History of Bedford, New Hampshire, from 1737 : being statistics compiled on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, May 15, 1900, Part 57

Author: Bedford (N.H. : Town)
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Concord, N. H. : The Rumford Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1202

USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Bedford > History of Bedford, New Hampshire, from 1737 : being statistics compiled on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, May 15, 1900 > Part 57

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).

"(Signed) WILLIAM MERCHANT, Junr."

It is easy to imagine Mr. Chandler making that purchase. At the close of the long winter on his farm, he goes to Boston with a load of such merchandise as may have been accumulated by himself and the women of his family-woolen and linen yarn, homespun cloth which they have woven, linen towels and tablecloths, butter and cheese. He goes by boat on the river part way, or by sled or wagon. Having disposed of his load of produce, it occurs to him that a slave might be used to advantage in clearing up his farm. Did he buy him at auction, or did he buy him of Mr. Jones at private sale? Being a thrifty man, he does not select a full grown slave, but a boy, that something may be gained from his development. So he closes . his trade with Mr. Jones' clerk, taking the slave boy along to his Bedford home when he returns. How he was cared for upon arrival there is not known. Did Mr. Chandler and his neighbors, who like him held slave property, build a cabin for them apart from the house, or lodge them under the same roof as the family? Probably the latter. Did they eat at the family table, or take their bowl of por- ridge by themselves, seated upon a bench in the corner? Did the

574

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

adult slave wear a brass collar with his master's name upon it, as many of the Southern negroes did at that time ? Was he taught to read ? Did they take him to church Sundays, and so on a score of queries whose answers would be interesting but are likely never to be known.

Just who of Mr. Chandler's neighbors and fellow-townsmen pos- sessed slaves is not altogether certain, nor where the ten were located in 1775. James Walker was a slave owner, undoubtedly, for when he died in 1786, mention is made of his black servant Cato. There were slaves in the Moore family, as witness Titus Moore who was living in Bedford as late as 1854. Col. Daniel Moore had two slaves, Peter and Dinah. Peter was buried in the old cemetery on the River road.

In a sketch of Bedford, prepared by Dr. P. P. Woodbury and Al- fred Foster, and published in 1824, in Vol. 1, N. H. Hist. Society's Col- lections, it is stated that "Primus Chandler was a man of color " who lost his life at the battle of The Cedars, May 19, 1776. Fort Cedars was about forty-five miles southwest of Montreal. There was a Primus Chandler in Bedford and his wife Flora, and they had two children, Hannah and Eri. The question arises if the first Primus was not the father of the Primus Chandler, who, with his wife Flora, lies buried in the old cemetery near the River road. The second Primus Chandler, after becoming too old to care for himself, gave up his property to the town on condition that it provide him a home as long as he live. He made his home thereafter at the town poor farm. After his death, March 10, 1853, Adam Chandler inquired in town-meeting if any of this property was left after providing for Primus' support. This resulted in the erection of a suitable tomb- stone, which now marks his grave, the town paying for the inscrip- tion. If this surmise is correct, then the Primus Chandler who lost his life in our War for Independence was possibly the slave pur- chased by Mr. Zechariah Chandler as recorded above.

There was Flora Bell, the slave of John Bell, and her son Ephraim Boston.

A black boy, " Billy Barnes " by name, lived for several years with Gardner Nevins on Joppa hill, about 1845-1850. It is related of him that he and another negro boy were brought from Africa to Boston by a sea captain who destined them for slaves. This was after slavery was prohibited in Massachusetts. The captain was arrested and his intended slaves forfeited. Hon. Isaac O. Barnes, who

575

SLAVERY IN BEDFORD.

was United States marshal for Massachusetts, gained possession of this boy (hence his name, Billy Barnes) and placed him in a good home with Mr. Nevins.

Jesse Hartwell was a colored man, part Indian and part negro, but he was not a slave. He lived with his mother and two sisters, accu- mulating considerable property, owning a pew in Bedford church, and was altogether a man of considerable responsibility. He once owned a part of the farm now owned by Mr. William M. Patten. A short time before his death, he built the house at Goffe's Falls now occupied by Mr. Julius H. Putnam. He was the first man to introduce blooded live stock into the town. Jesse Hartwell was an exceedingly black man; very tall, straight, and fine looking. He walked regularly to church, and attended Sunday-school, but did not sit in the slaves' pew, probably because he never was a slave. He occupied a pew about where the late Stephen Goffe sat.1 He never was married.

