History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 36

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

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portunity of suddenly attacking and destroying him, and usually his squaw and children after him, and taking their scalps, hastened back in triumph to their tribe with their trophies dangling from their belts. It was the danger of just such strategy and barbarity that for two-thirds of a century made every white family in Dunstable feel insecure.

The earliest explorers spoke of the birch canoe as the possession of every Indian family. Its construc- tion required skill rather than strength. A light frame-work of ash or white-oak was first made, and this was tightly covered with white birch-bark, care- fully selected, with the several pieces neatly sewed together with the sinews of some animal or the twine of wild hemp. The seams were made tight with pitch. These canoes were from twelve to fifteen fect in length, were propelled by paddles not unlike those now in use, and would carry from three to five persons, who sat on the bottom ofthe canoe. It floated gracefully, and both sexes acquired great facility in using it. The occasions for using the canoe on the Merrimack were frequent, inasmuch as the land on both sides of the river was more or less occupied. " At almost any hour," wrote Captain Willard. "one could see at the mouths of the Nashua and Souhegan the natives going to and fro in their canoes."

The clothing of the natives in summer was an apron made of skin, fastened around the waist ; in winter a bear-skin, or a jacket made of smaller skins. They wore skin moccasins on their feet, and to these, when traveling upon the deep and soft snow, the oval- shaped show-shoes were bound, on which, though cumbersome to the novice, the Indian hunter could well-nigh outstrip the wind.

The natives of the eastern continent have enduring monuments of their ancestors. The savage red men who for ages occupied the Merrimack Valley left no obelisk or pyramid, no ruin of walled town or temple. The stone implements buried in the soil they occupied are the only visible evidence of their having existed. These are most abundant around the water-falls at Amoskeag, the Weirs, Suncook and Pawtucket, but they have also been found on almost every aere of intervale between Lake Winnipesaukee and New- buryport. Around the Amoskeag Falls antiquarians have picked up thousands of the stone arrow and spear-heads with which they pointed their weapons. In excavations at Sanbornton Bay have been found stone axes, steatite pipes, coarse fragments of pottery and rude ornaments. On the alluvial plough-lands of Nashua have been dug up stone pestles, hatchets, gouges, knives, sinkers and arrow-points,-the sole relies of a race who were unable to survive the ap- proach of civilization.

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

CHAPTER III. NASHUA-( Continued.)

FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT TO 1702.

Making of Land Grants-Charter Granted to Dunstable-Names of Grantees-Boundaries of the Township-Withdrawal of the Indians- Laying Out House-Lots-Uncertain Date of Settlement-King Philip's War-King William's War-Death of the Hassell Family-Garrison Houses-Poverty and Hardships.

"Gone are those great and good

Who here in peril stood, And raised their hymn. Peace to the reverend dead ! The light that on their head Two hundred years have shed Shall ne'er grow dim."-John Pierpont.

AFTER the earliest settlements in New Hampshire, at Dover and Portsmouth, in 1623, the growth of popu- lation was, for some years, slow. The first settlers of these two towns were speculators, rather than farmers, and this circumstance did not strongly attract new- eomers.

Meanwhile, the settlements of the Massachusetts colony grew rapidly. From 1650 to 1665 was a period of unwonted activity and prosperity. In 1655 the settlements had extended northward to Chelms- ford and Groton. The Massachusetts colonial govern- ment, disregarding the Masonian claim, and consider- ing all that part of New Hampshire south of Lake Winnipesaukee within her own limits, began to dis- tribute grants of land in the Merrimack Valley as far north as the present towns of Merrimack and Litchfield. Four hundred acres of land were granted to John Whiting, lying on the south side of Salmon Brook and extending up the brook one mile. In 1673 a grant of one thousand acres, on the north side of Nashua River, was made to the Ancient and Honor- atble Artillery Company of Boston. It was bounded on the east by the Merrimack River and on the south by the Nashua. It included that part of the present city north of the river, and was called the "Artillery Farm." From this circumstance the little pond, which a few years ago occupied the cen- tral part of North Common, was called Artillery Pond. After owning this tract for seventy years the company sold it to Colonel Joseph Blanchard, a man of note in the early history of Dunstable.

