History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 54

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

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Mrs. Swallow has been a diligent observer of passing events. A great reader, she has taken much interest in the political and moral questions of the day, and formed decided and intelligent opinions upon them. As a mother she has brought up her children wisely, and now has the pleasant satisfaction of seeing her children and her children's children occupying useful and honorable positions in life.

Mr. Swallow has always been a farmer, and for many years conducted a milk-route. He was bred a farmer and has never seen the day when he was tempted to change his calling. In this he has shown his good sense, for he never could have changed it for a more honorable or useful one. Diligent, in- dustrious and unassuming, he has lived a useful life, and is much esteemed by his brother farmers. He has a pleasant home and three hundred acres of land, but his farm has not occupied him to such an extent that he has neglected his civil and political duties. He has been selectman, a member of the Common Council and an alderman of the city of Nashua. In politics he is a Democrat, and repre- sented his party in the State Legislature of 1861.

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Mr. Swallow, in an unpretentious mauner, has done the duties which have presented themselves to him thoroughly and well. He is kind-hearted and charitable, and is an attendant of the Baptist Church, and contributes liberally to all good causes.

GENERAL JOHN G. FOSTER.

General John G. Foster was born in Whitefield, N. II., May 27, 1823. When ten years old he removed with the family to Nashua, where he attended the public schools. He also attended the academy at Hancock, and subsequently fitted for the West Point Military Academy at Crosby's school, Nashua. Through the influence of Charles G. Atherton, then member of Congress from this State, he was appointed cadet at West Point in 1842. He graduated at that institution, ranking number four in the class, in 1846, with Generals MeClellan, Reno, Sturgis, Stoneman and Oakes, of the Union army, and Jackson and Wil- cox, of the rebel army.

He was in the Mexican War, and in 1847 was breveted first lieutenant " for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco." At the storming of Molino del Rey he fell, severely wounded. For his gallantry here he was breveted captain. In 1854 he was appointed assistant professor of engineering at West Point. He was second in com- mand at Fort Sumter when it was first fired upon by the rebels, from Charleston, in April, 1861, and for

the heroism he displayed on this occasion he was pro- moted to brigadier-general of volunteers.

General Foster accompanied General Burnside's expedition into North Carolina, bore a conspicuous part in the battle at Roanoke Island, the capture of Newbern, and received the surrender of all the batteries, all the defenses and all the troops-over two thousand- upon the island in February, 1862. In July he was left in command of the Department of North Carolina with limited force, General Burnside being ordered with the main force to Fortress Monroe. Late in autumn, reinforced by new regiments from Massachu- setts, he resolved to assume the offensive. He led an expedition to the Roanoke, but found no rebel force, and liberated several hundred slaves. In April, 1863, the rebel General Hill made an attack on Washington, N. C., and was handsomely defeated by General Fos- ter. In October he succeeded General Burnside in East Tennessee. All through the war General Foster occupied responsible positions, and was regarded as one of the most accomplished, brave and prudent of- ficers in the army.

After the close of the Rebellion General Foster con- tinued in the service at the South for several years. On account of feeble health he was stationed at Boston in 1869, having his headquarters at Fort In- dependence. In the spring of 1874 he returned to his old homestead at Nashua, where he died on September 2d of that year. The funeral services at the Church of the Immaculate Conception were largely attended.

HISTORY OF AMHERST.'

BY DANIEL F. SECOMB.

CHAPTER I.

Geographical-Topographical-Original Grant-First Meeting of Pro- prietors-Early Votes-The First Settlements-Newsof Pioneers-The Pioneer Grist Mill-Incorporation of Town-First Town-Meeting- Tax-Payers in 1760-Town of Monson-Organization of Parishes- Incorporation of Mont Vernon and Milford.

THE town of Amherst is situated in the sontherly part of the county of Hillsborough, in the State of New Hampshire, in latitude 42º 51' north. It lies on both sides of the Souhegan River, the principal part being on the northern side.

Its length from north to south, according to a sur- vey made in 1806, is nine miles and one hundred and seventy rods. Its greatest width is about five miles, and its least width two miles and two hundred and forty-two rods, comprising an area of about twenty- two thousand acres, of which about five hundred are covered with water.

It is bounded on the north by Bedford and New Boston, on the east by Bedford and Merrimack, on the south by Hollis and Milford, and on the west by Milford and Mont Vernon.

Its distance from Concord is twenty-eight miles; from Manchester, twelve miles; from Nashua, ten miles; from Portsmouth, fifty-three miles; and from Washington, four hundred and eighty-four miles.