Titus Moore was the slave of Elder William Moore. He was born in 1767, and died September 27, 1854. He never married. After his freedom he lived at Joseph Patten's most of the time. He was an erect, good-looking man, much respected throughout the town. He was a famous teamster. He could make a pair of cattle pull all they could and a little more if he wanted them to. He died at the poor farm, although he had accumulated quite a little property. In his chest several packages of small sums of currency were found after his death. He is buried in the South yard. The town erected his gravestone in accordance with a vote in town-meeting, paying for it out of the proceeds of money Titus had left to the town.

The slaves were industrious, and after receiving their freedom acquired some property. They were regular attendants at church, where they occupied the "slaves' pew," so called. This was the back body pew, entered from the north aisle of the church. The pew is now removed. They were seen occasionally at town-meeting. Titus was a Whig, and Primus a Democrat until Jackson's visit to New Hampshire in 1833. The president declined to recognize the black man's salute which so incensed Primus that ever after he refused to vote the Democratic ticket.

An interesting letter which Colonel Goffe wrote from Penacook to Governor Wentworth under date of May 5, 1746, says :

1 One of the congregation objected to sitting next to a black man, and on that ac- count Isaac Atwood exchanged pews with him, saying that he considered it an honor to sit near a black man in church.

576

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

The white man that is killed is one Thomas Cooke ; the other is Mr. Stevens, the minister's negro.

Goffe had been sent up the river with a small force of men against some troublesome Indians. The inquiry naturally arises why he should have called the minister's negro "Mr." Was it because he was attached to so distinguished an individual as a minister? It is known that the Rev. Mr. McGregore, the Londonderry minister, had a slave, so that it seems clear that there was no very strong feeling in New Hampshire against the owning of such property in those days. Some of our most well-to-do and progressive settlers owned slaves, but others did not.

In 1714 a law of the province was passed prohibiting the holding of Indians as slaves, but nothing was said with regard to negroes.

When slavery actually ceased to exist in New Hampshire has been the subject of considerable investigation and discussion by eminent historians of the state. In Vol. 14 of the N. H. State Papers, the editor, Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, treats of the subject at some length, and maintains that (1) while slavery was never established by au- thority of law in New Hampshire, it was tolerated and regulated from time to time so that Indian and negro servants were owned and held as property. (2) That the effect of the adoption of the first and second articles of the Bill of Rights (1784) was the abolition of slavery in New Hampshire, whether actually designed to produce that result or not. In support of this he cites the census returns : in the enumeration of 1767, there were 633 "slaves" in the province ; in 1777, the number of "negroes and slaves for life " was 657; in 1790, six years after the adoption of the state constitution, there were 158 "slaves "; in 1800, only 8 ; none in 1810 and 1820, 3 in 1830 and in 1840. His explanation of those returned after 1784, is that a por- tion of them remained in the families where they had lived and were inadvertently reckoned as slaves by the enumerators, "no discrimin- ation being made in regard to condition, though actually free." A second proof cited was that previous to the adoption of the constitu- tion, slaves had been rated and taxed to their owners, but such prac- tice was discontinued soon after. A new proportion for taxation was made by the legislature contemporaneously with the making of the constitution ; it was drafted just before and enacted just after. It provided for a tax " on male and female negroes and mulatto servants from 16 to 45 years of age." But when a new proportion was made in 1789, this item was omitted. It is noted that when this latter

577

SLAVERY IN BEDFORD.

bill was submitted it contained the slave-taxing provision, but in the consideration given the measure that item was stricken out, and with its enactment, February 8, 1789, "slaves ceased to be known and held as property in New Hampshire." He further quotes from a letter of Judge Charles Doe, of December 6, 1875, which reads :

It seems to me that a statement of the two facts that slaves were included in the act of 1784 and were by an erasure of the Ms. omit- ted in the act of 1789-intentionally omitted-and the third fact, that they were taxed as property to their masters for several years under the act of 1784, and probably every year until the act of 1789, will throw more light on the intention of New Hampshire to abolish slavery than anything else there is in print.

When the agitation for national abolition was in progress, the New Hampshire legislature, in 1857, passed an act prohibiting slavery, but it is probable that this was done for the moral effect upon the cause, rather than that there was need of such legislation in this state. It provided :

That neither descent, near or remote, from a person of African blood, whether such a person is or may have been a slave, nor color of skin, shall disqualify any person from becoming a citizen of this state, or deprive such person of the full rights and privileges of a citizen thereof.

