USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Goshen > History of Goshen, New Hampshire : settled, 1769, incorporated, 1791 > Part 10
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"First came General Thurber, next came Stephen Lang, Next came Deacon Chandler, next came Captain Rand."
The event that gave rise to the jingle has slipped away into oblivion. The style is reminiscent of some bygone militia-muster, perhaps, in the manner of Parmelee's valuable contribution, which is found in Hurd's "Newport," Sullivan County.
+Vital Records of Kingston, N. H., state that Josiah Judkins and Hannah Hunton were united in marriage, April, 1743. Ch .:
1. Anne, b. Feb. 19, 1751.
2. Philip, b. Aug. 29, 1754.
3. Judah, b. March 17, 1756.
4. Jonathan, b. Dec. 20, 1759.
5. Josiah (Jr.), b. Aug. 25, 1762.
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SIGNERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
evidently began their return, arriving piecemeal in Williamstown, Mass., on the 21st., in Pittsfield the 24th., and Sunday, the 26th., they marched over Hoosic Mountain. The following day they were in Worthington where they drew rations of salt meat and "then was Dismiss'd by Coll. Weltch in a rage .
Lieut. Col. Joseph Welch, the object of this reference, commanded a regi- ment of New Hampshire Volunteers under Brig. Gen. Whipple (S. P. Vol. 15, p. 388). His rage was entirely justified if expressed against the volunteer system then prevailing in the Colonial Army, wherein, by such short terms of service, a fighting army was scarcely more than assembled before it began to melt away. The men before him for dismissal, already homeward- bound, were merely symbols of the larger evil. No blame attached to them personally; they marched in answer to the call and Burgoyne's army had been taken; therefore, their object having been accomplished, they were needed at home: so they no doubt reasoned. If Lieut. Fitts deplored the volunteer system's inadequacy, his terse account gives no hint of it; he attempts neither justification nor excuse. Entering New Hampshire by way of Hollis and Merrimack, he crossed the river to Litchfield and Nov. 2nd., reached his home.
This account, coupled with the Diary of Capt. Peter Kimball, has been too long overlooked by students of Revolutionary activities in New Hampshire, giving as it does an index to the road taken by Gen. Stark, when he "went direct to Number Four." However, the most exhaustive research has failed to establish General Stark's actual route.
Even Howard P. Moore, author of the new and comprehen- sive "Life of John Stark," was unable to give a definite answer to the question. "Stark would hurry his horse, probably ac- companied by his brother-in-law, Ensign Caleb Page, the quick- est way to get to Charlestown," he wrote in January, 1952. There were two available routes, the Province Road and one passing through East Weare, Hillsboro and Washington .* In either case, Mr. Moore believed, Stark would have gone by way of Dunbarton, where his older brother William was then living.
Bearing directly upon this issue is a letter from Col. Seth Warner, dated at Manchester, Vt., July 20, 1777, (S. P. Vol. XI, p. 719) urging the necessity of immediate help: from what
*During the N. H. legislative session of 1949, Bradford's veteran Representative, Reuben S. Moore, sponsored a bill naming as "The John Stark Highway" the present main road from Manchester to Bradford, via Goffstown, Weare and Henniker, with continuation to Claremont on Route 103. It has been so marked at intervals with appropriate signs.
Mr. Moore expressly stated that his purpose was designed more to honor Gen. Stark than to locate the actual route over which he hurried in 1777. Yet there were many who wished that commemoration of the hero and historical accuracy could have been more solidly joined. In very few instances could this Highway as marked have possibly served the General in his passage to No. 4. The reasons for this have been seen.
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
they could learn from their scouts and captured prisoners, the enemy was at Castleton, about 4000 strong, supposed to march south that day, with cannon. Whereas, the troops he had "col- lected" did not exceed 500, and, unless he had speedy help, they would be obliged to retreat and leave the enemy "to possess a great part of what we have." The express bearing this letter was to alarm the inhabitants as he passed. Col. Daniel Moor received this message at Goffstown, July 23, from the hands of Richard Coughlan of Chesterfield and forwarded it at once in pursuit of Gen. Stark, "he being on his way to Charleston - No. 4." The wording does not fully indicate if Coughlan went on after Stark, or if another messenger was dispatched in his stead. Coughlan, in 1786, put in his bill "To carrying the within men- tioned Express, for myself and Horse & Notifying the Militia 5 days @ 18 pr Day."
