History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 5

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 5
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 5

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).

It leaves Keene and runs easterly through the southwest corner of Roxbury, through Marlborough and Harrisville, to Hillsborough County line ; thence through Hancock to its terminus, at Greenfield.

Its entire length is twenty-six miles ; its length in Cheshire County is nearly thirteen miles. The scenery along the route, for variety and grandeur, is equal to any in the State.

The building of the road was commenced in the summer of 1876, and after considerable delay, occasioned by the failure of contractors, it was completed on the 29th of November, 1878.

The last spike was driven by Hon. Samuel W. Hale, one of the directors of the road.

On the following day an engine and well- filled passenger-car passed over the road, and its arrival in Keene was witnessed by a large num- ber of spectators.

April 30, 1880, the Supreme Court, in be- half of the bondholders, appointed George A. Ramsdell, of Nashua, receiver, who repaired and commenced running the road.

On the 1st of September, 1880, the mortgage trustees took possession of the road by order of court, and operated it until October 26, 1881, when it was sold by them at auction for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars to Hon. S. W. Hale, who afterwards transferred his title to the Boston and Lowell and Concord Railroads, which corporations continued its oper- ation.

It is now in good repair and forms a part of the Boston and Lowell system.

HISTORY OF KEENE.

CHAPTER I.

Geographical-Original Grant by Massachusetts-First Proprietors' Meeting-Laying out the Grant-Early Votes-First Settlements-The Pioneers-The Indian Troubles-Building of the Fort-Josiah Fisher killed by Indians-Further Depredations of the Savages-The Settlement Abandoned.

THE town of Keene lies near the centre of the county and is bounded as follows: On the north by Westmoreland, Surry and Gilsum ; cast by Sullivan and Roxbury ; south by Swan- zey and west by Chesterfield and Westmoreland.

The territory embraced within the bounds of the present town of Keene, together with a por- tion of Sullivan and Roxbury, was one of the Massachusetts grants, made in accordance with a vote of the General Court of that province of July, 1733. On the 19th of October following a committee, consisting of Joseph Kellogg, Tim- othy Dwight and William Chandler, was ap- pointed to lay out the townships on Ashuelot River forthwith. They reported in February, 1734, and the township was lotted in May or June following. The first proprietors' meeting was held in Concord, Mass., June 26, 1734, and in September following Jeremiah Hall, Daniel Hoar, Josiah Fisher, Elisha Root, Nathaniel Rockwood, Seth Heaton and William Puffer vis- ited Upper Ashuclot, as the place was called, and held a proprietors' meeting. They did not ar- rive at the line of the township until late in the evening of the 18th, the day to which the meeting was adjourned; and, as soon as their pilot informed them they had passed it, they opened the meeting and adjourned to the next day.

At the meeting held the next day a vote was passed that the whole of the intervale land in

the township should be surveyed, and that half of it should be lotted out in two inclosures, one so situated as to accommodate the fifty-four house-lots laid out on the village plain, the other so as to accommodate the nine house-lots laid out on Swanzey line. A committee was also appointed " to search and find out the best and most convenient way to travel from the upper unto the lower township."

At this period Upper Ashuelot was a frontier settlement, in the bosom of the wilderness. It was, of course, most exposed to savage incur- sions, and was liable to suffer, in their ex- tremity, all those distresses and calamities which may be alleviated, if not prevented, by the assistance and good offices of others. Its near- est neighbor was Northfield, twenty miles dis- tant; Winchester, which was first granted, not being then settled, or containing at most not more than two or three huts.

The next meeting of the proprietors was held at Concord, Mass., on the last Wednesday of May, 1735. The committee appointed to sur- vey the intervale land made a report. The lots they had laid out contained eight acres; and, as they were not all equal in quality, the propri- etors voted that certain enumerated lots should have qualification, or allowance, to consist of from two to four acres each, and appointed a committee to lay out these allowances. The practice of qualifying lots, thus introduced, was afterwards pursued, and occasioned great irreg- ularity in the future allotments of land.

At this meeting a committee was appointed " to join with such as the lower town propri- etors shall appoint, to search and find out whether the ground will admit of a convenient road from the two townships on Ashuelot River down to the town of Townsend."

KEENE.