Its surface is broken and uneven. Near the Sou- hegan is a strip of valuable intervale land. Adjoining this, at a higher elevation, are large tracts of sandy plain land, formerly thickly covered with a growth of pitch pines. Along the water-courses are considera- ble tracts of meadow land. At a higher elevation, the hill-sides afford excellent grazing land, and when moderately free from rocks are well adapted to agricultural purposes, and with proper care yield an abundant reward to the husbandman. In other parts they are as hard and strong as granite can make them, and are fitted only for the production of fuel and timber.

The town of Amherst had its origin in a grant of land made by the General Court of Massachusetts to

some of the citizens of that province for services in the Narraganset war in 1675-76.

The township was granted in 1728, and was known as Narraganset, No. 3, and subsequently as Souhegan West, No. 3. It was incorporated as a town Jan- uary 18, 1760, at which time it received the name of Amherst, from General Jeffrey Amherst, at that time commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America.

The first meeting of the proprietors of Souhegan West was held at Salem, July 17, 1734. At this meeting Captain Benjamin Potter, Captain Richard Mower and Mr. Daniel Kenney were appointed a committee " to take a Perticular view of ye scircum- stances of s'd Township, and make Report to ye Society or Grantees at their adjournment on the sec- ond tuesday in September next."

They were authorized to employ a surveyor, and such pilots as might be necessary, at the expense of the proprietors.

Captain Richard Mower, Messrs. Cornelius Tarble, Ebenezer Rayment, Jeremiah Gatchel and Daniel Kenney were appointed a committee to subdivide the township. Captain Benjamin Potter, Mr. John Bixbe and Ensign Thomas Tarbox were added to this committee at a subsequent meeting.

Another meeting of the proprietors was held at Salem, August 13, 1734, at which William Collins was elected proprietors' clerk ; Captain Richard Mower, Messrs. John Trask, Ebenezer Rayment, Stephen Peabody and Jeremiah Gatchel, prudential committee ; and Captain Benjamin Potter, treasurer.

The prudential committee was directed to rectify all mistakes in the names of the proprietors, as given in the list, and to lay the same before the General Court, if they thought proper.

September 10, 1734, the proprietors met to hear the report of their viewing committee, but the com- mittee had been disappointed by the surveyor they had engaged, and were not prepared to make a full report. They reported verbally that "they had been on the land and found it well timbered."

After some discussion it was voted, " That the town- ship be subdivided this fall, as soon as may be."

1 The following history for this work was condensed from "Secomb's History of Amherst," an elaborate and standard work of nine hundred and seventy-eight pages, published in 1883.

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The committee was directed to lay out sixty acres to each proprietor, for his or her first or home lot, what was wanting in quality to be made up in quan- tity. It was also voted that should any large quanti- ties of meadow be found, it should be left to the con- sideration of the committee whether to include the same in the lots or reserve it for the benefit of the whole society.

Collectors were appointed in each town to collect the assessments ordered to defray the expenses of the society.

At a meeting held January 8, 1734-35, the pro- prietors

" Voted, that the first sixty proprietors that shall and Doe each of them build and finish a Dwelling-house of eighteen feet square and seven feet studd, and clear two acres of Land fitt for mowing or plowing, and actually live on the spot, and perform the same within three years frome the date hereof, they and each of them shall be Intitled to draw out of ye said proprietors' Treasury the sum of six pounds."

A committee was chosen to hear all persons that had any disputable claims to any rights in the township, and make report of their opinion to the society as soon as might be.

" Voted, that Capt. Richard Mower have Liberty to draw ye Lott No. 21, he Building a convenient House of Entertainment, and fence in a pasture of six or eight acres of land, and provide a sufficient ferry Boat tu transport any of the Proprietors over Souhegan River, and performe the same within eighteen months from the Date hereof."

An auditing committee was appointed, and it was voted that " the Lotts Nos. 87, 88 and 89 should lye by for the present, to make good for the three lots- viz., one for the first settled minister, one for the min- istry and one for the school."

A committee was appointed to confer with the committee of the proprietors of Souhegan East, No. 5, about building a bridge over Souhegan River, and report at the next meeting of the proprietors. (Sou- hegan East, No. 5 (afterward Bedford), as at first granted, extended to Souhegan River.)