Col. Warner's ominous note that the enemy was advancing "with cannon," highlights Stark's own lack of it. At Bennington, "as at Bunker Hill, Stark was without artillery, without bayonets, and at best, with limited ammunition."* Baum had two brass field-pieces.
Upon arrival at No. 4, Stark found there "four pieces of small cannon that look good, (his own words) but want to be cleared out and put on carriages." If the Committee of Safety thought proper, he added in his report of July 30, 1777, he would order the work done as there were men available who claimed they could do it .; However, the pressure of immediate battle did not allow these somewhat lengthy repairs to be made and he went on without them, as we know.
Capt. Clough's cannon at Salisbury had been ordered sent to Lieut. Samuel Atkinson, July 20, 1776, same to be forwarded by him to Coos .¿ This disposal of known field-pieces in northern New Hampshire would, therefore, preclude the probability that cannon were transported over the "military road."
*Address, "Gen. John Stark," p. 30, by Mr. Hibbard Richter, Boston.
+Moore's "Stark," p. 272.
#Laws of N. H., Vol. 4, p. 620.
CHAPTER IX
Old Roads
The "County Road" - The Croydon Turnpike
TO properly denote the location of old highways and ex- plain why they so ran, it will be necessary to refer to the Province Road already described in another chapter. The con- necting road from the Connecticut River at Cornish has also been noted, and that from Kelleyville, over Page Hill. These came in from the northwest and west and there was one other, midway, from the Nutting district at South Sunapee. Climbing steeply up, it joined the Province Road near the old Libbey place and was known as the Commons Road; it has been un- used for fifty years.
Of the roads leading southerly, the one of first importance began on the Province Road at Daniel Grindle's and, ranging to the east the width of one tier of lots from the old Newport- Saville line, bore nearly due south past the pioneer cabin of Dea. Parker Tandy. It may be assumed a continuation, somewhat off- set, it is true, of the old Commons road, for the same general trend was reflected in parallelling Saville's west boundary. At the present Michaelson place, however, it swung westerly, to avoid a swamp that lay due ahead, and in so doing overlapped the boundary-line. This offset carried the road to the hilltop at Goshen Center where the old meeting-house was later placed and thence past the cemetery to the Four Corners. From the Four Corners the road led up over Willey Hill and down its farther side into Lempster, passing through the one-time Thomp- son, Hodgman and Nichols neighborhoods to join the Second N. H. Turnpike on the mountain, east of East Lempster. Mill Village lay in the river-valley to the west of this highway and was served by two roads, one branching off near the Michaelson place and leading down to the old Smith farm, long owned by Hiram Sholes. Three log-cabins were situated along this road
112
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
in earlier days, two of which are definitely located, in addition to the old Miller place, on high land immediately west of the Michaelson's, where a barn was standing until 1895. The other access road to the Village began on the meeting-house hill at the Center and struck northerly down-grade into woodland. Both these old roads were used for generations after their abandon- ment, as "cross cut" routes by boys at the Center.
From the Province Road, the second southerly road turned at the cemetery at North Goshen, much as does the black-top high- way now, but kept slightly to the east, climbing higher on the hillside to again join the present improved roadway near the cellar-hole of the old Benjamin F. Lear place. Where the black- top makes a sharp turn below, at the Merrigan place, the old road can still be found, continuing southerly along the base of the mountain to the Meserve place, last occupied prior to 1900 by Benjamin and Joseph Grace, where it turned west to come up over the hills into Goshen Center. At the meeting-house com- mon this road joined the first.
Rapidly in succession other roads crossed and inter-crossed these basic outlets, as need indicated. The mountain-road was continued southerly from the Grace place, giving access to Lem- uel Blood's high acres as well as to the Baker, Stearns, Bradford and White farms. Town records are replete with proposed sur- veys of new roads, although the use of family-names so long departed makes recognition difficult even for the historian. To the casual reader their repetition can mean little and will, there- fore, be largely omitted, with but a few samples, such as the following:
In September, 1784, a committee consisting of Daniel Sher- burne, George W. Lear and Robert Young, certified that,
"Beginning at the South East corner of Lieut. William Lang's lot of land he now lives on, thence running North 10 degrees East to the Province Road so called - With the assistance of Zeph. Clark, as Surveyor, (we) have laid out a highway the whole length of said line, extending two rods wide easterly of said line. The above work was completed on the 21st. day of September."
