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 9

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 9

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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.

pursuits, to its Presbyterian faith (in the main), and to its simplicity of manners and purity of morals. The soil, though in good part strong, is hard and rocky, except some fertile intervale on the Merri- mack and two or three tributaries. Lately, the growth of Manches- ter begins to overflow in dwellings on the Bedford side of the river, increasing the population and wealth of the town without changing its general character. Its main aspects have scarcely altered in thirty years, and the dwellings scattered within sight of the Presbyterian church in its centre, are about as many as they were then,-say forty in all.

Dr. Peter P. Woodbury (brother of Judge Levi) presided at the celebration, and a most interesting historical discourse, illustrative of the origin and settlement of the town, and of the North of Ireland Scotch-Irish race, and their extensive migration to this country dur- ing the former half of the last century, was read by Isaac O. Barnes, late Marshal of Massachusetts, a native of this town. Many of the facts therein embodied are fading from the memories of even the descendants of that hardy, God-fearing, man-defying race, and will be read with vivid interest by thousands.

The first clergyman of the town, Rev. John Houston, was the only man in it who took the side of Great Britain in the commencement of the Revolutionary struggle. Though previously beloved and es- teemed, and a most worthy and devoted Christian, he was dismissed, and treated as a public enemy. A large portion of the able-bodied citizens were in the first American army that beleaguered Boston and fought at Bunker Hill; nearly or quite half of all who could handle a musket were with Stark at Bennington and with Gates at Saratoga. Col. (afterwards Gen.) Stark lived and died on his farm just north of the Bedford line. Matthew Thornton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, lived and died just south of Bedford.

Robert Walker, son of the first settler of the town, was present at the celebration, aged 87. The second wife of the Missionary New- ell, and several others who have been eminent in religious efforts, have been born here. Some six or eight Presbyterian clergymen, natives of Bedford, were present and took part in the exercises of Wednesday. And when the whole congregation rose to join in singing the seventy-eighth Psalm, according to an ancient version and to a venerable tune, the resemblance to a gathering of Scottish covenanters of the olden time, as described by Scott, among others, was very vivid and striking.

Historical Notices of Bedford.

TOPOGRAPHY AND INDUSTRIES.

Bedford, lying in the east part of Hillsborough county, N. H., is situated on the west bank of the Merrimack river, in latitude 42°50'. Originally it was bounded on the north by Goffstown, but in conse- quence of the addition to the city of Manchester in 1853 of that part of the town known as Piscataquog village, it would be proper to say that it is now bounded north by the city of Manchester and by Goffstown, east by Manchester and the Merrimack river, south by the town of Merrimack, and west by Amherst and New Boston. The Merrimack river, which supplies the water power for Manches- ter, Lowell, and Lawrence, has a fall of thirty-three and one half feet between the foot of Merrill's falls in Manchester and Crom- well's falls in Merrimack, nearly all of which is within the limits of Bedford.1

The town, as originally laid out in 1733, contained 28,778 acres. The area of the town on January 1, 1901, was 16,935 acres,2 and is represented on the map nearly in the shape of a square. Various portions of the original township have been set off to adjoining towns from time to time, since its original survey. We shall refer to the details later.

From Bedford Center to Amherst is eight miles; to Manchester, four miles; to Concord, twenty-one miles; to Nashua, thirteen miles ; to Boston, fifty-two miles.

The northwest corner of the town lies near the base of the Unca- noonuc mountains. The easterly part, bordering upon the Merri- mack river, is a pine plain with some very productive intervals. In the west part of the town the land is uneven and abounds in stone, but the soil is warm and strong. The southern part is noted for its abundant supply of clay, suitable for brick yards. Years ago, from

1 Report of General Thom, United States Engineer Corps, to General Wright, Chief Engineer.

2 These areas were carefully determined from official maps by Harrie M. Young, of the city engineer's office, in Manchester.

HISTORICAL NOTICES OF BEDFORD.

twenty to thirty brick yards were in operation during a single season, millions of brick having been made here in a single year. Lowell and Lawrence, Mass., and Nashua and Nashville, N. H., have been supplied with brick from these yards. Clay was also found on the Gordon farm near the center of the town, and brick were once made there, as the term, "brick yard field," still applied to one of the fields of this farm, abundantly testifies. There was also a yard on the Joseph Patten farm, and John Shirley made brick there.1

For the first half of the nineteenth century brickmaking was an important business in this town. During this period the city of Lowell sprang into existence. The construction of its great factories was constantly going on, and many of them were built of Bedford brick.

