History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 122

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

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The following anecdote is related of Mary Badger : She came from Nottingham to Lyndeborough when eighteen or nineteen years of age, with her brother David, to make him a visit. When passing the set- tlement of Mr. Cram she got a sight of David, a young man of some twenty years of age. As they passed along she said to her brother, " I mean to set my cap for that fellow."

He told her she better not, for he was a " lazy dog."

She disregarded his admonitions, and they were eventually married. It, however, has been surmised by some that there was a smattering of truth in Da- vid's advice, from the fact that something strongly resembling his suggestion has occasionally manifested itself even down to the fifth generation.

Joseph Badger, brother of John, eventually settled in Meredith, or Gilmanton, and ex-Governor Badger

1 The person from whom those facts were derived used the name Not- tingham, without designating whether it was the town in Rockingham

County or what is now Hudson. It is my belief, from other circum- stances, that it was Nottingham West.

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was one of his descendants. Eliphalet, the other brother, settled in the south part of Massachusetts, or Connectient.

The wife of John Badger was a true woman. She followed him three thousand miles across the ocean to a foreign land to become his, and share with him the joys and sorrows of life. She went with him far away into the howling wilderness, where, as a faithful wife and mother, she watched over him and his through a long sickness to his death.

All this, with the trying scenes through which she passed in procuring help to lay him in the grave, was too much for her constitution. Her nervous system was crushed down, reason tottered on its throne, she soon became insane, and in a few years terminated her existence by suicide.

Thus the writer has attempted to gather up a few fragments of history connected with "the first settler " of his native town, from a source which will soon be removed from the earth, viz., Sarah Badger, a grand- daughter of the said John Badger, and who now re- sides on the same spot where David, the son of said John, lived and died. He believes the substance of it truthful and correct.

It has been a matter of surprise to him that Bad- ger was not recognized as "the first settler " in the published doings of the centennial of Wilton. His death, with the circumstances connected, was alluded to, and that was all. In a note in that pamphlet John Dale is named as the first settler, which cannot be correct, which we will undertake to show. From the record-book of the Salem-Canada proprietors it appears that the first drawing of rights in said town- ship took place February 3, 1736, and that Daniel Epps, Jr., of Salem, drew rights Nos. 10, 22, 51 and 53, and it also appears from said records that Epps sold John Badger right No. 10, which was the terri- tory on which he settled and died. It also appears, from a controversy that took place after the sons of came of age, that Dale occupied this territory after their father's death; and it was adjusted between them and Dale by said proprietors giving them lot No. 117 "in lieu of the whole right No. 10, which their father had of Epps." Again, there is no evidence, either from record or tradition, that the first John Dale ever located on the territory of Wilton at any other place except where that ancient building already referred to now stands. If Dale had been located there at the death of Badger, that wife would not have gone three miles north to the "nearest neigh- bor's " for help, when she could have obtained it by going one hundred rods west.

In this matter there was probably an unintentional neglect, or at least an oversight, as the chairman of the committee had in his possession the substance of the fragments above noticed, and from the same source. He also had in his possession for many months the record-book of the proprietors of Salem- Canada.

The centennial celebration of Wilton was got up in good and splendid style in all its parts, and its ex- ercises were performed by the first of abilities, and gave general satisfaction.

It reminded the writer, however, of a circumstance that once occurred in the court-house in Amherst, at the time that Richardson was chief justice. A boy was put on trial for his life. His connections being poor, the court appointed one of the most able advo- cates of the Hillsborough bar to make the closing plea for the defense. At the closing up of the term an order was drawn on the treasurer for the fee al- lowed by the court for the defense, which had been very able and successful. The advocate rather de- murred at the smallness of the fee. Judge Richard- son, in his good-natured, off-hand manner, answered, "Well, Mr. A-, perhaps the fee is comparatively small; but I think you ought to be satisfied, for you ably obtained the cause, and, what was still more, you embraced the opportunity of showing off the glory of your own sectarian belief."

