History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 107

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse [N.Y.] : W. A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1194

USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > History of Coos County, New Hampshire > Part 107

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Joseph Jackson, then of Newry, in 1807 purchased the lot now the site of Gorham village, of Benjamin Weld. He built a log house, and became the first settler of the place. The whole lot, according to Dr. True, was estimated at the value of $25. Jackson was accused of aiding an uncle in passing counterfeit money, was tried and convicted of this offense, and sent to the state prison. He escaped, however, and rumor says that he left this country on a vessel bound for the West Indies, and settled at Ma- tanzas, where he died. He was an active man, and appeared desirous to

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create a pleasant home for his family here. "He went to Canterbury, N. H., and obtained a sackful of small apple trees, which he brought home on his back, and set out a large orchard, the first in town, which is still remembered by old people. He also obtained from the same place a sack- ful of small pear trees, which he set out where the Congregational church now stands. When that was built, in 1862, there were pear trees six or eight inches in diameter, which were cut down to make room for the church. This was the largest orchard ever in town." Previous to 1815 Jackson, while under the ban of the law, gave this lot to his son Moses, but both he and his brother, Willard. soon left the town.

It was at this period that counterfeiting was carried on to a great ex- tent in Canada. Men would actually pass through Shelburne Addition to Canada for this purpose. They took with them a quantity of pigtail and ladies' twist tobacco, with which to pay their travelling expenses. The scarcity of this article in those days was so great that it was as good and even better than money itself. These men would go to Canada and buy the counterfeit money for ten cents on a dollar, put a lot of it in the bottom of a bag, and fill it up with snake root, so as to escape detection. When they came to a place for the night, they would carelessly throw the bag down near the horses in the barn, where it remained untouched. Going into the lower settlements they disposed of it as best they could. If caught, they would sometimes redeem it with genuine money, and thus escape justice, but if they had nothing but the counterfeit, they would be arrested and sent to jail to be tried, and sent to the state prison. Occasion- ally specimens of these counterfeits may be seen in museums.

Simon Evans came to Addition in 1815, with six children. There were then seven cabins in the Addition. Three of them were frame shanties twenty-two feet square, simply "boarded in," covered with long shingles. having rough single floors and rock chimneys. There was not a bit of " plastering " in any building in town. There was not $25 worth of furni- ture in all the houses, nor was there anything but " home-made " sleighs or wagons.

Population in 1815 .- Mr. Griffin and his son Benjamin lived in a little log house in A. J. Lary's pasture, on the rise of land near Peabody's mill. He had seven children. John Messer lived near the Lary crossing. Samuel Messer and T. J. Hubbard lived on the square lot. One had eight children, the other ten. Simon Evans and grandfather Messer lived in the orchard near Jackman's and had six children. The widow of Henry Goodno lived near by. Simeon Evans occupied the place where he raised his boys. Abram Wilson lived in a little log hut on the bank near the Congregational church, and had eight children. Elijah Evans lived in a little cabin near Hitchcock's barn, and had six children. This gives the whole population of Gorham in 1815, except one family of Indians that lived in the pines

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near Moose river bridge, John Mitchell and wife and three children. Only two horses were owned, few cows, oxen, or sheep, but there was quite a colony of dogs. Tobacco was a better circulating medium than money, and was even less plenty. Rum was a household necessity, for every one- drank it.

CHAPTER CXI.

Early Difficulties in Way of Settlement-The " Addition" in 1821 and later-First School- Anecdote-The Great Freshet-Increase in Population-Commencement of Prosperity-Andrew - G. and Jonathan Lary-First Mills-Village Site in 1835-Trade, Traffic and Hotels.

