History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 87

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

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Schools .- The early times were the days of many children, and their training and education were of the greatest moment to the intelligent pio- neers of this town. At the annual meeting in 1801 it was " voted that the selectmen be a school committee." Probably their duties were to see what could be done about establishing schools, as no money appears to have been voted for this purpose until April, 1804, when the town voted $200 for the use of schools. In 1805 the town was divided into three school districts, and $100 voted for school purposes. In 1807, $450 was voted with which to build school-houses, and $so for the use of schools. The school-house for district No. 1 was built about one-half mile south of the site of the present one, that of No. 2 not far from Samuel Harvey's residence, and the one in No. 3 on the hill-side nearly opposite Nathan Schoff's barn. These school buildings would compare favorably with those of the present day in farm- ing towns. In March, 1809, a school committee was chosen, consisting of William Wallace, Jr., Timothy Lockwood and Sylvester Cone. For the next ten or fifteen years, about $200 was raised each year for educational purposes. In 1830 the town was re-districted, and No. 4 created on the river, and as East Columbia then contained twenty-four families, it was made into No. 5, and a school-house erected by the direction of the select- men on the site of the present one. In 1831 No. 5 was divided and two more districts established. There are now ten school districts, and about $1,000 a year is expended for their use by the town.

Town Officers' Fees .- The financial affairs of Columbia have generally been conducted with prudence, and economy has been the rule; the tax payers scanning with the closest scrutiny the receipts and expenditures of its officials. No mention of pay or salaries is made by the records until 1807, when it was " voted to pay town clerks $1.50 a year, and selectmen $2 a year for services." From that time Columbia's town officers have been as poorly paid as the average Methodist minister. In 1814, " voted that town clerk have $5 for his services." In 1818 the town charges were $10.

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TOWN OF COLUMBIA.

Politics .-- In March, 1808, " fourteen votes were cast for Governor, all for John Langdon, Esq." The 29th of August, of the same year, at a meet- ing to vote for five representatives for Congress, fifteen votes were cast for the Democratic ticket, and ten for the Whig. This marks the first party division of the voters of the town. But since that peaceful day, party strife has been active here, and the town is usually equally divided in political sentiment.

Cemeteries .- At a special meeting in April, 1799, the town " voted to raise $10 of the inhabitants of Cockburn for the purpose of purchasing a burying yard, and the selectmen were directed to purchase and lay out a burying-yard as they may think proper." In accordance with this vote "one acre was purchased of Abel Larnard," and the "Columbia burying- ground " established. Since that time very many dear and precious ones have been laid beneath its sacred soil. Little has been done by man to beautify and adorn this last resting place of his; but it is beautifully located. and commands one of the most charming bits of scenery to be found in the valley of the Connecticut. Later in the history of the town a plot of land was secured in the east part of the town for the purpose of burial; but it was little used, a more desirable location having been selected by the people, while those in the south part of the town have still another burial place. While no massive monument nor costly memorial adorns our "homes of the dead," our little cemeteries are better cared for than the average " burying-place " of the rural districts.

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

Pioneers. Abel Larnard-Abel Hobart-The Wallaces-Noah Buffington -- Philip Jordan- Benjamin Jordan.

IONEERS .- Abel Larnard was the first settler to make a home in the valley of the Connecticut above Lancaster. He came from Windham, Conn., where he had married Mary Ann Webb, a niece of Col. Webb, a Revolutionary soldier. He pushed his way far beyond all traces of civilization, and took up his squatter's claim, and built his log cabin on the hill about one-fourth of a mile below where is now the Co- lumbia burying-ground. After clearing a small piece of land, he settled down to a pioneer's life. From the river near by he obtained an abundance of salmon and trout, from the surrounding forest, venison, fowl, and an occasional "bar steak," and from his small clearing a few vegetables

