History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 88

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 88
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 88

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).

550

HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

tender parent. . . . His death is a great loss to the publick, considering his usefulness in many respects, particularly on the western frontiers, where in the late wars, in his betrustments, he has shown himself faithful, vigilant and careful. Of late years he has had the command at Fort Dummer and always used his best endeavors for the protection of our exposed infant towns, and his loss will be greatly regretted by them."

Prior to this time such buildings as had been constructed by the settlers had been of logs or rude frames covered with cleft boards, which were split from oak cuts from five to seven feet long and were from eight to ten inches wide, and about one and a half inches thick on the back. They were laid lapping and made a durable and a tolerably tight covering. The roofs were thatched, the material used being the tall meadow grass, which was to be found in the low-lands in abundance. One end of the hut was principally occupied by the chimney, a huge mass of stones piled up as a back for the fire-place, whilst a hole in the house-top let out the smoke. Eight or ten feet in width was a fire-place of moderate size. But now Colonel Josiah Willard erected a saw-mill on Roaring Brook, in accordance with an agree- ment entered into between himself, on the one part, and a committee of the proprietors, con- sisting of himself, Captain John Hubbard, Cap- tain Joseph Kellog, Captain Edward Hartwell and Deacon Ebenezer Alexander, on the other part, the terms of the agreement being as follows:

"That one hundred acres of Land be given and granted Colonel Josiah Willard of Lunenburg, one half to be laid out at or near ye Place con- venient for erecting ye sd mill or mills together with ye Grant of a suitable Stream and Pondage for sª mill or mills and ye other half in some convenient Place Provided ye sª Colonel Willard build a good Sufficient Saw-mill at or near ye place Called ye Bow and keep it in Repair near ye space of ten years and saw Boards at a Reasonable price : ye sª mill to be finished fit for service within ye space of four months from ye date of this vote (April 30. 1734) & ye sª

Colonel Willard to be excused from building or keep- ing ye sª mill in repair in Case ye settlers Desert ye Place or forbear to settle there in case of war & to build or repair ye sd mill on three months warning at any time upon ye desire of ye Proprietors & ye keep it in repair ye term aforesaid & yt ye Rev. Mr. Ebenezer Hinsdale Deacon Ebenezer Alexander & William Syms who had been chosen a Committee to Lay out. ye hundred acres above mentioned to Colonel Josiah Willard no part of sa Grant to be Laid on ye North- erly & westerly side of Ashewelat River & make Return of yr doings to ye Proprietors Clerk to be entered on the records." The return of the lay-out by the Committee is "A plan of sixty acres of Land at ye Bow in ye Township above Northfield lately Granted to Col Josiah Willard & Others Laid out to ye sª Josiah Willard & Others by us ye subscribers a committee appointed for yt end, it being part of a grant of one hundred acres of Land made to him by ye Proprietors of sª Township in May A. Dom 1734 for Encouragement to build a saw mill in sª place. It begins at a marked Hemlock on ye North Side of ye Brook called Roaring Brook about ten perches from ye sd mill & Runs No 43º wst 21 Perches to an heap of stones; from thence No 3º wst 21 Perches to a marked Hemlock; from sd Hemlock No 23° 30™ wst 40 Perches to a bunch of Maples; from sª Maples No 05° 00m east one hundred & fourty Perches to a marked pitch pine; from thence East 05° s fifty two perches & a half to a marked tree; from sd marked tree south five Deg wst two hundred and four perches to another marked tree and from sd tree to ye place where it began.

"Surveyed by ye needle of ye instrument & Platted by a scale of 40 Perches in an inch, October 24 A.D., 1734. Ebenezer Hinsdale Ebenezer Alexander, Wil- liam Syms, Surveyors' Commtee." That this was the first saw-mill built in Arlington is hardly a matter of doubt. That the mill had been built before the lay- out or the fifty acres mentioned above is evidenced by the description of the same, wherein the mill itself is particularly mentioned, and further evidenced by the vote of the proprietors under date of April 30, 1734, when they "voted yt Colonel Josiah Willard Have Liberty granted him to build an House near ye Saw- mill for ye defense of it & settle a family in it to an- swer his obligation for one of those Lots he is obliged to settle1 at ye Bow & perform ye other part of his obligation upon ye Lot or on ye Land near his house. Further on, this same 30th of April the Proprietors

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voted that Fifty acres of Land being formerly granted by ye Proprietors for Encouragement for ye erecting of a mill or mills near ye Great River and ye sd fifty acres being now Laid out in two parts & Plans of ye Same now Laid before us & accepted & now ordered to be entred on ye Proprietors' Book. Capt Joseph Kel- log appearing to undertake ye same the Proprietors y" voted yt ye fifty acres of Land already Laid out at ye Great River for mill Lots together with ye Stream included in one part of sª fifty acres be Granted to Capt. Joseph Kellog provided yt he erect a good, suffi- cient saw-mill, fit for service in a convenient time at a year's warning, by order of ye Proprietors and Saw boards at a reasonable price."

