History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 126

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1200

USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 126
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 126

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).

This year (1767) there eame a marked im- provement to the condition and prospects of the infant settlement consequent upon the arrival of the wives of several of the leading men, as indicated by the action of the town in awarding premiums to those having wives present, and to families who might be induced to settle in the town.

Of those present, with wives, there ap- pears one newly constituted family-Jesse and Thankful (Stevens) Wilcox, who were married in Killingworth, June 11th, previous to their departure on their wedding-tour to Newport. A tradition is extant that the ladies of a party, on approaching the town by the new "eart- road," were offered a premium in a race for a boundary-tree, pointed out as on the town-line; that two of the ladies won, and that Jesse Wil- cox thus became liable for two silver crowns, English money, to the two winners. This also

210

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

may have been the party that is said to have broken down somewhere on Pike Hill, in their efforts to reach Newport over the said "cart- road," and were compelled to camp out for the night. That these may have been the experi- ences of that wedding-party is altogether within the bonnds of probability.

We have heretofore announced the arrival of Benjamin Giles in the settlement, and his pro- posal to buikl mills. The following act of the town has reference to this proposition :

" At an adjourned meeting holden on the 29th day of October, at the house of Zephaniah Clark, aforesd, by the Proprietors of Newport aforest, Mr. Stephen Willcocks, Moderator, Voted, that Benjamin Giles, now Resident in Newport, have one hundred Acres of Land. laid out by the proprietors' committee, to him, his heirs and assigns Forever, and to be so laid out as to secure to said Giles, his heirs and Assigns, that part of the East Branch of Great Sugar River, so called, near where said Giles is about to sett up a Corn-Mill and a Saw-mill, so that said Giles may build a Damm aCross said River with all the privileges of said River, so far as is necessary for the benefit of sª Mills, with the land Adjoining said River, so as to take in a sufficiency of Land for to sett said Mills and what may be convenient around the same, and also to be so laid out as to take a part of the White Pine Timber, and also to Proeure a Pair of Mill Stones for said Giles at said Mills. Also that said Giles have a Tax, or Rate, to the Vallu of Four Days Labor on each Proprietors Right, or Share, the aforesd Grants given for sd Giles Encouragement towards his build- ing the aforesd Mills in Newport, aforest."

In view of these considerations, the mills were built and ready for operation September 24, 1768. We have it traditionally that Ezra Parmelee, who was one of the youngest men of the settlement, took great interest in these mills and worked out his "Tax," and even more, with a great deal of cheerfulness; that, when "Squire Giles" proposed to send to Charlestown for a mechanic competent to file and hang the saw, young Parmelee came for- ward and said " he could do it as well as any- body he could get from No. 4." He was, ac- cordingly, entrusted with the job.

He improvised a vise by cutting a small tree so as to leave a high stump, the top of which he split in a manner to receive and wedge in the saw for filing; after which it was properly placed in the works, and the first log was made into boards in the presence of an applauding crowd, comprising, we believe, every man in town.

The name and character of Benjamin Giles deserves more than a passing notice, and it may as well have attention in this place as any other. It is matter of regret that the data extant from which to construct a sketch of his life is so meagre and desultory. It is thus with many other interesting lives, whose only written his- tory is found. upon the stone that marks the place of their long-buried remains. He died in 1787, at the age of seventy years. He must, therefore, have been born in 1717, and at the time of his arrival in Newport was fifty years of age. He was an Irishman by birth, and in the course of wanderings by sea and land had come to Groton, Conn., where he was settled, and from whence he came to Newport. His family consisted of daughters-two by a first marriage, and one by a second wife, lately de- ceased. Of the first, Mary married Christopher Newton, and Hannah was the wife of Isaac Newton. These Newtons were cousins and came to Newport in 1779, with their families, where they lived and died. The daughter of the second marriage, Ruth, came with her father to this town. She was possessed, in her own right, of considerable property, inherited from her mother. A third wife, whom he married after coming here, was Abigail Hubbard, of Charlestown, who survived him. There were no children by the last marriage.

