USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > History of Coos County, New Hampshire > Part 84
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The population of the settlement at this period (1824) was 285: estimated area of the territory 150,000 acres (since proving by actual survey to be much greater); estimated value thereof by legislative committee of inves- tigation twelve and one-half cents per acre: number of acres under improvement 847, valued at $5 per acre.
A very large proportion of those mentioned remained as permanent
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residents. They were mostly strong, stalwart men in the plentitude of physical strength, possessing in a large degree the spirit of adventure united with indomitable energy and perseverance, and aided by their wives, who generally possessed corresponding traits of character, they cheerfully and courageously endured the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life .* They were valuable citizens, gradually clearing up large farms, building comfortable homes, and, generally, rearing large families of rugged and healthy children, many of whom, and their descendants, are scattered far and wide throughout the country (although their early oppor- tunities for acquiring an education were scant and limited indeed), have taken prominent parts, and are now occupying prominent positions. in social, political, professional, and mercantile life.
* Bear Story .- [As a specimen of what might occur on any day, or night rather, to the early settlers, and as throwing a little light on their surroundings and character, we insert what befell Kimball B. Fletcher in 1834 in Pittsburg, using in the greater part his own language .- EDITOR. ]
"I then lived at Fletcher's Mills; a Canadian sheriff with five or six men had arrested Luther Parker, and were taking him to Hereford for examination. As they passed my house, he requested me to go to Clarksville and have Miles Hurlbert go to Colebrook and procure a lawyer for him. The night was very dark and somewhat rainy. I tried for an hour to find my horse but could not, so I must go on foot two miles and a half, through heavy woods most of the way. I took my tin lantern, put about seven inches of candle in it. and lighted it. As it was so damp I thought it of no use to take my flint-lock gun. The first two miles of my way was a muddy track cut through solid woods, and hardly to be called a road. After going about half a mile (it was as dark as a negro's pocket ) I heard it thunder, as I supposed. I walked on one or two rods further and heard the noise again. This time I knew it was not thunder, so I stopped to see what caused it. I could see nothing, but all the time heard a low whining and growling. I knew then that there was business close by, and opened the lantern door a little, and turned the lantern around until the light fell on the object I was looking for, and there, not twenty-five feet from me, and right in my path, sitting up as straight as a man could stand, was a very large bear weighing at least 300 pounds. She was as tall as I was, and she had two cubs of about fifty pounds each. Now what could I do? She was making up all kinds of faces at me, and showing her teeth to the best advantage. I had killed several bears, but had never met one in a dark night with young ones at her side. I could see, however, that she was not of an amiable disposition. I wished for the old gun; with that I could have settled matters quickly. But I must go on. I did not feel in the least afraid, and opened the door, and let the light shine right on to the bear, took out my jack-knife, opened it, and with it in my right hand and my lantern in my left, I walked toward the bear. When I was within a rod of her, she growled and grunted and bounded out off the road. There sat the cubs, however, and I could have kicked one in passing, but knew it would not do as the old one would be there in a instant. I travelled on, and soon heard something behind me. I kept on, looking back every now and then, but could only see two small balls of fire gleaming at me. I began to get nervous. I knew that any moment I might get a powerful blow from the bear that I knew was within four or five rods of me all the time. Ifelt queerly. I was only twenty-four years old, and weighed 180 pounds, but I felt as light as a feather. I was in the solid woods more than a mile from a human being; the night was as black as a stack of black cats; I was being followed by a huge bear in whose paws an unarmed man would be but a plaything. I have heard that when a person was seared their hair would stand up straight. Was that the case with me ? I took off my hat, put up my hand, and my hair seemed as stiff as bristles. I crowded it down hard, but it rose right up again. All this time those eyes were watching me as closely as a cat would watch a mouse. You may think none but a great coward would feel like this, but if you had been in my boots at that time you would have seen the hand-writing on the wall as Nebuchadnezzar of old did. I stood there and reasoned in this way. 'Is not that bear as afraid of me as I am of her? I have driven her out of the road away from her cubs onee, and she dares not come near enough to me to hurt me; she is only escorting me out of the woods away from her babies.' So, with my knife in one hand, determined to sell my life as dearly as possible, I travelled on. She followed me eighty or one hundred rods further, and I heard no more of her. On my return the next morning I saw her tracks along the road for a mile. Her feet were as long as mine, and fully six inches wide across the toes. I am in my seventy-fifth year, lived in the woods thirty-six years, have killed eighteen bears and one large wolf, but never had my nervous system so stirred up as on that night."
