History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168

USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire > Part 11

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).

When quite young his interest in the Republican cause, together with his aptitude for public speaking, led him to take the stump for his party. For years he has performed in this way the most efficient ser- vice for the Republican party, and to-day is one of its ablest and most eloquent stump-speakers. Mr. Burns

was elected county treasurer of Hillsborough County in 1864 and 1865. He was also a member of the New Hampshire State Senate in 1873 and again in 1879, and in both years was chairman of the judiciary committee took a prominent part in directing and shaping the and legislation of those years. He was appointed by Governor Head, in 1879, on his staff, judge advocate- general, with the rank of brigadier-general.

He was a delegate-at-large to the National Repub- lican Convention at Cincinnati in 1876, and repre- sented the New Hampshire delegation on the con- mittee on resolutions. He was one of the three New Hampshire delegates who strenuously opposed Mr. Blaine's nomination for President, at first voting for Mr. Bristow and finally for Mr. Hayes.

He was selected to preside at the Republican State Convention, held at Concord September 10, 1878, and upon assuming the chair made one of his character- istic speeches. The speech was delivered just after the Greenback party had won a victory in Maine, and the public mind was full of false theories, and the high ground taken by the speaker in favor of honest money and national faith created a deep im- pression throughout the State. It was everywhere commended as a strong, forcible presentation of the issues of the hour. Mr. Burns is a man of scholarly tastes and habits; he has a fine law library, one of the best in the State, and a choice and valuable col- lection of miscellaneous books. He is an honorary member of the New Hampshire Historical Society, and also of the New England Historical and Geneal- ogical Society. In 1874, Dartmouth College con- ferred upon Mr. Burns the honorary degree of A.M. He is a life-long and prominent Mason, having taken thirty-two degrees in that order. He has also been master of the lodge with which he is connected.

Mr. Burns was united in marriage with Sarah N. Mills, of Milford, N. H., upon his twenty-first birth- day, January 19, 1856, by whom he has had eight chil- dren, four of whom are now living,-two sons and two daughters. His oldest son, Arthur H., a high-minded young man of fine character and great promise, died in 1877, when only twenty years of age, a great loss to his parents and to the community in which he lived, by whom he was universally loved and respected.

Mr. Burns has a fine homestead in Wilton, in which and all its surroundings he very properly takes great pride and pleasure. To his wife, his family and his home he has ever been loyally and devotedly attached.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of his wedding his friends to a large number met at his house to celebrate with him that occasion. It was a notable gathering. Governor Head and many other prominent persons were present and celebrated with his friends that event with good cheer, with the giving of many valuable presents and by appropriate speeches, expressive of their regard and appreciation of the lives and char- acter of Mr. Burns and his wife, and by other appro- priate literary exercises.

The engraving in this "History of Hillsborough County," which accompanies this sketch of his life, is from a photograph taken January 19, 1885, the day he was fifty years of age.

HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.

CHAPTER I.

Geographical-Indian Occupancy-The First Settlements-Names of Pioneers-The Fisheries-Biographical Notices of Early Settlers.

MANCHESTER lies in the eastern part of the county, and is bounded as follows : On the north by Merrimack County, on the east and south by Rockingham County, and on the west by Bedford and Goffstown.

This territory was originally occupied by the Am- oskeag Indians, a tribe subject to the Penacooks, who dwelt around Amoskeag Falls. The Indians, however, did not remain here until the advent of the white settlers. Probably forty years elapsed after the red man left his much-loved fisheries at the falls be- fore the white man became a permanent resident.

The First Settlement .- To John Goffe, Jr., Ed- ward Lingfield and Benjamin Kidder is ascribed the honor of having been the first white settlers within the limits of the present town of Manchester. They located in 1722 and erected habitations on Cohas Brook.

The excellent fisheries at this point soon attracted the attention of other enterprising pioneers, and not many years elapsed ere the locality witnessed a large (for that early day) influx of settlers, anxious to rear their homes at the " fishing at Ammosceeg." Among these were John McNeil, Archibald Stark, Benjamin Hadley, Benjamin Stevens, Nathaniel Martin, Eph- raim Hildreth, Charles Emerson, William Perham, Benjamin Kidder, Benjamin Blodgett, John Ridell, Alexander McMurphy, Jr., John Hall, Thomas Hall, Michael McClintock, David Diekey, William Gam- ble, Robert Anderson, Barber Leslie, William Nutt.

Of these early settlers nearly all were active, en- terprising men, while some were possessed of marked ability, and subsequently became thoroughly identi- fied with the public enterprises of their day in this section of the Merrimack Valley. Many of these early settlers were from Londonderry, and were of Scotch-Irish extraction.

