USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume I > Part 12
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
On the 17th of June, 1725, the petitioners, by their committee of six, headed by Benjamin Stevens, renewed their prayer for the " grant of a tract of land at Pennycook, with resolutions fully inclined to make a settlement there, which they " conceived, "under the divine protection, they" were "able to go on and through with." They earnestly besought the "Great and General Court," that, though their former petitions had not met with concurrent favor, they " would please to take the premises again into" their "wise and serious consideration." They declared that, " as the building of a fort there " would " undoubtedly be a great security within and on Merrimack river the "petitioners " were " still willing to build and maintain it as afore proposed, at their own cost." They also suggested to their " Honnours," as a stimulus to prompt action, that " many applications " had "been made to the government of New Hampshire for a grant of the said land, [of] which, though it be the undoubted right and property of " Massachusetts, "yet it" was " highly probable that a parcel of Irish people " would " obtain a grant unless some speedy care be taken by " the . . . " Court to prevent it. If that government should once make them a grant, though without right, as in the case of Nutfield, yett it would be a thing attended with too much difficulty to pretend to root them out if they should once gett foothold there." There- fore, they prayed that the former " vote passed by the Honerable House " might "be revived, or that they " might " have a grant of the land on such other terms and conditions as to the wisdom of the Court should seem best." 2
The house, on the 17th of December, revived its former vote, but the council decided to postpone the matter till the next session in May, 1726. By message, the council was requested to reconsider its vote of postponement, and to "pass now " upon the vote "of the House, by conenrring or non-concurring ; " inasmuch as there was "a great probability that the lands " would be "settled by others than the inhabitants " of Massachusetts, "before the next May session, as it happened in the case of Nutfield, unless the Court " should "now take effectual order for preventing such unjust settlements." 2
After some delay, a joint committee appointed to consider the sub-
1 Tyng's Journal, Mass. Archives; also, Potter's Manchester, 167.
2 N. H. State Papers, Vol. XXIV, 39; also, Bouton's Concord, 55-6.
106
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
ject of the petition, made a report, by Nathaniel Byfield, recommend- ing that "part of the lands petitioned for by Benjamin Stevens and company " be granted to them "for a township," and assigning bounds, conditions, and orders as to settlement. The report was accepted by the council, concurred in by the house, and approved by Lieutenant-Governor William Dummer.
So, at last, on the 17th of January, 1725-'26,1 the Plantation of Penacook came to exist under the legislative sanction of the province of Massachusetts Bay.
NOTES.
The Plymouth Company. This was one of the two corporations, to which, early in the seventeenth century, King James I of England granted charters for settling portions of the North American coast. The king granted to the Plymouth company the coast from Long Island to Nova Scotia, extending indefinitely westward, between straight lines having those points as eastern termini. The company, in turn, could and did grant its lands to others for the purposes of settlement.
The Dover and Newbury Petition. Besides Richard Walderne, other prominent names upon the petition were Peter Coffin, Edward Woodman, John Pike, Abraham Toppan, and Nathaniel Weare.
The Petitioners of 1721. These, as seen in the text, renewed their petition in 1725, by a committee. Most of their names are found in the list of admitted settlers given in connection with the next chapter.
Date of Plantation of Penacook. According to " old style," under which the year commenced March 25th, the Plantation of Penacook was established in January, 1725; but according to "new style," in . January, 1726. The former date has generally been taken for the natal day of the Plantation, and is inscribed upon the city seal.
1 See note at close of chapter.
CHAPTER III.
THE PLANTATION OF PENACOOK. ITS TRANSITION TO THE TOWNSHIP OF RUMFORD.
1726-1734.
The committee's report, mentioned in the preceding chapter, as adopted by the legislative authorities of Massachusetts, January 17, 1726, served as letters-patent for the plantation or incipient township of Penacook. It "assigned and set apart " territory prescribed " to contain seven miles square, and to begin where Contoocook river falls into Merrimack, and thence to extend upon a course east seven- teen degrees north, three miles, and upon a course west seventeen degrees south, four miles, to be the northerly bounds of the said township; and from the extreme parts of that linc, to be set off southerly at right angles, until seven miles shall be accomplished from the said north bounds."
