History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 69

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 69

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August 30, 1862. Voted to raise a sufficient sum of money to pay to each soldier the sum of $100, who may volunteer for three years to be paid on his being mustered into U. S. service, until the quota of three years men from this town shall be obtained; also, to include all those that en- listed on or since the 13th day of August instant; also, to pay to each volunteer for nine months

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TOWN OF STARK.

$50 on his being mustered into the U. S. service until the nine months men shall be obtained; also, instructed the selectmen to borrow the necessary money.

March 10, 1863. Voted to pay Daniel Potter $50 to make up $100 the same as other three- year soldiers.

December 5, 1863. Voted to pay to the men that have been drafted and provided substitutes $300 each, including the $100 voted at a previous meeting, and to extend the same bounty of $300 to all that may be hereafter drafted, and actually serve either in person or by a substitute; to be paid in ten days after they have been mustered into the U. S. service, provided it be for three years or during the war; also voted to pay $100 to each volunteer from this time to the fourth day of Jauuary next or until the town quota is filled; also instructed the selectmen to "cash " the state and United States bounties; also chose Aaron J. Smith agent to fill the quota of eight men by volunteers or substitutes.

August 29, 1864. Instructed the selectmen to pay volunteers or substitutes for drafted men, substitutes for enrolled meu, and representative substitutes for citizens not enrolled for one year, $100; voted to pay to drafted men mustered into U. S. service $200; also authorized the selectmen to pay to citizens enlisting for the term of one year $500 as soon as mustered into service and credited to Stark.

January 19, 1865. Voted to pay volunteers from Stark to fill the quota on the last call for troops $500 to each for one year until the quota is filled, and the selectmen are authorized to hire the necessary money for all expenses connec ed with this.

March 14, 1865. Voted to indemuify the selectmen for filling the quota under the last call for volunteers.

Lumber .- Manufacturing has been the chief business of the town since the completion of the railroad, and the pine and spruce, which until then had no value on account of the difficulty of transportation, have been rapidly cut off. The veteran surveyor, A. J. Pike, says that over 100,000, - 000 feet of spruce has already been cut. Mills were soon erected, and both steam and water were taxed to aid in the production of lumber. The sup- ply still exists in large quantities, millions of feet of spruce having been cut during the past winter. The pine, however, which at first stood thickly in the valleys of the western part of the town, was long ago used up. Agriculture has been somewhat neglected during this episode of making lumber, but many valuable farms exist along the streams on the produc- tive intervals, and the condition of the town is prosperous.

Many of the early settlers are represented in the families living here to-day. The Coles are numerous and are valuable and well-to do citizens; the Smiths are also men of substance, enterprise, and intelligence; the Potters are among the solid and substantial people, and quite numerous; the Rowells have been well represented from the time of the birth of the first son of the town-Piercy Rowell.

Among other families now for a long time settlers and residents that have had much to do with forming the course of events, business and pub- lic affairs, are the Pike and Thompson families. As business men and public spirited citizens they have done their full share.

Business Interests .- The Thompsons were early settlers of Berlin (which see). In 1853 Benjamin Thompson purchased the mill privilege on the Ammonoosuc, at Stark, built a water mill, and conducted it for some years,

578

HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

employing from twenty to thirty men. He sold to Cobb & Sturtevant, who soon sold to other parties; the latter put in steam power and enlarged the mill. Charles E. Dole is the present owner, and from forty to fifty men are employed. Albert Thompson, son of Benjamin, is an extensive and prosperous lumberman in Pennsylvania.

In 1867 Sumner W. Thompson was postmaster, Edmund Green, mer- chant. Benjamin Thompson, manufacturer of lumber.

In 1877 the merchants were Edmund Green, John Thompson; the manu- facturers of lumber, Sylvester Cole, Dexter Cole, E. Hinckney & Co., J. M. Pike, and Milan Steam Mill Co. Postmasters, Stark, Clifford Cole; Starkwater Station, G. W. Perkins.