Benjamin Giles was a man of good natural ability, well educated, a fair estate with much experience in human affairs. He was, for the time and place in which he acted, a strong man, and his influence in all matters-social, political and religious- was controlling and recognized in all the affairs of the community. No name

211

NEWPORT.

appears with more frequency upon the town records than that of Benjamin Giles.

His influence was not confined to his own town, but extended to other towns, and was felt in the councils of the State.

The differences between the colonies and the mother country already foreshadowed revolu- tion, and wisdom and intelligence were needed in all counsels. He was a lover of liberty, an enthusiastic friend of the patriot cause, a true Irishman with pronounced American proclivi- ties.

After the downfall and flight of the royal Governor, John Wentworth, New Hampshire was without an organized State government. By a concerted movement on the part of the towns, a convention was called to meet at Exeter, 1775, '76, for the purpose of organizing a pro- visional government for the time, or during the war. To this convention Benjamin Giles was sent as representative by the six classed towns of Newport, Unity, Acworth, Lempster, Croy- don and Saville (now Sunapee).

He was chosen by the House of Representa- tives (so called) of the State, or colony, one of a committee of twelve to constitute an Upper House, or Senate. Meshech Weare, the first Governor of the State, was the presiding officer of this body, an assembly to which only the ablest men in the State were called.

In the year 1778 the controversy between New Hampshire and Vermont, in regard to the boundary line, assumed formidable propor- tions. Conventions were held at Cornish, Wal- pole and Windsor, Vt., to consider the matter. To these conventions he was sent as a delegate.

He favored the claims of Vermont, as in- structed by the town, at a meeting held March 29, 1781, when it was voted "That the town of Newport join in Union with Vermont. That Benjamin Giles, Esq., be a delegate to represent the town of Newport in the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, to be held at Windsor in April next ensuing. That Aaron Buel, Jesse Wilcox and Josiah Stevens be a commit-

tee to give instructions to the representative above named for his direction in the General Assembly of Vermont."

At another town-meeting, held the same year, the town voted for State officers of Ver- mont, and the meeting was called in the name of the State of Vermont.

The excitement in regard to this matter be- came so great that troops were called out and arrests were made. Benjamin Giles and Nath- aniel S. Prentice were arrested by the New Hampshire authorities, and Enoch Hale, the sheriff of Cheshire County, was arrested by the authorities of Vermont. Giles is said to have been rescued from the custody of Colonel Hale, in Charlestown, by the " people in a most ex- traordinary manner."

This difficulty was afterward amicably set- tled and the town of Newport returned to its al- legiance to New Hampshire.

The annual town-meeting of March, 1782, was called in the name of the State of New Hampshire; otherwise the good people of New- port at this time might have rejoiced as citizens of the Green Mountain State.

To close the eventful history of this most prominent citizen of Newport during the Revo- lutionary period, we may take the reader in imagination to the first burial-place of the town, where nearly all " the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep," and read from the stone that identifies his grave his "short and simple an- nals,"-

" Erected in memory of ye Honourable Benjamin Giles, Esquire, who, after serving his generation faith- fully in publick life, then departed this, in hopes of a better,

December 9th, 1787.

" Although I sleep in dust awhile, Beneath this barren clod,

Ere long I hope to rise and smile To see my Savior God."

Other reference is made to Benjamin Giles in the article on Congregational Church.

As the settlement progressed it became neces-

212

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

sary to lay out and cut out additional roads in every direction, in order to accommodate the people and facilitate communication with other towns.

This work went on as the community ex- panded. It is not desirable that we go into details in regard to this matter.

The present system of well-graded roads and safe and convenient bridges, over which people travel with so much satisfaction, in easy and elegant carriages, is a growth and outcome of years of labor and expense, which may not at all times be properly appreciated.

In regard to methods of travel in the early days of the town, it may be said they were in harmony with the roads and bridges or fording- places and the needs of the time. People went about much on foot and on horseback ; and the women rode on pillions behind the men, or took the saddle best adapted to their purpose. With the forehanded, the oxen and cart furnished a turnout of great consideration.

During the year 1768 we find no special records to suggest remarks. The inference is that the new town was reasonably progressing in its eivil and social affairs.

In 1769, February 2d, it appears that the proprietors, having failed to perform according to the conditions of the charter, which required them to cultivate five acres of land, in five years, for every fifty acres, had a further period of four years granted in which to fulfill these conditions.