(Not a vestige of such a road remains and it is highly improbable that it was ever built. A swamp intervened. The phrase "the work was com- pleted," obviously refers to the survey only).
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"Nov. 2, 1840, at a town meeting held at the old town meeting- house in Goshen:
Voted, the selectmen be empowered to make a survey of the contemplated Road beginning at the Bridge north of Oliver Booth's up the Brook by Thomas Foss, to intersect the highway leading by Wm. W. Pike's."
(This was a portion of what is now the Brook Road. No action was taken). "March 9, 1841.
Article 11: To see if the town will lay a road from Levi Trow's yellow house by L. Bradford's house to intersect the road by Daniel L. Stearns and David Baker's house."
(This article was passed over. Apparently this was the road leading from Dr. John Herndon's at the Corner, easterly toward the mountain).
The County Road
A system which had been in effect since 1788, or before (ref- erence being had to the County Road from Grantham to Keene, by way of Croydon, Newport, Unity, Lempster, etc.), was not imposed upon the town of Goshen until 1803. In the preceding September a committee, consisting of Thomas Chase, Moody Dustin and Ezra Jones, had been appointed by the Court of General Sessions to lay out a road to Washington. At the April term, 1803, these men reported that they had laid out such a road, "beginning at Newport meeting-house and continuing on the old road to a certain point 40 rods south of Major Stevens' house, then south 11 deg. east 60 rods, thence crossing the old road, etc .... thence south 42 deg. east 100 rods to the old road, to a hemlock tree on the south side of the road on Col. Calfe's land in Goshen, thence south . .. to Capt. Emerson's house at the corner of the roads in Goshen, thence south 49 deg. east until it intersects the road leading to John McCrillis, thence on sd. road to Seth Lewis, thence south 30 deg. west 80 rods to an ash tree standing on Goshen south line ... "
The matter was brought before a meeting of the town on Nov. 8, 1803, when it was voted "to raise $120.00 to lay out on the County Road, under supervision of the Selectmen." This was but a pittance of the sum required to build a road worthy of the title and must have been quickly absorbed, as was indicated by articles in the warrant for a town-meeting called Feb. 8, 1804:
"Article 9: To see if the Town will raise money for the clearing and re- pairing of the County Road.
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
Article 15: To see if the Town will exchange the old road through Capt. Emerson's land for the County Road.
These allusions to roadside trees and an "old road" afford little basis for proper identification beyond proving that roads of a sort were already in existence. To illustrate this point it may be well to observe that Wadleigh's map, which was based upon original surveys, shows close spacing of narrow lots along the high benchland from the old Babb or Sawyer* place in the hol- low at the Washington-Goshen line, northerly, suggesting a plan- ned village-site, comparable in elevation to Washington village itself. Such an arrangement would have been warranted only if provided access by a road. Allen Willey, one of the foremost men of his day, chose this location in which to make his home. Wadleigh shows the "Turnpike," properly labeled, for his map is dated 1837, but there is every reason to believe that it was superimposed upon an older course. In mid-June 1797, a survey was made, presumably resulting from action of the previous year, e.g., July 30, 1796, an article was inserted in the Goshen town- warrant, "to see if the Town will accept of the Road, Newport to Washington, as laid out by a committee for that purpose." This June survey gives compass-readings, as follows:
"Beginning at the Curve Line where it crosses the range-line at the West end of Seth Lewis' Land, thence N 10 Deg. East (on the exact course of the range-line. Ed.) 180 Rods, thence North 72 Rods, thence North 16 Deg. West 112 Rods, thence North 26 Deg. West 26 Rods, thence West 19 Rods to the main road 3 Rods South of Emerson's house.
The above road ordered upon record by
Benjm. Willey Edward Dame Parker Tande (dy)
Selectmen."
The point of conjunction of the two ancient lines, the great Curve of Mason's and the Saville range-line, varies so widely upon different maps as to be of little use here. The distance covered was but 409 rods, or slightly less than one-and-a-fourth miles. Wadleigh places Seth Lewis just south of (above) the old - John McCrillis location on the mountainside toward Washing- ton. This corresponds with local tradition regarding the cellar-
*From this house, which was standing within the memory of those now living and sur- rounded by notable maples, a highway led down between double walls, past the Shedd farm to the old Thompson place.
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OLD ROADS
hole found back of the watering-trough which for many years refreshed weary horses with its sweet water.