Sec. 2. Any slave who shall come or be brought into or be in this state with the consent of his master or mistress, or who shall come or be brought into or be in this state involuntarily shall be free.

It was provided that a person holding or attempting to hold a person in slavery should be guilty of felony, and be confined to hard labor for a term of not less than one, nor more than five, years.1

1 The following interesting document was found among the papers of the late Col. Daniel Moore, and is pertinent to this subject:

Know all men by these Presents, that I, Robert Griffin of Bedford, in the County of Hillsborough and Province of New Hampshire, Yeoman, In consideration of the sum of Thirteen Pounds and six pence. Lawful money. Paid by Capi. Daniel Moore of the aforesaid Town, County and Province, The Receipt whereof I do her by acknowledge, have bargained, Sold and by these Presents do Bargain. Sell and Con- vey, unto him, the said Daniel Moore, a certain Negro Boy Slave, Named Bristo, about Twenty-three months old: a'so a cow about three years old of a red and white color. To have and to hold the S id Negro Slave and Cow, unto him the said Daniel Moore, his Executor, Administrators and Assigns, for ever. And the said Robert Griffin do hereby Covenant with the said Daniel Moore, that I have good right to sell and convey the Said Negro Slave and Cow. in manner aforesaid. and that, until the delivery hereof, I am the lawful owner of the Same. And that I, my Heirs, Executors, administrators and assigns, Shall and will forever Warrant the same to the said Daniel Moore, his Executors, administrators and assigns.

In witness whereof, I, the Said Robert Griffin, have hereunto set my Hand and Seal, the first day of Nov., in the Fourteenth year of his Majesties (King George the Third's) Reign, And in the year of our Lord, A. D. 1773, Signed. Sealed and delivered. Robert Griffin, (L. S.)

In presence of

Samuel Marshall, John Morrison.

Changes in Manners and Customs.

The customs and manners of the early settlers of Bedford were much the same as those of other pioneers in New England. The grant was covered with the "forest primeval," a condition that can be realized by the present generation only through aid of the imagi- nation. The growth of bushes and the accumulation of fallen brush from trees that had stood for scores of years made the forests almost impenetrable except as the paths of the wild beasts which then abounded, or their fellow occupants of the country, the Indians, were sought out. Here and there upon the hills and knolls might be found a lighter growth, and such places were hit upon as the most inviting for "clearings," when a person resolved to venture from the older settlements. Thus, in the early occupancy of the town, we find Robert Walker locating near the north part, although his fellows were settled near the Merrimack. Of course, at first, these settlements were connected only by a bridle path. As loca- tions in new places were selected and made, these increased in number. They were the precursors of the highways, but oftentimes long in advance. No beast of burden accompanied the early settlers, to say nothing of vehicles. Whatever was transported then was " packed " upon the back.

The method of living was then primitive and simple ; the woods abounded in game and the river with fish, Amoskeag being a most famous place for the latter. Domestic meat was a great rarity for many years, and when it came to be used the custom of "exchange" largely prevailed. When a settler killed a veal or some other ani- mal for meat he divided it among his neighbors, who made a similar distribution and return when they had an animal it was deemed best to slaughter, the poor widow always having a piece and the minister not being forgotten.

When a neighbor wished for help to break up his ground and a number of yoke of oxen were necessary, all he had to do was to let

579

CHANGES IN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

it be known, and not only the oxen and plough could be had, but a man to drive. The inhabitants generally were well acquainted with each other,-their circumstances and wants. The needy and desti- tute always found a helper, and that, too, with a good and generous heart. There was no aristocracy,-all considered themselves on an equal footing. At the present day, though there is in this town more than the usual equality of condition, there is some change from former years. Our grandmothers were robust, hardy women, not unwilling to work in the field, reaping grain, etc., as occasion re- quired. Such entries as the following, in Matthew Patten's Journal, gre not uncommon :

August 20, 1763. I worked at the meadow, and I got 100 cocks this week, and there came up a shower about the middle of the afternoon, and catched about 20 cocks ready for raking. This week Alex'r Orr's wife reaped a little more than half a day.