JOHN GOFFE was an influential man in the new settlement, and had a son John, who became a distin- guished officer in the French and Indian War.

BENJAMIN KIDDER doubtless came here about 40 h

1722 with his father-in-law, John Goffe, as he was a grantee of Londonderry in that year. He probably was originally of Billerica. He entered in the com- pany under the famous Captain Lovewell, in the ex- pedition against Pequauquauke, and while on the march, and in the neighborhood of Ossipee Lake, was taken sick. It is probable that he did not long sur- vive the hardships and exposures of this expedition. His son, John Kidder, was named as a legatee in the will of his grandfather, John Goffe, Esq., made in 1748.

EDWARD LINGFIELD .- Of Edward Lingfield very little is known. He married a daughter of Johu Goffe, Esq., and settled here about 1722. He was a corporal in Lovewell's expedition, was one of the thirty-four men who marched from Ossipee Lake to Pequauquauke, and took part in that famous battle, where he fought with great bravery. He was one of the nine men in that battle "who received no consid- erable wounds." After his return from that expedi- tion he received an ensign's commission as a reward of his heroic conduct in the battle of Pequanquauke.

ARCHIBALD STARK was born at Glasgow, in Scotland, in 1693. Soon after graduating at the university he moved to Londonderry, in the north of Ireland, be- coming what was usually denoted a "Scotch-Irish- man." There he was married to a poor, but beautiful Scotch girl, by the name of Eleanor Nichols, and emi- grated to America. He at first settled in Londonderry, where he remained until some time in 1736, when, hav- ing his house burned, he removed to that portion of land upon the Merrimack then known as Harrytown, upon a lot that had been granted to Samuel Thaxter by the government of Massachusetts, and which was situated upon the hill upon the east bank of the Merrimack, a short distance above the falls of Na- maoskeag. Here he resided until his death. An educated man, Stark must have had a strong desire that his children should enjoy the advantages of an education ; but in a wilderness surrounded by sav- ages, and upon a soil not the most inviting, the suste- nance and protection of his family demanded his attention rather more than their education. His children, however, were instructed at the fireside in

MANCHESTER.

the rudiments of an English education, and such principles were instilled into them as, accompanied with energy, courage and decision of character, made them fit actors in the stirring events of that period. His education fitted him rather for the walks of civil life; but yet we find him a volunteer for the protection of the frontier against the ravages of the Indians in 1745 ; and for the protection of the people in this immediate neighborhood, a fort was built at the outlet of Swager's or Fort Pond, which, out of compliment to Mr. Stark's enterprise in building and garrisoning the same, was called Stark's Fort.

Mr. Stark had seven children,-four sons and three daughters. His four sons-William, John, Archi- bald and Samuel-were noted soldiers in the Indian and French wars, and the three oldest had distin- guished themselves as officers in the notable corps of Rangers prior to their father's death. The second son, John, became the famous partisan officer in the Revolution, and as a brigadier won unfading laurels at the battle of Bennington. Mr. Stark died the 25th day of June, 1758, aged sixty-one years.

JOHN HALL came to this country probably after 1730. He tarried some time in Londonderry, and then moved upon a lot of land near the west line of Chester, and in that part of the town afterwards set off to form the town of Derryfield. He was an en- ergetic business man, and for a series of years trans- acted much of the public business of this neighbor- hood and town. He kept a public-house until his death. The original frame house built by him, but added to according to business and fashion, until little of the original could be recognized, was stand- ing until 1852, when it was destroyed by fire. It had always been kept as a public-house, and generally by some one of the name.

Mr. Hall was the agent of the inhabitants for obtaining the charter of Derryfield in 1751, and was the first town elerk under that charter. He was elected to that office fifteen years, and in one and the same year was moderator, first selectman and town clerk.

WILLIAM GAMBLE AND MICHAEL MCCLINTOCK. -William Gamble came to this country in 1722, aged fourteen years. He and two elder brothers, Archi- bald and Thomas, and a sister, Mary, started to- gether for America, but the elder brothers were pressed into the British service upon the point of sailing, leaving the boy William and his sister to make the voyage alone. William was saved from the press-gang alone by the ready exercise of "woman's wit." The Gambles had started under the protection of Mr. and Mrs. Michael MeClintock, who resided in the same neighborhood, and were about to emigrate to New England. Upon witnessing the seizure of the elder brothers, Mrs. McClintock called to William Gamble, "Come here, Billy, quickly," and upon Billy approaching her, she continued, "Snuggle down here, Billy," and she hid him under

the folds of her capacious dress! There he re- mained safely until the gang had searched the house for the boy in vain, and retired in high dudgeon at their ill success.