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and a little corn. Two sons were born to him; but when the oldest was nine years of age the father died of fever, and his heart-broken widow, with her little boys, led a lonely life after this sad event. About the close of the Revolutionary war, as the boys were making sugar near the bank of the river, they were taken prisoners by the Indians and carried to Quebec. The anxious mother in some way sent word of her affliction to her uncle, Col. Webb, then on Gen. Washington's staff; he at once pro- ceeded to Quebec, secured the release of the boys, and they were returned to their mother under an escort of soldiers. Some years after, one of a party of Indians passing through here told Mrs. Larnard that he was one of the band that stole her boys, and that the sugar kettle could be found at the mouth of Sims stream. It was thus found and kept in active use many years after. Many dangers and privations were endured by this courageous woman. The Indians passing up and down the river usually camped on the bank opposite her cabin. Often the "fire-water " was too plenty, when their orgies would be kept up far into the night. Mrs. Larnard was in constant fear of their savagery, yet she never was mo- lested but once, when, grasping the fire-poker, she laid the miscreant out, and, dragging him to the door, pitched him into the snow; she then kept watch, expecting the whole pack down upon her; but, in the morning, as sheepish as an Indian can be, he came and said to her, "Me very bad Indian, you done just right." She never had any farther trouble from them. The wolves often prowled round her little cabin, and with fierce. vicious eyes glared through the little window. The pangs of hunger were felt many times in that far-away home. For nine years Mrs. Larnard lived here without seeing a white woman, when, hearing that a family from near her old home had moved to Northumberland, she told her boys that she " must see that woman or die." When winter came and the river was frozen, the boys took their bundle of furs and a bag of corn, and started for the mill at Haverhill, while their mother went to make her visit. The boys had their corn ground, exchanged their furs for pow- der, tea and other necessaries, and were joined by their once more cheerful mother on their return. After Columbia became settled to some extent the family moved to Canada, where Mrs. Larnard died at an advanced age. The sons never married.

In the spring of 1786 Abel Hobart, then in his seventeenth year, left the home of his childhood in Holland, Mass., and, on foot, made his way to these wilds of Northern New Hampshire. "The clothes on his back, a sable skin and a tow shirt in his bundle, an axe on his shoulder, and two- and-sixpence in his pocket " constituted his available means. But he had in addition what is better than gold and silver (especially to a pioneer), strong hands, good judgment and faith in himself and his God. He found but two settlers in the town, Abel Larnard's widow, living just above

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where Samuel M. Harvey now lives, who had been here some years, and Major Jennison, living just below where the "Columbia Hotel " now stands. Mrs. Larnard was the happy owner of one cow, while the Major " could his steed bestride " (from which fact we infer him to have been a major of cavalry). At any rate a horse and a cow constituted the live stock of the town. Several others had been here and made small clearings preparatory to bringing their families later. Among them were William Wallace, (whose clearing was where Anson Wallace, his grandson, resides,) and the Terrys, who established themselves where Asa Lang now lives. In Lemington, Vt., Colonel Bailey was clearing the big meadow; Luther was on the place now owned by Ed Capen in Canaan, Vt .; while at Cole- brook, Jim Hugh had rolled up a log-house just back of where George Gleason's house is now located; and Luther Chandler had a home where is now Crawford's residence. Hobart selected as the site of his future home the place now owned by ex-Sheriff Samuel I. Bailey. He at once commenced a clearing, and. in a few years, large fields had taken the place of the dense forest, and a comfortable house had been built, to which, in the summer of 1794, he took his young wife, Betsey Wallace. For sixty- five years they walked the path of life together, ever contented with their lot and happy in each other's love. Honored and revered and full of years, they passed to the hereafter mourned by all who knew them, while " their children to the third and fourth generation rise up and call them blessed." "And they builded a city!" One of their sons, Horace, and three of their daughters with their husbands, were pioneers and prominent in founding the city of Beloit, Wis. Another son, Anson L., is a successful and highly esteemed physician in Worcester, Mass. Their other children were respected citizens of their native town: two of the sons, Roswell and Harvey. having received all the offices and honor their townsmen could confer. Abel Hobart and his wife were consistent Christians, members of the Congre- gational church, almost puritanical in strict observance of the Sabbath, church duties and family worship. Mr. Hobart was an excellent neighbor, hospitable and strictly temperate, with an endless fund of stories for the children, and one of the most companionable of men, in whose society all received pleasure and profit. Five sons and five daughters were reared in habits of temperance and industry, and bore evidence of the wisdom and excellence of their parental training.