ARLY Difficulties in Way of Settlement .- The years succeeding the War of 1812 were noted for their hard times. The country emerged from that war with its commerce crippled and with exhausted finances. Money was scarce in all sections and labor received but little compensation. In this sparsely-settled section money was rarely seen and no demand for laborers existed. Added to this stagnation, for several years the labor in planting crops on the little clearings was of little avail, as the weather was most unpromising. In 1816 men planted their corn and beans with mittens on, and reaped their meager crops of unripe wheat when frost was on its stalks. Through the whole Androscoggin valley not an ear of corn was raised and but few potatoes. The few fortunate ones whose wheat ripened could sell it at from $3 to $5 a bushel. Yet no one starved. Fish and game were the chief supplies. One early settler says: "I have lived six weeks without bread, and but the milk of one cow for a family of ten, and potatoes, and we were better off than some." "If their food was frugal, their appetites were equally sharp. If they were fortunate enough to raise some beans, they could make bean por- ridge, which had the merit of lasting a good while. Hulled corn cooked with maple sap was no mean food. Boiled potatoes were mixed with flour, to lengthen out the latter. For want of a mill they pounded up their grain and boiled it. Old hunters went to Bethel, Norway and Paris in the winter, and hauled home on handsleds a little rum. They did not have much during the summers, on account of the difficulty of obtaining it." Some lived for weeks on "boiled greens," plants, roots, etc. Some corn was harvested in 1817 and a fair crop of wheat, and the acreage of tillable land was yearly increasing.

The pioneer was of necessity forced to hard manual labor. Felling trees, piling and burning logs, hacking in wheat with a hoe among the

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stumps and rocks, and building heavy log fences were the necessary avoca- tions. The frugal diet was aided by equally frugal and inexpensive drinks. In place of coffee, a decoction of the chocolate root growing plentifully everywhere was used. Dried raspberry leaves and clover blossoms were steeped for tea. A corn-cob, or dug out briar-root or potato, served as a pipe-bowl in which to smoke the hanging moss collected from the forest- trees, or the lung-wort from the trunks of the maples. Snake root, a val- uable medicine, was dug and brought a dollar a pound. A board served as a table. They made their own baskets and wash-bowls, and often wooden spoons. Sometimes they could obtain lead sufficient to run some spoons, which were a little more aristocratic than those of wood. The neighboring brook or spring supplied them with water. A dipper served them a good purpose for drinking their rum. They made their own spin- ning wheels and looms, and tanned skins of all kinds for mittens, shoes and boots. Grandfather Messer had a tool called a howell with which he would hollow out a large log of poplar into trays. He made keelers for setting the milk, and tubs for butter. If they could not make maple sugar, they went without it. It was ruin for any man to indulge in the luxuries of life. Oxen were fed on the life-of-man root, which grew in abundance. This served for provender in the spring of the year, and they soon learned to like it. One settler started early one morning for Shelburne. a distance of thirteen miles, did a hard day's work. shelled a bushel of corn in the evening for his pay, and carried it in a bag on his back to a mill three miles distant, roused up the miller, who ground it for him, when he carried the meal home to Gorham Hill that night, where his family were waiting that they might have some of it to eat.

The Addition in 1821 and later .- In 1821 Hezekiah Ordway had a framed house in which he kept travellers. There was a log house where the Mullen house stands. Elijah Evans had a framed house on the Hitchcock place. Moses Goodno lived in a log house on the flat land where the road now turns off to the Glen. The three Evanses were living on the Stiles place. Benjamin Griffin came about 1825. Up to this time log houses had been the rule, and when a man was ready to raise one, men came from all quarters to assist in the work. Plenty of rum was the only reward desired, and it was always remembered as a jolly occasion. Sometimes the roads were so new and bad that men were obliged to unyoke their oxen and carry the yoke on their shoulders, and drive the oxen as best they could through the rough places. This was no obstacle when they were going to a raising.

Hezekiah Ordway was born in Vermont, and came to Shelburne when a boy. In 1823 he married Polly Porter, of Shelburne, moved to Gorham in 1826, and kept a public house, and was the first postmaster in town. He afterwards moved to Milan, then to Bethel, but died in 1579 in Green-

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land, N. H., in his eightieth year. In 1827 Elijah Evans had a two-story house standing in Gorham. Elder Morse lived in Gorham after 1827. Daniel Ingalls was the only man then living on Gorham Hill. Lot Davis, brother of Abner, moved to Gorham in 1831. He built a two-story house and a store. This was the first store in town. He owned the Valentine Styles place and kept a public house, but was entirely burned out. He afterwards rebuilt; sold out to Abraham Cole about the year 1850, and moved out one mile on the Randolph road, and afterwards died in Jackson. Mr. Cole kept a public house, but was also burned out.

