USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > Barnstead > History of Barnstead [N.H.] from its first settlement in 1727 to 1872 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16
TOWN POUND,
The following record is on the town book in the year 1817 :
" It was proposed to build a circular Pound, forty feet in diameter, with a six-foot wall, seven feet high, to be located near the brook by John Tasker's mill.
" It was put up at auction and bid off by Nathaniel Tasker at forty dollars; and a bond was given to the Selectmen by Tasker for a faithful performance of the work."
Unfortunately Tasker was taken sick and died. His widow petitioned for a release from the contract. The town voted not to exempt the widow Sally from building the Pound agreeable to the bond given to the Selectmen. It was therefore set up at auction again and bid off by Joseph Pickering for $49. He afterwards fell back, and his forfeit was one dollar. It was again put up at auction
172
HISTORY OF BARNSTEAD.
1863
and was bid off by David Jacobs for $60. His bid was also given up, the one dollar being paid. It was again set up, and was bid off by John Peavey, Esq., for $60, who gave his bond and built the Pound."
TOWN HALL.
This is located at the Centre. It was erected in 1847, and ever since the business of the town has been transacted in this building. Previously the Selectmen had held their meetings in the different sections, mostly at private houses. The Town Hall has proved to be not only a great con- venience to the corporation as a public building, but as otherwise affording to the public accommodations for the various gatherings which are common to a country village.
SHEEP MARKING.
-
Formerly a farmer would have been regarded as neg- lectful of duty, and destitute of economy, if he did not raise his own wool, and manufacture his own cloth. Hence every farmer must necessarily support a large flock, and by statute law he was held to keep his sheep properly marked. The marking was done by the barbarous fashion of mutilating the ears. Thus for instance, in 1812, the
173
ITS REPRESENTATIVES.
1872
sheep-mark of Samuel Bickford, as appears on record, was "a piece cut off the right side of each ear, the ear sharpened from each side of each ear thereof."
Each farmer had a different mark upon the ears of his flock, so that if any were to stray from his fold and mingle with others, they might easily be identified and obtained.
REPRESENTATIVES TO THE LEGISLATURE.
Charles Hodgdon is the first on record and served from 1797 to 1821 inclusively, excepting the years 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1815, 1817, 1819.
John Nutter in 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803.
Nathaniel Wilson in 1815, 1816, 1817.
William Walker, Jr., in 1819, 1822, 1824, 1827. Hereafter there was to be two Representatives annually. John Peavey, Esq., 1823, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1828.
Charles Hodgdon, 1823, 1845 John Kaime, 1825, 1826 John Kent, Esq., 1828 Isaac O. Barnes, 1829, 1830 Samuel Webster, 1829, 1830 George Nutter, 1831, 1832
Joshua B. Merrill, 1851, 1853 Wm. Jenkins, jr., 1852 Thomas Proctor, 1851, 1852 Isaac Garland, Jr., 1853, 1854
John L. Nutter, 1854, 1855 Seth Shackford, 1855, 1856 William H. Newall, 1831, 1832 Josh. M. Babcock, 1856, 1857 Thos. P. Hodgdon, 1833, 1834 Samuel Kaime, 1833, 1834 Samuel G. Berry, 1835, 1836 William S. Hill, 1835, 1836 Timothy Dow, 1837, 1838 Richard Garland, 1837, 1838
Joseph Nutter, 1857, 1858 Alfred Bunker, 1858, 1859 Jacob B. Locke, 1859, 1860 Charles S. George, 1860, 1861 John McNeal, 1861, 1862 Geo. W. Emerson, 1862, 1863
174
HISTORY OF BARNSTEAD.
1872
Joseph A. Walker, 1839, 1840 John Dorr, 1863, 1864
Horace N. Colebath, 1864 Daniel F. Davis, 1865, 1866
Joseph Jenkins, 1839, 1840 Stephen Young, 1841, 1842 Samuel Rollins, jr., 1841, 1842 Charles H. Dorr, 1865, 1866 Mark Walker, 1867, 1868 Jona. M. Tasker, 1867, 1868
John Walker, 1843, 1844 Enos George, 1843, 1844 Chas. Hodgdon, jr., 1845, 1846 William Proctor, 1869 John H. Collins, 1845, 1846 Jacob W. Evans, 1869 No Election in 1870 William Grover, 1847, 1848 Charles Dudley, 1847, 1848 John F. Holmes, 1871, 1872 Robert S. Webster, 1849, 1850 Dan'l E. Tuttle, 1871, 1872 Enoch Clark, 1849, 1850
SELECTMEN.