Capt. Hezekiah Emerson, mentioned in the preceeding tran- scripts as living "at the corner of the roads," i.e., the John Chan- dler-Lovell Baker road and the Turnpike, the "main road"?, was killed by a falling tree, Oct. 6, 1806, allegedly while working on the Turnpike.
A comparison of dates shows that even while money was be- ing expended, cautiously withal, upon the prospective county road, negotiations were actively proceeding in advancing the Turnpike. At a town-meeting Aug. 4, 1804, Goshen citizens voted to subscribe to thirty shares of Turnpike stock, at $10. a share, "if it would be built through the town."
The forthright methods of the Turnpike's promoters promptly put all other schemes in the background. Years later (1822) Seth Chellis, as chairman of the Board of Selectmen, voiced pop- ular opinion in an appeal to the County Court, stating "that a road, or highway, was laid out by order of the Court through the town of Goshen, commencing near the N. West corner of said town of Goshen on the East side of Sugar River & running S. Easterly thru said town to Washington, leaving said Goshen near the dwelling-house of Mark Peasley in Goshen. That said road never was made & has become wholly unnecessary by reason of the Croydon Turnpike which commences its course in said Goshen within about 6 to 8 rods of said county road & runs parallel with and crosses said road a number of times & leaves the town of Goshen within 70 or 80 rods of said county road. By reason of which the county road is and ever will be entirely unnecessary. They further show that the inhabitants of Goshen at a legal town-meeting voted that the Selectmen petition the County Court to relinquish said road ... that it may be thrown up & discontinued." The petition was granted. "Esquare" Hub- bard Newton of Newport was paid $3 for his services in the case.
The same line of action had been taken, but with greater ex- pedition, by the town of Washington, in 1806, on identical grounds; that soon after the acceptance of the county road, a turnpike road was granted and laid out in the same situation,
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
"on or near the county road," and was then in "great Forward- ness" (Sessions Laws, Cheshire County, Keene).
The Croydon Turnpike
The Croydon Turnpike Corporation was incorporated June 21, 1804. The road was built at a cost of $35,048.00, covering a distance of thirty-five miles. It extended from Lebanon, through the towns of Enfield, Grantham, Croydon, Newport and Goshen practically upon the course of present Route. 10. At the Hi-Way Cabins in Goshen, however, the turnpike continued over the mountain (now Route 31), to connect at Washington village with the Second N. H. Turnpike (built 1800), which made it undoubtedly the most direct route from the upper Connecticut River valley to Boston.
Out of the past comes the personal recollections of Alfred Booth, then a young man residing on the mountain turnpike. It was a matter of pride that he worked on the great project. Day after day the construction crew, comprising men and the proportionate number of ox-teams, pushed along, ditching, widening, filling. Marshes were "corduroyed" with logs laid closely together, side by side. One day Mr. Booth and a com- panion shoveled, carted and dumped sixty-ox-cart loads of earth onto a stretch of corduroyed roadway in the ten hours then constituting a day's work. Shovelers were not permitted to swing their loaded shovels back to speed the upward throw; the shovel had to be projected straight toward the cart from the bank - the saving of a fraction of a minute repeated many fold.
The turnpike was not completed until 1806. It brought a measure of prosperity to the hamlets through which it passed hitherto unknown. Stockholders in the enterprise fared less well, to judge by the statement of Rev. Baron Stow, noted Croydon divine:
"The only public work of those days was the Croydon Turnpike, and I remember how the share-holders, many of whom worked out their sub- scriptions to the stock by building each a section of the road, and who were promised large dividends, received their income mostly in the shape of assessments for repairs and the support of Turnpike gates." (Croydon Centennial, 1866.)
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OLD ROADS
Obviously, toll-gates were established along the course of the turnpike to produce revenue, rather than deficits.
Tolls stipulated in the articles of incorporation were:
For every ten sheep or swine, 1/2 cent
For every ten cattle or horses, 1 cent
For every horse and rider, or led horse, 1 cent
For every Sulky, Chair, or Chaise with one horse and two wheels, 2 cents For every Chariot, Coach, Stage, Waggon, Phaeton or Chaise with
two horses and four wheels, 3 cents
For either of the carriages last mentioned, with 4 horses, 4 cents
For every carriage of pleasure, the like sums, according to the number of wheels and horses drawing same.