The first school was taught in 1823 by Miss Salome Mason, of Gilead, for the munificent sum of $1.00 a week. She boarded with the scholars, and the proprietors paid for her eight weeks term. She was a noted teacher in those days, and was well known in all the Androscoggin valley. An amusing anecdote is told of one of her pupils in a Shelburne school. Jonathan Lary was visiting the school at one time, and asked the child, who was diligently wrestling with arithmetic, assisted by slate and pencil, if she had been through addition. "Not clear through," was her response, "but I have been to Grandpa Messer's." It was a long time before she heard the last of " going through Addition."

As late as 1829 there were but three framed houses in town. One on the Hitchcock interval, another where Patrick Mullen's house now stands, and one opposite A. G. Lary's. The rest were log houses.

The Great Freshet .- Dr. True secured, in 1882, from Moses Goodno this description of that freshet on Peabody and Androscoggin rivers, known as the Great Freshet of August 25, 1826: " I was living with Elijah Evans, on the spot where I was born, in the interval near where Hitch- cock's barns are situated. This was on August 28, 1826, when I was nine- teen years old. It began to rain the previous night, and rained very hard all the next day, and in the afternoon the water began to rise in the river, when at seven o'clock in the evening it touched the stringers of the bridge. It rained fearfully hard till eleven o'clock that night before it ceased. It seemed like pouring water through a sieve, or as if a cloud had burst. A man could hardly keep from drowning when standing still, it rained so fast. In a short time the water rose about eight feet higher than ever known before, and carried away the bridge. About nine o'clock, the water began to run into the doors and windows, and the family started for the mount- ains. It was totally dark, but they waded across the interval and crossed a small bridge. and came to another which had just been swept away, and we could not go any further. We then turned back, hoping to reach the barn for shelter, but the bridge we had crossed before was now swept away, and we could not reach the barn. Trees floated down from the Peabody river near us, and swept us down with them. We caught into the tops and were borne down with the current a third of a mile. I suc-

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ceeded in putting the children into the tops of the floating trees. At last the trees formed a jam about some stumps, but the water ran so swiftly that a part of the trees were torn away and carried down stream, and with them Harriet Evans and her brother, John C. Evans, and in a minute more it swept away the young man Elijah Evans and Harriet Wilson, then living in the family. I succeeded in reaching the girl and bringing her back, and then the boy. The father of the family, Elijah Evans, was in Shelburne at this time. I could hear the others screaming. and though it was pitch dark I swam part of the time and waded and followed the direction of the sound till I succeeded in reaching them, and found Harriet in the water clinging to the tree tops. I pulled her out of the water with her brother clinging to her clothes without her being aware of his being there. I succeeded in getting them onto a dry knoll. The old lady and two boys, Harrison and Sam, were still on the first jam, holding on to a stump. I thought they were quite safe there. I saw a streak of light in the sky, and being a good swimmer I struck for the mountain, well know- ing that I could do no more for them there, and that they would all be drowned if the water rose much higher. I swam part of the way, and waded the rest. I struck a sheep pen just below John Burbank's barn, climbed onto it, and jumped down into the water, well soaked with manure, to the armpits, and had some trouble in getting out. I went to the house, opened the outside door, when the brooks from the mountains rushed in. I succeeded in shutting the inner door, went to the fire-place, caught a burning brand and put it in the oven so it should not be put out by the water, and shouted for Mr. Burbank. His wife sprang out of bed, lighted a candle, when Mr. Burbank followed, but fainted as soon as he arose. We placed him on a bed, she called her hired man, Isaac Carleton, and we let the cattle out of the yard, which was full of water, to keep them from drowning. We now lighted a lantern, took off the great doors from the barn and made a raft, but it flopped over, and we could do nothing with it. We next yoked the oxen and went to Mr. Joshua Kendall's house. who had a large lye-trough, which had been made by digging out a large tree like a boat. We hitched the oxen to this, Kendall rode in the boat, while Carleton and I each rode an ox. In this way we went across the interval, but did not dare to take the women into the boat. through fear of tipping over, and waited till daylight. when we made bridges of plank, and succeeded in bringing them all safely to Mr. Burbank's house about eight or nine o'clock in the forenoon. One of the boys had gone further down the stream on a jam, when he caught near Merrill Head's house at a distance of half a mile. He could not swim, but succeeded in keeping out of the current in the main river, and the family had given him up for drowned, but when they reached the house, to their great joy and surprise they found him. The escape of the whole family was cer-