In 1887 there are several mills for making lumber. Dole & Stewart manufacture by steam and water-power, at Stark station, dimension lum- ber, laths, shingles, clap-boards and pickets to the amount of 7,000,000 feet annually; Milan Steam Mill (F. A. Pitcher) dimension lumber, laths, clap-boards and pickets, 5,000,000 feet per annum; Burney, Rumery & Co., steam mill, 1,000,000 feet. Andrew Jackson has a shingle-mill producing 3,000,000 shingles annually, and a grist-mill. both run by water-power; Baldwin & Smith run shingle and grist-mills, and produce 3,000,000 shingles yearly. James Baldwin & Co.'s bobbin mill, carried on by J. H. Bowles & Co., use about 3,000 cords of hard wood yearly. The saw-mills have planing machines connected. Sumner W. Thompson carries on manu- facturing both in Stark and Dummer, and does an extensive business. George M. Smith, Sylvester Cole, and W. T. Pike, engage extensively winters in cutting and drawing timber.

Merchants .- George M. Smith, A. G. Peabody & Co., Andrew Jackson, George P. Ockington, M. T. Thurston.

Breeders of Fine Horses .- J. A. & W. T. Pike.

Recently the culture of strawberries has been commenced by Norris Hinds with flattering indications of great success.

Of the first settlers Caleb and Benjamin Smith were well fitted for pio- neers in this section. Both were strong, sinewy men, active and indus- trious. They came here from Boscawen in 1785. At one time, Caleb Smith wagered that he could bring three bushels of wheat on his shoulder from Northumberland Falls to Beech hill, a distance of nine miles, with the privilege of stopping to rest once, and won the wager. On seeing a number of salmon in the Ammonoosuc river where it runs through Stark, there being no dams then to keep the fish from running up river, he shot three of them, one of which weighed twenty-seven pounds. His name ap- pears first on the petition for incorporation in 1794. Benjamin Smith built the first house on a hillside at the center of the town, near the Ammonoo- suc river. It is related that a sheriff came over to arrest him for a small debt. The sheriff took hold of Mr. Smith, who started homeward. The

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TOWN OF STARK.

sheriff kept his hold upon Mr. Smith and once sprang upon him, but he continued his home journey at a rapid gait, leaping five-foot fences, and clearing everything that came in his way until the sheriff, completely ex- hausted, gave up his game, and never renewed the attempt at capture. His son, Jeremiah E. Smith, was for many years a prominent and useful citizen. He died in 1885. His son and heir. George M. Smith, is a resi- dent of Stark, has represented his town in the legislature, and is an active business man.

Joseph Leavitt, an old settler, was a great hunter and trapper, and an exceedingly courageous man. Once, in the depths of the forest, he found he was stealthily pursued by a panther, and knowing that the attack was a matter of life and death, he turned back on his tracks and met the animal- a powerful one-shot at him, and was ready, with a bullet in his teeth, to load and fire again; but the first shot had been an effectual one, and the panther lay lifeless before him. These old hunters were very valuable auxiliaries in new and unsettled regions, and the people retired to their rest with a feeling of security, when they were near to protect them from the wild beasts of the forest. Joshua Roberts, a great bear and moose hunter, was out at one time with his dog without his gun. His dog chased a bear into the swamp, where a fierce battle ensued. Mr. Roberts, think- ing the odds might be in favor of the bear, rushed in, grasped the animal and captured him alive.

As the Cole family has been so conspicuous in the town, and served so many continuous years in its public offices, a few words relative to the origin of the family in America will doubtless be of interest to its mem- bers. James Cole, the first of the name in New England, came to the Plymouth Colony in its early days, and his name appears on the first list of freemen recorded in 1633. The family is an old and honored one, was strongly patriotic, and some of the members served in the Revolution.

Robert Pike, son of Nathaniel and Betsey (Bush) Pike, born at Ports- mouth, December, 1766, came to Stark in the beginning of the present century. His father, Nathaniel, was an officer on a privateersman in the Revolution, and was put in charge of a prize that he brought into Ports- mouth. Robert Pike had a farm in the eastern part of Stark, on which his grandson, Joseph A., now resides. He served as selectman and town clerk. He married Deborah Smith. Harwood Pike, son of Robert, was born January 11, 1808. He was a farmer, carpenter, school-master, surveyor, and a scholarly man of unusual ability. He had a remarkable memory, was well-read in history and the classics, and was able to give information on many subjects, and was accurate in dates of events. He was a life-long Jacksonian Democrat and his official positions were all that were within the gift of his townsmen. He was representative two terms, and twice delegate to constitutional conventions; county commissioner three years.