For carts and vehicles of burden, however, the above charges were cut in half and whenever the toll-gatherer was absent from his post the gates were to be left open. No toll was to be de- manded of those passing to or from public worship, nor from teams or cattle to and from any mill, or on the common or ordinary business of family concerns within each respective town; and the militia were to have liberty to pass and repass the turn- pike-gates on muster-days.
It was further enacted that no toll-gates could be set up until the sum of $600 per mile had been expended in labor, "or a proportionate sum upon the whole number of miles, reckoning from the Fourth Turnpike Road (at Lebanon) to the place where the same may terminate." Nor should the corporation erect any gates upon any stretch of road taken over by it which was then being used as a public highway. (N .H. Laws, Vol. 7, p. 308-9) The latter provision was conveniently ignored and a turnpike-gate placed on the hill above the old Allen tavern in Newport, although as we have seen, this was unquestionably a road built in 1779. Local traffic was largely concerned with this gate and for that reason its barricade of the "open road" was most resented. By 1830 this gate had been moved south into Goshen proper, at the E. S. Robinson place, recently purchased by K. Purnell, then occupied by Daniel Emerson. The toll-gate keeper, despite his critics, was a man of importance in the com- munity. Offered appointment to the post, Mr. Emerson accepted and maintained the position as long as the turnpike corporation functioned.
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
As an object to be spited and wrecked the turnpike-gate was highly attractive to pranksters. The posts on which the gates swung were frequently bored off at night - the auger making less noise than a saw - and carried away bodily; more often was the obstructing pole thrown down by indignant travelers. It is said, even, that in the last years of its existence many light teams went up around by the Newton road and down Lear hill to the mill-bridge to avoid paying toll.
Every autumn the traffic in produce set in, bound for Boston markets both to sell and buy. Soon the date for starting became generally established and as the time drew near teams began their journey southward, picking up others at every branch road until a string of twenty four-to-eight horse hitches might have collected before reaching Goshen.
In 1838, Goshen, acting with the other towns concerned, re- voked the franchise of the turnpike corporation because of its sad state of disrepair and the width of roadway was reduced from four rods to two.
Bradford Road
Henry Chandler's attempt to build a toll-road over Sunapee Mountain to Bradford was a visionary undertaking, resources considered. It was ten years before the extension of the railroad to Claremont Junction, or early in 1860, when Bradford was the nearest railway station, and if completed, the road would have saved many miles travel for Goshen and Lempster producers.
A road to the Lemuel Blood place had been built and main- tained by the town and from this point Mr. Chandler began his mountain-highway. Beyond the Blood house the road turned down a short slope to a farm-bridge that was topped with large, flat covering-stones, still an object of admiration to the hunter who passes that way.
Mr. Chandler could not have been a wealthy man by any means and presumably had to apply the larger share of his time to means of livelihood. His road-building must therefore have been undertaken in periods when other work was slack. Contemporaries agree that he was engaged upon the project for years, unable to interest capital for its speedier completion.
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OLD ROADS
Sometimes he hired two or three assistants, but more often worked alone. His road can still be seen, terraced across the mountainside, always climbing, half-way or more to the sum- mit. When the railroad finally came through that marvel of its day, the Newbury "Cut," his labors and the money he could ill spare went for naught, unless the mineralogical lore that he had obtained from his prospecting and blasting could be deemed an asset of some value. His neighbors gave admiring deference to this knowledge, but so far as known, he did not profit by it in a financial way, though believed to know the location of a deposit of true lead, or galena; persistence, possibly, of the old legend.
1799, Town Records:
"By reason of the great Rains three of the Bridges are Carried off and Traveling entirely impeded and obstructed, we think it expedient and in- cumbent for us to Assess or Levy a Tax on the Town of Goshen of Eighty Dollars for the purpose of making the Bridges anew and repairing the Damages done the Highways . .. The Surveyors (are given) express orders to call upon the Inhabitants forthwith to build said Bridges and repair said Highways, allowing Fifty cents per day for a good day's labor and thirty- three cents for a yoke of Oxen per day."
That portion of the Province Road leading up from the li- brary, past the chimney rock and the row of splendid, old maples, was discontinued about 1860 and the right-of-way was bid off at auction by Parker Richardson, Sr., who owned land adjoining it. Sam Bailey of Sunapee laid the abutments of the high bridge below Chas. S. Abbott's, on the new road, by con- tract with Vinal Gunnison.
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