Complaint having been made by some that many of the lots laid out by the committee "were not so good as others, for want of quality," and therefore not fit to settle on, by means whereof much damage might acerne to some of "ye proprietors," it was

" Food, that each Proprietor shall have the liberty, if he see cause, to exchange his Lott or Lotts by Quitting his Right to such Lott as he shall draw, to all the Proprietors, & by taking other Lott or Lotts in the Room of s'd Lolts in any of the Lands Within the Township. Provided they are not more in Number than the Lotts he or they shall Quitt to the Proprietors, and Provided, also, that they or he shall lay ont no more than sixty aeres to each Lott, & half a mile in length and sixty rods in bredth, as the other lotts are now laid out. Furthermore, Provided, that ve lotte to exchanged shall be laid out at ye owner's cost, within one year from the Date hereof, & said Lotts to be sulliciently butted & bounded, and & Returne thereof made to the Clerk of ye s'd Society, & how to make an entry in the proprie'rs' book, to whom and by whom they were Land out, with the Buts & Bounds. "

The lots laid out by the committee appear to have been drawn by the proprietors at this meeting, as we find it was

" l'oted, that the Clerk Record all the Lotts that have been Drawn in the Society's Book of Records to the several persons that have been al- lowed to draw the same, with their names."

It was also

" Voted, that the Clerk take care of those Lotts that are not drawn, & that the several persons to whom they belong have liberty to Repair to s'd Clerk and draw their Respective Lotts, they paying the Rates or Dues set on s'd Lotts."

In 1735, Robert Hale, Esq., Captain Stephen Pea- body and Lieutenant Ebenezer Rayment were ap- pointed a committee

" To take a view of the township, and in the most commodious place therefor Lay out a place whereon to erect the Public Meeting House for the worship of GOD, & a convenient place for a Public Burying place, & An Other for a Training field, marking the same by Butts and Bounds, & that they doe More Over Lay out three home Lotts of equal quantity aud like form with ye Other Lotts Already laid out,-One to be for the first settled Minister, One for the Ministry & One for the School, and in their return to make Distinctions, the Lotts to be Butted and bounded as aforesaid, and make return thereof to ye Clerk that so he may record the same."

They were also directed

"To take a view of Souhegan River, in Order to find out ye most convenient place to Build a Bridge over the same, & make report to ye Society at their next meeting."

The report of this committee was recorded by the clerk, June 4, 1735, as follows :

"The C'om'tee to lay out a place for a Meeting House, Training field, Burying place & parsonage, Minister & School Lott, &c., Laid out for the Meeting house place, Burying place and Training field, A track of Land Joyning Easterly to ye head of ye Lotts No. 108, 109 & 110, lying Joyning southerly to Andrew Balche's Lott, Containing thirteen acres & 140 perch, lying North & South 74 perch, East and West 30 perch. Also a Lott for ye Ministry, containing Sixty acres, Bounded thus : Beginning att a Maple tree marked with P & T., thence North, by ye aforesaid Lott, 74 rods to a white pine marked with T. P & S, thence west 124 rods to an Arsh marked with P & M, thence South 74 rods to a white pine marked s'd Balche's Corner. Also a Minister's Lott of Sixty acres, Bounded Sontherly on a Highway, Lying North & South 124 rods, east and west 78 rods, the South west corner making ye same Bounds of the North East of ye s'd Ministry Lott, ye Highway Lying Between them, the foure corners marked with MI. Also a School Lott, containing sixty acres, Bounding Westerly to ye Minister's, Southerly to ye Ministry and Meeting house place, Easterly to ye heads of ye Lotts 109 & TIO, the corners marked with S.

“[Signed] ROBERT HALE, p'r Order."

The first settlement in the township was probably made in the spring of 1735 by Samuel Lamson and Samuel Walton, from Reading, Mass. They settled at first about a mile south of the village, on the farm now owned by Mr. Bryant Melendy, where they built a log house. Both afterward removed to other parts of the town,-Lamson to the westerly part, now Mont Vernon, where some of his descendants now reside. About 1765 he removed to Billerica, Mass., where he died about 1779.

Walton removed to the easterly part of the town, near Babboosuck pond. Of his subsequent history but little is known. His name appears occasionally on the proprietors' records and is attached to the pe- tition to the provincial authorities in 1747, asking for help against the Indians. He is said to have died here, but none of his descendants reside in town, and for the last eighty years the name is not found on the town records.

Lieutenant Joseph Prince seems to have been the only one of the original proprietors who settled in the township. He was from Salem village, (now Danvers,)

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AMHERST.

and was a proprietor in the right of his uncle, Richard Prince. According to an old plan, still in existence, his land at one time extended from Bedford line westward to near where the village of Mont Vernon now stands. A family tradition says that he first located himself on the farm afterward owned by Nathan and Peter Jones, in Mont Vernon, but re- moved thence to the place now owned by Solomon Prince, in the easterly part of Amherst. Other set- tlers followed not long afterward, many of them from Salem, and the adjoining towns which once made a part of that ancient town, but the progress of the settlement was slow. In September, 1741, but fourteen families were settled in the township.