John Tasker, 1774, 1776, 1783
Thomas Edgerly, 1774, 1776
Benjamin Nutter, 1774, 1775, 1777, 1778, 1780, 1782, 1783 Richard Cinclair, 1775, 1777, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1784 Winthrop Smart, 1775, 1778, 1782
Andrew Drew, 1776
Samuel Pitman, 1777
William Brown, 1778, 1781 John Drew, 1779 Jonathan Emerson, 1779, 1780, 1784
Rufus Ewers, 1781, 1794, 1795, 1798, 1799
Charles Hodgdon, 1783, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1792 Ephraim Tebbetts, 1784
Jonathan Chesley, 1785, 1788, 1789, 1791
John Nutter, Jr., 1785, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1891, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1800, 1809 Lemuel Bickford, 1785
Samuel Nelson, 1786, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1797, 1800, 1801
175
ITS SELECTMEN.
1872
Ebenezer Adams, 1786 Moses Rand, 1787 Dependence Colebath, 1790 Ephraim Tebbetts, 1790 Benjamin Nutter, 1793, 1803
Daniel Drew, 1795, 1797, 1798, 1799
Ezekiel Edgerly, 1796, 1806, 1808
Charles Hodgdon, Jr., 1796, 1802, 1803, 1806, 1817, 1822, 1824, 1826, 1827, 1828
John Jenkins, Jr., 1796, 1805, 1806, 1807, 1809 James Lock, 1800, 1801, 1803
Peletiah Daniels, 1804
Joseph Tasker, 1804, 1805, 1808 James Brown, 1804, 1805
Moses Chesley, 1807, 1808, 1810
Nathaniel Tasker, 1807, 1809, 1814, 1815
Benjamin Hodgdon, 1810, 1811
Isaac Garland, 1810, 1811
Eliphalet Nutter, 1811, 1812, 1813, 1816, 1820
Nathaniel Wilson, 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815, 1820, 1821, 1823 William Walker, Jr., 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815, 1816, 1817, 1818, 1820, 1821, 1825
Noah Robinson, 1816, 1817, 1818 John Kaime, 1818, 1819, 1822
John B. Swasey, 1819 Jeremiah Dow, 1819 Samuel Rollins, 1822, 1823
John Daniels, 1823, 1824, 1825, 1826
George Nutter, 1824, 1825 Thomas P. Hodgdon, 1826
Samuel J. Edgerly, 1827, 1828, 1834, 1835
Timothy Dow, 1828, 1829, 1830 Richard Garland, 1829, 1830 Benjamin Hoitt, 1830, 1831 Samuel G. Berry, 1831, 1832
William S. Hill, 1831, 1832
Oliver Demerit, 1832, 1833 Daniel McNeal, 1833, 1834
176
HISTORY OF BARNSTEAD.
. 1872
William Nutter, 1833, 1834 Jeremiah Clark, 1835, 1863 Jacob Saunders, 1835 1
Charles Dudley, 1836, 1837
Joseph Jenkins, 1836, 1837, 1838, 1847, 1848
Arthur Bickford, 1836, 1837 Samuel Webster, 1838, 1839, 1840 Stephen Young, 1838, 1839 Samuel Kaime, 1839, 1840, 1858, 1859 Sewall Cilley. 1840, 1849 John Walker, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1863, 1864
Joseph Walker, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1857, 1858 Daniel Bickford, 1841 William Berry, 1843
Hazen Pickering, 1843, 1844
Joseph A. Walker, 1844
Enoch Clark, 1845, 1846
Isaac Garland, 1845, 1846
George S. Roberts, 1845, 1846
Joshua B. Merrill, 1847, 1848, 1849
Josiah R. Shackford, 1847, 1848
Jacob B. Locke, 1849, 1850 John L. Nutter, 1850, 1851
Samuel Bickford, 1850, 1851
Seth Shackford, 1851, 1852 Hazen Wheeler, 1852, 1853
Thomas Emerson, 1852, 1853
John Dow, 1853, 1854, 1867, 1868 Caleb Willey, 1854 Charles S. French, 1854, 1855
John McNeal, 1855, 1856
George W. Emerson, 1855, 1856
Samuel D. Nutter, 1856, 1857
William Proctor, 1857 William S. Nutter, 1859, 1860, 1871, 1872 Jacob W. Evans, 1859, 1860 Nathaniel S. Nutter, 1860, 1861, 1871, 1872 Joseph D. Proctor, 1861, 1862
1872
TOWN CLERKS.
