USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Goshen > History of Goshen, New Hampshire : settled, 1769, incorporated, 1791 > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
The cure worked. Actually half-drowned, choking and strang- ling, the woman decided to try life and the overcoming of her difficulties rather than death, and back the two women went to take up again their humdrum duties - or is life ever really humdrum?
Then there was the dissolute neighbor who leered in at her door one day; his reputation was known to everybody. Aunt Grindle caught up an axe from a convenient corner, saying decisively, "I keep this handy and I keep it sharp!" The hint was taken and her unwelcome caller vanished.
87
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
So the stories multiply, with rarely a reference to her hus- band. Yet their only daughter, Mary (Burnham) Brown, so cherished a kind father's memory that she named her youngest child for him, Daniel Grindle Brown.
Mary was born 1785. She married, first, Samuel Clarke Burn- ham, by whom she had two children, Polly and Samuel; married, second, Sept. 8, 1813, William Wilson Brown of Newport and had two more children, William and Daniel G. Local records give the marriage, Sept. 24, 1840, of Daniel G. Brown and Miss Mary E. Maxfield, dau. of David C. and Thankful (Cutts) Max- field, all of Goshen. A son of the Brown's, Hon. Calvin Luther Brown, of St. Paul, Minn., became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota.
There was tragedy a-plenty in Mary's life, for she was again bereaved; William Wilson Brown died, it is believed, in June, 1819. But Mary raised up a son to be a Congregational minister and heard him preach for many years at Goshen Corners, Rev. Samuel C. Burnham. In 1839 he was the officiating clergyman at the funeral of Mrs. Temperance (Dickinson) Rand and it is known that Aunt Elizabeth Grindle, active centenarian, passed her last years at the home of her daughter in the minister's fam- ily. This was the house at Goshen Corners, just beyond the schoolhouse, known best as the Emery, or Whitney place, now owned by H. H. Wex. The Rev. Burnham married, 1834, Miss Roxena Rowell of Goshen.
Aunt Betty Grindle died as she had lived, a thorough-going Christian, full of years, June 22, 1849. The graves of the Grindle family are unmarked and unknown with certainty. An old burying-ground is known to exist near their home-farm, south- west from the former H. P. Morey house, in a roadside plot among scrubby trees. The cemetery at Goshen Corners must also be considered, for her brother Parker is buried there.
The old home on the Great Road has, like their graves, long since vanished into the rising brush of pastureland where over the mound wild roses grow.
88
EARLY FAMILIES
A newspaper-clipping of 1929 noted the 80th anniversary of Elizabeth Grindle as follows:
"'Why is Mrs. Grindle's memory preserved 80 years after her death? you ask.
Not because she lived to an age of a few months more than 104 years - other spry old New England folk have attained greater age.
But Mrs. Grindle, in her last days, was one of SIX living generations in her family. She was the living great-great-great grandmother of a living child."
LANG
William1 Lang, the pioneer, established his dwelling at the southern tip of his property, near the Gunnison Brook, or "Wendell's Mill Stream" as it is called in an early deed, thus availing himself of superior tillage-land, the excellent quality of which is still manifest. The small, low, one-story house that used to stand a few rods northwest of George C. Gregg's build- ings, disappeared more than fifty years ago, though a small barn still remains west of the house-spot, now owned by Geo. B. Bartlett, Jr. South of the brook the land extended up a clayey hillside to adjoin the clearing of Daniel Sherburne. A family connection between the two men seems to have existed. From this same hillside-clay later generations of Langs made bricks for many years, producing a maximum of 200,000 annually.
BRICKS FOR SALE.
55,000 GOOD BRICKS For sale at the yard of the subscriber in Goshen, at the low price of $2.50 cents per thousand. Corn, Rye, Oats, Hay, Butter, Cheese, Poultry, Pork, or almost any produce will be taken as payment.
Also a large quantity of jamb brick and tile.
WILLIAM LANG.
Goshen, Oct. 22, 1831. 43
- The N. H. Spectator
It was to become a self-sustaining community, with brick- yards, saw-mills, grist-mills, carding and fulling-mill, tanyards, shoemakers, cabinet-makers, even coffin-makers. With sugar made
89
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
from their own maple trees, hides of their own raising and cur- ing, clothes cut out and made by local tailors, stockings and mittens knitted by hand, there were few needs unsupplied.