Col. William Moore, of this town, took the contract to furnish the Lowell mill builders a quantity of brick each year. Though making many brick himself, still he was glad to have his townspeople aid him in filling his contract by putting their brick with his. In this way the business prospered for twenty-five or thirty years.

The brick were hauled to the Reed's Ferry landing, on the Mer- rimack, in a two-wheeled cart with a yoke of oxen and a horse, 1,000 to a load, placed on boats and sent down the river to Lowell. It is said that one day's record showed 150,000 brick hauled to and sent down the river, but this was by special effort because of urgent demand.

This business not only gave employment to the many workers about the brick yards, but made an excellent market for the wood owned by the near-by farmers, as large quantities were consumed every year in burning the brick kilns.

After the Nashua and Concord railroad was opened, in 1842,2 the brick business in this town gradually declined, as rich clay beds were located near the railroad at Hooksett and other places. The cost of transportation was much less from these more favored locali- ties, and thus Bedford brick makers were forced out of business by competition.

The last brick kiln burned in town was made by Col. Daniel Par-

1 This statement is made upon the authority of the town history published in 1851 .- EDS.

2 The Concord railroad was opened for travel September 1, 1842. An old resi- dent, now 70 years of age, vividly remembers his first view of a train of cars. He had gone, with an older brother, to Merrimack to purchase a pair of boots at Anderson's store. While engaged in making their selection the cars were sud- denly heard approaching. Instantly the boots were dropped and a hasty run made for the railroad, where they arrived just in season to see the cars leave the station. To the boy of eleven this seemed the greatest wonder he had ever seen.

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

ker about 1877. David R. Leach, who had been a leading manu- facturer of brick in Bedford, removed to Hooksett and carried on a successful business there. The farms owned by the late Col. Daniel Parker, George H. Wiggin, Sr., John McAfee, Ephraim C. Hardy, Wilson Blood, and William Moore (now owned by Thomas Burns) had rich deposits of good brick clay, which their owners turned to good account.1

In mineralogy the town abounds in a great variety of specimens. Iron ore is found at different places, and in several varieties. Sul- phurate of iron, embedded in common granite, and red oxide of iron combined with aluminum are common. Black lead, pyrites, copper, schorl, hornblende, epidote, talc, mica (black, yellow and green), gneiss, and crystallized quartz are found here. Carbonate of lime (marble) is found in a chasm at the west part of the town, on the David Stevens farm. Some fine specimens of amethyst were found on the farm now owned by Mr. William Schwartz, in the west part of the town. A detached piece of plumbago was found by Mr. Samuel Adams on the Deacon John French farm, in Joppa, in 1900.

Granite quarries have been opened at different times and in various places in town. For many years the quarry on the farm of William Riddle, Esq. (now owned and occupied by Mr. T. A. Lane), was worked to good profit. From this place the Boston and Lowell Railroad company obtained much of the stone for the headers and sleepers upon which their track was at first laid, and here the Con- cord and Nashua Railroad company obtained the stone to build the piers and abutments of the bridge over the Merrimack river at Goffe's Falls. Hence also great quantities of granite have been car- ried to Manchester and Nashua for building purposes. The under- pinning for the meeting-house was taken from this quarry and cut

1 Clay and sand for brickmaking were first cut and mixed with shovels in a bed constructed of plank for that purpose. Later the machinery called a "pug " mill was used. It was a simple and somewhat crude affair, but remained in commission in the greater number of New England yards for more than 100 years. It consisted of a white oak shaft, set perpendicularly in a box four feet square, with an iron gudgeon at the bottom where it turned. The box was made of plank and was about four feet high. On one side, at the bottom, was a slide door about eight inches in depth, through which the ground clay was forced, ready to be " struck" into brick. Imbedded in the shaft horizontally were twenty-four iron knives, placed in rows of six, and six inches between the rows. These knives were two and one fourth inches wide and one half an inch thick, drawn down to an edge on the cutting side. Below the iron knives, affixed in the shaft in similar rows, were eight wooden knives, made thicker for the purpose of forcing the mixture through the door at the side. These knives were as long as would turn in the box. From the outside of the box extended wooden pins to within half an inch of the shaft, and just above each row of knives, for them to cut against. At the top of the box was a plank cover to keep the clay mixture confined. A sixteen-foot sweep was pro- vided, to which the horse was attached for power. The clay was mixed with sand as it was put into the box, the proportion varying according to the quality of the clay, but generally about one twelfth of the mixture was of sand.