Numerous other grants were made on both sides of the river until their aggregate was fourteen thousand acres. It became desirable, therefore, to consolidate these grants into an incorporation, so as to secure to the inhabitants all the privileges of an organized township. Accordingly, in 1673, the proprietors of the farnts already laid out, and others who were dis- posed to settle here, presented a petition to the gov- ernment of Massachusetts, of which the following is a verbatim copy :

" To the Honored Governor, Deputy Governor, with the Magistrates now as- sembled in the General Court at Boston, September 19, 1673.

" The Petition of the Proprietors of the farms that are laid out upon the Merrimack River and places adjacent, with others who desire to joyn with them in the settlement of a plantation there :

" HUMBLY SHEWETH

" That whereas, there is a considerable tract of the Country's land that is invironed with the proprieties of particular persons and towns, viz. : By the line of the town of Chelmsford, and by the Groton line, and by Mr. Brenton's farm, by Souhegan farms, and beyond Merrimack River by the outermost line of Ilenry Kimball's farm, and so to Chelmsford line again. All is in little capacity of doing the country any service ex- cept the farms bordering upon it be adjoined to said land, to make a plantation there ; and there being a considerable number of persons who are of sober and orderly conversation, who do stand in need of great ac- commodations, who are willing to make improvement of the said vacant lands : And the proprietors of the said farms are willing to aid those that shall improve the said lands : the farms of those that are within the tract of land before described, being about 14,000 acres at the least :-

" Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly request the favor of the Honor- able Court that they will grant the said tract of land to your Petitioners and to such as will join with them in the settlement of the lands before mentioned, so those who have improved their farms, and those who in- tend to do so, may be in a way to support the ordinances of God, without which they will be mostly deprived, the farms lying so remote from any towns : And farther, that the Honorable Court will please grant the like immunities to this plantation as they have formerly granted to other plantations : So shall your Petitioners be ever engaged to pray :-

"I. Thomas Brattle,

14. Thomas Edwards,

2. Jonathan Tyng,

15. Thomas Wheeler,

3. Joseph Wheeler, 16. Peter Bulkley,

4. James Parkeson,

17. Joseph Parker,

5. Robert Gibbs,

18. John Morse,

6. John Turner, 19. Samuel Combs,

7. Sampson Sheafe, 20. James Parker, Jr.,

8. Samuel Scarlet,

21. John Parker,

9. William Lakin, 22. Josiah Parker,

10. Abraham Parker, 23. Nathaniel Blood,

11. James Knapp,

24. Robert Parris,

12. Robert Proctor, 25. John Joliffe,

13. Simon Willard, Jr., 26. Zachariah Long."

On the 26th of October this petition was granted, and the township of Dunstable chartered. It was granted with the condition universally required, viz., that "at least twenty actual settlers shall be in the township within three years, that a meeting-house shall be built and an able and orthodox minister shall be obtained." These requirements were complied with by the specified time.

The township of Dunstable, thus organized, was a tract of about two hundred square miles, or one hun- dred and twenty-eight thousand acres. It had long been the favorite home of the savages, though their number, some years previous, had been greatly diminished by a raid of their hereditary enemy, the bloodthirsty Mohawks. It included the present city of Nashua, the towns of Hudson, Hollis, Dunstable and Tyngsborough, besides portions of the towns of Amherst, Milford, Merrimack, Litchfield, London- derry, Pelham, Dracut, Brookline, Groton and Pep- perell. It extended ten to twelve miles west of the Merrimack, and three to five miles east of it, and its average length, from north to south, was from twelve to fourteen miles. The present eity of Nashua is very nearly the centre of the original township of Dunstable,-the name that Nashua continued to bear till within the recollection of many citizens now liv- ing. The name Dunstable is said to have been given in compliment to Mrs. Mary, wife of Edward Tyng and mother of Jonathan Tyng, one of the grantees and one of the most prominent of the first settlers.

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NASHUA.

She was a native of a town of that name in the south of England.

By the granting of this charter the twenty-six pe- titioners became the owners of all the ungranted lands within the boundaries of Dunstable, which, if equally shared, would have given to each of them not less than four thousand acres. What recompense the Indians received for their lands is not known. Some ten years after the granting of the charter it is said that seventy dollars in silver was paid to the Wamesits, of Chelmsford, and the same sum to the sachem at Souhegan, for their claims ; but there is no evidence that the Nashaways received any considera- tion. As the most of the tribe and the chief sachem lived at Lancaster, Mass., it is probable the few families remaining here went northward with the majority of their tribe, and received little or no recompense.

