USA > New Hampshire > Carroll County > History of Carroll County, New Hampshire > Part 38
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Joshua Haines came from Greenland to Wolfeborough in 1784 with his sons, Jacob, Matthias, and Joseph. They settled on lot number six in the Lords' Quarter. This lot originally belonged to Thomas Packer, who deeded one hundred acres of it to Joshua Haines in 1772. Joshua Haines was born in 1723, and died aged ninety. Jacob was a farmer. He lived on what is known as Haines' Hill. He was captain in the militia in 1795, served in town offices and as representative. Matthias was also a farmer and conversant with town affairs. Joseph was a farmer, and worked for five dollars per month to pay for his lot of land. Among their descendants are Joseph R., who has represented his town four times ; George A., who has been a teacher, on the board of school committee, and is a farmer.
Jethro Furber settled in town quite early. He was from Durham and had
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
many descendants. Some were farmers; others engaged in trade. Henry W. Furber and Edwin L. Furber are representatives of this family.
John Shorey came to Wolfeborough in 1796. He purchased one of " the fifty-acre lots " on Pine Hill, granted by Paul March to the first six settlers on the main road, each of whom was entitled to one hundred and fifty acres. This was sold to Shorey by Abigail, widow of Thomas Piper. John Shorey was a Revolutionary soldier. His son Joseph made the watering-trough which has been by the roadside a hundred years. One son, Lyford, died at the age of ninety-five.
Josiah Willey came from Dover. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Revolutionary army. Of his children Valentine was a farmer and a mill man. He was clerk and deacon of the Second Christian Church. His son, Valentine B. Willey, succeeded him in business.
Samuel Nowell came here from Boston about 1790. He was one of the " Boston Tea Party."
George Warren was a drummer in the Revolutionary war. He resided in Portsmouth. His eldest son, John, settled in Brookfield near Wolfeborough line. With the latter town he held his most intimate relations. He had twenty children who reached mature age. Jasper H. is a resident here. The family possessed much musical talent.
In 1700 James, William, John, and Joseph Cate came from England to Portsmouth, and settled in that and neighboring towns. Neal Cate, grandson of James, settled in Brookfield about 1790, on a farm adjoining Wolfeborough. He had ten children. Daniel, his eldest son, located on a farm in this town in 1821. He married a daughter of Nathaniel Willey. Mr Willey lived to the age of ninety-five, and his wife to the age of ninety-four; they had been married seventy-five years. Mr Cate and his wife had been married sixty
years. At the time of their death Mr Cate was eighty-eight years old, Mrs Cate eighty-one. They had eight children. Moses T. and John G. have been traders and manufacturers. Two sons of Moses T. have received a collegiate education. One has entered the ministry ; the other, E. E. Cate, has practised law. James C'ate received a lot of land from his father, on which Charles J. Cate now lives.
John Bassett came from Lynn, Mass., in 1790: settled on "the Bassett place." Two sons, Daniel and John, came with him ; they were industrious, hard-working men. Daniel remained here many years, then removed to Minne- sota, where his sons, Daniel, Jr, and Joel, reside. The Bassetts were Quakers. George W. Bassett is a son of John.
The Pickering family came from Greenland. John settled here about 1810; he built a large hotel which he managed for several years. Daniel, his brother, came later; opened a general store. He married Sarah, daughter of Joseph Farrar, Esq. Mr Pickering became eventually the largest dealer in
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TOWN OF WOLFEBOROUGH ..
goods in the vicinity ; he managed a farm and was interested in various manu- factures. He was postmaster for many years. He died in 1856, aged sixty years. A son died young; his daughter, Caroline (Mrs Charles Rollins), resides in Boston. Mr and Mrs Rollins occupy the homestead as a summer residence.