The description of this fifty acres of land is :

"Plans for fifty acres of Land Surveyed & platted in two pieces or parts for a mill Lot near ye Great River. The one part butted and bounded as follows viz : Westerly on ye 22ª House Lot by a line extend- ing 105 poles N 20° Deg. E from a marked white-oak on ye southeast corner of sª Lot to a marked Tree. Northerly on proprietors' land or common land by a Line extending from sª marked Tree 42 poles E 20 Deg S to a stake in ye Boggy meadow. Easterly by a line extending from Sª stake 105 poles S. 23 Deg west to ye meeting of two common roads. South- wardly on a highway by a line extending from Sd Cor- ner 34 poles west 20 deg N. to ye first mentioned White Oak.

"N. B .- A high-way is to be allowed cross ye North East corner of this lot about five rods from ye corner as delineated in ye plan subjoyned. The other part Lying on a Brook called ye 2ª Brook, butted and bounded on undivided Land as follows viz: Easterly by a line extending East-40° N. 853 poles from a marked chestnut tree on ye North end of an Hill called Chestnut Hill, to an Hemlock marked in a swamp standing by ye 2ª brook, Northerly by a Line extending from Sª Hemlock No. 40 West 50 poles to a marked Hemlock by a Small Brook Westwardly by a line extending from ye last mentioned Hemlock West 40° South 85} Poles to a pitch pine tree on ye foot of an hill Southwardly by a Line extending from Sd pitch pine S. 40° East, 50 poles to ye Chest- nut Tree first mentioned by ye Committes orders Surveyed and Platted Nov. 13th 1733, by me

" EBENEZER HINSDALE."

This mill must have been on Ash Swamp Brook (now Liscomb's Brook in Hinsdale), very near the Connecticut River, whilst the first mill must have been near the mouth of Roaring Brook, probably where the remains of an old dam may even now be discovered, as well as an old cellar near by. It is to be supposed that the first settlers of Arlington spoke of the Con- necticut River as " ye Great River," as a matter of custom that had extended to them through those settlers who, for more than a hundred years, had had their trading-posts and settle- ments upon its banks. The name of the river Connecticut is of Indian origin, and is derived from the words yuinneh tuk ut, the first meaning long, the second and last meaning river with waves; and the Indians who lived upon its shores called all the land lying along its bor- ders Quinneh tuk ut. The river is two hun- dred and fourteen feet above the sea-level where it was included in the Arlington grant.

As soon as the settlers could gather their first crops they spread a not uninviting table. Their breakfast usually consisted of bread and milk, varied with toasted brown bread and roasted apples, hasty pudding, sometimes sweetened cider and toasted bread and cheese. For dinner meat, turnips, greens, peas and beans in their seasons ; and for supper bean porridge, Indian pudding, boiled pork and beef, turnips and potatoes sometimes. In the summer their diet list was increased by an abundant supply of milk ; on Sundays they had but two meals, breakfast and supper. These were both more generous than were their week-day meals. For breakfast they had chocolate, coffee or Bohea tea (the first two sweetened with molasses, the last with brown sugar), pan-cakes, doughnuts brown brcad, toast and some sort of pie; after the afternoon church service, their supper often consisted of roast fowl, goose or chicken, baked spare-rib, with vegetables and pie. The only flour they had was such as they sifted from crushed wheat. In addition, they had a fairly abundant supply of venison and other wild

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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

meats from the forests, also wild fowl, consisting of turkies, partridges and ducks.