The Wallaces moved here in the spring of 1787, William, then a small boy. having driven the first team that came up from Brunswick, Vt. He sat on the sled, and "tended " the oxen, while his brother Danforth went ahead and trimmed out the road which had only been travelled by people on foot and by pack-horses. Two years before three of the Wallace boys came here on horseback, made a clearing, raised some potatoes and other vegetables, and built a cabin. Soon after they had harvested their crop

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their cabin was burned while they were chopping in the woods, and with it their saddles, clothing and provision. William, the youngest, went on horseback to Holland, Mass., where he procured supplies, while the other two boys remained to build another cabin, enlarge the clearing, and make ready for the next year's work. Disaster only added zest to their enter- prise and spirit to their energy, and, though obliged to live on the roasted potatoes from the cabin cellar with no salt to give them flavor, they kept up their strength so that when William returned he found a new and better cabin all completed. The two older boys moved away, but William re- mained and became one of the largest farmers and most successful business men of the town. For many years he was the principal cattle-drover of this section. A man of integrity, respected by all who knew him, and lived to a good old age.

Noah Buffington was one of the early settlers of Columbia, coming here about 1797. With his brother, Cummins Buffington, he commenced a clear- ing on the farm now owned by Chauncey H. Fitts, and built the first frame- house in the town. His title to the land not proving good, he left in a few years. Noah Buffington was a Methodist minister, and undoubtedly the first one in this part of the county.

Philip Jordan .*- Among the earliest settlers of Columbia was Philip Jordan. The Learneds were here before him. "Uncle Phil," as he was called to the day of his death, came about the same time the Wallaces and Hobarts made their advent.

Mr. Jordan was born in Rehoboth, Mass., in 1748, and went to Rhode Island, where he married Miss Martha Hill and for a time resided. In 1780 he and his brother Benjamin, leaving their families behind, came to Plainfield, N. H., and took up the lot of land now known as the "Old Town Farm." On this they pitched their tent, felled several acres of trees, burned and cleared them off, built a log house, planted a partial crop, and then went down and brought their families to their primitive home. The brothers lived together until 1790, when, their household fast increasing, Philip, who had been first married and having the largest family, "swarmed," as it is termed, and with his wife and children started for Columbia. In this town he located on the lot on the river now occupied by David Cook as his homestead. There was only a bridle-path from Guildhall Falls to his new home. Thither, by boat or by pack-horse, he had to carry his corn and grain for several years to be ground. His child- ren were numerous and growing, and it was with no little difficulty that he could always find enough to fill their hungry mouths. One season the larder ran so low that he had to dig up the potato seed already planted to keep starvation from the door; soon berries came, and these, with the milk

*By Hon. C. B. Jordan.

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from their cow, helped to keep the family alive. "Uncle Phil." however, denying himself so long for the sake of his children, had grown weak for want of food, and a good deal discouraged, and had taken his couch one day fully convinced that he would never again be able to rise from it. This feeling had not long possessed him before one of the children. who had been down on the meadow berrying, came dashing in with the news that a bear was also among them picking berries. The old gentleman at once arose. took his cane, and grasping his trusty rifle, hobbled along in the direction pointed out by the child until he caught sight of old bruin, and then, nerved and sustained by the desperation of hunger and pros- pective starvation, he drew a bead upon the animal and laid him low. The bear proved to be a monster; well fattened by his summer explorations and incursions, and made glad the household until the earlier crops came to their relief. Mr. Jordan was a great hunter and trapper, and spent most of his winters (until old age and decrepitnde prevented), indulging his favorite pursuit. (Moose were plenty anywhere in his locality, and it is said that in one winter he killed seventeen within four miles of Colum- bia Valley. The best of the meat was kept and eaten fresh through the winter or dried for the sunumer. The skins were useful for chair-bottoms, snow shoe " filling," floor mats, and, when tanned, served to cover the children in their beds, while the moose's "shanks" were worn in place of boots and shoes.)