Moses Thurston came from Stratham in 1797 and cleared a farm in the northeasterly part of the town. He had two children, Isaac, a merchant in Ossipee, which town he represented in the state legislature. James lived on the home place. He served Wolfeborough as selectman five years and as representative two years. Stephen Thurston, brother of Moses, came about the same time and so did two sisters, one the wife of Thomas B. Wiggin, the other the wife of Isaac Wiggin.
William Mason came from Stratham. He was a man of several trades, and brought up seven children. His wife's father, a member of his family, was a Revolutionary pensioner.
John L. Piper came from Stratham about 1800. He built a house in 1802 on the site of the Charles F. Parker house, and a store where the bank building stands. He was in trade for a long time. He served as selectman. His grandson, Jonas W. Piper, has had a long service in town offices; he is a descendant of Major Jonas Wilder, an early settler of Lancaster.
Tobias Banfield came from Portsmouth about 1812 and purchased the farm since known as the Banfield farm. He had eight children. Of his children, Joseph became a clergyman; his son Everett C. became a lawyer, and after several years' residence in Washington, D. C., where he held an important government office, returned to Wolfeborough; Joshua was for many years a merchant in Dover; Nathaniel served as selectman; he was the father of A. W. Banfield, a merchant in Boston for a long time. The family is now represented in Wolfeborough by Ira Banfield, son of Tobias. He has been a member of the legislature and is treasurer of Wolfeborough Savings Bank.
Abel Haley, at the age of two years, removed with his parents from Roch- ester to Tuftonborough in 1810, where he eventually became a leading citizen, holding the various offices that his townsmen could bestow upon him. At the establishment of the Lake Bank, he removed to Wolfeborough and was its cashier. His son, Abel S., has a successful business in Faneuil Hall market, Boston ; Levi T., another son, resides in Wolfeborough and has been engaged in various kinds of business. He has been senator, and was sheriff of Carroll county when the Brookfield murderer, Joseph W. Buzzell, was executed.
Jeremy Towle, in 1820, purchased of Joseph Varney and Ichabod Libbey the George Jaffrey lot, No. 12, in the Lords' Quarter, containing three hundred acres, for eight hundred dollars. This was in the most hilly part of the town. Mr Towle and several sons cleared farms and resided here for a long time, giving the name of the family to the locality.
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
Joseph Clark came from Greenland in 1817 and passed the remainder of his life here. He was a cabinet-maker. Of his family of eight children two resided in town, Mary (Mrs Samuel Avery) and Enoch, who followed the avocation of his father. Enoch had ten children ; his son, Greenlief B., occu- pies the homestead.
CHAPTER XXV.
Revolution - Proprietors and the Land they Owned - Schools - Advancement of the Town - Wolfeborough Village about 1800 - Action of Town in Civil War - Later Chronicles - Civil List.
REVOLUTION. - Agreeably to a notice issued by Colonel Joseph Badger, the citizens, at the annual meeting in March, 1776, made choice of the follow- ing military officers: John Sinclair, captain; Andrew Lucas, first lieutenant; Jonathan Lary, second lieutenant, and Reuben Libbey, ensign. Early in 1777 a requisition for additional soldiers was made, the following reply to which will explain itself.
Wolfborough, Jan. 19, 1777.
Sir : There having a vote passed the Honorable Council and Assembly, for each town to make up their full quota of men for the three years' service in the Continental Army, occa- sions my troubling you with this line to ask your advice in relation to what can be done respecting that affair with this town; the particulars of which (as I informed you last July at Exeter, when I was sent down by the town on the same business) are these: In the year 1775 there were orders issued by the General Court for the number of all souls, at which time there were ten or twelve more ratable polls than there are at present - there being now only forty-four. Now, the proportion for this town, I imagine, was made by the return given in that year, which occasions the call for soldiers from this town to be two or three more than its proportion (which I understand to be every eighth man, agreeably to a vote of the Assembly), the inhabitants having depreciated instead of increasing. Now, if you recollect, I related these particulars to you, likewise shew you the necessary certificate to prove the same, when I saw you at Exeter. I endeavored to lay the affair before the Honorable Com- mittee of Safety, then sitting, but the multiplicity of business then before your Honors prevented me. I think you told me you mentioned it before the committee adjourned, and it was concluded that the town might make itself easy if it had sent its proportion according to the present number of its inhabitants. The present order is for the muster master to hire all delinquent men, and charge the respective towns with the cost. Now, if you can help us in the affair, that we may (as is most just) shun that difficulty, I shall take it as a particu- lar kindness done to
Your most Obedient and very Humble Servant,
MATTHEW S. PARKER.