At length enough clearing would be made to put into culture a little corn, but it had not become so plenty seven years after settle- ment but that settlers felt the need of going to Penacook " to buy corn." It was such a mission in 1744 that Burns and McQuade were upon when the latter was killed by Indians near Suncook. During the earlier years of corn raising the only method of crushing it into meal was by hand power upon a hollowed stone. Soon after the town was incorporated, however, a grist-mill was established, followed by many others before the century closed.

The cultivation of crops was discouraging, even after the trees had been felled and the timber burned. The implements were crude and few in kind. Even after oxen were obtained, the ploughs were of simple sort, made almost entirely of wood, with the merest iron point, and mould board covered with bits of sheet iron to make it more durable. The shovels were coarse wooden affairs, and the hoes, the most-used farm implement, of the clumsiest sort.

The situation was most favorable for the development of self- reliance, and the settlers were industrious-the industry born of ambition. They wished to hasten the day when the log hut could be succeeded by a framed dwelling, to rid their " cleared land " of stumps that the labor of cultivation might be lessened, and they worked with a will. When the first framed dwelling was erected in Bedford is unknown, but it was probably by James Walker or Sam- uel Patten. There were many obstacles in the path of progress. The Indians of the neighborhood were not on the friendliest of terms.

580

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

Relations with earlier settlers of the white race in New England had developed their earnest hostility. The proprietors of Souhegan East had laid out the "home lots" upon the banks of the stream up and down which the Indians were wont to travel in their journeyings between Dunstable and Pawtucket on the south to Penacook and Winnipiseogee on the north. In 1740, the " old " French and In- dian war was declared, only three years after the Walker brothers came to reside permanently in Bedford as the first settlers. In 1744, the expedition from New England to Cape Breton was started, and a decade later one to Crown Point, to both of which Bedford con- tributed. From the earliest, then, the Indians were a constant menace. There was reason for the ever-present fear of attack from these vengeful savages. For better security the Bedford settlers built four and perhaps five garrison houses. One was on the Robert Walker farm in the north part of the town, another on the Goffe farm, and a third on the Samuel Patten place. It is also said that there was a fourth, on the James Walker (father of Josiah) place. The fifth was on the Orr place.

Whether to work or to meeting, the settlers went armed, and upon hooks on the kitchen wall always hung the shot-gun, ready for in- stant use.

The clothing was all home made. Each settler raised his " patch " of flax and in the care of it many of them became expert. It had to be pulled, rotted, broke, swingled and combed, ready for the work of spinning, at which the women of the family were skilled ; after be- ing woven it was washed and bleached for the finer garments. The boys wore tow trousers and short frocks. The securing of, woolen garments was at first more difficult, as the growing sheep suffered much from the wild animals that pervaded the forest. A failure here meant the securing of wool from some of the settlers of older towns, for some woolen clothing was necessary for the winter months. The wool was usually carded by the women, who also spun, wove, and "made up " the cloth. For common use, it was of color known as " sheep's gray." It was made of black and white wool mixed, but some of it was dyed by the use of bark or as it be- came possible to secure it, indigo. Then much use was made of the skins of animals for caps, and even trousers for the severer cold weather.

The food of the settlers was necessarily very plain from the con- ditions above outlined. Game and fish were procurable, but there

581

CHANGES IN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

was little of pastry. Corn bread made from coarse meal was in use and rye gradually came to supplement it. The common food was rye and Indian mixed; but wheat flour was long a luxury; it was used chiefly on Thanksgiving day and other festival occasions. Bean porridge was a most useful dish. Broths were the common food, particularly barley broth, which was the food for morning, noon, and night, at some seasons of the year. Milk was quite a luxury; tea and coffee were rarities seldom enjoyed. The favorite dish was Haggis pudding. It was made of a sheep's stomach, which was carefully cleaned and filled with various other internal organs of the animal. Then the pudding was served up and boiled.

There was much uncertainty attending the farm crops. There was always a plenty to do for the sustenance of the family. No occasion for savings banks in those days. The men constantly held themselves in readiness to respond to go against the enemy, whether the threatening was on the very borders of the settlement or as re- mote as Cape Breton or Crown Point.