Mr. Jordan was always calm and self-possessed, let what would happen, and it was related of him by the late James Cogswell, another old hunter, that while " Uncle Phil " was out hunting one winter, after he had become old, heavy and clumsy, with his pack upon his back (into which was strapped his axe) and snow shoes on his feet, he undertook to pass over what appeared to be a knoll, but which really was a spruce top covered with deep snow. As the old fellow got about midway of the mound his snow shoes canted to one side, and down he went into the snow and brush clear to his arms, and had not sounded bottom then. His situation was perilous as well as ludicrous. He could neither get down nor up. His arms were so bound by the limbs of the tree that he could not get at his axe, and he vainly struggled to extricate himself. Mr. Cogswell happened to come that way, and, hearing some one talking, he supposed he was near a party of hunters. Looking for them he discovered " Uncle Phil's " head bobbing up and down in the snow, while the old man (as was his habit) kept up an incessant conversation with himself. At last, despairing of relief, he ceased his efforts and settled down to his apparent fate, saying, " Well, I swear, I guess dog-days will fetch old Phil out of this." Mr. Coggswell then made known his presence and helped the old hunter out. This was "Uncle Phil's " last trip into the woods unattended.

He and his good wife reared a large family of large children, John,

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Cynthia J., William, Benajah, Asa. Huldah, Nancy and Caleb. They were hardy and strong, and almost a race of giants. John early removed to Canada where he embarked in the business of buying and selling cattle and real estate, and rapidly grew rich. He died leaving a large family, and a competency for each. He was the ancestor of all the Jordans now in Eaton, Cookshire, Coaticook, and the adjoining towns in Canada. Asa died in Jefferson; Caleb in Colebrook; Nancy married a Mr. Frizzell, of Colebrook, and there lived and died. He left a large family, the youngest of whom is Mrs. Joseph Robinson, to whom the writer is indebted for dates, etc., for this sketch. Philip Jordan's wife died April 18. 1827, and he died July 6. 1836 Both were sincerely mourned as pioneers of the town and section : as good people, kind parents and friends who had seen much of the history of their country, passing through the birth. the infancy and wonderful growth of the Republic. The Revolutionary war and that of 1812 were matters of their observation, and now. having seen their country established on an enduring basis, this old couple laid themselves down among their friends and quietly fell into the "sleep that knows no waking."

Benjamin Jordan was born in Rehoboth, Mass., and when only a strip- ling enlisted in the Revolutionary war, and was one of the forty capturing Gen. Prescott, commander of the British forces on Rhode Island. May 18, 1780. he married Mary Walker, who was born in Coventry. R. I., and five months later they came to Plainfield, N. H., where they cleared up the Old Town Farm. "Aunt Molly " made annual horseback pilgrimages to her Rhode Island home for wool and things to keep the children warm. In 1816 they came to Jordan hill, in Columbia, which received its name from him. They had fourteen children. Benjamin and Molly made them a good farm. The government he had so faithfully served remembered him with a pension, and together they lived for sixty six years, when the husband passed on to the final reward of all toilers, patriots and Christians. The good wife remained until she lacked but five months of 100 full years, when she lay down at night to take her usual rest, and fell into a sleep from which the morning sun failed to awake. It was pleasant to talk with the old lady of the stirring times of the Revolution, the men she knew who took part in that war, of the War of 1812, the Dark Day, the cold season, and the thousand things and events of our early history which she kept vividly in mind.

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CHAPTER LXXXIV.

Mills-Pearlashes and Potash-Tanning and Shoe-making-Cloth Dressing-Potatoes, Distil- leries and Starch-Mills-Ferry and Toll Bridge-Merchants-Stores.

