting resulted in a resolution, complaining that New Hampshire was willing that the valley towns should be divided by the river, and calling a con- vention at Charlestown. This convention met January 16, 1781, and soon adjourned to Cornish, to be near the Vermont Legislature, then in session at Windsor. The result was articles of union be- tween the New Hampshire grants and Vermont. March 30, 1781, Acworth accepted these articles of union, and John Duncan was chosen representative, and on the 5th of April, and in con- junetion with the representatives of thirty-five other towns, lie was admitted to a seat in the Vermont Legislature. Town meet- ings were called in the name of the State of Vermont during the remainder of the year, and jurymen were drawn for the Vermont courts. A letter, however, from Gen. Washington to the Gover- nor of Vermont, led the Legislature of that State to take action on the matter. Taking advantage of the absence of the members from the eastern side of the river, a resolution relinquishing all
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THE HISTORY OF ACWORTH.
claim to that territory was passed February 22, 1782, and when these members arrived they were excluded. It is by no means cer- tain that John Duncan, the Acworth representative, was among this number, for the town had previously been considering whether it would not be better to return to the allegiance of New Hamp- shire, and had, February 1st, agreed to pay the taxes assessed by New Hampshire for 1782, provided those of 1781 were not in- sisted upon, and on the 25th of February the annual March meet- ing was warned' in the name of New Hampshire. Thus ended the only secession movement of which Acworth was ever guilty. We infer that the movement was not very hearty or unanimous, from the following facts: 1st, a protest is entered upon the records, calling in question the legality of the annual March meeting ; and 2d, the highway tax was only worked out by a part of the inhab- itants in 1781, and its collection was not enforced ; 3d, early steps were taken to return to New Hampshire. We also infer that the movement was not considered creditable to the town from the fact that no tradition of it has been handed down from father to son.
The population of the town nearly doubled between 1790 and 1800, as will be seen by reference to the census. Settlers came in from Weare, New Boston and vicinity in great numbers, and many also from other places. There were more inhabitants in town in 1800 than now. The villages, however, were quite small. Samuel Slader kept a hotel in the large square house at the corner . of the common. James Wallace lived in a house. by the public well. West of that there was no house until Jacob Hayward's, (Barnet C. Finlay's.) On the north Mr. Silsby's (Mrs. Per- ham's) was the nearest. Towards the east were Gawin Gilmore, (J. H. Dickey's,) Amos Keyes, (William Hayward,) and a little below, Ephraim Keyes. The only house south of the tavern was Dr .. Grout's, (Nath'l Warner's.) Mr. Gilmore had a black- smith's shop where C. M. Woodbury now lives, and Isaac Nes- mith's blacksmith's shop stood where the school-house now does. James Wallace was the shoemaker, and Hugh Henry the mer- chant. His store was on the site where Col. C. K. Brooks' house now stands. There were only four houses in South Acworth. An incident happened in 1800 which shows the strictness of the times. Isaac Nesmith was on his way home from London- derry when the Sabbath overtook him at Washington. As the snow was rapidly disappearing he felt obliged to hasten home, but could start only by permission of the tithing man. Being stopped
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