In advanced age the elder Lang became mentally deranged, so violent, in fact, that he had to be kept in close confinement within the house. Food was slipped through a small, tightly- shuttered window and straw for a bed pushed in by the same aperture, as though for an animal. Mrs. Lang had no recourse other than to appeal for town-aid. In 1811, following local custom, Robert Lear bid off the destitute couple at Vendue, agreeing to support them one year for $79.00. The whole pro- cedure sounds extremely harsh at this time, yet it was pointed out to the writer by the late Orra S. Lear, a lifelong friend, that in many cases the people most solicitous for the welfare of un- fortunate relatives or neighbors would make the lowest bid at vendue sale, not in exploitation, but in kindliness and com- passion.
Note.
March 10, 1812, "Voted to set up Widow William Lang at Vendue to be bid off by the lowest bidder (who is) to have use of cow, furniture and land occupied by the late William Lang . .. Samuel Humphrey bid her off for 32 cts. per week, for a year if she lives so long." (Town records)
The death of the old Indian War veteran was announced in the "Patriot" of March 7, 1812, at the age of eighty-two. He was undoubtedly laid to rest in the small neighborhood burying- ground on the farm of the late H. P. Morey. There is reason to believe that the untimely death of their son William2 deprived them of filial care, yet there were other children,* who were apparently unable, for undisclosed reasons, to come to their aid. Children of William1 and Elizabeth (Rand) Lang, baptis- mal records, South Church, Portsmouth:
i Elizabeth, Sept. 13, 1752, d. in infancy.
ii Lucy, July 18, 1754, mar. Dec. 25, 1773, Samuel Smith.
iii William, bapt. 1756, Lieut. (see p. 31)
iv Jane, b. (family records) March 2, 1759, bapt. (So. Ch.) July 9, 1758; married 1779, William O. Bowler of Palermo, Me., a British soldier in Gen. Burgoyne's army, born in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghim County, England, in 1757; d. in Indiana, 1835; 6 ch.
*The Lang Family, Howard P. Moore, 1935.
90
EARLY FAMILIES
v Margaret, bapt. Dec. 7, 1760.
vi Stephen, bapt. Feb. 15, 1765; res. Wendell 1790 census, self and wife?
vii Elizabeth, bapt. Mar. 2, 1767.
A daughter, Mary Lang, omitted in the above list by Moore, appears in N. H. Rev. War Pension Records, as the wife of Samuel Sischo; married in Unity (?) April 15, 1782, by Charles Huntoon, Justice of the Peace; marriage certified by Hial Bartlett, Town Clerk of Unity. July 6, 1839, Mary, then seventy-five years of age, testified that in 1777 she lived at Saville, and re- membered that in the spring of that year Daniel Grindle, a near neighbor, left home for the army and "left the care of his family and farm with my father and did not return until late in the fall." Her inclusion of a "family" for Grindle is puzzling, as no other like suggestion is to be found. Samuel Sischo (or Sisco), Rev. War pensioner, credited with three years service in the New Hampshire Line under Capt. Farwell, Col. Cilley, Gen. Poor's Brigade, died at Goshen, Oct. 18, 1841, and Mary his wife died March 10, 1842, leaving three children: Samuel, b. 1785-6; PHEBE, wife of Stephen Scranton (for- ward); and Rebecca, who at age of seventeen was described "lame," wife of Arial Cutts.
PHEBE SISCHO, dau. of Samuel and Mary (Lang) Sischo, m. Stephen Scranton, b. Nov. 12, 1762-3, who entered the army sometime in 1780 and "was gone about four years,"+ during which time he contracted that scourge of Revolutionary army-camps, small-pox, and was ever after "lame in his right arm" from its effects. In 1820, his wife Phebe was thirty-nine years of age and their children were:
Phebe Scranton, 12 yrs. of age.
Mary Scranton, 10 yrs. of age.
Nancy Scranton, 8 yrs. of age. Hannah P. Scranton, 5 yrs. of age.
Stephen Scranton, 2 yrs. of age.