It "ordered that the Hon. William Tailer, Esq., Elisha Cooke, Esq., Spencer Phipps, Esq., William Dudley, Esq., John Wain- wright, Esq., Capt. John Shipley, Mr. John Saunders, Eleazer Tyng, Esq., and Mr. Joseph Wilder, be a committee to take special care that the following rules and conditions be punctually observed and kept : That the land be divided into one hundred and three equal shares, as to quantity and quality, and that one hundred persons or families be admitted,-such only as, in the judgment of the committee shall be well able to pur- sue and bring to pass their several settlements within three years, at farthest, from the first day of June next; that each intended settler, to whom a lot shall
be assigned, shall pay into the hands of the Committee, for the use of the Province, at the time of drawing his lot, the sum of five pounds, and be obliged to build a good dwelling-house, and also break up and sufficiently fence in six acres of land for " his " home lot, within the time aforesaid; that the first fifty settlements shall be begun and perfected upon the eastern side of said river Merrimack, and the houses erected on their home [house] lots, not above twenty rods, the one from the other,-where the land will pos- sibly admit thereof,-in the most regular and defensible manner, the committee can project and order-the home lots on each
108
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
side of the river, to be alike subjected unto the above-mentioned con- ditions ; that a convenient house for the public worship of God be completely finished within the term aforesaid; that there shall be reserved, allotted, and laid out to the first minister that shall be law- fully settled among them, one full
. share of the aforesaid tract of land .
. : his house lot to be
adjoining the land whereon the meeting-house shall stand ; also one other share for the use of the school forever, and one other ministerial lot, of equal value with the rest-the home lot appertaining thereto, affixed near the meeting-house." The report further provided, "that, when . there shall be one hundred persons accepted
by the committee, . . it shall be lawful . . to notify the undertakers to meet at some convenient time and place ; who, when assembled, shall make such necessary rules and orders as to them shall be thought most conducible for carrying forward and effecting the aforesaid settle- ment three fourths . of the persons present
consenting-and two or more of the committee being present at such meeting, who shall enter into a fair book, to be kept for such purpose, all rules, orders, and directions agreed on as afore- said ; the whole charge of the committee to be paid by the settlers ; " and, finally, "that when" the settlers " shall have per- formed the conditions above expressed, provided it be within the space of three years, as before limited, then the committee, for and in behalf of this Court, may execute good and sufficient deeds to all such settlers, with a saving of all or any former grant or grants."
Such were the provisions made by the General Court of Massachu- setts, for the planting of Penacook, "in a good, regular, and defensi- ble manner." These provisions were carried out, with such excep- tions as will be noted. The Court's Committee of Nine, with Will- iam Tailer for its president, and John Wainwright for its clerk, faithfully and strictly watched over the settlement during its early years ; and it now comes in order to trace, mainly from the records of that committee and those of the proprietors, the evolution of the town.1
The petitioners had been waiting four years not without appre- hension that the lands at Penacook might fall into the hands of the "Irish People," or those of others. The court's committee met on the 18th of January, 1726,-next day after the adoption of the report making the grant,-and, having organized, made arrangements for holding a meeting on the second day of February, "at the house of
1 The direct citations from the records will be carefully denoted by quotation marks.
109
THE PLANTATION OF PENACOOK.