The streams abounded in food fish, - salmon, shad, herring, alewives, trout and all other vari- cties of fish now common to New England streams and ponds. Their stock consisted of a few horses, neat cattle, swine and poultry, and their prin- cipal crops were Indian corn and hay. Potatoes were not then grown as a general crop, and only became such about 1775; before this date three bushels was thought to be a large crop for a common farmer. The time of the men was fully occupied from the date of the completion of their rude dwellings in clearing fields for planting, in caring for such crops as they had been able to plant and in protecting their stock from wandering away into the wilderness and from the attacks of wild beasts. Their method of clearing the land was to cut up such brush and undergrowth of bushes as there might be, and to girdle the large trees. This they did by chopping a narrow trench around the body of the tree, removing the bark about a hand's breadth in width, when, soon after, the tree would cast its leaves and remain after as a dead trunk, to de- cay in time. In later and subsequent "clearings " they felled the trees and left them to lie upon the ground till fairly seasoned, and then burned them as they lay, afterwards drawing together the remnants of unburned logs into huge heaps and again subjecting them to fire till completely consumed. The good housewife found her time completely consumed in the various duties in- cident to the care of her family, besides making butter and cheese, which were articles of ex- change for " store-goods " with the nearest local merchant. In addition, she carded and spun her own yarns, from flax or wool, or both. She wove her own linen and wool cloth, whilst the garments of her children, her husband and her- self were the results of her own handiwork. In the fall each family would gather enough candle- wood for use in the winter evenings. This was hard or pitch-pine, sometimes stunted or dis- eased trees, or old knots which were full of

pitch. A splinter would give a tolerable light- in fact, it was all the light, except the blaze from the hearth, which most of the families had. Tallow-candles were used to some extent, but only when one was so fortunate as to kill a fat beef. Oil was unknown.

Their clothing was all of home-spun mate- rials, and for the men was a coat, vest, small- clothes and a fur hat or cap. Two suits were sufficient for a life-time (old men sometimes had a great-coat and a pair of boots in addition). For common wear they had a long jacket, or fly-coat, reaching half-way down the thigh, striped jacket worn under the small-clothes, all made of flannel cloth, fulled, but not sheared ; flannel shirts and stockings, and leather shoes for winter. In summer they had a pair of wide trousers reaching half-way to the knees. Shoes and stockings were not worn summers by farm- ers or by young men. Boys, when out of their " petticoats," were put into small-clothes sum- mer and winter. The women wore flannel gowns in the winter, with stockings and calf-skin shoes. In the summer they wore wrappers, or shepherd dresses, with stockings and shoes, whilst for their best suit they had a calico or camlet gown, with short sleeves and ruffles for each arm, aprons of checked linen, white cotton or cambrie caps with small ruffles. Traveling was all done on foot or horse-back, following paths through the forests designated by blazed trees. The settlers of Arlington were often obliged to take a sack of grain upon the shoulder and carry the same in this manner to mill at North- field, returning with "grist " in the same way.

These first settlers of Arlington diligently applied themselves to the clearing and subdu- ing the rugged soil for tillage, the improvement of their buildings, increasing their farm stock, the construction of roads and bridges during these early years, without interruption from the Indians or disturbance from the State. But, on the 22d of June, 1739, in the House of Representatives of the province of Massachu- sctts, it was

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" Ordered, That Col. Josiah Willard, one of the principal inhabitants of the new Township called Winchester lying in the County of Hampshire, be and hereby is allowed and impowered to notify and warn the inhabitants of ye Sª Township to assemble and convene in some convenient publick place in said Town to make choice of a town clerk and other Town Officers to stand until the anniversary meeting in March next.

"Sent up for concurrence, " J. QUINCY, Speaker.

"In Council June 22ª 1739

" Read and concurred,

"SIMON FROST, Dep. Secy.

" Copy Examined.

" pr SIMON FROST, Dept. Secy.

" Consented to, " J. BELCHER."

Under this order Colonel Willard called a meeting of the inhabitants of Winchester, as follows :

"By virtue of an Order of the General Court of the Province of Massachusetts &c Dated June 22ª 1739, to me directed for calling a meeting of the In- habitants of the New Town called Winchester, to make choice of a Town Clerk and other Town Officers. These are to notifie and warn the In- habitants of the Said Town of Winchester that they. assemble and meet at the meeting House in said Town on Monday the twentieth day of August cur- rant, at eight of the clock in the morning to chuse a Town Clerk and other Town Officers to stand until the Anniversary meeting in March next.

"Notified per Order of Sª Court of the Massachu- setts.

" JOSIAH WILLARD.

" Winchester August ye 14th A.D. 1739."