HISTORICAL NOTICES OF BEDFORD.

by Mr. Benjamin F. Riddle. A quarry was also opened about 1800 on the farm of Mr. Solomon Manning, and has been worked for some one hundred years. The granite is regarded as of an unusually good quality. The underpinning for the houses now occupied by Robert Dunlap and John Gilman Vose, also for the Robert M. Shirley house in Goffstown, was obtained here previous to 1825. On Mr. Freeman R. French's farm, near the center of the town, a quarry was opened about 1875, and the stone from there used in building operations in West Manchester. The stone used in the windmill tower in the burying-ground came from this quarry.

The town was originally covered with the dense forests which characterized all the wilderness in New Hampshire. But none of this original growth now remains save a small piece of about ten acres on a lot near the highlands, so called, forming part of the farm of the late Samuel Chandler. The forest trees of Bedford are of quite an extensive variety ; the principal are white, red, and black oak, walnut, chestnut, maple, birch, pine, and hemlock.

At the hearing before the commissioners who were considering the application made in 1895 for a charter to build the Manchester and Milford railroad, it was stated that there were then standing in Bedford about twenty to twenty-five million feet of merchantable lumber and from 300,000 to 400,000 cords of wood.

In the season of autumn the woods present a singularly diversified and beautiful aspect, the blended hues and rich colors of the foliage delight the eye of the spectator, and seem to give an air of cheerful- ness to the decline of the year. The mountain laurel or spoon hunt, abounds here in June and July, giving to the town the appearance of one continued flower garden. The botanical name of the bush is Kalmia Latifolia; the leaf is wide and leather-like, and the shrub bears some remote affinity to the magnolia, being, like that, an ever- green. It is also called calico bush.

Of the white oak, great quantities of timber and plank have been obtained in former years for ship yards and conveyed to Medford and Charlestown, Mass., by means of the Merrimack river and Middlesex canal; Newburyport has also had great supplies of oak and pine from this town.

When the Concord and New Hampshire Central railroads were chartered in 1835 and 1845, respectively, the locomotives used wood as fuel. From that time until about 1880, when they began to use coal, there was a strong and steady demand for cord wood. This

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

was met, in part, by the export from our town of an enormous quan- tity. The late George W. Riddle was for many years engaged in this business, and bought for and sold to the railroads a large part of their supply.

But the chestnut, of late, has exceeded all the other trees in demand for the market, vast supplies having been transported for sleepers for the various railroads in the adjacent country, and quan- tities have been used for electric poles. Mr. Riddle was engaged in this business also.

With regard to staple commodities to which attention has been paid, the hop formerly employed a great many of our farmers. Some years ago there was a production in this article of 100,000 pounds. But the hop industry has been transplanted from Bedford, and there is now nothing of the kind here.

About the year 1800, Mr. William Campbell, of Wilmington, Mass., emigrated to Bedford and settled on a farm adjoining Deacon Phineas Aiken's. The farm is now owned and occupied by Mr. Sol- omon Manning. Campbell set out and cultivated the first hop yard in town, and probably the first in the state. He brought the roots from Wilmington. The article at that time being high, he realized fifty cents per pound. The raising of hops became very profitable, and almost every farmer was induced to enter into the growing of this production, until Bedford became the largest hop-growing town in New England, and continued so until about 1836, when the plant was so extensively cultivated throughout the country that the price declined, and nearly every farmer in town abandoned the cultiva- tion. Some probably, about this time, were also dissuaded, from scruples as to its bearing on the cause of temperance. The average price of hops from 1806 to 1850 was about 132 cents per pound.1

It appears from the inspection books of Gen. William P. Riddle that there were raised in the town of Bedford, in 1833, 97,320 pounds of hops, the average price of which in Boston, for that year, was 162 cents per pound, making an amount of $15,571.20. It may be asked, Have the farmers of Bedford realized so large a sum of money for any other crop during any single year of the last century ? 2 Still, such is the uncertainty of the article that, taking one year

1 An old resident relates that hops from this town were carried to Albany, N. Y., by ox teams in the winters of 1814, '15, and '16, on sleds. One prominent farmer went with six or eight teams in a string, with boys to assist in driving. After the hops were sold, one half or more of the oxen were disposed of, two teams being retained to draw home the empty sleds.