Ebenezer Eastman, inn-holder, in Haverhill," to "treat with the petitioners . for a tract of land at PennyCook." Dur- ing the four days' session of the meeting accordingly held, one hun- dred persons were admitted as settlers, after the most careful inquiry "as to their character and their ability to fulfil the conditions." 1 In this examination, the committee summoned officially " some of the principal inhabitants of the towns, to which the generality of the petitioners belonged, to give information of the circumstances of " those desirous of admission, so that only such might be selected "as " should " be thought most suitable for bringing forward the intended settlement." The enrolment was completed on Saturday, the 5th of February, 1725-'26, and each person thus admitted "paid twenty shillings to the chairman to defray the charges of the committee." 2
At once, sixty-eight of the admitted settlers, wishing to save the trouble and expense of a journey of the committee to and from Bos- ton, and also being earnest for "the greatest expedition " in their enterprise, made written request to the committee to notify "the community " to appear at the house of Ebenezer Eastman, on the next Monday, February 7th, "to make rules and orders most conducible for bringing forward " the intended settle- ment. At the meeting held in accordance with the request, it was "agreed and ordered," that a settler, who should "fail of plowing, fencing, or clearing one acre of land within twelve months from the first day of June next," should "forfeit to the community the sum of five pounds ; " that, in case of such failure for two years, and of " having a sufficiency of timber felled, hauled, and adapted for build- ing a house within six months after the direction of the committee of the general court," a forfeiture of " ten pounds " should ensue ; that if any should fail "to comply with the directions enjoined him " , for " two years and a half from the first day of June next," he should forfeit his "lot," which should be assigned to any other person, selected by the settlers, with the consent of the court's com- mittee ; and that no sale " of any lot " should " be made without the consent of the community," and that any attempted sale in violation of the order should be "void " and work forfeiturc. This last pro- vision had strong reference to the Scotch-Irish immigrants with whom it was then thought not desirable to have association. The restric- tion had, at the outset, been urged upon the committee, in a letter, by Reverend Christopher Toppan of Newbury, a son and a nephew of whom became grantees.
On the same occasion, the court's committee provided for "two
1 Bouton's Concord, 59.
2 See list of admitted settlers at close of chapter.
110
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
surveyors and four chainmen to attend upon the next adjournment," for allotting the land into one hundred and three equal shares. An adjournment was taken to the 5th of April, when the committee were to "meet at the house of Colonel Tyng,1 in Dunstable, in order to proceed to PennyCook, to lay out the land in lots." Colonel Tyng was also to be requested "to prepare fifteen days' provisions for twenty men "; and " the intended settlers " were to be " notified that each of them " was "expected and directed to pay forty shillings" towards "defraying the charge of the committee-the money to be ready at Colonel Tyng's on or before the 5th day of April." De- layed, however, by engagements in the General Court, the committee could not proceed, at the time indicated, to allot the lands at Pena- cook, and this duty was deferred till the second Tuesday of May.
Meanwhile the authorities of New Hampshire had been awake to these movements of Massachusetts. On the 23d of February, 1726, a month after the passage of the "order of the General Court for the opening of a new town at Pennicook," Lieutenant-Governor Went- worth,1 of New Hampshire, addressed a letter to Lieutenant-Gover- nor Dummer,1 of Massachusetts, " complaining of the order, and sug- gesting that Pennicook " was " within the Province of New Hamp- shire."2 The communication having been laid before the council, the opinion was expressed, on the 5th of March, that the suggestion of encroachment "on the bounds of New Hampshire " was " alto- gether groundless ; for the committee impowered to lay out the town- ship," could "not by that vote extend, above three miles northerly from the river Merrimack, or any part thereof, for the north bounds of the said township." 3 The next month, April 11, 1726, Lieuten- ant-Governor Wentworth sounded a warning note, in a message to the General Assembly, and in the following earnest words : "The Massachusetts are daily encroaching on us. A late instance we have, in voting a township should be erected and settled at Penny- cook, which will certainly be in the very bowels of this Province, and which will take in the most valuable part of our lands. I would, therefore, recommend this matter to your mature consideration. . . . I have lately represented this affair to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, and have transmitted the best and exactest draught of this Province, Merrimack river, and situation of Penni- cook, to their Lordships, praying their favor in obtaining a settlement of the lines, [and] giving instances wherein it highly concerns the interest of the Crown."
On the last day of April the house and council concurred in order-
1 See note at close of chapter.
2 N. H. State Papers, Vol. XXIV, 43-4.
3 Jbid., 44-5.
111
THE PLANTATION OF PENACOOK.