The little Indian settlement at the mouths of Nashua River and Salmon Brook, when visited by Captain Simon Willard in 1652, had only forty war- riors. It is known that, in 1669, they joined the Penacooks in an expedition against the Mohawks, in which the most of them perished. The remnant, dispirited and powerless. are said to have united with the Wamesits, and soon after migrated with them northward. Afterwards nothing was distinctively known of them.

The twenty-six grantees, and the settlers uniting with them, before taking possession of their ample domain, made a compact for the equitable division and disposal of their lands. It was evident that, for their mutual protection, the occupied lands must be contiguous. The most desirable locality for safety, convenience and favorable soil appeared to be the land bordering on the Merrimack River, below Salmon Brook. It was agreed that each actual settler, as a personal right, should have a "house-lott " of eligible land, not to exceed thirty acres. Jonathan Danforth, an experienced surveyor, was employed to establish boundaries. These house-lots were laid out with a base on the Merrimack River, and reaching, side by side, southward as far as the present State line. These lots, having a narrow base, extended westward toward Salmon Brook.

It is evident that settlements had been commenced on some of these lots several years before 1673, as we find on the town records that at a meeting of the proprietors and the settlers in the fall of that year it was voted that "the first meeting-house should be built between Salmon Brook and the house of Lieut. Wheeler, as convenient as may be, for the accom- modation of the settlers." In 1675 orchards are in- cidentally spoken of as already having some growth. Therefore, while the exact date of the first settlement within the present limits of Nashua cannot be defi- nitely established, it is certain that the first pioneers built their cabins near Salmon Brook between 1665 and 1670. It was, in truth, a frontier hamlet, having | for aid was entirely upon Massachusetts. In addition

no white settlement on the north nearer than Canada, on the east nearer than Exeter, on the west nearer than Albany.

Two years later, in the summer of 1675, the bloody war begun by the crafty and cruel King Philip, chief of the Wampanoags, burst upon the New Eng- land colonies. It meant the extermination of the whites.

The new towns of Lancaster and Groton were burned, the inhabitants killed, carried away captives or driven from their homes. Chelmsford was at- tacked, and but for the intervention of Wanolancet, chief of the Penacooks, Dunstable would have been overwhelmed. So alarming was their situation that, at the approach of winter, the settlers of Dunstable, with the exception of Jonathan Tyng, fled to the older settlements. Tyng had a strongly fortified house, two miles below the present State line, in what is now Tyngsborough, Mass., and he resolved to defend it to the last. A small guard was sent to him from Boston, and with this little band he held the fort till the end of the war.

Peace came again in the spring of 1678. The fugitive settlers at Salmon Brook returned, and it is said that the first meeting-house was built during the same year. It was made of logs, with rude ap- pointments, but well represented the ability of the congregation. The ensuing year, 1679, the planta- tion, as it was called, secured and settled Rev. Thomas Weld, as the first "learned and orthodox minister," among them. He settled in the south part of the town, on land now inelnded in the " Highland Farm," and then known as the "ministerial lot." Other events worthy of note occurred the same year. Among them was the building of the first saw-mill in Southern New Hampshire, located on Salmon Brook, at Alld's bridge, southeast of the Harbor. There was an old beaver- dam at that place, and it required little labor to pre- pare the site for the mill. The first bridge over Salmon Brook was built this year by John Sollendine, a carpenter, whose marriage, the next year (1680), was the first which took place in the town.

In 1679, by the royal decree of Charles II., the " merry monarch " of England, New Hampshire was erected into a "royal province," independent of Mas- sachusetts, of which she had been an appendage since 1641. Dunstable, however, still remained under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and continued to be governed by Massachusetts laws till the settlement of the boundary line, sixty-two years later, in 1741. It was better for the early settlers of Dunstable that the authority of the Massachusetts colony should con- tinue to exist. All of them had been residents of that colony. All of their business interests and social relations were centred there. An untraversed forest of forty miles separated them from the nearest New Hampshire settlement, at Exeter, and in the terrible exposure of Dunstable to savage attacks her reliance

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

to inaccessibility, the population of New Hampshire in 1678 did not exceed four thousand.