2 This question, raised in 1850, is effectively answered by the figures given farther on in this chapter as to the present production of milk, apples, and gar- den produce, etc.

HISTORICAL NOTICES OF BEDFORD.

with another, it may be questioned whether there are not other articles more safe for the grower.

FISH AND WILD GAME.

Fish in former years was a great source of supply to the wants of the inhabitants. It was an old saying, " We hope meat will last till fish comes, and fish will last till meat comes." Hunting, also, afforded some supplies at an early period. Such entries as the fol- lowing are not uncommon in the Patten diary :

1757, Jan. 5. Went a hunting. 6th. Hunted in company with William McDowell, Samuel Cochran, John Little, and Thomas Mc- Laughlin, and got a deer a-piece. 8th. Bought two hind quarters of venison from Samuel Richards, 44 lbs. weight, at 1s. 6d. per pound, amounting to £3 6s., old tenor. 11th. Went a hunting, and helped kill a yearling buck, with Thomas Kennedy. 12th. Killed a doe fawn and yearling buck.

The same year we find :

June 7th. Shared, at the setting place, three salmon and part of another.

Some now (1850) living, have seen fifty or sixty salmon taken at a haul. It was a kind arrangement of Providence that in the pressing wants of the early settlement, there should be such a supply of fish and game.

The first noted place of fishing in this part of the country was at Amoskeag falls. The place next in importance was at Cohas brook, the outlet of Massabesic pond into Merrimack river. Vast quantities of river fish of various kinds were taken at these places annually until the river was obstructed by mill-dams and canal locks. Hundreds of people resorted hither in the fishing season to catch and buy fish, such as alewives, lamper-eels, shad, and salmon. The alewives were generally taken by a scoop-net.1 The eels were taken by an eel-pot of wicker work, set generally in the falls. Shad and salmon were taken by the scoop-net and seine, the net being put in the falls and swift water, and the seine drawn in the river. The first enactments of the legislature, respecting the taking of fish, were for Cohas brook. Regulations were made that a pass or vacant space should be left for the fish to go through the dam. The Hill seine was drawn near the mouth of the Piscataquog. The Parker seine was drawn on the same ground. The Griffin seine was drawn

1 The fish by this name is so abundantly supplied with bones, and was so com- mon an article of diet, that current report at the time declared that in the spring people could not get their shirts off without help, because of the bones that stuck out like porcupine quills.

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

at the head of Smith's falls, on the east side of the river.1 The Patten seine was drawn on the west side of the river, at the head of Smith's falls. These two last seines fished on the same place, but drew in on opposite shores. The Nutt seine drew on the opposite side, against Crosby's brook, at the head of Smith's falls, against Patterson rock. At this seine (1762), at one haul of the net, 2,500 shad were taken. About the same time, at the Carthagenian seine, drawn on the east side of Carthagenian island, and opposite Thomas Chandler, Esq.'s land, 1,500 shad were taken at one haul of the net. There was also Caratunk seine at the head, and Sky seine at the foot, of Walker's falls, on the west side. Quantities of fish were taken by fly nets during the summer and after. Shad and salmon were scooped up by the scoop-net. This was carried on at the head of the above-named island. It would seem incredible what quanti- ties of fish once filled these waters. The smaller kind were used to manure the land, as is now (1850) the case in Connecticut, along the Sound. In one instance, a man diving into the river to disentangle the net caught a shad in his hand as he rose.2

There were regular fishing companies ; twelve men would work a seine, at an expense of about $120 for twine, lead, ropes, cord, etc., with boats and oars. Sometimes shares were sold as high as twenty or thirty dollars each ; generally, they were worth from five to twelve dollars. The fishing season commenced at the opening of the apple-tree blossoms. Fishermen observe the phenomena of nature.

The local situation of Bedford so near to important manufacturing centers early drew the attention of farmers toward raising the more perishable articles of household consumption for the market, almost at their doors. The advantage which they enjoy in this direction is superior to that of most towns. There is a constant demand for milk, butter, cream, eggs, chickens, vegetables, and small fruits of all kinds, which can be furnished at profitable figures by our people.