Upon coming to this country the MeClintocks came to Londonderry. They were industrious, thriv- ing people, and Michael and William, his son, built the first bridge across the Cohoes, and also another across the Little Cohoes, on the road from Amos- keag to Derry. These bridges were built in 1738, and were probably near where bridges are now main- tained across the same streams on the "old road to Derry." The Mcclintocks were voted twenty shil- lings a year for ten years for the use of these bridges.

William Gamble, upon his arrival in Boston, went to work on the ferry from Charleston to Boston. Here he remained two years. During the Indian War of 1745 he joined several "scouts," and upon the com- mencement of the "Old French War," in 1755, hav- ing lost his wife, he enlisted in the regular service, and was in most of the war, being under Wolfe on the " Plains of Abraham."

JOHN McNEIL came to Londonderry with the first emigrants in 1719. The McNeils of Scotland and in the north of Ireland were men of known reputation for bravery, and Daniel McNeil was one of the Council of the city of Londonderry, and has the honor, with twenty-one others of that body, of withstanding the duplicity and treachery of Lundy, the traitorous Governor, and affixing their signatures to a resolu- tion to stand by each other in defense of the city, which resolution, placarded upon the market-house and read at the head of the battalions in the garrison, led to the successful defense of the city.

John MeNeil was a lineal descendant of this councilor. Becoming involved in a quarrel with a person of distinction in his neighborhood, who at- taeked him in the highway, McNeil knocked him from his horse, and left him to be cared for by his re- tainers. This encounter, though perfectly justifi- able on the part of Mr. McNeil, as his antagonist was the attacking party, made his tarry in Ireland unpleasant, if not unsafe, and he emigrated to America, and settled in Londonderry. Here he es- tablished a reputation not only as a man of courage but one of great strength, and neither white or red man upon the borders dared to risk a hand-to-hand encounter with him. Measuring six feet and a half in height, with a corresponding frame, and stern, un- bending will, he was a fit ontpost, as it were, of civilization, and many are the traditions of his per- sonal encounters during a long and eventful border life. His wife, Christian, was well mated with him of strong frame and great energy and courage. It is related that upon one occasion a stranger came to the door and inquired for Mc Neil. Christiana told him that her " gude mon " was not at home. Upon which the stranger expressed much regret. Christiana inquired as to the business upon which he came,

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY. NEW HAMPSHIRE.

and the stranger told her he had heard a great deal of the strength of MeNeil and his skill in wrestling. and he had come some considerable distance to throw him. " And troth, mon," said Christiana McNeil, "Johnny is gone, but I'm not the woman to see ye disappointed, an' I think if ye 'll try mon, I'll throw ye meself." The stranger, not liking to be thus ban - tered by a woman, accepted the challenge, and, sure enough, Christian tripped his heels and threw him upon the ground. The stranger, upon getting up, thought he would not wait for "Johnny," but left without deigning to leave his name.

The Fisheries at Amoskeag .- At the time the white settlers located along the Merrimack the fish- eries at Amoskeag Falls had became famous through the adjacent country. Here salmon, shad, the alewife and lamprey eel 1 were found in great abundance.

In a journal kept by Hon. Matthew Patteu, of Bed- ford, is the following entry :

"1759, June >-9 .- Fished at Namoskeag Falls and got 120 shad and I gave Robert McMurphy lo of them, and I got 4 shad and 1 small salmon for my part from the setting-place. Wm. Peters fished for me by the lialves. "

Says Judge Potter, in his "History of Manches- ter,"-

"The fishing at Amoskeag was of the greatest importance to the peo- ¡dle. Tradition has it that the Rev. Mr. Mettregore was the first person of the Londonderry settlement to visit the Falls, led thither by curiosity, and prompted by information obtained at Andover as to their grandeur and the abundance of fish to be found near them at certain seasons of the year. From this fact originated the custom of presenting Mr. Mc- Gregore and his successors the first fruits of the fishing season. The first fish caught by any man of Londonderry, salmon, shad, alewife or cel, was reserved as a gift to ' the minister.'

" As early as 1729 a road was laid ont and built from Ninian Cochran's house (in Londonderry), ' then keeping by or near the old path to Am- mosterg Falls.' And another road was laid out at the same time inter- becting the 'Ammosceeg road,' for the accommodation of other sections of the town. This undertaking of building a road some ten miles through the wilderness, in the infancy of that colony, shows of how

1 "Our fathers treasured the slimy prize : They loved the cel as their very eyes : And of one 'tis said, with a slander rife, For a string of eels he sold his wife !