John Went worth, Esq.
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TOWN OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
This letter availed nothing for the town.
At the annual meeting in 1777, provision was made for the support of Samuel Mellows, a poor child, who was to be provided with " proper victuals and clothing in the cheapest manner." This was probably the first pauper case ever brought to the notice of the town. At this meeting the act recently passed by the state of New Hampshire regulating the price of sundry articles was read. Among the articles enumerated in this act, of which therc were forty, were the following, which were not to be sold above the prices set against them, namely : wheat 7s. 6d., rye 4s. 6d., corn 3s. 6d., oats 2s., peas 8s., beans 6s., potatoes 2s. per bushel ; cheese 6d., butter 10d., pork 4d., beef 3d., and mutton 3d. per pound ; West India rum 6s. 8d., New England rum 3s. 10d., and molasses 3s. 4d. per gallon.
At a meeting held on the eighteenth day of June, Matthew S. Parker, Joseph Lary, and James Conner were appointed a committee to hire two men to complete the town's quota for the continental service. These three and Captain Thomas Ineas, Moses Wingate, Jonathan Lary, and Reuben Libbey were appointed a committee to regulate the prices of sundry articles, and they were to constitute the Committee of Safety for the year. The committee to hire soldiers secured Ichabod Tibbetts and David Piper, paying one $110 and the other $100. They were to serve three years, from June, 1777.
Inventory taken June 24: Number of polls eighteen years old and upwards 44, slaves 1, horses and colts 21, oxen 38, cows 54, young cattle 102, acres of tillage land 88, mowing land 150, pasture land 97. July 1, agreeably to a vote passed in the House of Representatives, the following list of men belonging to the "Train Band" in the town of Wolfeborough, under com- mand of Captain John Sinclair, was made, namely, Andrew Lucas, first lieutenant ; Jonathan Lary, second lieutenant; Reuben Libbey, ensign ; Andrew Wiggin, clerk ; Jonathan Hersey, drummer; John Lucas, fifer ; Aaron Frost, Joseph Leavit, Lemuel Clifford, and John Fullerton, sergeants ; Samuel Tibbetts, Jr, Samuel Hide, Enoch Thomas, and David Piper, corpo- rals ; Richard Rust, James Conner, James Lucas, Jr, William Lucas, and James Lucas, 3d, Samuel Tebbetts, Sr, Edmund Tebbetts, Joseph Lary, Ebenezer Meder, Benjamin Blake, James Fullerton, William Fullerton, John Piper, Jeremiah Gould, James Wiggin, Ichabod Ham, Henry Rust, Jr, Grafton Nutter, George Glynn, Matthew S. Parker, Joseph Kenniston, Moses Wingate, William Rogers, John Wadley, soldiers. Of these, Edmund Tibbetts, John Piper, Ichabod Ham, William Fullerton, and James Wiggin were under eighteen years of age. James Lucas, Sr, Thomas Lucas, and Ithiel ('lifford, being more than sixty years old, were exempted from doing military service, as also was Thomas Piper, on account of being a miller.
Captain John Sinclair, William Lucas, John Lucas, Benjamin Blake, Andrew Wiggin, and Moses Ham immediately responded to the call for soldiers made in September, 1777.