177
John N. Hoitt, 1861, 1862
Horatio G. Willey, 1862, 1863
Charles S. George, 1864, 1865 Joel S. Hall, 1864, 1865
George W. Hodgdon, 1865, 1866
David H. Evans, 1866 Plumer Garland, 1866 John W. F. Locke, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870
Charles E. Walker, 1867, 1868 John F. Holmes, 1869, 1870 Joseph P. Blaisdell, 1869, 1870
John F. Garland, 1871, 1872
TOWN CLERKS.
-
The first Town Clerk of whom we have any record 'was Benjamin Nutter, elected in 1775. The record is in a fair hand. He remained in office up to 1781. His suc- cessors were :
Samuel Nelson, from 1781 to 1784, inclusive.
Jonathan Bunker, from 1785 to 1786, inclusive.
Benjamin Hodgdon, from 1787 to 1799, inclusive. Charles Hodgdon, Jr., from 1800 to 1805, inclusive. Jeremiah Jewett, in 1806.
Charles Hodgdon, Jr., from 1807 to 1815, inclusive. Enos George, from 1816 to 1858, inclusive.
Charles S. George, acted as Town Clerk in 1859. Horace N. Colebath, in 1860.
Cyrus W. Blanchard, in 1861.
Charles E. Walker, from 1862 to 1864, inclusive.
Levi C. Scrutton, in 1865.
John H. Hill, in 1866.
John E. Pendergast, from 1867 to 1868, inclusive.
George Emerson, from 1869 to 1872, inclusive.
178
HISTORY OF BARNSTEAD.
1872
POST-OFFICES.
-
Their locations are designated - Barnstead, South Barnstead, Centre Barnstead, and North Barnstead.
Previous to about the year 1814 there had been no Post-office here. The first was established on the Province Road, near the southwest corner of the town.
Charles Hodgdon, was the first Postmaster. He was succeeded by Charles Hodgdon, Jr., Charles J. Hodg- don, Noah Robinson, Samuel D. Nutter, but perhaps not all in the same locality.
BARNSTEAD (PARADE) POST-OFFICE.
The Postmasters have been Hazen Wheeler, Eliphalet S. Nutter, Jonathan M. Tasker, Daniel Chesley, Joseph P. Russell, and Cyrus W. Blanchard.
BARNSTEAD CENTRE POST-OFFICE.
Postmasters, Isaac O. Barnes, John Kent, Jeremiah Elkins, John Peavey, Daniel Bickford, Noah C. Hun- tress, E. C. Drew, Laban M. Saunders, Seth Tasker, and Thomas M. Huse.
NORTH BARNSTEAD POST-OFFICE.
Postmasters, Samuel Webster, Thomas P. Hodgdon, Robert S. Webster, Charles E. Walker, and William C. Berry.
*
SOUTH BARNSTEAD POST-OFFICE.
Postmasters, Edward Walker, Charles Reynolds.
179
HUSKINGS.
1872
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
John Cinclair,
John Tasker,
Charles Hodgdon, John Nutter,
Isaac O. Barnes, Jeremiah Elkins Thomas P. Hodgdon,
Benjamin Nutter,
John Bickford,
Charles Hodgdon, jr.,
Eliphalet Nutter,
Joseph Tasker, John Peavey, Caleb Merrill,
George Nutter,
William Walker,
John H. Collins,
William S. Hill,
Samuel Kaime,
Hazen Pickering,
Reuben Edgerly,
Charles S. George,
George W. Ewers,
John W. F. Locke,
Richard Garland.
4
John Dow, Samuel Webster,
Benjamin Hodgdon,
Moses Norris,
Peletiah Daniels,
HUSKINGS.