King William's Ten Years' War .- War, in its best aspects, is a terrible calamity. When a people few in number, and almost defenseless, are assailed by a merciless foe, it becomes the most terrible scourge that can befall a people. After an unquiet peace of nine years, in 1688 the war known in history as King William's, one of the fierce conflicts between the English and French nations, was, in its beginning, signalized in the New England colonies by the mas- saere of Major Waldron and twenty others at Dover, by the Penacook and Eastern Indians, and the carry- ing off of a larger number as captives to Canada.

The power of the native warriors left to themselves would have been suppressed after a few skirmishes. But the French possessions stretching all along the northern frontier were strongly garrisoned by French soldiers, and as a fierce war was raging between Eng- land and France, the Canadian forces of the latter were commanded to use all direet and indirect means to assail and weaken the English colonies.

The French government saw the advantage of se- curing the Indians as allies. All of the New England as well as the Canadian tribes had been conciliated by being treated as allies, and not subjected dependants, by the French officials. They were taught the use of the musket, and were supplied with an abundance of firearms, blankets and provisions for border warfare. They had already been taught by the Jesuit mission- aries that they were a wronged race, and that English supremacy meant the extinction of the red man. The Penacooks, who had now largely removed to Canada, had felt the truth of this. The desire for vengeance was intensely stimulated, and they hastened to attack the frontier New England settlements.

The same party of Indians which had desolated Dover had planned an attack on Dunstable, but its execution was prevented by a timely discovery of the plot. The government sent a mounted patrol to pro- tect the settlement. For a time it did good service, but on the evening of September 2, 1691, the savages suddenly attacked the house of Joseph Hassell, Sr., which stood on the north side of Salmon Brook, on a knoll just in the rear of the brick cottage on the Allds road, a few rods north of the bridge. The as- sanlt was unexpected. Hassell and his wife, Anna, their son, Benjamin, and Mary Marks, a kinswoman, were killed. They were all buried on the knoll, near the house, and for many years a rough stone marked the spot. The only record of the massacre is the follow- ing brief note, probably written by Rev. Mr. Weld at the time :

"Anno Domini 1691,

Joseph Hassel, Senior, - were slain by our Indian

Anna Hassell, his wife,

enemies on Sept. 2d, in

Benj. llassell, their son, the evening.

Mary Marks, the daughter of Patrick Marks, was slain by the In- dians, also on Sept. 2d, in the evening."

On the morning of September 28th a party of In- dians attacked and killed, on the south bank of the Nashua River, Obadiah Perry and Christopher Temple, two active and useful citizens who were among the original settlers of the town.

The protracted and incessant peril of the settlers at Salmon Brook was so great that no new-comers ar- rived, and in 1696 half of the families had left for the lower towns. There is no authentic record of any further attack upon Dunstable after the slaughter of Perry and Temple, but the growth of the town was paralyzed, and the seventeenth century closed with a gloomy prospect for the settlers of Dunstable.

There were at this time at Salmon Brook four gar- rison-houses, as they were called, and the Massachu- setts colonial government stationed about twenty sol- diers at these outposts, as a protection against any savage or French raids. These fortified houses con- sisted of a strongly-built log house, about twenty-four feet square, surrounded by a wooden stockade, built of timbers standing upright, twelve feet high, with the gates as well as the house-doors secured by iron bolts and bars. King William's War lasted ten years. Cotton Mather wrote of it as " the decade of sorrows." The number of families in Upper Dunstable (now Nashua) was reduced to twenty. The following is the list of the heads of families in 1699. The number of inhabitants did not probably exceed one hundred and twenty.

Mr. Thomas Weld.

John Sollendine.

Mr. Samuel Searle. Mr. Samuel Whiting.

Nathaniel Blanchard.

Abraham Cummings.

Joseph Blanchard.

Robert Usher.

Thomas Blanchard.

John Cummings.

Thomas Cummings.

John Lovewell.

Robert Parris.

Joseph Hassell.

Samuel French.

William Harwood.

Thomas Lunn (Lund).

Nathaniel Cummings.

Isaac Whiting.

Daniel Galusha.

In 1701 the selectmen of the town petitioned the General Court for aid in the support of the ministry, and at some length set forth their condition and suf- ferings. It appeared that one-half of the residents, being new settlers, had not raised enough corn and grain for their own families, and none of the citizens were much, if any, above need. This petition was signed by Joseph Farwell, Robert Parris and William Tyng, as selectmen. In answer to this petition the sum of twelve pounds was allowed the town from the treasury.

147

NASHUA.