At this, the first town-meeting of Winchester (all prior meetings have been of the proprietors of the plantation of Arlington), Colonel Josiah Willard was chosen moderator ; Josiah Willard, Jr., town clerk ; Colonel Josiah Willard, Mr. Andrew Gardiner and Nathaniel Rockwood selectmen ; Simon Willard, constable ; Nathan- iel Chamberlain, tithingman ; Nathaniel Rock- wood, town treasurer ; Simon Willard, Samuel Taylor and Henry Bond, hog-reeves; William

Symes, Joseph Alexander and Nathan Fair- banks, fence-viewers ; Andrew Gardner and Josiah Willard, Jr., informers of all breaches of an act for the preservation of deer; and Gershom Tuttle, pound-keeper.

" The Persons above Named were all sworn to the faithful discharge of the Several offices whereto they were chosen.

" Attest JOSIAH WILLARD, JR., " Town Clerk."

The political peace of the inhabitants of Winchester was rudely disturbed by a royal decree dated August 5, 1740, definitely defining the boundary line between the provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

In 1652, in response to petitions to the Gen- eral Court of Massachusetts, surveyors were employed, who traced the Merrimack River as far north as the parallel of 43º 40' 12", and they reported the same October 19, 1652. This report was accepted, and the province of Massachusetts relinquished her claims to prov- ince land north of this line her new bounds on the Connecticut River being near the present boundary line between the towns of Claremont and Charlestown. This line Massachusetts maintained till 1740, when, after a long and acrimonious dispute between the two provinces, the whole question was referred by petition of the province of New Hampshire to His Ma- jesty, George II., who referred the same to the " Lords of Council of England," who decided in 1739 that the boundary line between the two provinces should be where it is at the present time. This finding was established by His Majesty's royal decree, bearing date, August 5, 1740, and the survey of the line was made by Richard Hazen in March and April, 1741.

This decree defined the line as " beginning at the distance of three English miles north from the southerly side of the Black Rocks, at low- water mark (near the mouth of the Merrimack River), and thence running due west up into the mainland towards the south sea until it ineets with his majesties other governments." This survey,

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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

as made by Hazen, was a due east and west line with an allowance of ten degrees for the wester- ly variation of the needle, and severed the towns of Warwick and Northfield, leaving a portion of each with Winchester within the province of New Hampshire. Massachusetts did not quietly submit to being thus dismem- bered, and for years continued an agitation of the boundary line question, and the sympathies of the inhabitants of Winchester were largely with the mother province, naturally so, as they were Massachusetts born and bred, and all their political interests were best served by their re- maining citizens of that province, and for the further reason that the province of New Hamp- shire did not want them, for in the controversy between the two provinces respecting the bound- ary line it was the eastern end of the line, and not the western end, that was in dispute and that was thought to be of any value in the con- test. And it did not for a single moment oc- cur to either of them that the western extremity of the boundary would fall so far to the south- ward as to include these settlements ; and when Hazen pushed through the woods to the west, following his instructions of a due east and west survey, with the 10° allowance for the varia- tion of the needle, he gave a surprise to both provinces, and one that was not agreeable to either, Massachusetts being rudely awakened to the fact that she had lost the efforts and ex- pense of years in extending her settlements up the fertile valley of the Connecticut River, and New Hampshire to the fact that she had citi- zens and settlements in her southwestern border that she did not want, but over which she must exercise maternal jurisdiction and have a foster- ing care, a people to whom she was a stranger, and with whom she had no means of communi- cation excepting she trespassed on the territory of her not very good-natured (at the time) sister province. She saw that she must construct roads through the wilderness to be able to com- municate with them and that she must either es- tablish forts for their protection and supply them,

or else appropriate those already erected by Massachusetts, all of which meant expense and effort to her when she felt that her former burdens were about all she could bear. The citizens of Winchester felt that they had been severed from their mother province by an arbi- trary and unjust decree of their king and were un- cared for and unloved by their foster-mother, to whom they had been given. They were practically left to work ont their own destiny, and to secure their own salvation if they were able.