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CHAPTER LXXVIII.
Action and Report of Legislative Committees in 1824 Concerning Titles under King Philip's Deed.
B UT little attention was paid by the state to this section prior to 1820, at which period information was filed with the attorney general against " certain settlers said to be encroaching upon the public domain," north of the parallel of 45 degrees north latitude, and suits were subsequently brought to eject them from their holdings under the proprie- tary titles. At the June session of the legislature of 1824 a committee of three members was appointed to visit the "Indian Stream Territory" (as this country was then generally designated) and report at the November session following.
This action on the part of the state was in answer to a petition from the proprietors, claiming under this Indian deed, and from the settlers. asking relief from certain suits which had been brought against them in the Supreme Court, to eject them from their holdings. The report of this committee was referred to a select committee of the House, at the Novem- ber session of the same year, which submitted the following report :-
"The petitioners claim under a deed from one Philip, an Indian chieftain, and the depositions of Daniel Farrington, Ward Bailey, Andrew Gilman, Benjamin Willey, John Osgood, and John Evans (taken at the expense of the proprietors in 1804 in perpetua re memoriam), were laid before them by the petitioners, and that the grantor, King Philip, was the chief, or sachem of the Upper Coos tribe of Indians, that was regarded as such by the Indians inhabiting the Upper Coos, and by the white inhabitants of that country. The com- mittee further find that King Philip, from and after the execution of the deed and until the time of his death in 1797, and Molley Mussell, wife or companion to said Philip, until her death, were supported at the expense of the original proprietors. The committee further find that the first meeting of persons elaiming rights or shares of a certain tract of land conveyed to John Bradley, Esq .. and others by Philip, an Indian chief, at the head of Connecticut, Androscoggin, and other rivers, was holden at Concord on the 17th of June, 1797. The committee further find, that at subsequent meetings, sixty-eight in number (and which have mostly been held at Concord during the session of the legislature), the proprietors have 'Voted (December 10, 1798. ) to lay out a township six miles square within the grant, or such other tract as the committee hereafter named may think proper ;- not to interfere with any grant heretofore made by the states of New Hampshire, Vermont. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or the Province of Lower Canada; to give one hundred acres for settling to every settler who may settle within the same, and another one hundred acres by draught within the same, and the settler paying the proprietors fifty dollars to be expended under the direction of the proprietors in making roads. At the same meeting a committee was appointed for the proprietary to settle or compromise with any other persons who may have trespassed on said Philip's Grant.' At the meeting held at Concord Jan. 7, 1800, it was voted 'to accept the survey of sixty-four thousand aeres of said Philip's grant lying north of the parallel of forty-five degrees north latitude, being laid out into lots, thirty-two in number, and con- taining two thousand acres each'; and, at the same meeting. the proprietors drew lots for the lots. June 11. 1800, a committee was appointed to lay out land betwixt Hall and Indian streams, and authorized to agree with settlers. June 10, 1801, voted, 'Jeremiah Eames be, and he hereby is, authorized to put on settlers, and give quitelaim deeds, of conveyance of such number of acres as hath been heretofore voted.' June 14, 1804, voted that ' Captain John Eastman, Jeremiah Eames, Jr., and Samuel Bradley be a committee to lay out the whole of Philip's Grant, and lot the same in such a way and manner as they shall think most conducive to the interest of said proprietors.' August 10, 1819, voted ' to choose a committee to go around and survey the remaining part of the land in Philip's Grant, or such part thereof as their judgment may direct when on the