WILLIAM T. BOUTWELL, son of Nehemiah and Elizabeth Jones Boutwell, was the fourth of eleven children, born February 4, 1803; fitted for college at Exeter Academy ; graduated at Dartmouth, 1828; at Andover Theological Seminary, 1831; ordained at Woburn, Mass., June, 1831, as missionary of the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to the Chippewa Indians of the Northwest. He left Boston June 12, 1831, for Mackinaw, Mich., where he arrived after a journey of five weeks, where he remained during the winter of 1831-32, teaching Indians and half-breed children, and acquiring the language preparatory to future labors in his chosen field. In 1832 he accompanied Hon. Henry R. Schoolcraft, Indian agent, on an expedition to visit all the bands of Indians on the borders of the British possessions. During this journey he visited and ascertained the highest sources of the Mississippi River, which was named Itasca Lake. In his letter referring to this expedition, he says: "Scores of visitors, since 1832, have found a higher source in the marshes west and south which feed the lake, and scores more will find a higher source, till the last man finds a pool in the marshes large enough for him to bathe in." Beyond all doubt, Itasca is the true source of the Father of Waters. Returning from the expedition, he spent the winter at La Pointe, on Lake Superior, having charge of the Indian school. In the fall of 1833 he returned to Leach Lake and spent the winter in the families of the fur-traders, for the purpose of ascer- taining what encouragement there was for extending the work by opening another station. He found the chiefs kindly disposed and gave their consent to open a school.

September 11, 1834, he married Hester Crooks and returned to Leach Lake, opened a school and began house-keeping in a bark lodge while he built a log house. After sixteen years of hard labor there and at

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Pakagama, he was obliged to abandon his work in consequence of the liquor traffic. In 1837 the treaty at Fort Snelling opened the pine region to the white man. He came and brought with him his whiskey, which he gave to the Indian, although strictly forbid- den by law. " What will not the white men do for money ?" Mr. Boutwell writes. "The traffic increased from year to year, and all five of of our stations closed their work." Its influence will beseen in the following incident : Curiosity often brough men to the mission to attend the Indian service on the Sabbath. He often preached, by request, at their camps on Sabbath

evenings. One Saturday afternoon he left home to spend the Sabbath at three camps on the Upper Snake River. At dusk he arrived at the first camp, where he spent the night, and during the evening the trader was in the camp, whom he invited to come in at ten A.M. the next day. He said he would be glad to ; but if the Indians should return from their hunt, he could not leave his store. The next day he held his service, but his friend, the trader, was not present. He passed on to the next camp, and still on to the next. In the night he was called in great haste to come at once, for the trader had been shot by a drunken Indian. Before he arrived the man had died. On reaching the scene of distress and confusion he found forty men armed with weapons to kill every Indian they met; but the Indians had fled. After the excitement was over I was requested to take the body to the station for burial, with four men to dig a grave and make a coffin. The rest would come the next day in a body. After the body was deposited on my team, the store was cleared of furs and goods and two barrels of whiskey were burned up. The next day forty men came to the mission, twelve miles, to bury their dead. After the funeral all signed a resolve that they would visit every In- dian trader, demand and destroy his whiskey, which was carried out the next day ; and they ceased not un- til they had accomplished their work. But the trade revived the next year, and it was found useless to spend time and strength with a people given to drunkenness, and the mission stations were all aban- doned. In 1847 he removed to Stillwater, then a vil- lage of two hundred souls; began preaching in a dining-room of a boarding-house ; from this place to an upper room in a small building, still standing and occupied as a meat-market. After a time a small church was erected. His time, for years, was divided between Stillwater, Marien Mills, Taylor's Falls, Cottage Grove and Point Douglas, establishing churches and Sabbath-schools.

In a review of his life and labors, Mr. Boutwell says,-

" We smile to-day at the ignorance of the best informed in regard to this Western world. Filty years ago, in 1835, Congressmen were eloquent in our struggle with England for Oregon, on a subject of which they knew as little as a child in its cradle. MeDuff and Benton would not give a ' pinch of stuff for the whole country west of the Rocky Mountains, and rather than remove a stone for a highway they would build higher. It

would be better for us if the whole region were in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.' Were those men alive to-day, how they would blush at their ignorance ! Do you wonder, then, that some of my friends said to me in 1831, ' You are throwing your life away ; you will not live out half your days ; you will freeze to death, or the Indians will scalp you.' Fifty years ago all that world west of Michigan to the Pacific coast was terra incognita,-an unknown land, land occupied by wild animals and wild men, tribes of Indians at war to exterminate each other. There were no traces of civilization. The only available railroad for me to get here was from Boston to Providence. To-day it spans the continent ; to-day I can ride in a palace car hundreds of miles over country where I once drove a dog-team on snow-shoes. To-day the government has located on reserva- tions the drunken Indians we were compelled to leave, provided them with machines, farms, schools, teachers, teams, &c. Expelling whiskey, they raise wheat instead of hunting muskrats. The missionary was the entering wedge that let the first dawn of light into Western darkness."