ing instructions to Mr. Henry Newman, agent in London, " to prose- cute . . speedy settlement of the lines," inasmuch as Massa- chusetts had " lately disposed of considerable tracts of land reasonably supposed to be within the bounds of New Hampshire, and " was "about granting more of said lands, which " was " a very great grievance." 1 The council, on the 10th of May, hearing " that sundry persons " were " going or gone to lay out and take possession of and settle upon some of His Majesty's lands at or near a place called Pennecook, without the consent " of the New Hamp- shire " government," pronounced the act to be "not only unneigh- borly, but unjustifiable, and " having " a tenddency to the destroying of the mast trees fit for His Majesty's service, that " might " be grow- ing thereon." Accordingly, it was ordered that " Messrs. Nathaniel Weare, Theodore Atkinson, and Richard Waldron, jr., repair imme- diately to Pennecook, and forewarn any persons whom they " might "find there " against " laying out, taking possession of, or settling" on, the lands at or near that place, "or presuming to appropriate any other of His Majesty's lands within " the province of New Hamp- shire, "till they " should "have the countenance and grant of " the government of that province, " for so doing ; " and " to direct them, in an amicable way, forthwith to withdraw-from the land, and their pretensions to it by virtue of the vote of the General Assembly of Massachusetts." 2
The same day on which this action was taken by the New Hamp- shire authorities, the committee of the General Court of Massachu- setts " met at the house of Ebenezer Eastman," in Haverhill, with the purpose of proceeding thence to Penacook, "to lay out there a new township of seven miles square, and on each side of the Merrimack river." 3 After completing preliminary arrangements, six of the nine members,-Messrs. William Tailer, John Wainwright, John Shipley, Eleazer Tyng, John Sanders and Joseph Wilder, -- on Thursday, May 12th, set out upon " their journey to PennyCook, attended by twenty-six persons, including the surveyors, chainmen, and such of the intended settlers as were disposed to take a view of the lands." Starting early in the morning, the company arrived, about noon " at Nutfield alias Londonderry," where they " refreshed themselves and horses with " their own provisions at the house of one John Barr, an Irish tavern-keeper, but had nothing of him but small beer; the expenses at the house " being " 5 shillings." Thence their course led them, for three or four hours, along " a cart path " which
1 N. H. Prov. Papers, Vol. IV, 220.
2 Ibid, 11, 12.
3 Journal of Jno. Wainwright (Bouton's Concord, 64). The quoted portions of the suc- ceeding narrative of the committee's journey and proceedings are from that journal.
115
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
afforded "very indifferent travelling," and involved the fording of " two brooks called Great and Little, which," proceeding " from Great MassaBeseck and Little MassaBeseck Ponds,-empty themselves into the Merrimack." Having " arrived at a place called Amoskeeg Falls," they " there encamped that night." There, too, they " found several Irish people catching fish which that place " afforded "in great abundance." Proceeding "on " their "journey," the next morning, over " very hilly and mountainous land," they "passed " about eight o'clock " by a Fall, in Merrimack river, called Onnahook- line,1 from a hill of the same name." About an hour later they " forded a pretty deep brook-and soon after came upon a large tract of intervale land, joining to Suncook river." This they forded in course of the forenoon, finding it " a rapped stream " with " many loose stones of some considerable bigness in it, making it difficult to pass." One of the " men going over, having a heavy load on his horse, was thrown off into the river and lost " one of the bags of pro- visions "-there being " no time to look after it." Another of their " men fell into the river," but without serious consequence. Finding there " Benjamin Niccols and Ebenezer Virgin,-two intended set- tlers," whom " Colonel Tyng " had " sent up ahead with some stores," the journeyers, early in the afternoon, " passed PennyCook river,- alias Shew Brook, or SowCook,-pretty deep and very rocky " and into which "one of " their " men tumbled. A short time after," they reached " PennyCook Falls,2 . . and then," steering their course north, " travelled over a large pitch pine plain, (indifferent land), three miles at least in length, . . . and, about five o'clock afternoon, arrived at PennyCook, and encamped on a piece of inter- vale land, or plain, called Sugar Ball Plain ; " having taken "its name from a very high head, or hill, called Sugar Ball Hill, whereon was the first Indian fort,-as" they " were informed,-which the Indians in old times built to defend themselves from the Maquois and others, their enemies. This Sugar Ball plain," they found to be "a pretty large tract of land, encompassed on all parts, -- " except " where the river runs round it,-with very high and mountainous land, as steep as the roof of house "; and that " it " was " altogether impracticable for a team, or, indeed, a horse cart, to get on the plain, the land " was " so mountainous round it; and there " was "no spring on it, as " they " could find." At this point, the record adds : " Just as we were making up our camp, there came up a smart thun- der shower, and we had enough to do to save our bread from the rain."