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spot, and that they be authorized to make contracts with any persons who are now settlers or who may become settlers in the course of the present year on the lands in Philip's Grant, giving them not exceeding two hundred acres of land each as settlers, by their signing an instrument that they hold their lands by virtue of a title from the proprietors of Philip's Grant, and from no other quarter.' The committee attended to the duty assigned them, and made a report which. at a meeting of the proprietors, Dec. 27, 1819, was ap- proved of as being ' very intelligent,' and from this report the committee ask leave of the House to submit for their consideration the following extracts: 'From Fletcher's Mills we took our departure in a northerly direction towards the lake Connecticut, distant six (eight?) miles, to the outlet of said lake; thence in a northerly direction. half a mile distant from the shore of said lake; from there we proceeded np the inlet in a canoe about two miles, and then proceeded several miles into the forest, and then returned to the canoe and came down about the middle of said lake from the inlet to the outlet which is about eight miles, which gave us a beautiful view of the land explored. We found the whole country as far as we explored an excellent deep soil, rising into large, gentle swells, admirably adapted to cultivation and covered with a fine growth of large timber remarkably tall and very little underwood. The timber is chiefly the sugar-maple, beech, and bireh. We discovered very little of what is called beech land. The land is not broken into mountains, nor so stony as to injure the cultivation, as is the case in many of the towns in New Hampshire. We are induced to believe that three or four townships may be located within the boundaries of said tract, which for fertility of soil, and pleasantness of situation would not be exceeded by any town in New Hampshire.'
" The committee further find that the proprietors have received no consideration from the tenants for the lands allotted to them; that they have expended very considerable sums of money in making roads, erecting a bridge, and building grist-mills and saw-mills, and if the legislature should hereafter consider that the petitioners have no legal claim, the committee have no doubt that their important betterments will secure for them the equitable consideration of the legislature. And the committee further find, that an act entitled · an act to prevent and make void clandestine and illegal purchases of lands from the Indians' passed the General Assembly of the province of New Hampshire in the year 1719, the first section of which enacted 'that all deeds of bargain, sale, lease, release, or quitelaim, titles or conveyances whatsoever of any lands, tenements or hereditaments, within this province, as well for a term of years as forever, had, made, gotten, procured or obtained from any Indian or Indians, by any person or persons whatsoever at any time or times since 1700, without the license or the approbation of the General Assembly of this province, and all deeds, &c., which shall hereafter be had, &c., shall be judged in law to be null, void, and of none effect, to all intents and purposes, as though they had never been made.' And the committee further find that in 1792 this act was repealed; and that the legislature of this state. in the year 1789, appointed a committee for the purpose, and caused the boundary lines between this state and that part of Massachusetts then called the district of Maine, and between this state and the Province of Canada to be aseertained and run, and monuments to be erected thereon; and that the lines there run include within this state, some portions at least, of the lands claimed by the petitioners. The committee further find that Nathan Hoit, one of the grantees named in the deed, was a member of the above committee. And the committee further find that no grants have been made by this state of any lands lying northerly of the tract of land granted to Dartmouth college. And the committee further find that the following resolution passed the legislature at the November session, 1820.
" . Resolved, That the Attorney-General be, and he is hereby authorized and required to institute due pro- ceedings in law against such of said persons (the settlers on the lands lying northerly of the tract of land granted to Dartmouth College) as he shall deem proper, in the name and behalf of the state, and the same to proseente to final judgment, to the end that the said persons, in case it shall be found that they have unlaw- fully entered and infringed upon said lands, may be removed therefrom.'
" And the committee further find that the attorney-general, in compliance with the above resolution, did institute legal proceedings against certain of the settlers in the Supreme Court in and for the county of Coos. And the committee further find that a plea to the jurisdiction of the court was filed, and that the question of the jurisdiction of the state involved in the plea remains undecided. And the committee further find, that the true boundary line between the United States and the Province of Canada has not yet been ascertained and determined.