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tainly a marvellous one. The effects of that freshet were remarkable. The channel of the Peabody river previous to this time could be crossed on a single plank, but the floods of water tore away the banks, taking out large trees by the roots, and widening the channel to its present condition. The river was a milk white color, from the mud taken from its banks. It tore away about ten acres of excellent interval, and the land where Hutch- inson's interval now is, making hollows and channels all over it, some of which still remain. Jams of trees covering five acres of land and fifteen feet high were formed. These were afterwards burned off. The reason why Evans's buildings were not swept away was owing to a jam of trees which lodged on some pine stumps and against the orchard which divided the current of water. The only building swept away was a vacated log house belonging to a man by the name of Brooks. It was several days before the news of the Willey catastrophe reached us."

Such was Mr. Goodno's story of one of the most interesting events in the history of the town. It was a very disastrous freshet to the crops. Large quantities of wheat and other grains floated down the river and were lost. Such another rain-fall has never occurred in modern times in the vicinity of the White Mountains.

By 1830 the population had increased to 111, and the first or rudimen- tary period of civilization was accomplished. Nothing occurred of im- portance for the first three years; only a small advance in the population and in the clearings. There was now a chain of settlers stretching through the town from Shelburne to Durand. Provisions enough were raised to give plain and nourishing food to all the dwellers of the settlement; and, although luxury had not yet made its appearance, and extreme simplicity of man- ners, customs and style of living prevailed, the hard and grinding condi- tions of absolute poverty and suffering for lack of suitable diet had passed away. There were no mills, however, and no center of trade. Noattempt had succeeded to establish any business which would draw capital or popu- lation. Hard work developed the physical nature, and the women, as well as men, could do their share in rolling up the log-heaps and other heavy labor. They did not have neuralgia or headache, and, notwithstanding their toil, many attained a vigorous old age.

The period of prosperity began really in 1834. Dr. True says: "In 1834 Dea. Evans Wilson owned the first house this side of Randolph line; Joseph Messer next to him, then Samuel Emery, where Freeman Emery now lives, then Aaron Burbank, where Augustus Hodgdon now lives, then Widow Heath, where Thomas Heath now lives, then John Ordway, near where Mrs. Amanda Day now lives, then William Rowell, where Asa Evans now lives. Mr. Benjamin Griffin lived on the John T. Peabody place; next to him lived Andrew G. Lary, on the place he bought of Jor- dan Saunders. Near Moose river lived Jeremiah Harding. Moses Goodno

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about fifty rods above Peabody river bridge. Daniel Rodgers lived in a block-house of hewn timbers, where John C. Evans now lives, next was Lot Davis, near Moose river, then Aaron Rowell, where J. C. Gordon lives, then Peter Coffin, on lot of Walter Buck's, then Abraham Wilson, where Patrick Mullen now lives, then Elijah Evans, on the Hitchcock place, near the large barn. Eighteen families constituted the site of the present village."

Addition received its most important inhabitant early in this year-one whose energy, business capacity and industry did much to inculcate habits of systematic labor, and principles of sound domestic economy among the earlier citizens who had never been trained in any such school. This was Andrew G. Lary, who came from Shelburne, purchased a large tract of land at what was afterwards known as Gorham Upper Village, and built the Lary House as a house of entertainment. This was the first painted house in Addition, and was located on the road to Lancaster, which had been opened through Randolph as early as 1825.

First Mills .- Jonathan Lary also was a prime factor in improvement. He built this year (1834) the first grist-mill, and saved many long journeys of the settlers to the mill in Shelburne. This was put up near where the bridge crosses Moose river, and, to furnish power, a canal was dug to con- vey the water of that stream by a shorter route to the mill. thus increas- ing the fall. The first saw-mill was constructed in 1836, on or near the same site, by Jonathan and Andrew G. Lary. The beneficent effect of these industries was soon felt. Men were employed in the mills, and dur- ing the winter. in the "woods" in providing logs to be manufactured. Money was brought into circulation, and a better manner of living was gradually introduced. In town and neighborhood affairs Andrew G. Lary was much interested, and through a long and useful life filled with credit and dignity, and for extended terms, all the prominent offices. Jonathan Lary and Andrew G. Lary were authorized to call the first town-meeting of Gorham; Andrew G. Lary was the first " moderator," and was chosen the first treasurer of the town. The town-meetings were held at his house for a long time. He was also the largest tax payer.