Recognition of Parsons' belief that William1 had brothers, John and Benjamin (see p. 30), explains the appearance in Goshen of a William Lang somewhat removed in kinship from the pioneer William, a point made clear by the genealogist Har- don, which local sources of information had failed to denote:
"WILLIAM5 Lang (Benjamin,4 Benjamin,3 William,2 John1) of Gorham, 1821, Goshen, 1828, Nashua, 1851, farmer, merchant, born at Candia 19 Dec. 1797, died at Goshen, 1860. He married Ist., 1820, Elizabeth Rand (?), who was born at Goshen and died at Lowell, Mass., and secondly, at Methuen, Mass., Nancy Lee, b. 1798.
Children, all by first wife, the first four born at Gorham, the others at Goshen (town records):
i Elizabeth, b. 13 May 1821; d. at Cambridgeport, Mass., 23 July 1907; m. at Lowell, Mass., 15 Oct. 1848 (town records) William F. Hobbs, s. of David
+Deposition of Aaron Nettleton of Newport, 1818.
91
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
and Lydia ( ), of Lowell, Mass., and Cambridgeport, Mass., clergyman, watchmaker, b. at Londonderry 31 Jan. 1824, d. at Worcester, Mass., 8 March 1905. Two children: William,7 d. unm., Elizabeth, d. in infancy.
ii Cyrus, b. 19 Oct. 1823; d. unm.
iii William, b. 27 July, 1825; d. unm. at Concord, 1847.
iv Fidelia, b. 27 Oct. 1826.
v Benjamin, b. died, aged 17 years.
vi Rosina, d. in infancy.
vii Rosilla, b. 1832; d. unm. at Unity 29 Jan. 1895.
viii Samuel, of Hubbardston, Mass., 1859, machinist, b. 3 Dec., 1833; d. at Fitchburg, Mass., 4 Apr. 1888; m. 1864, Clara S. Parkhurst, dau. of Alex- ander and Eunice (Johnson) Parkhurst. Only child b. at Fitchburg, Mass., William H., b. May 7, 1869; d. 1910; m. 1890, Ida B. Burnap."
ix Sylvia Jane, b. 25 Feb., 1836; d. at New London 6 Oct., 1903; m. 31 Dec. 1865, MOSES MESSER, son of Isaac and Thirzah (Hurd) Messer, of Goshen and New London, farmer, b. at Goshen 26 May 1846, d. 2 Sept. 1912: Children, born at Goshen.
1. Emma J., b. 29 Dec. 1867; m. (1) at New London 5 March 1887, Everett H. Messer, adopted son of Joseph H. and Judith S. (Whittier) Messer of N. L., farmer, b. at Candia 1 Aug. 1 Aug. 1867, d. m. (2nd) Rufus E. Lamson.
2. Harvey Almon, d. young.
ISAAC MESSER, son of Thomas of Wilmot, m. (1) Thirza, dau. of Peter and Mary (Atwood) Hurd of Newport, and res. in Wilmot, Sunapee, Goshen and New London; m (2) Mrs. Lydia Rothwell. Children:
1. Jane. m. Andrew J. Cutts.
2. Nathanial P., m. Caroline Merrill.
3. Amanda F. m. Geo. K. Greeley.
4. Elisha H. unm., res. Newbury.
5. Moses, m. Sylvia J. Lang, dau. of Williams Lang, a brickmaker of Goshen. He was a man of reserved temperament and thrifty habits and acquired a snug property with the aid of his provident wife .*
6. Harvey H., m. Louise Whittaker and resided in Goshen practically all his life on the farm now owned by Stanley Williamson, overlooking the Sunapee basin. It was one of, the show places of the town, with a wind- mill on a tall, steel tower, for pumping water to his buildings. Harvey Messer was one of Goshen's best citizens, a vigorous and highly-successful farmer, of tall and erect carriage, always meticulous in his personal ap- pearance.
7. Alvin I., m. and res. in Milford.
*Hist. of New London, Myra Lord, p. 506.
92
EARLY FAMILIES
JONATHAN5 LANG (Benjamin,4 (Benpamin,3 William,2 John1) of Goshen, 1819, and Gorham, farmer, b. at Candia 10 Apr. 1791; died 8 Jan. 1830. He had a wife Temperance.
Children (recorded at Gorham, town records);
i Irene, b. 7 May 1815, m. Haskell Walker of Unity, son of Andrew Walker, who was b. in Londonderry, Ireland.
ii Hannah, b. 4 July 1820, m. Solomon Walker, bro. of Haskell; son Ira, b. 1851
iii Ira Weston, b. 19 Oct. 1824.