In old times there was a custom of digging pits or caves in a dry, warm spot, in a pasture or near the woods, about four feet deep and four feet wide. They were frequently longer than this. Into this pit were put all kinds of vegetables and fruits, such as potatoes, cab- bages, apples, etc., for preservation during the winter. A layer of plank, with a covering of earth a foot or more in depth, was put on top, and a hole was left for ventilation. There may still be seen three specimens of these pits about ten rods north of the cemetery at the Center, in Mr. John A. Riddle's pasture. They were probably used by Isaac Riddle, senior.

When other less pressing needs had been attended to work was put in upon making the bridle paths into highways. The bridle path was broadened by felling and clearing away the trees, and then the stumps.

This accounts for the lack of regularity in direction of the estab- lished highways. Farmers with their wives on pillions behind them, rode to meeting on horseback. The earlier transportation from one place to another of commodities too bulky or too heavy to be taken upon horseback, was by a heavy sort of ox sled over the bare ground. Following the "one-horse shay," with its two wheels and long thills, came two-wheeled carts. Light wagons did not come into use until after 1800; at first the body sat directly upon the axles; then came the leather "thorough braces," to be succeeded by the steel springs

582

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

which alone have been familiar to the present generation. The first wagon was owned by Stephen French, and Seth Page obtained the second from Samuel Hodge of Francestown.

The matter of fire and light was a constant care in those days. The means of warmth was the huge fireplace with its back log and fore log ; many houses were so constructed that this fuel could be drawn directly into the kitchen with a horse to a point whence it could be handily rolled into place. The boys roamed the woods for pitch knots, or gathered birch bark to furnish light so that work could be carried on or reading be done when darkness had come on. Many a scholar of Bedford who has afterwards become distinguished in public and private life has studied his lessons by this light. This means of illumination was followed by the "tallow dip," and after many years by the whale oil lamp. A constant care was the keeping of " live coals "; the fire once out it became necessary to go to some neighbors, however great the distance, to secure fire. That was simpler than to start a blaze by means of the steel and flint, or other means of originating fire. Lucifer matches did not come into use until about 1830.

The means of measuring time were primitive in those days. Water clocks were rare and hour glasses were unreliable unless turned on the instant. Some families had a sun-dial, but others had a noon mark on the window-sill, which latter was most generally relied upon. Tallow candles were also used to mark the passage of time. It was easily learned how long a candle of a certain size would burn.

The devices resorted to in cooking were as remarkable, from the standpoint of a twentieth century citizen. There was the green hard- wood stick or " lug pole " over the fireplace, followed by the iron crane with pot hooks and trammel for meeting the needs of boiling. The roasts were hung by a stout cord from the oaken mantelpiece, and turned constantly by one of the children until cooked. The baking was done in the hot ashes, while a long legged spider made cooking by frying possible. Then came the "Dutch ovens " of stone and clay out of doors ; next the tin oven, and later still the great brick oven, long before stoves were successfully constructed.

Following the work of clearing came the building of stone walls, no year being allowed to pass by an enterprising farmer that several rods of such permanent fence were not added to enclose his holdings.

Those days were not lacking in sociability. The women met at a neighbor's house from time to time and carded wool or spun flax,

583

CHANGES IN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

or may be it was a quilting, the men folks joining them for the even- ing; after a supper of baked beans, all returned to their homes, drawn by the ox team driven by the farmer of the company living farthest away from the place of assembly.

The people of those days were not notably abstemious as regards strong drink. Before tea and coffee or the accepted beverages of the present day became in any way common or their use general, intoxi- cants were comparatively plenty. A supply of New England rum was regarded as necessary, after the farms became well established, for the task of haying, or any other work requiring close application or an unusual force of men, as the raising of a building, the construction of a road, or the burning of a clearing. When it was voted to repair a certain road in town it was provided, as the town records show, that " a gallon of rum for every $20" of the appropriation should be fur- nished. And until near the middle of the last century, the records of the town contain the record of the granting of innholders licenses to several citizens each year with the privilege of dispensing drams. This custom of using intoxicants was so widespread as to attend church affairs; so much was this so that it was deemed worthy of note when the "new meeting-house" was raised in 1832, that no intoxicating liquors were furnished. Cider mills were numerous throughout the town, following closely the time that the apple or pear orchards reached the bearing stage.

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.

History of Bedford, New Hampshire, from 1737 : being statistics compiled on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, May 15, 1900, Part 57

Author: Bedford (N.H. : Town) Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Concord, N. H. : The Rumford Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1202

Author: Bedford (N.H. : Town)
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Concord, N. H. : The Rumford Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1202