The peace of mind of these early settlers was about this time still further disturbed by the unfriendly relations rapidly developing be- tween France and Great Britan ; for they well understood that the French, who then held and occupied Canada, would incite the Indians to attack the frontier settlements of the English in case of war between the two countries, which would bring upon their de- fenseless heads a blow they were illy prepared to resist. In 1744 the anticipated condition of war between the two countries actually oc- curred, and the realities of war were upon them, -a war that in its plans and scope was that of the civilized white man, whilst in its details it was a war filled with all the savage brutalities of the uncivilized red man. Unprotected as they were by New Hampshire, and with only feeble and reluctantly-granted assistance from Massa- chusetts, these sturdy settlers resolved to defend themselves as best they could; every oc- cupied house was turned into a garrison, no man walked abroad unarmed and it soon be- came even unsafe to step outside a stockade to milk a cow or feed an animal. Their horses and cattle were killed, their harvests were de- stroyed and no field labor could be performed. After about a year of alternating hopes and fears, hopes that New Hampshire might af- ford them some protection or that the war might cease, fears for themselves and their families,- they abandoned their settlements, and we can almost picture them to ourselves, as, in the au-

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tumn of 1745, the procession of disappointed and almost discouraged settlers started out upon their journey to Lunenburg, the men grim and silent, the women dejected, the children alternately sober and joyous,-sober from sympathy and fatigue, joyous from bright an- ticipations of happiness in visiting the former home of their parents, so often mentioned, and the ever-varying scenes about them. On April 16, 1747, a party of Indians under the command of Monsieur Debeline, who had come down the Connecticut River from Canada to attack North- field, burned and destroyed all the buildings and property that had been abandoned by the set- tlers.

During the period from the fall of 1745 to the spring of 1753, when the grantees of Win- chester returned to rebuild their desolated homes and to the cultivation of their wasted fields, occasionally a proprietor returned to maintain their rights to the soil unimpaired, and men from other settlements frequently visited the lo- cality and were often attacked by the Indians. On June 24, 1746, twenty Indians came to Bridgman's Fort, two miles below Fort Dum- mer and attacked a number of men who were at work in a meadow. They killed William Rob- bins and Jonas Parker, and captured Daniel Howe and John Beeman. William Crison and Patrick Rugg were wounded, but both recov- ered. Howe killed one of the Indians before he was taken.

On July 24, 1746, Col. Willard, with a team and a guard of twenty men who had come over from Fort Dummer to Hinsdale's Mill, were ambushed near the mill, but were able to re- pulse the Indians and return in safety to the fort. On August 6, 1746, thirty Indians came to Winchester and waylaid the road over against Benjamin Melvin's house. Several men had occasion to pass by, not knowing of the ambush, and were fired upon, and Joseph Rawson was killed and Amasa Wright wounded. On Oc- tober 22, 1746, the Indians captured Jonathan Sartwell near Fort Hinsdale. Fort Hinsdale

stood on what is now known as the Marsh place in Hinsdale. Its exact locality is very readily found, just a few rods south of the dwelling- house now standing on said place. On October 16, 1747, Lieutenant Perie Rambout, a young Frenchman, came as far south as the south bank of the Ashuelot River, about two miles below the village, where he and his Indians halted. Rambout, taking his gun, passed alone over a neighboring hill to the southward, where he was discovered by Captain Alexander, of Northfield, Major Willard, of Winchester, and Dr. Hall, of Keene, who were all going towards Northfield. They met some cattle running as though pur- sued. Captain Alexander, being foremost, saw a Frenchman in the path coming towards him. When he (Rambout) saw them, he jumped out of the path, behind a tree and asked for quarter, in French ; but Captain Alexander, not under- standing that language, fired, shooting him in the breast and he fell. He recovered himself and came up to Captain Alexander, whom he saluted handsomely, but he soon grew faint and they thought him mortally wounded, if not dying.

They being afraid the Indians were near, and fearing pursuit, though they saw no one but Rambout, they knew he was not alone, and, taking his arms, hastened towards Northfield. The Indians, hearing the report of Alexander's gun, started directly and soon found Rambout alive and brought him to the river, where he had previously left them. Thinking him to be mortally wounded, and fearing the pursuit of the English, they left him here and returned to Canada and reported him dead. The next morning Rambout revived and wandered to- ward Northfield. The first person he met was Captain Alexander, who had shot him. To him he surrendered. Alexander took him to Mr. Doolittle, in Northfield, who was a physi- cian and surgeon as well as a clergyman, who kept him till he recovered. After his wound was healed he was carried to Boston, where he was kindly entertained until he was exchanged, in February, 1748, for Samuel Allen, of Deer-

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History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 88

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