ILL HEALTH AND DEATH OF AMOS HALL. SALE OF HIS MILLS
Amos Hall was one of the earliest settlers of Newport, a deed dated 1770, recording the purchase by him from Ezra Parmelee of a "fifty acre lot, No. 6, in the East range of Lots that was laid out for the first settlers, beginning at a hemlock tree marked by the highway." He emigrated from Stonington, Conn., wife Jemima Carter. Historian Wheeler gives the names of their children as Ezra, Uriah and Reuben, and that of the fourth child, Sarah, b. 1777, must be added. Elected town-clerk at the first town-meeting held in Newport, 1769, he was also honored by election twice to the office of selectman. In these records he is Amos Hall, Jr.
In military service 1 mo. 16 days, in Col. Benjamin Bellows' Regiment, sent to reinforce the Northern Continental Army at Ticonderoga, he was rated a sergeant at his discharge June 21, 1777. He also served 3 mos. 16 days in Capt. Peter Page's Co., for the defense of West Point.
Yet, in spite of the hardships imposed by war, Parmelee gives a delightful picture of the times. He writes: "Another wedding occurred at a very early period - Feb. 19, 1777 - that of Jona- than Brown and Sarah Emery at the house of Amos Hall, on the South road, near the Unity line. All the people in the town were invited. The turnouts on this occasion consisted of two one-horse cutters and twenty-four ox-sleds. The prancing bo- vines were hawed and geed through the snowdrifts up to the front door to deposit and receive the wedding-guests." It is not too great a strain upon the imagination to infer that the child born to the Halls that year of the wedding received the name of
93
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
Sarah in honor of the bride, Sarah Emery Brown. Jonathan Brown was a native of Boscawen; died July 26, 1817. She died Apr. 17, 1836.
In justice to the old residents whose veracity may seem to have been previously questioned, Capt. Hall undoubtedly made extensive repairs to the dam, flumes, and to the mills themselves, giving rise to the belief that he built them. No doubt, with some remodeling, the dwelling-house became Capt. Hall's tavern. The first license was granted him Feb. 9, 1793, "to sell or retail spiritous liquors of all kinds, by the larger or smaller quantity, for one year." He was appointed Taverner in the early spring of 1795.
The tavern stood on the present site of Faughnan's Lyn-Brook Lodge, which, by the way, is a far more beautiful hostelry than the old could possibly have been. The old tavern was described as a low, one-storied structure, with a long shed or barn at the rear.
Concerning the children, Reuben Hall studied medicine with Dr. Shaw of Unity and began practise in Goshen, where he married a Miss Willey. In reciprocity, Sarah Hall married, about 1796, Reuben Willey, son of David Willey of Goshen.
Amos Hall had given twenty of the best years of his life to Newport. Now, too soon after his transfer to Goshen and the ambitious development of his various enterprises here, the span of his days became shortened. He was only fifty-seven. No record exists as to the nature of his malady, but it is evident that its gravity became known to him.
By deed dated Dec. 1, 1796, the tavern and mill-property were sold to Tristam Sanborn of Deerfield, N. H., for the sum of $1,000., Amos Hall signing over the signature "Martha Hall," through which a pen-line was drawn. The transfer was witnessed by Allen Willey, who presumably made out the writings, and by John Hall. It was "the House, Saw Mill, Grist Mill, together with all the buildings on said premises." Joseph Huntoon's corner was one of the bounds mentioned and Samuel Chase's land adjoined.
On a gravestone in the old Pine Street cemetery, Newport, standing in 1903, the inscription stated that Amos Hall's death
94
EARLY FAMILIES
occurred Oct. 14, 1796. Reconciliation of this date with the signing of the mill-deed, Dec. 1, is rendered difficult.
Of a later generation, Ransom John Hall was born in Goshen, Nov. 14, 1842, son of Luther and Elizabeth (Russell) Hall; m. Henrietta Abbott. Children: Willis A., of Garden Home, Ore- gon; Grover C., of Barre, Vt., and Walter S., of Claremont. Had a brother, Clark Hall, of Union City, Mich.