M ILLS. Etc .- In 1801 Charles Thompson built a grist and saw-mill on Sims's stream at the Valley, on the site now owned by Hazen Bedel. This was the commencement of the boom in business at that place, which, at one time, bade fair to make this town the center of business for this section, and warranted the proposition to make Columbia the county seat when Coos county was formed. Previons to the comple- tion of Thompson's mill, the settlers had to go to Lancaster for their mill- ing, and we can well conceive that the completion of this mill. with its "two runs of stones and a bolt," was an event to stir the placid flow of affairs into unwonted activity. This grist-mill retained a monopoly of business for some time. In 1819 Roswell Hobart, one of Columbia's fav- orite boys, built a small mill on Roaring brook, where the grist-mill of William W. Keach now stands. This mill was constructed to both grind grain and saw lumber, and was what would now be called "a cheap affair." The stones were quarried from a ledge in Brunswick, Vt. It was only a provender-mill, while the saw mill had an upright saw driven by a "flutter " wheel, with the carriage propelled by a "ray " wheel and carried back by a friction "gig " wheel. This style of mill was simple and unique, but, with all its complicated simplicity is rapidly becoming obsolete. These mills were common along all the small streams, and we stumble upon their remains on every considerable trout stream. There are the ruins of three mills built by the Osgoods for sawing lumber, further up Roaring brook; one on Cone brook back of John F. Locke's buildings, built by E. H. Ma- hurin about 1830, or even earlier, which both sawed lumber and made provender. A number of these mills on Sims's stream furnished lumber for the settlers of the east part of the town to build their large and con- venient farm-buildings and their long lines of fences. One of these, built by Merrill at the outlet of Fish pond, is still in use in a small way, although remodelled and furnished with a board-machine. One on Sims's stream, owned and operated by William Cleaveland, is now furnished with a board-machine, clapboard-mill, shingle-mill and other machinery, and has a provender-mill attached. The ruins of the first saw-mill built in East Columbia still remain, and are further up the stream than the Cleave- land mill. This mill was built by George and Samuel Marshall, and was known as the " Marshall mill." At the present time Col. Hazen Bedel owns a large saw and grist-mill, doing a considerable business, on the site

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of the old Thompson mill. Eaton & Sawyer have a large steam saw-mill on Roaring brook, capable of manufacturing over 30,000 feet of lumber a day. This mill was built by Edward H. Kingsley in 1868 as a water mill, but it was purchased in 1883 or '84 by its present owners, and steam power added.

In 1850 William Gilkey built a small, old-style saw-mill on Cone brook, which still does custom work for the neighborhood, although the old " up- and-down " saw has given place to a circular. The same year S. G. Bishop built a mill on Roaring brook, and put in a clapboard machine, one run of stones, and a bolt. This was the first clapboard machine in operation around here, and was quite an acquisition as well as a curiosity. The grist- mill, though a rude affair, was a great convenience to the community; but has since been supplanted by a more modern one, while the old one has fallen to decay. In 1851 Richard Hammond built a clapboard-mill in East Columbia, but it was abandoned long since.

Pearlashes and Potash .- Reference was made in a road survey of 1802 to " Larnard's pearlash," which was situated on the little brook at the north line of S. M. Harvey's farm. One of these establishments was indis- pensable in those days to the prosperity of every neighborhood, and Colum- bia had several, the largest and most important one being in operation as late as 1854. This stood on the west side of the highway close to the little stream that runs down the steep hill just above the hotel, and was last operated by Jotham Sawyer, who brought ashes down from all the north country, where he paid from six to ten cents a bushel for them. Here they were put into great tubs, leached, and the lye placed in large potash kettles set in arches, and the water evaporated, which left in the bottom of the kettles a great cake of dirty-brown matter, called " potash." These lumps were broken up, re leached, evaporated, and dried in brick ovens. produc- ing a whiter, purer grade of potash called "pearlash." In this concen- trated form the great forests of these valleys were, with much labor, turned into money by the hardy settlers, who, in the winter, conveyed the pearl- ash to Portland in their long-runnered, square, red boxed sleds, and came back laden with the necessaries of life, "rum," and some money. Almost the only products having a cash value even as late as 1830 or 1840 were potash and grass-seed.

Tanning and Shoe-making .- The first tannery in northern Coos was built by James Lewis at the Valley sometime previous to 1810, as we then find him taxed "two dollars for tan works." This was a small affair of four vats, located on the north bank of Sims's stream just west of the highway. Here the farmers from far and near brought their " hides " and had them tanned "on shares." Those were slow-going times; and a whole year was considered none too long for the hides to lie in the vat. Then the farmer took his half to the local shoe-maker, and had it worked up into service-

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History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 87

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