" The committee ask leave of the House to report that in their opinion no decisive measures can be recom- mended by them and adopted by the legislature as to the sale and conveyance of any portion of the lands lying north of the 45th degree, until the question of the extent of the jurisdiction of the state is settled, and that this must depend upon the determination of the boundary lines. If, on the final establishment of the boundary line between the United States and the Province of Canada, any part of the land claimed by either the state or the petitioners, should be found to fall without the jurisdiction of the United States, the com- mittee have no reason to doubt, that on proper representation being made by the senators and representa- tives of this state, in the Congress of the United States, the same would be by an act, annexed to this state to which it ought of right to belong. Believing as the committee do that the right of jurisdiction (or in other
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words its right to legislate) to the full extent over the lands claimed by the petitioners is not at present a proper subjeet for judicial decision; and believing further that the tenants had reason to put great confidence in the representations of those who publiely claimed the right of soil and under whom they entered, the committee are of opinion that the tenants are entitled, if not to be fully quieted in their possessions of land, at least to exemption from proseentions. They ask leave therefore to submit for the consideration of the House the accompanying resolution.
·· (Signed )
William Smith, " For the Committee."
" CHAPTER 83 .- Section 1. Resolved by the Senate and House of Represenatives in General Court con- vened, That all the land north of the 45th degree of north latitude, which has been at any time supposed to be within the limits of this state, and which is not known and established to be within the state of Vermont or Maine, or within the province of Lower Canada, shall be taken and deemed to be within the limits, and under the jurisdiction of this state and shall constitute a part of the County of Coos.
" Section 2. And be it further enacted, That all the right and interest which the state of New Hamp- shire hath or may have to sneh parts of the tract or parcel of land situate in said state, north of the 45th degree of north latitude commonly called King . Philip's Grant' which are now in the possession of any aetual settler be, and the same are, hereby granted and released to such actnal settler, his heirs and assigns forever. Provided however, that no such actual settler shall be gnieted in his title under this resolution for more than two hundred aeres, excepting Jeremiah Tabor. Esq., who is hereby quieted in his title as to any elaim by this state to such of said lands, as are in his actual possession not exceeding five hundred acres; and Nathaniel Perkins Esq., who is hereby quieted in his title as to any claim by this state to snek of said lands as are in his aetual possession, not exceeding seven hundred acres.
" Provided however, that nothing hereby contained, shall effect any action or process now pending in the Supreme Court of Judicature in the name or behalf of the state against any such settler, but said conrt shall proceed in the same to final judgment; and in case such judgment shall be rendered against such set- tler. no writ of restitution, excention, or other process shall be issued on such judgment without the further order of the legislature .- Approved Dec. 22. 1824."- Laws of New Hampshire, November Session, 1824.
CHAPTER LXXIX.
Progress and Growth for the Next Decade-Independent Government-Blanchard's Arrest- Incorporation-Kimball B. Fletcher-Tornado.
'O further attention was bestowed on the territory by the authorities of the state for a period of ten years, during which the population slowly but steadily increased. Neither state or county taxes were levied, as is done in other unincorporated places. There was no law for the prevention or punishment of crime. the enforcement of civil contracts. or any of the multiform necessities of civilized communities, for which human governments are instituted. Private schools were supported by subscription. Roads were cut through the forests. and improved by vol- untary contributions of labor; and school-houses were built in the same manner. There was but little crime. Every one found work enough to do in clearing up the forests, and providing for the wants of their families, in a newly settled country, remote from markets, where there was but little money and most of the necessities of life must be produced at home. Barter was an important factor in trade, but little credit was given. The payment of debts was a matter of honor, and the methods of modern commercial and financial transactions but little known.
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HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.