Formerly as now, one of the largest crops produced in New Hampshire, was that of maize, known as Indian Corn, as it has been called, the same being believed to be a native of this country. It was found by the first settlers, as raised by the Indians, and as seen by Columbus and others at their first landings. In New England it has ever since been more extensively cultivated than any other article. It cannot be raised in England to any great profit, but in Asia and Africa the soil and climate for the most part is well adapted to its growth.
180
1872
HISTORY OF BARNSTEAD.
In all countries it is now more or less used in various ways constituting a substantial diet. Almost everywhere it is consumed in the feed of hogs, horses, and cattle, and often takes the place of fuel in some parts of the great west. It is raised there in large quantities and at the small cost of a few cents per bushel. The new lands of the country are well suited to its growth, and no article of produce affords an abundant return with more certainty than a crop of corn. Of this the poor in our early days could always obtain a supply, as it grew abundantly, and a little labor would command it. How common it was then to see peering through the log cabin from six to ten rosy, red cheeked urchins with tangled hair, all in the bloom of health, living daily as they did almost entirely on this most nutritive diet, and from month to month scarcely knowing a change from the corn and pork which the father had raised and fattened. All over the large fields, then, in the month of October, could be seen the beautiful ears of yellow corn enveloped with dry husks fully ripe and fit for the garner.
It was the work for the husbandman for days, to gather the harvest of these fields, and to deposit the unhusked corn in huge piles along the spacious floors of his barn. This being done, the farmer, as if to join in a general thanksgiving, would extend to the old, the young, and the middle aged, an invitation to come to his husking.
At the evening appointed, they would come from afar by the scores, and after the common greetings were passed each would be conducted to the great pile, the same being lighted up brilliantly, usually with wooden chandeliers filled with candles. The young men and the modest young maidens usually appropriated to themselves such seats as
TAP DLO HOMESTEAD
1
180
FREDDY OP HIA NOTTAD
1870
· In all countries it is mes more or less used in various waste constituting a sob lammml diat Aboost everywhere mi comopne 3 gi the foot of hogs, non . sud cattle, aul ofsale, the plate of fuel to some parts of thy great mall cost of a few untoque Lista. 1'e new lands of the : wotry are well etiteJ muit. growth, ms bo article of produce afords un bardank return wid more certainly Than x con of corn Of the the podr & bir gurly dare coul t always obtain a supply, as i gos deadantly, und a Little labai would command & How moromon it was then to revpeering through the log család from six to to. toby, mo theshed urchins with tangh & hade, all in the bloat of health, livkoy dady as thes dit Mipost entirely on this' wost smitive divi, and Pron month to month scarcely knowing a change from the sea and pork which the lemon ad ded bal fattomed. Ut over the large
beautiful care of show con entered with dry husks fully nye and fit for The gunier.
It wa the work fhe the husbandman for days, to gather the harvest of these folds and to depoin the anhushed open in huge pilo along the spacien- Poors of his born. Tuis lawy dowes the farmer, as if to join is genera? in die giving. mohl extend to the oldl. the young, and tl middle aged, an im ition to come to los husking.
At the evening appoint 1, they would come from ait Ly un. senos, and : for the common predlinge were passou each would be comlu ted to the great pole, the same berg lipbred ay, brilliantly, ran ly with wooden chandeliers. Elled wilbrandl: The young wep and Dw rwdest young mailens usually approprialed to themselre: woon seats as
م
se
THE OLD HOMESTEAD.
1
181
HUSKINGS.
1872
seemed most agreeable to them, while the older and more sedate would seat themselves, men and women, promiscu- ously at the heaviest part of the heap, all working their fingers energetically, and all amusing themselves in con- versation, story, and song, which usually increased to a noisy hilarity as the heap diminished.
The boys and girls will of course crack their jokes. And when a red-ear was husked, then by the laws of the craft, the finder had a right to greet his favorite lady with a kiss. This law was usually promptly enforced, although our lads of the ruder class would sometimes incur the penalty of a box on the side of the head, or of being buried up in the husks.
After all the heaps are husked, then all the guests repair to the mansion, where the old fashioned fire-place is ablaze with a rousing fire, and where long extended tables are set, standing upon the sanded floors, and upon which the various viands that make up a sumptuous feast are displayed and devoured, and which always follow the husk- ing out of the corn.