CHAPTER IV. NASHUA-(Continued.) INDIAN WARS FROM 1702 TO 1725.

Watanuck Fort-Queen Anne's War-Slaughter of the Parris Family- Weld's Fort-Careless Scouts-Fate of the Galusha Family-Joe Eng- lish-Sad Condition of Dunstable-Indian Tactics and Cruelty-A Brief Peace-Capture of Cross and Blanchard-Fate of Lieutenant French and Party-Escape of Farwell-Indian Head.

LATE in the autumn of 1702 the General Court of Massachusetts authorized the building of a fort, not to exceed forty feet square, at "Watanuck," the Indian name for Salmon Brook. It was fortified with a stock- ade of hewn timber, and stood about sixty rods north of Salmon Brook, and about the same distance east of Main Street, on the premises now owned by Elbridge G. Reed. The cellar, which was deep, has been filled, and a thrifty walnut-tree planted by Mr. Reed now marks the spot. This fort was occupied by a small garrison, consisting of eleven men, namely : William Tyng, lieutenant; John Bowers, sergeant; Joseph Butterfield, drummer; John Spalding, John Cummings, Joseph Hassell, Ebenezer Cummings, Daniel Galusha, Paul Fletcher, Samuel French and Thomas Lund, privates. Most of these men were residents, and in the day-time the presence of only four soldiers was required at the fort.

In 1703 war was renewed between England and France. It lasted ten years, and is known in history as Queen Ann's War. The Indians, instigated by Jesuit priests, and equipped by the French Governor, made a general attack on all the frontier settle- ments. Within six weeks two hundred whites along the northern frontier were killed or carried into cap- tivity. The Massachusetts colonial government, alarmed by these massacres, offered a bounty of forty pounds (one hundred and forty dollars) for every Indian scalp.

It was soon after the beginning of this war that the garrison of Robert Parris was surprised, and himself and family massacred. He lived in the south part of the town, on the main road to Chelmsford, just south of the site now occupied by the "Highland Farm " buildings. He was a large land proprietor, and had been selectman and representative of the town. Just at the close of twilight the savages attacked the house. Unfortunately, the door was unfastened, and, having gained an entrance, they killed Mr. Parris, his wife and oldest daughter. Two small girls, who composed the rest of the family, ran down into the cellar, and crept under an empty hogshead. The savages plundered the house, struck with their toma- hawks upon the hogshead, but in the dark failed to examine closely. They left, leaving the house un- burned, probably fearing the flames would alarm the neighbors. The orphan girls were sent to their rela- tives in Charlestown, Mass., where they were raised and educated.

hundred and seventy in number, came East to attack the New Hampshire settlements. For centuries they had been accustomed to make mid-summer raids to the Merrimack Valley, and sometimes to the sea-coast be- yond for plunder. Vermont and Western New Hamp- shire had been depopulated by them, for they spared none. The red men having departed, they now fell upon the white settlers. Their first descent was upon Dunstable, on July 3d, where they entered the " Weld fort," a garrison-house so named for the Rev. Mr. Weld, who died in 1702. Strangely, there were twenty troopers in it. These men, who were mounted scouts, had been ranging the wood, and toward night reached the garrison. Apprehending no danger, they turned their horses loose upon the intervale, and without a sentry began a night caronsal. A detachment of Mo- hawks, lurking in the vicinity, had intended to attack both Weld's and Galusha's garrisons on the same night. Spies had been set to watch these garrisons to see that no assistance arrived, and no alarm was given. A short time before the approach of the cav- alry the spy stationed at Weld's, seeing no move- ment, retired to his party, and reported that all was safe.

Just after sunset Mr. John Cummings and his wife went out to milk the cows, and left the gate open. The Indians, who had advanced undiscovered, rushing forward, shot Mrs. Cummings dead upon the spot and wounded Mr. Cummings. They then rushed through the open gate into the house with the horri- ble yells of conquering savages, but halted with amazement on finding the room filled with soldiers merrily feasting. Both parties were astonished, and neither showed much self-possession. The soldiers, suddenly interrupted in their jovial entertainment, found themselves compelled to fight for life, without arms, and incapable of obtaining them. Most of them were panic-struck, and unable to fight or fly. For- tunately, six or seven courageous souls, with chairs, benches or whatever else they coukl seize, furiously attacked the advancing foe. The savages, surprised and disconcerted, rushed from the house without any loss, save a few sore heads.

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 36

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