Early on the morning of May 14th the committee "got together 1 Hooksett. 2 Garvin's.
113
THE PLANTATION OF PENACOOK.
the surveyors and chainmen, and set them to survey the township according to the General Court's order. Mr. Jonas Houghton, Sur- veyor," and " Jonathan Shipley, Josiah Cop, Moses Hazzen, and Ben- jamin Niccolls, chainmen, being first sworn truly and faithfully to discharge their duty and trust in taking the survey, were sent to run the line of the township, according to the Court's grant ; to begin on the east side of the river, where the Contoocook falls into the Merri- mack. Mr. Josiah Bacheldor, Surveyor " and " Ens. John Chandler and " another, " chainmen, being first duly sworn, were appointed to survey the intervale on the east side of the river; and Mr. Richard Hazzen, Junr, Surveyor," with John Ayer and John Sanders, Jr., chainmen, to survey the interval on the west side of the Merrimack. To the service designated the parties had severally proceeded when about noon, " Messrs. Nathaniel Weare, Richard Waldron, Jr., and Theodore Atkinson, a committee appointed by the Lieut Governor and Council of New-Hampshire, came up to camp,-being attended by about half a score of Irishmen, who kept some distance from the camp." These gentlemen "acquainted us," says the record, " that the Government of New-Hampshire, being informed of our business here, had sent them to desire us that we would not proceed in appro- priating these lands to any private or particular persons, for they lay in their government ; and our government's making a grant might be attended with very ill consequences to the settlers when it appeared the lands fell in New-Hampshire's government ;- and then they de- livered a copy of an order passed by their Honours the Lieut. Gov- ernor and Council of New-Hampshire, respecting the settling of the land at PennyCook. . We made them answer, that the gov- ernment of Massachusetts Bay had sent us to lay the lands here into a township; that they had made a grant of it to some particular men, and that we should proceed to do the business we were come upon, and made no doubt but our government would be always ready to support and justify their own grants ; and that it was the business of the public, and not ours, to engage in . to deter- mine any controversy about the lands. We sent our salutes to the Lieut. Governor of New-Hampshire, and the gentlemen took their leave of us, and went homeward this afternoon. The surveyors and chainmen returned to us in safety about sundown."
The next day, May 15th, being the Sabbath,-" fair and cool,"- the chaplain of the party, Mr. Enoch Coffin, a grantee, " performed divine service both parts of the day."1 And so, on that plain just awakening to vernal beauty beneath the skies of May, those pioncers in an enterprise germinant with promise of good, sought the divine
1 See note at close of chapter.
9
114
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
favor by joining in that initial act of public worship, which, by repe- tition, should bless, in all coming years, the life and growth of plan- tation, town, and city.
In course of the next three days the work of running the lines and surveying the interval on both sides of the river was completed. Mr. Batchelder, in surveying on the east side, found that " Gov. Endicott's grant of five hundred acres-, claimed by the Honerable Judge Sewall, . . . consisted principally of interval land : and that the grant extended down the river within eighty poles of the place where the Irish people had lately built a fort; so that there remained but a small quantity of interval, which would accommodate not half a score [of] home lots." Accordingly no lots were "laid out on that side of the river." On the west side, however, "Mr. HIazen and company " succeeded, with some difficulty, in laying out " the home lots " agreeably to the General Court's order, by locating them " on the Great Interval over against Sugar Ball Plain, and the land next adjoining ; . having made a beginning on the adjoining upland." But they " found it impracticable, if not impos- sible, to lay out the land there into six acre lots so as to be fenced and broken up within three years; the contents being too large, wholly to be laid out there."
So the work was accomplished during the bright days of May- for the weather was "fair," "fair and cool," "fair and pleasant," " fine and clear," as Wainwright's lively record duly noted ; while the surveyors, chainmen, and companions, as they threaded the vir- gin growths of the wilderness, found some excitement in coming upon an occasional "beaver " or "hedgehog," or " divers rattle- snakes " that " were killed daily ; - but," in the fervent language of the journal, "thanks be to God, nobody received any harm from them." The sum of two hundred pounds defrayed the charges in- curred in this important preliminary to the civilized occupation of Penacook.
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.