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HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

He was six feet in height, straight as an arrow, and bore himself with gen- tlemanly dignity. His wife was a Cole. He died in 1871. His son, Joseph A. Pike, has been first selectman of Stark many years; representative two terms; a member of the constitutional convention; and was a prominent candidate before the Democratic convention of 1886 for state senator. William T. Pike, youngest son of Harwood Pike, has been selectman, clerk, etc. He was sheriff of Coös county from 1879 until 1883 inclusive, his re-election proving his efficiency in official duties. Mr. Pike succeeds S. G. Hannaford in charge of the Coos county alms-house and farm.

Aaron Jackson Smith, born December 3, 1810, married, first, Lucinda Cole: second, Louisa Cole. He died June 7, 1884. He was for many terms selectman, thirty years consecutively town clerk, also town treasurer, on the board of school committee, representative and county treasurer. He was a fine mathematician, a good school teacher and a very valuable man in the community.

COOS COUNTY,

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

HISTORY OF TOWNS.

CONNECTICUT· VALLEY, -- UPPER DIVISION.

COLEBROOK, DIXVILLE, STEWARTSTOWN, CLARKSVILLE, PITTSBURG, COLUMBIA, STRATFORD.

COLEBROOK.

By J. H. DUDLEY.

CHAPTER LXI.

Location, Size, Topography and General Features-Soil-Productions-First Settlers-In- dians, Metallak and Wife-Petition for Incorporation-Sketch of Petitioners.

M AN in his youth looks forward. His life is all before him, and with joyous anticipations of the pleasure and happiness the future will bring him, he presses forward, seldom looking back till the sum- mit has been gained, so far as he may be able to reach it. But when he passes the meridian and begins to go down the decline of life, he is prone to look backward. The pleasures of anticipation yield to the pleasures of reminiscence, and as he gets nearer to the end of life, having nothing to which he may look forward, all his thoughts are of the past. With child- ish glee he relates the feats and struggles of his boyhood, the stirring scenes through which he has passed, and believes in his heart that the coming generations will never see the like of his early years. Happy that this is so; for, having no future, he can dwell only in that which he has-the past. Let us, too, look back at the early history of Colebrook, and trace, as briefly as we may, its early settlement; and, if perchance errors are committed, and statements are made which are not borne out by facts, lay it not up against the historian, but rather to the obscurity of a large part of his subject, and the meager sources from which his knowledge is derived.

Colebrook is situated on the east bank of the Connecticut river, being the fourth town from the extreme north part of the state of New Hamp- shire; Pittsburg, Clarksville, and Stewartstown lying north of it. It is about 150 miles from Concord, thirty-six miles from Lancaster, and not far from the center of the county in a north and south direction. It is bounded north by Stewartstown, east by Dixville, south by Columbia, and

.5S4

HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

west by the Connecticut river, across which are the towns of Lemington and Canaan in Essex county, Vermont. Colebrook is about ten miles in length, and four and one-half miles in breadth. It contains 218 lots of 100 acres each, eighteen lots of fifty-six acres each, and nineteen "set- tlers' lots." containing about 100 acres each, making in all about 24,700 acres. The early settlers who cast their lots in this town, took up, or, as they called it. "pitched upon," irregularly shaped lots, and, when the town was lotted out some years later, these lots were not meddled with, or reckoned in the survey, but were left, and are, to-day, the original "settlers' lots."

The general topography of Colebrook is uneven. On the east the Dix- ville mountains slope down into the town. Rippling down from the same mountains the Mohawk river flows about twelve miles to the Connecticut river, and from the northerly part of the town several branches help to swell its volume till it becomes quite a "sizable" stream. South of the Mohawk a high range of hills reaches back into Columbia, and northerly from the same stream the land is bold and hilly, but never rough or pre- cipitous. On the Connecticut river broad and beautiful meadows stretch out to the sunshine, and every hill is smooth and round, and capable of cultivation to its very top. Few ledges are to be found, and fields where there are many loose stones are seldom seen. Towards the westerly part of the town Beaver brook comes down over a sharp hill, falling in broken masses several hundred feet, forming a beautiful cascade, and then hurry- ing down to meet the Mohawk just above the Connecticut. By these streams and their many branches the town is well-watered, and no pasture is without its living springs which help to make them up.