At a subsequent meeting, held in September of the same year, in the township, the propri- etors were assessed in the sum of sixty pounds, and a committee was " appointed to bill out this money according to the proprietors' directions." It appears by the record, that the mode of billing out the money remaining in the treasury was often practiced. A committee was also ap- pointed to lay out a road to the saw-mill place, which is about three-quarters of a mile north from the house-lots. A vote was also passed offering one hundred acres of " middling good land " and twenty-five pounds to any person or persons who would engage to build a saw-mill, and saw boards for the proprietors, at twenty shillings per thousand, and slit-work for £3 10s. per thousand. John Corbet and Jesse Root appeared and undertook to build the mill, and a committee was thereupon appointed to lay out the land. The mill was to be finished by the 1st day of July, 1736. Under date of May, 1735, appears a record of the expense of laying out the second division of lots. The surveyor was allowed fifteen shillings (seventy cents), four others were allowed twelve shillings and two others ten shillings per day.

On the 30th day of September, 1736, a meet- ing of the proprietors was opened, according to appointment, at the house-lot of Joseph Fisher, but was immediately removed to the house of Nathan Blake. This house was probably the first erected in the township. A committee was appointed "to agree with a man to build a grist-mill," and they were authorized to offer " not exceeding forty pounds encouragement therefor." The proprietors also voted to build a meeting-house at the south end of the town street, at the place appointed by the General Court's committee, to be forty feet long, twenty feet stud and thirty-five feet wide, and to lay boards for the lower floor-the house to be finished by the 26th day of June, 1737.

At the same meeting a vote was passed to widen the main street, which was originally but four rods wide. It provided that, if the pro- prietors of the house-lots on the west side of the street would surrender four rods in depth on the end of their lots adjoining the street, they should have it made up in quantity in the

rear. This proposition was acceded to, and to this measure the village is indebted for its broad and elegant main street.

No person had hitherto attempted to remain through the winter in the township. Those who came in the summer to clear their lands brought their provisions with them, and erected temporary huts to shelter them from the weather. In the summer of 1736 at least one house was erected ; and three persons, Nathan Blake, Seth Heaton and William Smeed,-the two first from Wrentham and the last from Deerfield,- made preparations to pass the winter in the wilderness. Their house was at the south end of the street. Blake had a pair of oxen and a horse, and Heaton a horse. For the support of these, they collected grass in the open spots; and in the first part of the winter they employed them in drawing logs to the saw-mill, which had just been completed. Blake's horse fell through the ice of Beaver Brook and was drowned. In the beginning of February their own provisions were exhausted, and to obtain a supply of meal, Heaton was dispatched to Northfield. There were a few families at Win- chester, but none able to furnish what was wanted. Heaton procured a quantity of meal ; but before he left Northfield the snow began to fall, and when, on his return, he arrived at Win- chester, it was uncommonly deep, and covered with a sharp crust. He was told "that he might as well expect to die in Northfield and rise again in Upper Ashuelot, as ride thither on horseback." Remembering the friends he had left there, he nevertheless determined to make the attempt, but had proceeded but a short distance when he found that it would be impos- sible to succeed. He then returned, and directed his course towards Wrentham. Blake and Smeed, hearing nothing from Heaton, gave the oxen free access to the hay, left Ashuelot, and on snow shoes proceeded either to Deerfield or Wrentham. Anxious for their oxen, they returned early in the spring. They found them near the Branch, southeast of Carpenter's, much emaciated, feeding upon twigs and such grass as was bare. The oxen recognized their owner, and exhibited such pleasure at the meeting as drew tears from his eyes.

HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

At a meeting of the proprietors, held May 12, 1737, they voted to assess sixty pounds on the proprietors of the house-lots for the purpose of hiring a gospel minister, and chose a committee to agree with some meet person to preach the gospel among them. This meeting was ad- journed, to be held at the meeting-house place on the 20th of May. On the day appointed it was there opened, but was immediately removed to the intervale land, and there a vote was passed that another division of meadow land should be made. A committee was also chosen to "rep- resent this propriety in applying to, and receiv- ing of, the Honourable, the General Court's committee for this township, the money granted to said proprietors when they shall have the frame of a meeting-house raised, and forty proprietors settled on the spot."