SAMUEL GUNNISON AND HIS KIN
Into that portion of Saville, south of the Great Road, that was to be later included in Goshen, there early came a family that astounds one by its persistent, vital energy and industry, its mental capabilities, its knack at leadership, which gave to many generations a bright romance of achievement and color, regardless of the vocations embraced. Clergymen, soldiers, teach- ers, lawyers - a creditable array, march across the pages of history, not of Goshen, nor of New Hampshire alone, but of the American nation. Such being the importance of Samuel Gunnison's coming to Goshen, the date of his arrival should be accurately placed.
1. Samuel* (Jos.,4 Elihu,2 Hugh1) Gunnison was born in Kittery, Maine, Jan. 27, 1720-1, a carpenter by trade. He mar- ried there Jane Fernald, 1745, and in 1749 moved to Halifax, N. S., where within about a year, wife and second child both
*A Genealogy of the Descendants of Hugh Gunnison, compiled by Geo. W. Gunnison, A.M., 222 pps., 41/4x6", pub. Boston, 1880.
The author says, p. 80, "In 1850, I saw both Ephraim Gunnison (son of Capt. Samuel) and his wife enjoying a vigorous old age at the house of their son Vinal, in Goshen." What a golden opportunity for establishing facts concerning the history of the town, one must comment.
In his preface, Mr. Gunnison states: "During my childhood, my parents at Erie, Pa., were frequently visited by relatives from their Eastern home, which they left in 1815, to settle the (then) Far West. On these occasions, family matters would be the ever fruitful and ever interesting theme of conversation. The few facts communicated to my juvenile mind, and the glowing earnestness of my father, (Ebenezer D.) in rehearsing these facts, and the possibility that perhaps I might, myself, visit the scenes of that early history, Jaid the foundation for the settled determination on my part to collect all the facts within my reach, and write a book about the Gunnison family. * *
"In October, 1846, I visited New England for the first time. Subsequently, I spent the summer of 1848 in visiting my relatives in New England, and in collecting the materials for this book. I saw a number of very old persons, who have since passed away. From them I absorbed all kinds of information, and have classified and arranged it as best I could. While thus engaged, Lieut. John W. Gunnison of the United States Army, was so kind as to send me all the facts of the early settlers of our name, which he had accumulated. He had purposed to write the book himself, but as he found that I had gathered more material than he, the whole was relinquished to my hands. The book should have made its appearance soon after 1848, but I had not the means or leisure to publish it * * "
95
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
died. He returned to Kittery and May 3, 1752, married for his second wife his first wife's second cousin, Alice Fernald, and in 1765 - so claimed by the family - moved to Goshen. If true, this startling claim would have Gunnison in Goshen four years before Rand. It would also make the twins, Ephraim and Na- thaniel, birth-dates July 16, 1766, born here and no record of that has ever been found.
Plainly this claim cannot be true. Again and again, through the years in question, contemporary records note "Samuel Gun- nison, joiner, of Kittery, County of York, Province of Massa- chusetts Bay." Of the man, or of his place of residence, there can be no mistake. In May, 1769, the year of Rand's accredited removal to Goshen, Samuel Gunnison was deeded "1/2 of lot No. 171 in the fourth range" in Barrington, N. H., with ac- companying house - and a mortgage - by John and Hannah Gunnison - relationship unproven. (Province Deeds, Vol. 98, p. 328) Three months later, Aug. 14, 1769, he purchased of Henry Sherburne and wife, "heretofore Margaret Gunnison,"* of Portsmouth, two acres of upland near Sagamore Creek (Prov. Deeds, vol. 90, p. 193), a mortgage upon the property being dis- charged Nov. 22, 1770. However, this was not the last of his local purchases, for on Dec. 11, 1771, he secured from the afore- said John Gunnison, wife Hannah not mentioned - the remain- der of lot 171 in Barrington, containing 55 acres. He was then, as before, Samuel Gunnison of Kittery, joiner. The same de- scription was applied in the purchase from John Hurd, Esq., of Portsmouth, three days later, Dec. 14, of the 75 acre Foster lot, No. 8, and a portion of the Geo. Craigie lot adjoining, in Saville, that was henceforth to be his home and a family heri- tage through four generations. (Cheshire Co. Reg., Book 4, p. 256).
The purchase price of five shillings for one hundred acres indicates it to have been wild land, without shelter of any kind. It then seems most probable that he did not leave the civilization of old Kittery until the spring following purchase, otherwise in 1772, fond hopes to the contrary.