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
These were substantial citizens, induced by a love of country to enter the army. They had the pleasure of being present at Burgoyne's surrender. Business was at this period generally prostrated, and taxes were very burdensome.
A list of the proprietors of lands in Wolfeborough in 1778 and the amount which they severally possessed. A little more than one-fourth part was owned by residents: Proprietors of Mason's Patent, 5,100 acres ; Jonathan Warner, esq., 400 acres ; James Stoodley, esq., 400 acres ; Doctor Hall Jackson, 400 acres ; George Meserve, esq., 2,050 acres : Governor Wentworth's estate, 3,282 acres ; Doctor A. R. Cutter, 1,048 acres ; Daniel Pierce, esq., 900 acres ; Daniel Rindge, esq., 648 acres; Doctor John Brackett, 450 acres; Thomas Went- worth, esq., 450 acres ; Captain George King, 430 acres; David Sewall, esq., 246 acres ; William Torrey, esq., 650 acres ; Nathaniel P. Sargent, esq., 460 acres ; Colonel Henry Rust, 600 acres; James Connor, 100 acres; Captain Thomas Lucas, 310 acres ; James Lucas, jr, 100 acres ; Captain John Sinclair, 116 acres ; James Lucas, 3d, 40 acres ; Joseph Leavitt, 100 acres; George Glynn, 648 acres ; Thomas Triggs, 100 acres; Aaron Frost, 100 acres ; Abraham Prebble, 100 acres ; Samuel Tibbetts, jr, 100 acres ; Jonathan Lary, 150 acres; Samuel Hide, 100 acres ; Samuel Glover, 100 acres ; Samuel Emerson, 100 acres ; Robert Calder, 150 aeres ; Grafton Nutter, 100 acres ; Benjamin Blake, 100 acres ; Oliver Peavey, 100 acres ; Ithiel Clifford, 100 acres; Lemuel Clif- ford, 100 acres; Robert Estes, 100 acres ; Widow Mary Fullerton, 150 acres ; John Fullerton, 100 acres ; Jonathan Hersey, 50 acres; William Hersey, 50 acres ; James Hersey, 100 acres ; Moses Ham, 500 acres; Joseph Lary, 100 acres ; Andrew Lucas, 150 acres; Reuben Libbey, 100 acres ; Eben Meder, 100 acres : Thomas Piper, sr, 100 acres ; Matthew Stanley Parker, 447 acres ; Samuel Tibbetts, sr, 100 acres ; Enoch Thomas, 100 acres; Andrew Wiggin, 100 acres ; William Rogers, 100 acres ; Colonel Jonathan Moulton, 100 acres ; John B. Hanson, 100 acres ; Moses Varney, 114 acres.
In January, 1778, the town hired Nathan Watson, supplying him with a gun which cost sixteen dollars, a knapsack which cost one dollar, and a blanket which cost four dollars ; and also paying him a bounty of twenty dollars. The gun was furnished by James Connor, the knapsack by James Lucas, 3d, the blanket by Eben Meder, and the money for the bounty by Moses Wingate. These articles were borrowed, and their value afterwards refunded to the several owners by the town.
At the annual meeting in 1779 the town chose Ebenezer Horn, Sr, Lieu- tenant Jonathan Lary, and Matthew S. Parker a committee to hire a preacher four months " on as reasonable terms as they can," and that he preach one third of the time on the northeast side of Smith's pond. It was also agreed to alter the main or Miles road so that it would better accommodate the public, and also to lay out a road across the heath to the mills, and likewise one from the mills to the college road.
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TOWN OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
In July, 1779, a requisition was made on the town for one soldier for the Rhode Island expedition. It was difficult to obtain a man. Finally an agree- ment was made with Reuben Libbey by which he was to serve in the army six months. The town was to pay him for bounty and travel forty-six pounds, sixteen shillings, and harvest his hay crop. A labor tax of one hundred days' work was apportioned among the inhabitants. The balance of the labor, after gathering the hay, if there should be any, was to be worked out on the highway.