The next meeting was held at the meeting- house frame, June 30th. Jeremiah Hall was recompensed for his services in searching for and laying out a road to Townsend, and two others were added to the committee appointed to apply to the General Court's committee "for the one hundred pounds" mentioned in the proceedings of the last meeting. It was also voted "that no meeting of the proprietors be held, for the future, but at this place, so long as there shall be seven proprietors inhabiting here."

At a meeting held October 26th a vote was passed that the " worthy Mr. Jacob Bacon should draw for the second division of meadow land, for the whole propriety." This is the first time that the name of Mr. Bacon, who was the first settled minister of the town, is mentioned in the records.

At the same meeting a vote was passed to lay out one hundred acres of upland to each house-lot or right. The proprietors were to draw lots for choice, and he who drew No. 1, was to make his pitch by a certain day; and those who drew the successive numbers on sue- ressive days, excluding Sundays, thus "giving every man his day." Each lot was surveyed by a committee, in such place and in such shape as the proprietor drawing it directed. Some of the plans recorded in the proprietors' records exhibit figures which Euclid never imagined,

and probably could not measure. Common land was left in every part of the township, in pieces of all sizes and shapes.

Although the whites were at this time at peace with the Indians, yet, deeming it not pru- dent to remain without some means of defense, the proprietors at this meeting voted that they would finish the fort, which was already begun, and that every one that should work or had worked at said fort should bring in his account to the surveyor of highways and should be al- lowed therefor on his highway tax-bill. This fort was situated on a small eminence a few rods north of the present residence of Lemuel Hay- ward. When completed it was about ninety feet square; there were two ovens and two wells in the inclosure. It was built of hewn logs. In the interior, next to the walls, were twenty barracks, cach having one room. On the out- side it was two stories high, in the inside but one, the roof over the barracks sloping inwards. In the space above the barracks were loop-holes to fire from with muskets. There were two watch-houses, one at the southeast corner and one on the western side, each erected on four high posts set upright in the earth ; and for greater safety, the whole was surrounded by pickets.

January 7, 1740, a meeting of the proprietors was held. In the warrant calling it, an article was inserted " To make such grant or grants of land to such person or persons as they shall think deserve the same for hazarding their lives and estates by living here to bring forward the settling of the place." Upon this article the following vote was passed, which probably gives the names of nearly all the men then residing in the township and the number of dwellings erected :

"Voted, to grant ten acres of upland to each of the persons hereafter named, viz. : Jacob Bacon, clerk ; Josiah Fisher, Joseph Fisher, Nathan Blake, William Smeed, Seth Heaton, Joseph Ellis, Ebenezer Nims, Joseph Guild, Joseph Richardson, Isaac Clark, Ed- ward Dale, Jeremiah Hall, Ebenezer Force, Daniel Haws, Amos Foster, Ebenezer Day, Beriah Maccaney, Jabez Hill, Obed Blake, Jeremiah Hall, Jr., David Nims, Timothy Puffer, Ebenezer Daniels, Nathan Fairbanks, John Bullard, David Foster, Solomon Richardson, Abner Ellis, Benjamin Guild, Asa Rich-

KEENE.

ardson, Ebenezer Hill, Samuel Fisher, Ephraim Dor- man, Timothy Sparhawk, Jonathan Underwood, John Andrews, Samuel Smith, Samuel Daniels (39), and to such other persons having an interest here, who, from the first of next March to March, 1742, shall make up the quantity or space of two years in living here, and build a legal dwelling-house, to the number of sixty, including those before mentioned."

A rumor of war having reached the town- ship, the proprietors, February 25th, voted that they would build another fort whenever seven of the proprietors should request it. It is not known that this fort was ever built. They also voted that there should be allowed for every man who should work upon the forts eight shillings, and for every pair of oxen four shillings, per day.

The long and spirited contest between the provinces of Massachusetts and New Hamp- shire, respecting the divisional line between them, had been carried before the King in Coun- cil, and, in 1740, a decision was made that from a point three miles north of Pawtucket Falls the line should run due west until it reached His Majesty's other governments. This left Upper Ashuelot far within the boundaries of New Hampshire. Upon this subject the proprietors, on the 3d day of October, held .a meeting, and the following proceedings appear upon their records :

"The proprietors being informed that by the deter- mination of his majesty in couneil, respecting the controverted bounds between the province of Massa- chusetts and New-Hampshire, they are excluded from the province of the Massachusetts Bay, to which they always supposed themselves to belong.