*Margaret Swain, fourth wife of Joseph Gunnison, Samuel's father, was widow of William Nelson of Portsmouth, 1739. It is evident that she married, 3d, Henry Sherburne of Portsmouth. Samuel was therefore dealing with his stepmother.
96
EARLY FAMILIES
As will be seen by the Wadleigh map of 1837, lots 8 and 9 are thrust against, and sliced by, the Mason Line. Wadleigh properly assigned them to Nathaniel Gunnison, with Ephraim, the other twin, across the highway, west of Nathaniel, on Lot No. 7, which had been originally purchased by Dea. Joseph Chandler, as will be explained.
The location of the Gunnison home, long a moot question, has been definitely established. If the historically-minded are sufficiently desirous, it can be found by travelling down the farm- lane beginning at the old Boisvert cellar-hole, in the pasture long owned by Fred E. Teague. The little mountain-brook in the valley must be crossed and, after gaining a slight plateau and keeping somewhat to the left, the cellar-hole, perhaps there are two, will be found adjacent to the tumbling stream. It is a sheltered spot, at the foot of Sunapee North Ball, open to the south, with what was once known as one of the best corn-ridges in the region close by, though now all is pretty well-grown to brush and trees. In "bounding" his purchase, the start was made from "the Northeast corner of John Parker's Pitchd Lott, Now Improved by Joseph Chandler."
Implying priority for young Chandler though it does, it yet seems entirely reasonable, for Chandler had made a prior pur- chase, buying the John Parker lot of John Wendell, Esq., Dec. 8, 1770, or as will be seen, the year preceding. Just how much he had "improved" it in the twelvemonth can only be con- jectured, but certainly by the time he sold it to his prospective father-in-law, Samuel Gunnison, in 1774, he had enhanced its value to a consideration of thirty pounds.
During this period, at least, and possibly before coming to Goshen, Joseph Chandler made his home with the Gunnison's, no doubt rejoiced in heart at the blossoming into young woman- hood of Margaret, daughter of the family. Between his father, probably William, Jr., who m. Mary Pope, and Mr. Gunnison a long and intimate friendship had existed. It is told that when they both were young men they had the misfortune to be seized and impressed as seamen on board His Majesty's ships, and were placed on different men-of-war three miles apart, off Halifax. It happened that Mr. Gunnison was acting as sentinel on his
97
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
vessel one night when he was cautiously hailed by a swimmer from the water below. It proved to be his young friend Chan- dler, making a forlorn attempt at escape. He immediately let down a rope and hauled Chandler aboard and concealed him in his joiner's chest. Search was made for the escaped seaman but without success. Incidents similar to this contributed to the hardening of the temper of the colonists.
There was also a custom of summer-occupancy of a clear- ing for one, two, or more years before actually assuming permanent residence. Joseph W. Parmelee (Hurd's Hist. of Sull. Co., p. 208) says, regarding the settlement of Newport, "In the autumn of the year 1766, they (six or eight young men) sowed winter grains in their clearings, raking it in as best they could by hand, and late in the season closed their camps and returned to Killingworth (Conn.) to spend the winter with their families and friends. In the spring of 1767 they returned to find that during their absence the wild animals had destroyed their crops, but, undiscouraged, they proceeded as before to chop and dig and build. This seems to have been the course pursued by the other settlers at first."
Perhaps young Chandler did likewise. His family is most em- phatic in declaring that he came to Fishersfield in 1767. If Saville be substituted for Fishersfield it will sound more plaus- ible, for it must be believed that the John Parker lot in Goshen constituted his first purchase, December, 1770, This he could "improve" by felling trees and burning, or otherwise clearing them away, to allow for subsequent planting. Upon Samuel Gunnison's arrival in Goshen it gave Joseph a home squarely beside his own Parker lot. It was a sightly ridge that Joseph was homesteading, with Rand's Pond and Capt. Rand's clearing to the west, while eastwardly, beyond the valley of Gunnison Brook, the rounded heads of the Sunapee range are upthrust in scenic perspective. But, whereas Samuel Gunnison's dwelling backed against a clear mountain-stream, assuring him an abund- ance of water, the supply on young Chandler's farm was meager, owing to recurring surface ledges and unfavorable location. Realizing, then, the limitations of his Parker lot it may be
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.