Then the lively reel and contra dance succeed, well- timed by the fiddler, suspended, however, occasionally, to hear a story of the olden time from the experience of age, or to listen to a song from some fair maiden, all enjoying the occasion, and each contributing a share to its enter- tainment ; thus on until the striking of the old clock, announcing the short hours of the night, admonishes the company that the pleasures of the husking season are post- poned to the next succeeding year.
The harvest and the husking of the corn have been celebrated thus :
182
1872
HISTORY OF BARNSTEAD.
-
"Meanwhile the field assumes a spiky form. The time hath come to gather in the corn; On hand the laborers, on hand the cart, The lads are all aglee to take a part; For now they know when eve approaches near 'Twill bring that joyful husking of the year. All now one purpose faithfully fulfil, The rustling ears are hurried from the hill With ardent zeal; and flushed with hopeful joys, Above the standing stalks both men and boys, High on their shoulders crowded baskets wield. The heavy harvest carted from the field, They pile in heaps within the grating door Throughout the spacious barn and kitchen floor At eve; there then the guests all seated down, From every cottage home in all the town,. Some old, some young, and some quite lately born Vie with each other husking out the corn; In social chat and merry song they keep The golden ears fast flying from the heap, While startled oft the seated crowd appear At lucky swains who find a crimsoned ear; For in such luck, 'tis never deemed amiss To go the rounds and give the maids a kiss. The sprightly boys with bending baskets borne, Remove the husks and bear away the corn. Then comes the hour that gathers large supplies, Of apple-dowdies and of pumpkin pies,
Then bends the board with viands, fruit and wine,
All hail ! that gleeful hour, the olden time !"
[ Caverly's " Merrimac," p. 57-8.]
NATIVE FRUITS.
Long before the white man invaded the Indian haunts along these valleys, bountiful crops of fruits and berries seldom failed. Berries in profusion and in great varieties
183
NATIVE FRUITS.
1872
supplied the natives, and fed myriads of birds that enliv- ened the dark forest with the melody of their songs.
APPLE TREES.
The apple grew spontaneously, affording in its varie- ties some of its choicest specimens. Then, as now, although in a much less degree, it flourished and was known throughout New England. Yet its production here is always subject to great fluctuations. The apple crop in the valley of the Suncook since the year 1829, has very much declined. The once beautiful orchards of that locality, then of thrifty growth, bearing well, have given way, and much less of fruit is obtained. Apple trees in the woods sometimes grew to the height of sixty feet, but in the open orchard, well cultivated, they expand into their natural dimensions and produce more fruit.
Much has been done within the last fifty years in graft- ing upon the old stocks nature's best varieties, so that the town is now very well supplied with the choicest kinds of this, the best of all fruits, though on the whole not in so great an abundance as formerly.
PEARS, PEACHES, CHERRIES, &C.
Peaches will not flourish here, the climate being too cold for them. Pears, plums, cherries, native grapes, and nuts flourish well generally. The blue-berry, black-berry, straw-berry and rasp-berry are natives to this soil and grow in profusion. Chestnuts and walnuts are less abun- dant. The oak with its burden of acorns is attractive to the chip, the red, and the gray squirrel, to which they in the fall resort for a supply to their varied favorite winter quarters.
184
HISTORY OF BARNSTEAD.
1872
The low blue-berry bush grows upon the rocky hillside, and in other waste places, and yet it is filled with rich and early fruit. These berries are often gathered in large quantities and sent to the city markets, where they usually find a profitable sale. This fruit gathering tends to innure the women and children to habits of industry and economy, promoting health and leading to long life. During the fruit season hundreds of bushels of berries are thus collected and sent to the city markets, by which a rough pasture in some instances, is made quite as profitable as the culti- vated field.
THE POTATO.
The first account had of this plant was of some "roots" found in Virginia, in 1597, and which were, as a curiosity, sent from there to England and planted in a gentleman's garden. It is said Sir Walter Raleigh on his return from this country, at about that time introduced them in Ireland. The Irish were slow to introduce them, having at first an unfavorable estimation of their value, but afterwards be- came great admirers of them. In England they were still more tardy in introducing them.
One writer said they were nearly like the Jerusalem artichoke, but not so good nor so wholesome; that they should be roasted and sliced and might be eaten with sauce composed of wine and sugar. The more wealthy were in- clined to regard them as food for the poorer classes who had not the means of obtaining the more common and costly articles.