"Therefore, unanimously voted that à petition be presented to the King's most excellent majesty, set- ting forth our distrest estate, and praying we may be annexed to the said Massachusetts province.

"Also unanimously voted, that Thomas Hutchin- son, Esq., be empowered to present the said petition to his majesty, and to appear and fully to act for and in behalf of this town, respecting the subject matter of said petition, according to his best discretion."

Mr. Hutchinson had previously been ap- pointed the agent of Massachusetts to procure an alteration of the order in Council. He made a voyage to England, but failed to accomplish the object of his agency.

On the 10th of July, Deacon Josiah Fisher was killed as he was driving his cow to pasture.

The road leading up the river then left the main street by Mr. Lamson's tan-yard, led along the margin of the meadow, back of his house, crossed West Street a few rods west of Aaron Hall's house and continued up the river, near the adjoining low land, until it came upon the route of the present turnpike above Deacon Wilder's house, now occupied as a tavern. Fisher was found dead and scalped in the road, near where the Lamson Block now stands, and it was supposed that the Indian who shot him was concealed behind a log which then lay within the present limits of Mr. Lamson's gar- ‹len. He had a brass slug in his wrist, which, at the time, was conjectured to have been cut from a warming-pan that had lately been lost by one of the inhabitants.

In the early part of the year 1746 the Gen- eral Court of Massachusetts sent a party of men to Canada, for what purpose was not generally known. On their return they passed through Upper Ashuelot. On arriving in sight of the settlement they fired their guns. This, of course, alarmed the inhabitants, and all who were out- and several were in the woods making sugar- hastened home. From some cause or other sus- picion was entertained that a party of Indians had followed the returning whites, and for sev- eral days the settlers were more vigilant and more circumspect in their movements, seldom leaving the fort, except to look after their cattle, which were in the barns and at the stacks in the vicinity.

Early in the morning of the 23d of April, Ephraim Dorman left the fort to search for his cow. He went northwardly, along the borders of what was then a hideous and almost imper- vious swamp, lying east of the fort, until he arrived near to the place where the turnpike now is. Looking into the swamp, he perceived several Indians lurking in the bushes. He immediately gave the alarm, by erying “ In- dians ! Indians !" and ran towards the fort. Two, who were concealed in the bushes between him and the fort, sprang forward, aimed their pieces at him and fired, but neither hit him. They then, throwing away their arms, advanced towards him ; one he knocked down by a blow, which deprived him of his senses; the other he

HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

seized, and, being a strong man and able wrestler, tried his strength and skill in his favorite mode of "trip and twitch." He tore his antagonist's blanket from his shoulder, leav- ing him nearly naked. He then seized him by the arms and body ; but as he was painted and greased, he slipped from his grasp. After a short struggle, Dorman quitted him, ran to wards the fort and reached it in safety.

When the alarm was given, the greater part of the inhabitants were in the fort ; but some had just left it to attend to their cattle. Cap- tain Simms, the commander, as was the custom every morning before prayers, was reading a chapter in the Bible. He immediately exclaimed, " Rush out, and assist those who are out to get in !" Most of the men immediately rushed out, and each ran where his interest or affections led him ; the remainder chose positions in the fort, from which they could fire on the enemy.

Those who were out, and within hearing, instantly started for the fort ; and the Indians, from every direction, rushed into the street, fill- ing the air with their usual horrid yell. Mrs. MeKenny had gone to the barn, near where Miss Fiske's house now stands, to milk her cow. She was aged and corpulent, and could only walk slowly. When she was within a few rods of the fort, a naked Indian, probably the one with whom Dorman had been wrestling, darted from the bushes on the east side of the street, ran up to her, stabbed her in the back, and crossed to the other side. She continued walking, in the same steady pace as before, until she had nearly reached the gate of the fort, when the blood gushed from her mouth, The guns first fired were heard at the fort in Swanzey, the commander of which immediately sent an express to Winchester, with information that the Indians had made an attack upon Upper Ashuelot. From Winchester an express was sent to the next post, and so on from post to post to Northampton, where Colonel Pomeroy commanded. Collecting all the troops and militia there, and pressing all the horses in the place, he instantly, at their head, set out for Upper Ashuelot, and on his way added to his number all the disposable force in the interme- diate settlements. In little more than forty- and she fell and expired. John Bullard was at his barn, below Dr. Adams'; he ran towards the fort, but the instant he arrived at the gate, he received a shot in his back. He fell, was carried in and expired in a few hours. Mrs. Clark was at a barn, near the Todd house, about fifty rods distant. Leaving it, she espied an Indian near her, who threw away his gun, and advanced to make her a prisoner. She gathered her clothes around her waist, and started for the fort. The Indian pursued ; the woman, animated by cheers from her friends, outran her pursuer, who skulked back for his I eight hours from the time the express started