T. H. Hutchinson says that on his first visit to the site of Gorham vil- lage in 1835 it was a desolate place enough. The snow drifted so hard that he could scarcely see the marks made by his horse, while the dry wire-grass wriggled above the snow, and the rocks stuck up very plenti- fully over the ground, and he would not have believed at the time that all the powers on earth could have made him come there to settle. Had he been a painter, surely he would have had abundant materials with which to make a picture of desolation.

The settlers' nearest market towns were Lancaster, twenty-five miles west, and Bethel, Me., twenty-one miles east. Here the produce of the little

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holdings, some bear, moose, and fox skins, with the fur of beaver, otter, and fisher, were taken and exchanged for "store-goods." It was quite a sight to see the long processions of teams en route to Portland conveying pork, butter, cheese, and poultry from the Upper Connecticut valley. Every ten or fifteen miles was a wayside inn furnishing accommodations, and half a dozen occupants were not unfrequently provided with lodging in the same appartment. Between Lancaster and Bethel were Whipple's old stand, Olcott Brown's in Randolph, A. G. Lary's in Addition, and George Green's in Shelburne.

CHAPTER CXII.

Act of Incorporation of Gorham-First Town Meeting-Town Officers-Tax payers in 1836- School Districts Formed-Extracts from Records and Civil List.

T HE increase of population, and a corresponding increase of business, induced the inhabitants to petition the legislature for an act of incor- poration into a town. In consequence, a petition was sent to the legislature in session at Concord, in 1836, and the following act of incor- poration was passed and signed by the governor.

Art of Incroporation .- "SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened, that the tract of land now known and called by the name of Shelburne Addition, shall here- after be known by the name of Gorham, and shall be a town by that name .*

"SECTION 2. And be it further enacted that the inhabitants of said township be and hereby are made a body corporate and politic with all the rights, powers, privileges, immunities and liabilities of similar corpo- rations in this State. And the said town of Gorham shall be classed for the purpose of electing a Represent- ative, and shall be annexed to the same senatorial and councillor district as said Shelburne Addition was previous to the passing of this act.

"SECTION 3. And be it further enacted that for the purpose of duly organizing said town a meeting of the inhabitants thereof legally qualified to vote in town affairs shall be holden in said town on the third Tuesday next, at which meeting a town-clerk, selectmen and all other necessary town officers may be elected to continue in office until others are chosen and qualified agreeable to the laws of this State. And that Andrew G. Lary, Jonathan Lary and William Rowell, or any two of them, be authorized to call said meet- ing of said inhabitants by giving such notice as is required for annual town meeting. And it shall be the duty of said Andrew G. Lary, Jonathan Lary, or William Rowell or some one of them to attend and open said meeting and preside thereon until a moderator be chosen and sworn.

"C. G. ATHERTON. ** Speaker of the House of Representatives. " JAMES CLARK, " President of the Senate. " Approved June 18, 1836. "ISAAC HIILL, Governor."

*Sylvanus Davis, son of Mr. Josiah Davis, and Hannah Gorham, a member of the family of the Hon. William Gorham, of Gorham, Maine, were married November 19, 1789, and some time after moved to Chat- ham, N. H. Their son, Lot Davis, Esq., moved to Gorham, N. H., and was present at a meeting when the matter of organizing the town was under consideration. Mr. Davis suggested the name of "Gorham " and the town was called " Gorham."

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Action of the Town and Civil List .- First Town Meeting. - " At a legal town meeting, duly notified and holden at Gorham, in the County of Coos, on Tuesday, the 19th of July. A. D. 1836, the inhabitants of said town of Gorham having a right to vote in any matter that might come before the town by a major vote and by ballot.

"1st. Chosen Andrew G. Lary, Moderator to preside over said meeting,

"2d. Chosen Joseph Messer Town Clerk, who being present, took the oath of office by law preseribed.

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History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 107

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Syracuse [N.Y.] : W. A. Fergusson Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse [N.Y.] : W. A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1194