"It was thus the light increased by our communication with the Eastern world ; climate, soil, resources of the country became known. The Inmbermen came ; the farmers followed. The man that opened the first farm in Minnesota, forty years ago, is alive to-day. Fifty years ago the missionary would freeze to death or die by the scalping-knife of the In- dian-so thought his friends.

"Compare what then was with what now is, -then a wilderness with roving savages and wild beasts : now with farm-houses and almost bound- less wheat-fiells, schools, churches, asylums for insane, deaf, dumb and blind, a college in its teens, a university open to both sexes for equal honors. Were there no hand of God in sending the first man to light the torch that has illuminated the land ? Sure their labor will be in vain, thought the world ; not so, thought God. It is God that doeth won- ders, and we stand silent and adore.

"Nearly all my old co-laborers sleep with the Father. My eyes have seen Thy salvation, O Lord ; I wait for Thy call that I may praise Thee evermore."

Mr. Boutwell was the first man, a native, that secured a college education, and his great desire to do his whole duty to his fellow men, to his God, appears to be the great aim of his life. The writer has visited him in his Western home; he is one of the most honored and respected of Minnesota's first settlers.

RECOLLECTIONS OF LYNDEBOROUGH.1

" I will speak of the old meeting-house, with its high pulpit, its deacon-seats, its sounding-board hung by an iron rod, its slips for the poor, ils square pews, its seats hung on hinges, which were turned back during prayer, its capacious galleries supported by huge pillars. In that house was I baptized and publicly consecrated to God. There I vied with other boys in making a loud clatter in throwing down my hinge seat at the close of prayer. And there I suffered with cold feet on winter Sab- baths before the introduction of stoves. Freezing did not prove a means of grace to me. In that house I preached my first sermon in Lynde- borough. As inconvenient as that place of worship was, in it the gospel was effectually proclaimed by the godly Merrill ; and there our fathers, doubtless, ren dered acceptable worship. I well remember the excite- ment produced in that old house on the fast day in April, 1827, a few days before I left my home with Palmer and Woodward for East Ten- nessee. Instead of a sermon, Mr. Merrill read the celebrated lecture by Kittredge, of Lyme, on temperance, which contained the statement that one gallon of rum used as a beverage in the town of Lyme was just four quarts too much. The good old men of the church, including my honored father, went out of that house vexed, if not mad. My father said ' Why did Mr. Merrill read that foolish lecture ; we cannot get our hay without rum. It will rot in the field.'

"When I returned, in 1837, I found all those good men pledged to total abstinence. They acknowledged that haying and all other farm_ work could be better done without rum than with it.

" When a small boy, I used to walk to church in company with girls and women, whom I have often seen step into the bushes in the Richard- son pasture, and exchange their thick shoes and soiled stockings for their morocco and clean white Lose.

" The old meeting-house was furnished with horse-blocks for the ac- commodation of women and infirm men, from which to mount their horses. Riding on horseback was the only mode of conveyance to church in summer. When I was a boy I have frequently seen a man in the

1 By Rev. B. F. Clarke.

Larete Tarbell

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saddle, a woman behind on the same horse, and a child in the lap of each. I distinctly remember the first one-horse wagon in Lyndeborough. It was wholly destitute of springs ; yet it was called a Yankee pleasure- wagon. It was the property of Israel II. Goodridge, Esq. After my return from the West I preached in Lyndeborough, Francestown and Mont Ver- non. Since that time great changes have taken place. I know, while I was acting-pastor in Lyndeborough, I preached to a large class of aged persons, all of whom have gone on the returnless way, accompanied by many of my own age and younger, all of the deacons and many which they served.

"I will here put my testimony on record that the town was then hilly, and even mountainous, and its inhabitants intelligent, industrious, temperate and moral, as a whole.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOEL H. TARBELL.