gun. Nathan Blake was at his barn, near where his son's house now stands. Hearing the cry of Indians, and presuming his barn would be burnt, he determined that his cattle should not be burnt with it. Throwing open his stable-door, he let them loose, and presum- ing his retreat to the fort was cut off, went out at a back-door, intending to place himself in ambush at the only place where the river could be crossed. He had gone but a few steps when he was hailed by a party of Indians con- cealed in a shop between him and the street. Looking back, he perceived several guns pointed at him, and at this instant several Indians started up from their places of concealment near him, upon which, feeling himself in their power, he gave himself up. They shook hands with him, and to the remark he made that he had not yet breakfasted, they smilingly replied that " it must be a poor Englishman who could not go to Canada without his breakfast." Pass- ing a cord around his arms above the elbows, and fastening them close to his body, they gave him to the care of one of the party, who con- ducted him to the woods.

The number of Indians belonging to the party was supposed to be about one hundred. They came near the fort, on every side, and fired whenever they supposed their shot would be effectual. They, however, neither killed nor wounded any one. The whites fired whenever an Indian presented himself, and several of them were seen to fall. Before noon the savages ceased firing, but they remained several days in the vicinity.

KEENE.

from Swanzey he, with four or five hundred men, arrived at Upper Ashuelot, the distance down and back being at least ninety miles. The arrival so soon of this relief was as unex- pected as it was gratifying to the settlers. The next morning Pomeroy sent out his men to scour the woods in search of Blake. While these were absent the Indians again showed themselves on the meadow southeast of the fort, where they killed a number of cattle. To reeall the troops, an alarm was fired, but was not heard. In the afternoon they returned unsuccessful, and that evening Mr. Bullard and Mrs. McKenny were buried. The next morn- ing they found the track of the Indians, and followed it until they came to the place of their encampment at night. This was east of Beech Hill, not far from the present residence of Cap- tain Chapman. It appearing that they dis- persed, when departing from this place, they were pursued no farther. Colonel Pomeroy, on his way back to the fort, found that a house belonging to a Mr. Heaton, and standing near the place where his son's house now stands, had been burnt. Among the ashes they discovered human bones, and the leg of an Indian, uncon- sumed. As it is known to have been the custom of the Indians to take the most effeetual means in their power to conceal the amount of their loss, they had doubtless placed in this house, before they set it on fire, the bodies of such of their party as had been killed, which they had not otherwise concealed. The number, as near as could be ascertained, was nine, and one or two were burnt in the barn of Mr. Blake.

the root of a fallen tree, and, looking further, espied him perched high upon the limb of a large tree, mending his elothes. His personal appearance indicated that he had not received the benefit of shaving, nor ablution, for months. They compelled him to deseend, brought him to the fort, led him to the officers' quarters, and, with mock formality, introduced him to all the officers and gentlemen of the party.

Apprehending no further danger to the settlers, Colonel Pomeroy and his men returned to their homes.

In the early part of May the same or another party of Indians hovered about the settlement, watching for an opportunity to make prisoners and to plunder. For several successive nights the watch imagined that they heard some person walking around the fort. When it came to the turn of young MeKenny, whose mother had been killed, to watch, he declared he should fire on hearing the least noise without the fort. In the dead of night he thought he heard some person at the picket gate, endeavoring to ascertain its strength. Having loaded his gun, as was usual among the first settlers of the country, with two balls and several buckshot, he fired through the gate, which was made of thin boards. In the morn- ing blood was discovered on the spot and also a number of beads, supposed to have been cut, by the shot, from the wampum of the Indian.

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History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 5

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