The soil of Colebrook is almost matchless in New England. It produces in abundance, and its inhabitants say, with perhaps pardonable pride, that there is not a single lot of land in town that would not make a good farm and produce abundant crops. The principal productions are first of all hay; then oats, barley, buckwheat, wheat and potatoes. There is a large amount of fine pasture land. And this, with the hay, furnishes a large num- ber of fat cattle and sheep, a great many of which are shipped every year to market. The oats, barley, wheat and buckwheat are consumed at home. The potatoes are partly manufactured into potato starch, and partly shipped for sale. The farmers of Colebrook have taken a great interest in improving their stock, and many thoroughbred cattle are found among them. The Devon, the Durham, the Hereford, the Jersey, the Ayrshire, the Holstein and the Polled Angus are all represented, and all have their respective champions. Great pains has also been taken to improve the breeds of horses, and no town in Northern New Hampshire furnishes the cities with so many excellent horses. The inhabitants are thrifty, intelligent and in-

585

TOWN OF COLEBROOK.

dustrious, and consequently largely independent. It is a town of much wealth, being probably the first in the state in proportion to its population.

So much may be said in a general way of Colebrook in its present condi- tion, as bearing upon the character of its early history. Who the very first settler of this town was, is involved in obscurity. Certain it is that one hundred and twenty years ago these fertile meadows were covered with a growth of maple, elm. and underbrush; the hills with spruce, fir, pine, hemlock, maple. beech, birch and other woods, and the foot-print of the white man was unknown. Through these forests roamed the bear and wolf: at the sparkling streams the moose, caribou and deer quenched their thirst: and under every waterfall were great numbers of the speckled trout. In the river the lordly salmon held undisputed sway, and dreamed not of dams, sluices, fishways, and other abominations, which, in time to come, should prevent his descendants from visiting the homes of their fathers.

There was a tribe of Indians who made the town of Colebrook and vicinity their "stamping-ground," and Metallak was their chief. They were said to be members of the Mohawk tribe, and from them the name of the river is supposed to be derived. They made their homes on the hill east of the farm known as the J. F. Keazer farm, and dropped off, a few at a time, till only their chief, Metallak, and his squaw, Molly, remained. Their history can be told in a few words. They lived a wandering life; fishing and hunting, generally, together, through this part of the country, going frequently to Lake Umbagog and the Magalloway river. On one of these occasions the squaw died and was buried by Metallak on Lake Um- bagog, near a rock which still bears her name. "Moll's Rock " is well known to every visitor to that beautiful lake. After her death, the old chief continued his wanderings alone. When he became quiet an old man he went trapping on the Magalloway river. He lay down at night in his rude bark camp and slept the sleep of the weary. In the morning he awoke, and lay there waiting for the sun to rise, but it rose not, and was never to rise for him again. He heard the birds singing, and, creeping out from his camp, felt the sun warm on his upturned face, but he could not see it. He was stone blind. Stone blind, and miles on miles away from every human being. Cautiously he made his way over the well-known path, and, by feeling alone, after many days he found human companionship, but he nearly perished before doing so. For several years he lived in blindness, wandering about his old haunts, and died, at last, a pauper. His memory still lives in the two ponds bearing his name on the Magalloway river, and a certain class of chub is known among the frequenters of those waters as " Metallak's strangers."

This township, with Columbia, formerly called Cockburn, and Stewarts- town, was granted December 1, 1770, to Sir George Colebrook, Sir James Cockburn, John Stewarts, Esq., of London, England, and John Nelson, of

586

HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

Grenada, West India Islands, and this town was at first known as " Cole- brook Town," after the grantee. There were few inhabitants, but from time to time they increased, till December 15, 1795, when the people became uneasy at being unincorporated, and took steps to procure a charter, as fol- lows :-

"State of New ) . Hampshire. j To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled-

"The p tition of the subscribers, inhabitants of a place called Colebrook in the County of Gratton and State of New Hampshire humb'y shewith that your petitioners have with much difficulty etfected a settle- ment in said Township and the Inhabitants thereof are so increased that about thirty ratable polls are resi- dent an I settled therein, that they suffer many inconveniences on account of their unincorporated State, the want of authority to lay out highways and raise money to make and repair them, to maintain regular Schools for the instruction of Youth and to conduct many other matters necessary to promote the interests of the inhabitants and encourage the settlement of said Township.

"Therefore your petitioners pray this honorable Court to incorporate them and vest them with all that power and authority which other towns in said State do by law exercise and enjoy, and your petitioners will ever prav.

' Colebrook 15th December 1795.

" Andrew McAllan,

" Josiah King. " And McAllaster, " Moses Smith, " Ebenezer Brainard,

Joseph Goddard,

Isaac Covil,

Joseph Griswo'd,

Wil'm MeAllaster,

Nehemiah Spencer."