A mild form of Lynch law, never proceeding to extreme measures, sufficed for the punishment of the more flagrant offences against the public peace. and for a while everything went well. But disorganizing and quarrelsome elements eventually sprang up, and the necessity for a compact or form of government for mutual protection was very generally recognized by nearly the entire community. Accordingly. on the 6th day of April, 1829, a public meeting of the citizens was held at the Center school-house, the "Independence Hall " of Pittsburg, at which they asserted their independence of both thegovernments of Great Britain and the United States; drew up a preamble and bill of rights, and adopted a constitution and form of government, very democratic in its provisions. It consisted of three distinct departments-representative, executive, and judicial. The representative branch was decidedly primitive in its organ- ization, being composed of the entire voting population of the territory, each directly representing his own interests. The executive department consisted of five persons chosen annually, officially known as the "Su- preme Council," and forming a semi-judicial tribunal or court of appeal from the lower courts. The judicial branch of the government was vested in justices of the peace elected by the people in their municipal capacity, and had provisions for trials by a jury of six persons, whenever demanded, with right of appeal to the Supreme Council.
At the meeting for the organization of the government a committee of three persons was chosen, consisting of Nathaniel Perkins, John Haines, and David Mitchell, to draft a code of laws for the government of the ter- ritory to be submitted to the people, when assembled in their legislative capacity, for approval. This "legislature " met in June following, and the code reported by the committee was substantially adopted. All the offices under this rather novel form of government were elective. A com- mon school system was established. A military organization formed for protection against foreign invasion or domestic violence, consisting of one company of forty men, of which Hermon Batchelder was chosen captain. Taxes were levied for municipal purposes, the boundaries of school and highway districts defined, and schools established, to be supported by tax- ation. The collection of debts for the first time during the existence of the colony was enforced by legal process, and all the varied municipal functions of the government were soon placed in working order. Reuben Sawyer was elected sheriff; Nathaniel Perkins, John Haines, David Mitchell, Jeremiah Tabor, and Phineas Willard, councillors; John A. Mitchell, clerk and register of deeds; Richard I. Blanchard, Clark J. Haines, and Burleigh Blood, justices of the peace.
The first criminal brought to trial under the new judicial system was an old offender against domestic tranquility on a charge of felonious assault, who claimed a trial by jury, which was duly empanelled. After a rather
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lengthy trial, involving a large amount of ludicrous and contradictory tes- timony, the complainant relenting somewhat (her evidence was not of a very damaging character), the case was given to the jury, which returned a verdict of "not guilty." The respondent was requested by the presid- ing justice to stand up and listen to the verdict. The court then addressed him: "Prisoner at the bar. It gives me pleasure to inform you that you have been honorably acquitted by a jury of your countrymen of the atro- cious crime with which you were charged; but this court deems it its duty to admonish you, that, if you are ever caught in another nasty scrape of this kind, you will be punished severely."
Everything pertaining to this new government worked harmoniously for a period of four years, but it early became evident that it contained the germs of disintegration and decay. To be sure, slavery had no existence within its limits. There were no violent convulsions of nearly-balanced political parties fiercely contending for places at the public crib, or ques- tions of protection as against free trade, civil service reform, bi-metallic currency: nor did an overflowing treasury threaten its perpetuity: but from its weakness it became inert, and soon lost all power to enfore the execution of its laws. Having no jail or secure place for the detention and punishment of criminals, it could only resort to fines (without imprison- ment) in default of payment. Treason, against which there existed no statutory provisions, eventually crept in, and completed its destruction in 1835. Thus disappeared one of the smallest and most democratie of gov- ernments known to have existed, after a life of only five years.
Society was again chaotic. Many of the people invoked the protection of New Hampshire; some that of the Canadian government. Fierce and bitter quarrels sprang up between the parties seeking these diverse protec- tions. New Hampshire had shown a disposition to extend a quasi juris- diction over the territory in the early part of the year, by sending officers. on several occasions, here to serve processes issued by her courts. These met with some resistance from the Canadian party, and nothing further was done until August 6, 1835, when Col. John H. White, sheriff of Coos county, had an interview with many of the leading citizens, assuring those favorably disposed of the protection of New Hampshire. and warning others of the consequences of treasonable acts, and appointed Richard I. Blanchard (a resident citizen) deputy sheriff.
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