" From the eels they formed their food in chief, And tels were called 'Derrufield beef ! " And the marks of eels were so plain to trace, That the children looked like eels in the face ; And before they walked, it is well confirmed, That the children never cript, but squirmed.

"such a mighty power did the squirmers wicht O'er the gerlly men of old Derryfield, It was then súd that their only care, And their mioy wish, and their only prayer. For Ofre present world and the workl bor come,

-Estive het puin by Wi'yi Stuck, tout of the resto mal celebration of Man renlsil.

great importance the 'fishing at Ammosceeg' was considered by the people of Londonderry ; and it was natural that they should be strenu- ous in maintaining their claim to the lands adjacent. Accordingly, we find their claim to the lands and the subject of the fisheries connected with them matters acted upon in their town-meetings at an early date. As early as 1729 people had moved upon these lands probably for the purpose of holding them for Massachusetts, she claiming to a line three miles east of the Merrimack by her charter. This was a serious matter for the people of Londonderry, and in the warrant for a town-meeting bearing date January 8, 1730-31, there was the following article :

"' Ilthly. To see whether they will allow a Lawyer to be consulted about those persons that are settling at Ammosceeg.' And at the meet- ing this article was thus disposed of, -

"' ]1thly. Voted that they are willing to leave the consulting of a law- yer about the settlement that is carried on at Ammosceeg to the select- men and committee that is appointed for the defence of the propriety.'

"It is not known what action was taken by the selectmen and committee upon the matter ; but it is to be inferred, as the records are silent upon the subject, that no legal action was taken at that time. The people from Massachusetts continued to occupy the lands in this neighborhood at in- tervals, and it is probable that some of them had a continuous occupa- tion from this time under the authority of their government. Under such circumstances it is probable that after 'consulting a lawyer,' the people of Londonderry concluded to take quiet possession of the land and wait the result of the hearing about to be had in England as to the claims of Massachusetts. That the people of Londonderry continued in control of the business here is shown by the records of the following year, wherein is found the warrant, one article of which reads thus,- "' 4thly. To see whether they will be at the expense of two canoos to be kept at Ammosceeg for the safety of the people at the fishing.'

"On the day of the meeting, April 22, 1731, the following action was had on the 4th article :

"'4thly. That in order to the safety of our town's people at the fishing at Ammosceeg the selectmen is empowered to allow and pay out of the public charge or rates of the town three pounds in Bills of credit to such person or persons as shall be obliged to make two good sufficient canoos, the selectmen obliging the aforesaid undertakers to serve the Inhabi- tants of the town the whole time fishing before any ont town's people, and shall not exceed one shill pr hundred for all the fish that they shall ferry over from the Islands and the owner of the fish and his attendants is to be ferried backwards and forwards at free cost."

The whites took the fish with spears, scoop-nets and seines, and in large quantities; so that people coming from the surrounding country with their wagons and carts could get them filled sometimes for the carting the shad away, to make room for the sal- mon, and always for a mere trifling price. Immense quantities of shad were takeu at one haul or drag of the seine. The New Hampshire Gazette of May 23, 1760, has the following item under its editorial head :

" One day last week, was drawn by a net at one Draught, Two Thou- sand Five hundred odd Shad Fish, out of the River Merrimack near Bed- ford, in this Province. Thought remarkable by some people."

Among the names given to the various fishing-places were the following : Eel Falls. Fire Mill, Todd Gut, Russ Ray's Hooking-Place, South Gut, Thompson Place, Watching Falls, Little Pulpit, Mudget Place, Slash Hole, Point Rock, Black Rock, Swine's Back, Snapping-Place, Pulpit, Hacket's Stand, Sullivan's Point, Crack in the Rock, Bat Place, Dalton Place, Puppy Trap, Pot Place, Patten Rock, Setting Place, Maple Stump, The Colt, Salmon Rock, Eel Trap, Salmon Gut, Mast Rock.

MANCHESTER.

CHAPTER II.

MANCHESTER. ( Continued.)

The French and Indian War-A Fort Built-Names of Soldiers from Derryfield-Captain Goffe and Others-Derryfield Men at Crown Point ; also at Fort William Henry-War of the Revolution-First Action of the Town-Derryfield Men at Lexington-Names of Revolutionary Soldiers-Major-General John Stark-Sketch of Ilis Life-Burial- Place.

DURING the French and Indian War, which began in 1746, the settlers of Amoskeag took an active part and a fort was erected at the outlet of what is now Nutt's Pond. There were soldiers from this town also in the French war in 1755, this locality sending three companies. These were commanded by Captains Goffe and Moor, of Derryfield, and the other by Cap- tain Rogers, of what is now Dunbarton.