Columbus, in his early voyages, carried them into Spain and was the means of planting them there at an early period. Although of slow introduction, the uses and im-
185
GEOLOGY.
1872
portance of this tuber, has given it a wide spread, far beyond all other esculents, so that it has now become one of the great crops of England, Ireland, Spain, and Russia, and is raised more or less in almost every other country. If no other benefits had accrued to the old world by the discovery of the new, the corn and potatoes found here would have afforded to the adventurer a full and complete compensation.
The dry soil of Barnstead is well adapted to the pro- duction of this most healthy and cheap diet, in all of its best and most bountiful varieties. It supplies itself, and from year to year affords large quantities to various mar- kets of the seaport towns.
GEOLOGY.
-
There is no mountain range passing through this town, nor is there any direct up-heaving of the earth's surface, indicating volcanic eruptions, by which the baser metals are sometimes made discoverable, but as it seems the aqueus element in primeval times settled here, concealing at least to some extent many of the more prominent materials often found in New England by explorers in Geology.
Dr. Charles T. Jackson, in his geological survey made several years since, represents Barnstead as being rough and hilly, but as having a good soil, its rocks being alter- nations of a very coarse feldspathic granite, with gneiss and mica slate, loose masses of basaltic trap rock on its
24
3
186
HISTORY OF BARNSTEAD.
1872
main road leading through it from Pittsfield. Speci- mens of plumbago were obtained as found in the ledges, on the farm of Jonathan Keniston. Also on the Tuttle farm, one-fourth of a mile west from Centre Barnstead, a bog iron ore is found beneath the turf, covering nearly an acre of ground.
Also in the east part of the town on the land of Samuel Garland, bog iron ore is found on the slope of a hill forming a crust of two or three inches in thickness and interlaid by hard pan.
It is not sufficiently abundant for a furnace but serves well when ground for paint. Yellow ochre is found on the town farm, but whether any attempt to collect and work these ores would be profitable is a question of much uncer- tainty.
There are now and then in Barnstead granite boulders, which, according to the theory of Agassiz and others, were dropped where they now rest by the immense icebergs which were thrown over the country from North to South, leaving on the way also great quantities of trap and other materials. Much of our soil is pebbly and sandy ; bogs and clayey soils do not abound. In the four towns bor- dering on this are the Blue-hills, Catamount and Gunstock Mountains, which are much higher than any part of Barn- stead, and these high mountain ranges loom up, making it an uneven valley between them, through which the beautiful Suncook and its tributaries wind their way onward to the Merrimac and to the ocean.
EARTH-QUAKES.
Perhaps no greater shaking of the earth has been felt in this vicinity than on Nov. 28, 1814. It was in the
187
EARTH-QUAKES.
1872
evening, there was about two inches of snow upon the ground, the weather was fair and cold, not a cloud being in sight to cover the glittering light of the stars. We were sitting in the kitchen of the farm house, the fire fair blazing in the old fashioned chimney. In front of it sat two young ladies reading by the light of a candle, and a small boy six years old leaning over the back of his chair nearly asleep. These were all, and silence prevailed.
All at once a distant rumbling is heard, like wheels over frozen ground ; it seemed to approach nearer, the rumb- ling became louder, with a gushing noise like a mighty wind, shaking the house, the long row of pewter plates standing on edges, and crockery rattling and shaking, every door seeming as if some one was at the latch trying to get in, and the windows apparently trying to get open. Such a terrible clatter startled the two ladies from their seats, who took for the street in the shortest route, and thence to the nearest doorway of a neighbor.
The boy in his fright landed in the midst of the nearest wood-pile of brush, and being hurt bellowed vociferously, so that he might have been taken as the counterpart to the earthquake. The villagers were all out viewing the stars, and earnestly telling each other what they heard and how the shake appeared to them severally, all acting as if in a momentary expectation of another "earth-shaker." At length all returned to their houses, which had been vacated thus unceremoniously, and to this day the inhabitants of the Suncook Valley have not forgotten the shake of that night.
The great earthquake of 1727, nearly a hundred years earlier, was described in a sermon by Rev. Nath. Gook- in, who then resided in New Hampshire. He says :
.
188
HISTORY OF BARNSTEAD.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.