Although the foregoing petition states that there were about thirty ratable polls at that time in Colebrook, it is probable that there were not more than fifteen men who had commenced to clear the land and make homes for their families. What became of McAllan and King is unknown -the records of Colebrook having been burned July 24, 1870. William McAllaster and Andrew McAllaster lived on the farm now occupied by Martin B. Noyes, and they built the square house still standing at that place. They also built a saw-mill and grist-mill near the site of the pres- ent grist-mill. They moved to Marrietta, Ohio, in 1815.

Joseph Goddard lived at various places in town, but the latter part of his life he lived on the farm now occupied by Elbridge G. Arlin. Joseph Griswold and Nehemiah Spencer are also unknown to those now walking in their footsteps, and no descendants of theirs are known to be in this part of the country.

Isaac Covil has a better record. He was born in Enfield, N. H., in 1749. He removed to Colebrook about 1790, and went on to the farm now occupied by Richard Tibbetts. He had numerous sons and daughters, to wit, Content, who married Asa Terry; Ruth, who married Danforth Wallace: and Sally, who married Ephraim Benedict. The boys were Judah, whose wife was Charlotte Luther, and who lived on the James M. Mathews farm; Ebenezer, whose wife was Mary Fellows, who lived on the George E. Hammond farm, and afterwards on the Joseph Tibbetts farm, with his father; Nathaniel and Daniel, who died unmarried. The children of Judah and Ebenezer have largely settled in

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TOWN OF COLEBROOK.

this town and vicinity. The children of Judah were James, who married Clarissa Mills; William, who married Hannah Corbett; Timothy, who married Abiah Cogswell; John W., who married Phebe Pulsifer; Joseph Y., who married Jane Mills; Elmira, who married Mack Springer; Mary P., who married Charles Cooledge; Susan, who married Henry Burnham; and Phebe A., who married Sanmel E. Day. The children of Ebenezer Covell were Orrin, who married Julia A. Kidder: Otis E., who went to California among the "forty-niners," and was killed there; Loring G., who married Mrs. Burnside; Ezra S. and Eleanor, who died unmarried; and Freeman P. Covell, who married Rebecca Hicks. James and Joseph Y., the sons of Judah, are still living in Colebrook, as is also Freeman P., son of Ebenezer. The last has held many positions of trust in the town. For a hundred years this family has been well represented in Colebrook, and the younger stock bid fair to do their part for the next hundred.

So much for the briefest possible sketch of the petitioners for the incor- poration of Colebrook.

CHAPTER LXII.

Colebrook from 1796 to 1815-Road through Dixville Notch-Whiskey Manufacture-Contract of Smith & Pratt-Their Various Enterprises-McAllaster Mills-Dugway-Amount Invested by Smith & Pratt.

O N the 11th day of June, 1796, the town was incorporated. Up to this time there had been but little business done in the town, but it increased rapidly from this time, till in 1800 it is said to have had 160 inhabitants, or about forty families. From this time to 1810 the number steadily gained, when the census shows 325 souls in the town.

In 1803 the county of Coos was created. At that time there was in this town the river road, running substantially as now, a road up the Mohawk as far as Factory Village, and then up past the John Moses farm, over to the Reed district, and a road from the river road near the George Heath farm up to South hill in Stewartstown. In 1804 the people of this com- munity began to see the necessity of some means of getting to some market, not only for procuring supplies for themselves, but also to enable them to dispose of the articles of produce which they were able to spare. Portland, Me., was their nearest point of trade, but there was no respect- able road, on account of the Dixville mountains, which rose between the Connecticut valley and that of the Androscoggin. A road was projected

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HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

and built through Dixville Notch, and each winter thereafter the farmer of Colebrook loaded his sled with wheat, potash, pearlash or potato-whiskey, and hauled it to Portland, where he exchanged it for molasses, salt fish, and such other necessaries as were required for the year to conie.

There was very little money in the town, and everything was " bartered" instead of bought. Whiskey was quite an important article of manufac- ture, being made of potatoes. There was a still on the river road, near Columbia line, owned by Mr. Hezekiah Parsons, another at the Factory Village. and still another, owned by Nathan Beecher, on the Elbridge Arlin farm. The farmers carried the potatoes to the still, and bartered them for whiskey at the rate of three bushels of potatoes for one gallon of whiskey. It was a common and frequent beverage, and hardly any family was with- out it. It is told that a certain family used to send one of the boys to the "Factory " still after a gallon of whiskey at a time, and he came nearly

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History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 69

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