The roll of Captain Goffe was as follows :

John Goffe, captain ; Samuel Moor, lieutenant ; Nathaniel Martain, ensign ; Jonathan Corlis, sergeant ; Jonas Hastings, sergeant ; John Goffe, Jr., sergeant ; Thomas Merrill. clerk ; Samuel Martain, corporal : John Moor, corporal ; Joshua Martain, corporal ; Benjamin Eastman, corporal ; Benjamin Kidder, drummer; Joseph George, John Bedell, Benjamin Hadley, Thomas George, Israel Young, Josiah Rowell, Wil- liam Kelley, Joseph Merrill, Daniel Corlis, Ebenezer Coston, Daniel Mar- tain, Jacob Silliway, Stephen George, David Nutt, Robert Nutt, Obadiah Hawes, David Willson, William Ford, Aaron Quinby, Nathan Howard, Thomas MeLaughlin, John Littell, William MeDugal, Robert Holmes, John Wortly, Benjamin Vickery, William Barron, Nathaniel Smith, William Walker, David Welch, Caleb Daulton, JJames Petters, Aaron Copps, Jacob Jewell, Ebenezer Martain, Jolin Harwood, Amaziah Hil- dreth, John Kidder, John Rowell and Thomas Wortly.

Captain Moor's roll was as follows :

John Moor, captain ; Antony Emary, lieutenant ; Alexander Todd, ensign : Matthew Read, sergeant ; Thomas Read, sergeant ; James Moor, sergeant ; William Spear, sergeant ; Ezekiel Steel, corporal ; Sam- uel McDuffy, corporal ; John Riekey, corporal ; John Spear, corporal ; Robert Cochran, Theophalas Harvey, Barber Lesly, William Campble, James Onail, Robert Tawddle, John MeCordy, Thomas Gregg, Joshua Rowlings, Thomas Hutchings, Robert Edwards, Edward Carns, Alexan- der McClary, Robert Smith, David Vance, Robert Kennade, Robert Mc- Keen, James Bean, John Cunningham, Samuel Boyde, John Crage, James Ougliterson, Michael Johnson, John Logan, Robert Morrel, John McNight, John Welch, James Ligget, John Mitchel, Daniel Toword, Esa Stevens, Mark Care (or Kary,) Samuel Miller, Edward Bean, Wil- liam Kenniston, James Baley, Nathaniel MeKary.

The following, mostly from this neighborhood, were at the battle of Lake George, and were subsequently known as the " Rangers : "

Robert Rogers, captain ; Richard Rogers, lieutenant ; Noah Johnson, ensign ; James Archibald, sergeant ; John McCurdy, sergeant ; James McNeal, corporal : Nathaniel Johnson, corporal ; John Michel, Isaac Colton, James Henry, James Clark, Timothy Hodsdase, John Wadleigh, Stephen Young, Joshua Titwood, James Adison, Jonathan Silaway, John Brown, Elisha Bennett, Rowling Foster, James Grise, James Mor- gan, James Welch, Matthew Christopher, James Simonds, Charles Dud- ley, John Kiser, John Hartman, John Frost, James Mars, Samuel Letch, David Nutt, William McKeen, Nathaniel Smith, Philip Wills, William Cunningham, William Aker, John Leiton, William Wheeler, Simon Toby, Benjamin Squanton, Pileh Simpson, Piller Mahanton.

A regiment of New Hampshire men was raised for the expedition to Crown Point in 1756, of which John Goffe was ma or. The company from this locality was as follows :

Nathaniel Marton, lieutenant ; Thomas Merrel, second lieutenant ; John Goffe, Jr., ensign ; Samuel Martain, sergeant ; Joseph Eastman, ser-

geant ; Ebenezer Martain, sergeant ; Thomas MeLaughlin, sergeant ; John Wortly, corporal ; John Straw, corporal ; JJacob Jewell, corporal ; Josiah Canfield, corporal ; Benjamin Kidder, drummer ; Joseph Ordway, Joseph George, Benjamin Hadly, Thomas George, William Keneston, Ebenezer Coaston, John McClellen, Jonathan Fitield, James Blanchard, Paul Fowler, Plumer Hadley, John Fowler, Peter Mouse, Jort Mannuel, George Sheppard, Samuel Sheppard, James MeC'anghlin, Ebenezer Ord- way, Isaac Walker, James Peters, Jacob Sawyer, Daniel Flanders, Daniel Emerson, William Barron, Timothy Barron, Andrew Stone, Caleb Emary, Zebediah Farnum, Luther Morgan, Joseph Pudney, John Mclaughlin, Jolın Kedder, Caleb Paulton.

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.

History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168