At that period, as stated by Governor Went- worth in his extension of the charter, fifteen families had settled in the town.

This defaleation, and possibility of forfeiting the town charter, indicates a struggle against difficulties and obstacles which the people of this time can hardly appreciate. Whatever may be said against Governor Wentworth in general terms, it was certainly kind in him to favor them in their efforts for municipal existence.

Ezra Parmelee, though a young man, had

made good progress on lot No. 64. He had thus far spent his summers in his camp and clearing.

The partner of his joys and sorrows, for the time being, was Ephraim Towner, who shared the comforts of his camp and aided him in his labors.

Towner's lot, No. 66, was at the southeastern end of the meadows, and not far distant. When the season was over Mr. Parmelee closed his cabin and returned to his home in Connecticut.

In the neighborhood of the Parmelee home- stead, at Killingworth, lived the Hill family. They were people in good circumstances, with sons and daughters, the oldest of whom was Sibyl, born October 10, 1746. She was now about twenty-two years of age, and the witchery of her name, or charms, had ensnared the heart of the young backwoodsman, Ezra Par- melee.

They had grown up in the same society, at- tended the same school, heard the same preach- ing, and together they thought they might journey, not only to New Hampshire, but ' through life. We accordingly give place to the following record copied from the old church register at Killingworth.

"On ye 1st day of May, 1769, Ezra Parmelee and Sibyl Hill were joined in ye Marriage Covenant by Rev. William Seward, Pastor of ye 2nd Church of Christ in Killingworth."

Shortly after his marriage, leaving his bride at her father's, Mr. Parmelee returned to New- port, this time making the trip with oxen and cart laden with furniture and housekeeping articles, which, with a heifer that was driven along with the team, comprised the wife's " set- ting-out," or marriage portion.

Accomplishing this somewhat tedious trip, he commenced with renewed energy to prepare a comfortable home for his wife, who was to come to him in the autumn. His house was placed on high land, near the " Potash Brook," so-called, west of the Unity road, a short dis- tance southward from the residence-1885-of

213

NEWPORT.

George E. Dame. It was necessarily a homely structure, one story in height, framed and fashioned by his own hands. Having good mechanical ability, he constructed chairs and tables, which, with the articles brought from Killingworth, furnished the place very com- fortably. The labors in the field alternated with the work on the building, as the summer went on, and for the complete establishment of a home it only remained that a principal divinity should be installed among the house- hold gods. The autumn came, and with it the arrival of the bride, accompanied by the senior Parmelee. They came on horseback, Sibyl riding behind on a pillion. The distance traveled was about one hundred and eighty miles. There were but few women in the settlement, and as a matter of course the arrival of Mrs. Parmelee was an event of great interest and joy. The greeting of the neighbors was most cor- dial, to say nothing of the expectant husband, and the house-warming that followed was among the events of the twelvemonth. The Parmelee family were thus established in New- port.

To Ezra and Sibyl were born, during the years from 1770 to 1793, three sons and five daughters.

In 1793 Mr. Parmelee purchased the house and lands of Josiah Stevens, adjoining his premises on the north. The house which had sheltered the family for a quarter of a century was moved from the hill, and annexed to the more pretentious new house, built by Deacon Stevens, as an L part, where it still remains in good condition.

The dwelling of the Parmelecs was a seat of hospitality to visitors and strangers, ministers and people. Ezra and Sibyl lived to a great age, and it is to them and their descendants that we are indebted for much of the social and general history of the town. In their comfortable home, cared for by their children and friends, they descended into the vale of years, passing far beyond the allotted three-score and ten of

human life, until, with bended forms and whitened locks, they stood upon the outer mar- gin of nearly an entire century ere they passed away. Ezra died January 18, 1838, in the ninety-third year of his age. Sibyl died April 6, 1838, in the ninety-second year of her age.

William and Mindwell (Buel) Stanard came from Killingworth in 1768-69. The Stanards' farm was on the Croydon road. It descended to his son William, and next to his grandson Obed, who sold the estate to James Hall in 1836, and moved to Iowa.