1 Griffin's falls take their name from the drowning there of one Griffin and his wife. They lived on the east side of the river. Mrs. Griffin was Susannah, daugh- ter of Major John Goffe. She and her husband had come over to a funeral at the house of Captain Dole (now occupied by Melvin P. Kilton), and returning had in the canoe with them Griffin's brother Theophilus, known commonly as Orf Griffin. He was an old soldier of the French war, and was somewhat given to over- indulgence in stimulants. People have said that it was his custom when under this influence, to swim home from Piscataquog village as a method of regaining his equilibrium. At the funeral at Captain Dole's his grief so overcame him that on the way home he overturned the canoe, and his brother and his brother's wife were drowned. Theophilus, however, was not.

2 To shew how plenty Fish was once Perhaps it may be deemed worthy of notis . that in the year 1810 John G Moore being employed in Amoskeag Mills had occa- sion to Cross the falls evry morning in so doing he discoverd and caught a salmon each morning for six morning in succession .- From an old Manuscript.

HISTORICAL NOTICES OF BEDFORD.

In January, 1901, there were running into Manchester from Bedford twenty-three wagons daily, on regular routes, for the supply of milk to customers. These wagons carried, on an average, 150 quarts of milk each. It is estimated that the quantity of milk supplied at the door daily to the peddlers amounted annually to 1,259,250 quarts. About an equal amount is carried to the city by those who produce it. From these figures, we estimate the value annually of the milk production of Bedford at $76,500. Accurate statistics as to the amount and value of the production of butter, eggs, milk, vegetables, and small fruits are not obtainable, but we have estimated that they represent $100,000 of wealth exported annually from the town.1

While the native forests are fast falling before the woodman's axe, attention ought to be more directed to the cultivation of shade and ornamental trees, both in the center of the town and on the road- sides. Some young men have already (1850) engaged in this laud- able work. On the common, near the town house, William R. Woodbury, son of Dr. Peter P. Woodbury, set out two or three elm trees in 1843, and in 1847 Mr. Charles H. Kendall set out maple trees on the common, also those that surround the Presbyterian meeting-house on the west and north.2

There are five considerable streams of water in Bedford: Riddle brook, which rises near the foot of the Uncanoonucs, in Goffstown, flows southerly into the town of Merrimack, where it empties into Baboosic brook. A tributary of the stream rises in the easterly part of the town, flows southwesterly and empties into Riddle brook on the farm of Mr. Thomas S. Burns. The mills at Bedford Center, now operated by Mr. Frederick Holbrook and formerly owned by Mr. S. C. Damon, were originally located on this stream, because of the water power developed. The use of steam has since become necessary. The brook takes its name-Riddle brook-from the fact that the stream was first dammed and the power utilized by Gawn Riddle in 1754. Possibly, however, this may have been done before this by some one who had to cross it in high water. In the westerly part of the town Shepard's brook, rising in the farm of Mr. W. S. Gage, flows southerly and also empties into Baboosic brook.3 On

1 In 1894 a canvass was made, showing the production of selected apples in town that year of between 11,000 and 12,000 barrels. This was considered an unusual yield.

2 The trees on the south side, near the line of land belonging to Nelson Fosher, were set out in the course of the improvements made in the church and church yard during the years 1898 and 1899.

¿ Moses Gage, father of W. S. Gage, was known as the mountain justice, for the reason that he was a justice of the peace, and also that his farm was so hilly. A man and his wife applied to him for a divorce, saying that if he was enough of a

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

the farm of Mr. George Shepard the stream is dammed and power developed for a sawmill. Ice is cut on this pond for most of the people in that part of the town.

Sebbin's pond, in the southeast part of the town, is somewhat of a natural curiosity. Strictly speaking, there are three ponds or divi- sions of water which appear to be united by their waters beneath an extensive bog which floats on the surface and rises and falls with the water. The ponds taken together are about eighty rods in diameter, and abound with different kinds of fresh-water fish.1 The outlet of this pond is known as Sebbin's and as Darrah's brook, and flows southeasterly, emptying into the Merrimack river. The Crosby brook, known sometimes as Wallace's brook, has several sources, the main branch rising in Bedford, near Barr's Corner. Thence it flows in an easterly and southerly direction through Crosby meadow, and empties into the Merrimack river about two miles south of the mouth of the Piscataquog, in the farm formerly of Thomas Rundlett, at the foot of Smith's falls. Chandler's brook, which rises in the central part of the town, flowing almost due easterly, empties, after but a short course, into the Merrimack. During a part of its course, the Pulpit brook flows from New Boston into Bedford, and out again into Amherst. From Amherst it returns to Bedford, there uniting with Baboosic brook and forming the mill-pond at Swett's mills.

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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 9

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