The name of Tarbell is not frequent in this country. It does not appear in the long list of those who took the freeman's oath before 1669, nor is the name men- tioned in the early Genealogical Register, only that of Thomas, Sr., and Thomas, Jr. It is from these that all of the name in Massachusetts and New Hamp- shire are descended. Captain Thomas Tarbell was one of the original proprietors of "No. 1" (Mason), and named as such in the grant of the Masonian pro- prietors. He was one of the first settlers, was clerk of the proprietary, first chosen in 1762, and continued in office until the last meeting of that body, in 1773, and was one of the most active and leading men in all affairs of the township prior to incorporation. Six of his sons settled on farms near him. He was a native of Groton, Mass. Thomas Tarbell, his ancestor, was one of the original proprietors of Groton in 1661. His name also appears as town clerk of Groton. In the list are the names of Thomas Tar- bell, Sr., and Thomas Tarbell, Jr .; one instance rel- ative to the family, of alarm, attack and suffering from a savage foe, was the capture of two lads (John and Zachariah), brothers and sons of Thomas Tarbell, by the Indians. They were carried to Canada about the year 1705, the younger from four to six years of age, so young that he lost his native language en- tirely. Some years after, they both came to Groton ; but having been accustomed to savage life, no per- suasion prevailed on them to remain with their friends and relatives; their descendants are among the In- dians. Truly, those were days that tried men's souls, and could not have been endured had it not been for their untiring fortitude and perseverance, as well as muscular powers. One instance, as related, was that of John Tarbell, noted for his great strength, equal to that of three ordinary men of this day. He expired suddenly at the door of the old meeting-house in Mason, Sunday, August 20, 1797. We are not gratified to relate that among them was one Judas,-that of Captain Samnel Tarbell, whose property was confiscated for Toryism ; he returned to Groton, his native place, lived and died in poverty and wretchedness.

Thomas Tarbell, thirdson of Captain Thomas Tar-

bell, Jr., was born October 8, 1751; in his youth he received but limited education, remaining at home rendering good service in clearing up and cul- tivating the lands for the sustenance of the family. July 8, 1778, he married Sarah Barrett, retaining a resi- dence on the homestead of his father, which has been occupied by family descendants to the fifth genera- tion, but has now passed into outside hands, with but little improvements from originality, almost forsaken and uncared for. On a part of the premises is lo- cated the burying-ground donated to the town in 1797, where rests the dust of our sires, their descend- ants and many neighboring citizens.

The children of Thomas Tarbell and Saralı Barrett were Sally, born November 6, 1778; Esther, born August 11, 1780; Thomas, born August 17, 1782, died January 17, 1785; Reuben, born July 19, 1784; Lemuel, born February 14, 1786; Thomas, born Octo- ber 19, 1788; Eunice, born April 24, 1791 ; Joel, born July 9, 1793; Lydia, born March 21, 1797.

Joel Tarbell, the younger son, married Betsey Shat- tuek, daughter of Jonathan Shattuck, a worthy citizen of Pepperell, Mass .; continued a residence in Mason, in the occupation of boot and shoemaker of the old style of hand-work ; noted as master-workman in sewed boot making, in which occupation he continued in support of his family, being in limited circumstances. Their children surviving were Joel Harrison, born at Mason February 6, 1816; Mary Elizabeth, born February 2, 1820; William, born July 4, 1824. Joel H. remained at home until about twelve years of age, attending the short terms of district school. At this age he went to reside with Dr. Amos Parker, of Bol- ton, Mass., having care of the stable and performing such part as capable in the drug-store and post-office ; while here he received five weeks of schooling at a pri- vate Quaker school, kept by Elder Frye, in Berlin, Mass., walking to and from school morning and eve- ning, this being the only education ever received ex- cept from the common district school. It was while residing here that his mother died, October 29, 1829, leaving him without a parental home. Returning to New Hampshire at the age of fourteen years, he went to labor on a farm for Ebenezer Stiles, in Temple, at- tending short terms of winter district school. In this family he received good precepts and formed habits for life. He remained in this family until about twenty years of age, one year after the death of Mr. Stiles, after which he labored in Pepperell, Mass., one season and in Lyndeborough until marriage.