The first social party in the town of Newport was given by the Stanards, on New Year's day, 1770. Every inhabitant of the settlement was present. We know by " heresay " that Mrs. Ezra Parmelee was there with her first baby,- Rhoda, born November 1, 1770, and then two months old. The occasion was one of much enjoyment.

Edwin O. Stanard, son of Obed, and great- grandson of William, is a prominent citizen of St. Louis, was Lieutenant-Governor of Missouri in 1868, and a member of the Forty-third Congress from that State. Jeremiah and Lucy (Whipple) Jenks came from Smithfield, R. I.

They are said by their biographer to have " arrived in Newport on the 4th of July, 1776, and first established themselves on what is known as the Parmelee place, on the south road." This must have been but a temporary occupation. The deed of Mr. Jenks to lands "attests the purchase of one share of three hundred and forty acres on east side of Connec- tient river (Newport), one sixty-eighth part of its territory "-a somewhat indefinite descrip- tion and difficult to locate. "Between 1778 and 1792 he made purchases of land from Josiah Stevens, Aaron Buel, James Church, Israel Bryan, Uriah Wilcox, Nathan Fisher and Stephen Perry, by which he became the largest landholder and the heaviest tax-payer in Newport." The Jenks homestead was located on what may have been called the North road, and is one of the few estates still owned and

214

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

occupied by descendants of the first proprietor. The Jenks family have always been prominent and valuable citizens of the town.

Jeremiah and Love (Buel) Nettleton came from Killingworth in 1779, and located in the castern part of the town. Mr. Nettleton was the proprietor of Bald Mountain and the adjacent lands to the river. These lands and their improvements descended to his son Aaron and his grandson, Jeremiah D. Nettleton, at whose death, December 8, 1852, the estate passed to other hands. The Nettletons were also for many years prominent in the social and civil affairs of the town. The grandsons of the first settler, Aaron, Jr., and Bela Nettleton, were many years in the mercantile business on the corner of Main and Sunapee Streets, where the " Nettleton Block," so called, now stands. The post-office was for many years located in their building, and they were successively post- masters.

The original store building now fronts on Sunapee Street, and is occupied by the United States and Canada Express Company.

The Stevens family, originally from Killing- worth, were in Newport at an early period- 1771. Josiah Stevens was born October 21, 1743; married Mary Gray, January 26, 1763. This family was settled on the place adjoining that of Edward Parmelee, on the north. There were eleven children, mostly daughters, born to them in the years from 1763 to 1785. Mr. Stevens was a well-educated man, a school- teacher, a deacon of the Congregational Church, and occasionally a town officer. He was in moderate circumstanees, occupied a log cabin, and had pretty hard scrabbling to get bread and meat for so large and unproductive a fam- ily. Their principal resources were a somewhat unthrifty farm, a potashery, over on the brook that crossed the Unity road, not far south of this place, and to which that at present emaciated stream is indebted for its euphonious name, " Potash Brook," and possibly some in- come from his occasional vocation as a teacher.

The excellent wife and mother of all these children died September 26, 1787.

A few months later Benjamin Giles also de- parted this life, leaving an attractive widow, possessed of considerable property, to mourn his departure. It is sufficient to state that in less than a twelvemonth the vacant chair in the family circle of the good deacon was filled by his wedding, May 15, 1788, the Widow Giles.

In consideration of his more prosperous cir- cumstances, Deacon Stevens set to work and built, for the time, a fine dwelling-house, locat- ing the same a few rods south of the old cabin. The style of architecture adopted, whether English, French, colonial or Renaissance, was peculiar to that period. The front elevation was of two stories, surmounted with a short roof, and the rear sloping from the ridge-pole, with a long roof to one story in height. There were many such constructions in New England. The north front-room was fitted up for a store, in which he had placed a stock of dry-goods, groceries, ete., and was doing business as a mer- chant.

There was an apparent prosperity for a time, but at last it became evident that the combined incomes of his several undertakings were not equal to their advanced style of living ; and it was found desirable, if not necessary, to dispose of their real estate and various other interests. The family removed to Orwell, Vt., where, in a short time, their eight daughters were all re- spectably married and settled.