In 1779 Wolfeborough was "classed " with New Durham and the Gore. As the elections were held in New Durham, a long distance from Wolfeborough, but few of its citizens attended. Thomas Tash, of New Durham, generally represented the district. This year Matthew Stanley Parker was Wolfe- borough's first representative. In September, 1779, another soldier was called for, and Thomas Piper was appointed an agent to procure one.
In June, 1780, other soldiers were required for six months' service. The town hired James Wiggin and James Fullerton, paying as a bounty to Wiggin thirty bushels of corn, and to Fullerton fifteen bushels of corn and twenty days' work in haying. Specie was now almost unobtainable, and paper money nearly valueless, and resort was had to various commodities for a currency. In this region Indian corn became a standard article, and the prices of labor and other articles were reckoned by it. Taxes were becoming so burdensome that the inhabitants could by no means pay them in full. On account of its finan- cial difficulties, the general government supplied the army directly with such articles as the respective states produced. Beef was one assigned to New Hampshire, and Wolfeborough was required to furnish in 1781 3,875 pounds. At a town-meeting held in September, Lieutenant Eben Horn, Captain John Sinclair, and Joseph Lary were appointed a committee to purchase beef. Cattle were purchased and driven to Dover, where they were taken in charge by the receiver-general.
Rum was also furnished by New Hampshire for the army, and Wolfe- borough paid a rum tax in 1781 of fifty-eight dollars in specie. In 1782 a tax of four hundred and fifty pounds was assessed, of which less than one- twentieth part was for town expenses; the rest went to the state to meet the exigencies of the war. This year the town again declined sending a delegate to a convention to frame a state government.
The year 1781 was distinguished for town-meetings and taxes. Of the former, there were no less than nine, and of the latter more than the people could pay. A town-meeting was called on March 1 for the purpose of adopting measures to procure five additional soldiers to serve during the war. This meeting was adjourned to the fifteenth, when Jonathan Lary, Eben Meder, and Reuben Libbey were appointed a committee to procure the soldiers. This committee, on the third day of April, had accomplished nothing, and James
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
Connor, Andrew Wiggin, and James Lucas were appointed in their stead. This committee was equally unsuccessful. In July a requisition was made for two additional three months' men. The town was probably unable to meet either demand. The regiment formerly under the command of Colonel Joseph Badger, of Gilmanton, having been divided, Wolfeborough was included within the limits of the one commanded by Colonel Bradley Richardson, of Moulton- borough. Agreeably to a notice issued by the colonel, the militia of the town, on the seventh day of August, met and made choice of Joseph Lary for captain, William Lucas, first lieutenant, Aaron Frost, second lieutenant, and Enoch Thomas, ensign.
September 1 a requisition was made on the company "to raise and equip three able-bodied men and forward them to Colonel David Page, of Conway, immediately." These men were to be employed as scouts in defence of the northern frontier and were to serve three months if needed. They were to receive three pounds bounty and two pounds per month, the money to be advanced by the town. David Piper, John Piper, and Jeremiah Sinclair went on this expedition. David Piper acted as sergeant and John Piper as corporal. They were absent a little more than two months.
Schools. - At a town-meeting held on the eighth day of May, 1781, it was voted that the part of the town on the southwest side of Smith's pond hire Mr Andrew Collins to preach and teach school for the term of twelve months, upon his good behavior, the selectmen being authorized to contract with him and provide proper accommodations. The fitting up of a room for the school and religions meetings was not a very expensive affair, as will be shown by the following letter : -
To the Honorable Gentlemen, the Selectmen of the town of Wolfborough, chosen for accom- modating necessary conveniences for said town in A.D. 1781 : -
Before you, the said Selectmen, is herein laid the accompt for providing the necessary articles for the accommodating of a school in said town, by John Lucas, viz :
'To 119 feet of boards $0.45 To making a Preaching Desk .55
To making one Writing Table .82 To four benches
To one Water Bucket .25 To one hundred nails .40
$3.02
Gentlemen, the above-mentioned school accommodations are all provided according to your order given, and the humble request of your affectionate well-wisher,
ANDREW COLLINS, S. M., Under the direction of the Selectmen. WOLFBOROUGH, May 22, 1781.