In 1831 his father, Joel Tarbell, married Mary Mansfield, of Temple, for a second wife; their chil- dren surviving were, Charles, Solon, Hiram, Alonzo and Joseph, all residing with families in this county. Joel Tarbell died at Lyndeborough, September 18, 1851; Mary M., his wife, died December 6, 1873. January 15, 1839, Joel H. married Esther Putnam, daughter of Ephraim Putnam, a highly respected citizen, resident on the homestead of his father, in

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Lyndeborough, (descendants from ancestors in Dan- vers, Mass.). At marriage Mr. Tarbell located in Lyndeborough (Putnam Corner), so styled, now South Lyndeborough, assuming the business of a country hotel with farm connected. Shortly after marriage he was appointed postmaster, which trust he held for twenty years. At the time of his location here there were but few settlements in the immediate vicinity, and those of not modern style. With his business grew a strong desire to make home and surroundings pleasant and build up the place, and he has lived to witness the contrast from what was styled "Slab City " to that of a respectable little village and com- munity, greatly through his instrumentality. In this enterprise he took no active part financially, previous to the organization of the glass company in 1866, the history of which is too well-known for comment. After about fifteen years in hotel business, when railroads became more desirable than high- ways for public conveyance, he changed his business to that of a general variety retail store, which, by him- self and in connection with his son, has been retained for over thirty years, the son now conducting the same as principal. In his business he formed a de- termination to deal honorably, pay all bills promptly and cultivate a kind and generous disposition, which has been carried out to a permanent success in his social and business life. His children were San- ford P., born July 5, 1839, deceased; Charles F., born November 19, 1843; Sarah Adaline, born Feb- ruary 24, 1850, deceased. She married Byron Stacy ; died leaving one daughter.

As to his religious views, they were more those of conscience than of creed, though he rendered continual aid in support of the gospel at the chapel established in the place a short time prev- ious to his settlement, contributing with his son in the remodeling of the house to a more modern struc- ture, and placing in the tower a church-bell, fur- nished gratuitously to the citizens. In politics firmly Democratic, although decidedly favorable to union in offices of town trust. Held the office of selectman several years, and town clerk seven years in succes- sion, from 1850 to 1857, and for many years was a jus- tice of the peace. Highly respected by the citizens, he never connected himself with any secret organization. In the Rebellion he was in command of a military company of State volunteers, known as the Lafayette Artillery. Their services were offered and accepted, and they were mustered into United States service for ninety days, and stationed at Fort Constitution, Ports- mouth, N. HI. His subalterns were Lieutenants Eli C. Curtis and Charles H. Holt, both of Lyndeborough. After fourteen years in command he resigned; his resignation was accepted with high commendations to himself and command by the Governor.

The following was taken from a historical sketch of Fort Constitution and Walback Tower, Portsmouth Harbor, by a student of Dartmouth College :

"On the 2d day of August, 1864, the Lafayette Guards, under com- mand of Capt. Joel H. Tarbell, arrived at this fort, to which they were ordered by the Governor. This company was composed of a fine class of men, and the citizens of New Castle respected them much. Belong- ing to the organization was a band under the guidance of a celebrated instructor, Carl Krebs. Their strains of music imparted much anima- tion to the island, and the monotony of garrison life was greatly less- ened in consequence of their presence. They returned home a few weeks before the expiration of their term of service, to Lyndeborough. Capt. Tarbell was an amiable man of correct habits, and was highly esteemed by his command."

JOTHAM HILDRETH.

Jotham Hildreth was born June 25, 1807, in Lynde- borough, N. H. He is the son of Jotham and Abigail (Sargent) Hildreth. Jotham Hildreth, Sr., was a na- tive of Amherst, N. H., where he resided till his majority, when, with his entire worldly possessions tied up in a bundle and thrown across his shoulders, he started out to seek his fortune in the world. He came to Lyndeborough, where he found employment making shoes, and meeting with a measure of snecess in this business, he made it his chief vocation through life. In addition to shoemaking, however, he soon possessed himself of a small farm, to which original tract he added by purchase at different times up to the time of his death. His life was one of constant labor and frugality. He would work at farming dur- ing the day and at the shoemaker's bench at night, and by this course of persistent industry he finally became a fairly successful man. He married Abigail, daughter of Joshua Sargent; they had five children, only two of whom are now living,-Jotham, and Abigail, now the widow of Jacob Crosby. Mr. Hil- dreth died December 8, 1850, his wife having died Angust preceding.

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 122

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