Incidental to this, it is said that a wealthy and somewhat eecentric resident of that place, Colonel Austen, gave a social entertainment at his house, at which the eight daughters [and their eight husbands were all present by special invitation, as a social curiosity.

Deacon Stevens afterwards took orders as a minister of the gospel, and, returning from Vermont, preached for a time in the neighbor- ing town of Goshen. His second wife, Abigail Giles, died March 15, 1800. After her decease Mr. Stevens went in the interest of the Society

215

NEWPORT.

for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, as a missionary to the fishermen on the Isles of Shoals. What remains of his some- what varied history may be best told by quoting from the marble tablet that covers the remains of himself and a third wife, to be found in the burial-place connected with a dilapidated meet- ing-house on Star Island, and which summer visitors have read and pondered over, and will continue so to do as time goes on, as follows :

" In memory of Josiah Stevens, a faithful instruc- tor of youth, and Pious Minister of Jesus Christ, supported on this Island by the Society for Propaga- ting the Gospel, Died July 2, 1804, aged 64 years. Likewise Mrs. Susannah Stevens, his beloved wife, who died Dec. 10, 1810, aged 54 years."

Josiah Stevens, Jr., son of the foregoing, re- mained a citizen of Newport and was a deacon of the Congregational Church until his death, in 1844. He was the father of Josiah Stevens, some time Secretary of State, who became a citizen of Concord, where he died in 1869. Another son of the first Josiah, Edward, was drowned in returning by sea from Georgia, where he had been to visit a third son, Oliver, who had settled in Liberty County, Ga., where he has left descendants. The Stevens name, as descended from the first settler, has disappeared from Newport for many years.

The Dudleys, of whom mention has been made, came from Saybrook. A stone may be found in the old cemetery bearing the following inscription : " In memory of Deborah Dudley, who died February 6, 1780, aged one hundred years ;" and another in memory of Daniel Dudley, who died in 1808, aged ninety-two years. Her son, who was the father of Daniel Dudley, Jr., also born in Saybrook, April 10, 1755, and three generations of Dudleys were early settlers of Newport, and the name still continues on the check-list. The Dudleys, father and son, built the first grist-mill in New- port village, in 1787. The original site is still occupied for that purpose.

Ephraim Towner was another of the earliest

settlers. We find his name connected with the ownership of lot No. 66, at the southeastern termination of the meadows on the South Branch. His house and mills were at a point near the Goshen road, where the present Pond Street diverges towards Southville. He left his name with the brook, while house and mills and all the Towner family have long since disappeared from Newport.

Many other names early known in Newport have no succession. Zephaniah Clark removed from here to Newbury ; was also one of the first settlers of that town and its representative in the Legislature in 1785. The Braggs, Churches, Halls, Lanes, Merritts, Stanards, and some others, familiar to the oldest inhabit- ants, have disappeared, and can be known to the present only as we give them life in a town history.

The wants of a more thriving community, 1772, required better accommodations for the transaction of the public business. A building was also wanted for school purposes and a more appropriate place for public worship on Sun- days. Heretofore the people had resorted to private houses or barns for these purposes ; ac- cordingly, at a meeting of proprietors, held at the house of Jesse Wilcox, November 23, 1772, Daniel Dudley in the chair, it was voted to erect a building for the use of the town, and a tax of fifteen shillings was levied on each pro- prietor to meet the expense. It was stipulated that the building should be thirty feet long by twenty feet wide, with one fire-place, and that it should be ready for use by the next July, 1773.

This first town hall of Newport was unique in its style of architecture and rudely con- structed. Its roof descended from a common centre to each of the four sides.

It is appropriate that we here present a de- seription of this building, given by one who saw it and used it, a native of Newport. We have reference to Rev. James Hill Parmelee, son of Ezra, born May 15, 1783. He was

216

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

graduated at Yale College in 1808, afterwards at the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J. ; was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church and spent the vigor of his life in connection with the missionary en- terprises of that church in the West and South, and died at his home on the Muskingum River, near Zanesville, Ohio, April 6, 1872, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He was a gentle- man of fine culture and many experiences. The following is an extract from a letter writ- ten by him to the author of this sketch but a few months before his decease. He says,-

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 Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 126

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1200