On the seventeenth day of the same month (May) Mr Collins commenced his labors, receiving rate of eight dollars per month, exclusive of board. His
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TOWN OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
first term continued eleven weeks, when Mr Collins made a new contract with the seleetmen.
This day agreed with Henry Rust, James Conner, and Ebenezer Meder to keep school in said town to the 17th day of May, 1782, to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, at six silver dollars per month ; the said selectmen paying for my board, the said school to be kept where the selectmen shall order.
ANDREW COLLINS, Schoolmaster.
Mr Collins appears afterwards to have been short of funds. This note illustrates the epistolary style of that day : -
October 16, 1781. MR. LIBBEY :
Sir, - After bidding you God speed this morning. I should be exceeding glad if you would let me have a small trifle of money. I am sorry to trouble you, but I hope you will excuse my necessity. If you can let me have ten shillings by the hand of the bearer I shall give you no more trouble at present.
Sir, I am with all respect Your affectionate Friend and Humble Serv't, ANDREW COLLINS.
The " bearer " brought to him six shillings.
There does not appear to have been a perfect agreement in relation to hiring Mr Collins. A proposition was brought before a town-meeting held November 13, when it was voted seventeen to thirteen to hire him. It being intimated that the matter was not well understood by the inhabitants of all sections of the town, another meeting was called on the twenty-ninth day of the same month, when it was again voted to retain his services -twelve voting in the affirmative, and nine in the negative. It is probable that he left the town the next spring. It is also evident that his was the first school here.
1782, December. The town voted to hire a teacher six months the approaching year. The teacher was Isaiah Horne. He received eleven dollars per month, inclusive of board. The school was kept three months only.
In November, 1783, the following inventory was taken : -
Number of polls from eighteen to seventy-five years of age 58
acres of tillage land 63
acres of mowing land 324
acres of pasture land 351
horses 32
oxen
60
cows 100
young horses and cattle 75
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
Tillage land sufficient to produce twenty-five bushels of corn, mowing land sufficient to produce one ton of hay, and pasture land sufficient to pasture one cow was accounted an acre.
This year two vagrant persons living in town, leading idle and dissolute lives, were arrested and bound out to masters for their maintenance, showing it to be the prevailing sentiment of the times that "he who would not work should not eat."
At the annual meeting, twenty-ninth of March, 1784, the town elected five selectmen, the only time in its history when more than three persons were chosen. They were : John Martin, Richard Rust, Isaiah Horne, William Lucas, and Andrew Lucas. Also voted to build a bridge across the mill-pond on Smith's river.
March 21, 1785, the legal voters of Moultonborough, Wolfeborough, and Ossipee Gore met at the house of Jonathan Chase, in Wolfeborough, and elected Ensign Reuben Libbey a representative to the General Assembly. Mr Libbey was a person of good natural abilities, but uneducated, rough in his manners, and indifferent as to his apparel.
At the annual meeting in 1785 it was voted to lay out the road now extending from the back road to F. B. T. Leavitt's house. This year a school was kept by Nehemiah Ordway for seven dollars per month.
Up to 1785, the settlements had been principally in two localities : one section embracing that portion lying along the main road and including the mill neighborhood and a few scattered settlements in Raccoonborough and Pine Hill districts, denominated the southwest part; and the other, the region about the governor's farm, with an occasional settlement along the way to Dimond's Corner, and in the neighborhood of that locality known as the northeast part. The central portion was more sparsely inhabited, as the soil was too moist to produce good crops.
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