Efforts were made by the proprietors to induce set- tlers to locate in the township, and sums of money were voted for that purpose, but the distance from the seaport towns and the hardships attending the lives of settlers in a new settlement prevented a rapid growth of the place. The French and Indian Wars, which commenced a few years later, also operated unfavorably to its progress.

The lives of the first settlers in the New Hampshire townships must have been a constant struggle for existence. Locating themselves on their lots at places where a supply of water could readily be obtained, they erected huts of logs or stones to serve as a tem- porary shelter. Perhaps a brook or pond, not far distant, afforded them an occasional meal, or a bear or deer came within reach of their trusty muskets.

A settler in one of the Narraganset townships wrote thus of his town in its infancy :

"A howling wilderness it was, where no man dwelt. The hideous yells of wolves, the shrieks of owls, the gobblings of turkeys and the barking of foxes was all the music we heard. All a dreary waste and exposed to a thousand difficulties."

Against the monarchs of the forest the settlers waged a war of extermination. In the hot, dry days of sum- mer and autumn the fire aided them in their work. After their numbers had increased, they joined their strength in piling the logs into huge piles, which were set on fire and consumed.

The manufacture of potash from the ashes was once quite a business among them.

Rye was sown in the autumn on the cleared land, among the stumps and rocks, or corn was planted in the spring, from which, with a little care, abundant crops were raised.

September 8, 1735. The proprietors appointed Captain Mower, Lieutenant Rayment and Cornelius Tarble a committee to build a bridge over Souhegan River, and they seem to have attended to the business at once, as we find that at a meeting, held October 13th following, the proprietors ratified an agreement they had made with Mr. Tarble for building a good and convenient bridge over the river, for doing which he was to receive the sum of ninety-five pounds.

held April 12, 1736, desiring Captain Mower "to wait on Dunstable Selectmen, to Request them to lay out a Highway from Nashaway river to Souhegan Bridge, in the most convenient place;" and at a meeting held December 27, 1738, they "voted that the sum of ten pounds be raised toward building a bridge over Nashua river, provided it be built in a convenient place for the proprietors of this township;" and the money was to be deposited in the treasury, to be paid when the work was satisfactorily performed.

The building of a saw-mill was now in order, and, April 19, 1737, the proprietors

"Voted, that Capt. Ives, Capt. Majory, Capt. Hicks and Mr. Edward Bond, for the encouragement of building a saw-mill in Sonhegan West, No. 3, upon a brook called Beaver brook, where it may be most conve- nient, shall have paid them, out of the Treasury, forty pounds in money or Bills of credit. Provided, that the said mill be fitted to saw by the first of November next, and that shee shall be Kept in Good Repair, and to saw for the prop'rs to the halves, or Equi'lent to it, for the space of ten years from this date."

A tax of one hundred and twenty pounds was levied upon the proprietors, to pay the above grant and other charges, the same to be paid into the treasury by the 1st day of September following.

February 14, 1737-38. The proprietors voted to have a second division of the land as soon as might be, and appointed Captain Joseph Parker, of Chelms- ford, Ensign Thomas Tarbox, and Lieutenant Cor- nelius Tarble a committee to see it done.

" Voted, that after the Comitte have vew'd the land they are to lay out, if they think it will not allow of more than 60 acers, they are lo make that the standard, and what land is meener to make it Equivalent to the best 60 akers ; and that the Comitte have regard to the medow, and lay it out as they goe along, including it in the 60 akers.

" Toted, that the above Comitte shall lay out convenient ways for the proprietors as may be needful."

July 11, 1738. The committee for dividing the town was enlarged by the addition of Mr. John Wiles and Captain Ebenezer Rayment, and Mr. Joseph Richardson was appointed to serve in place of Cap- tain Joseph Parker.

Parties that had newly pitched their lots were re- quired to have them surveyed by the same surveyor that the committee employed to make their surveys, and present a plan of the same, with their butts and bounds, to the committee, before the 10th of Sep- tember next, at their own expense, they being noti- fied by the committee.

This committee made their report, which was accepted and ordered to be recorded, September 27, 1738, and the lots were probably drawn by the pro- prietors at that meeting, or at one held on the 10th of May following.

May 20, 1740. Solomon Wilkins had leave to take up sixty acres of land adjoining the falls in Sou- hegan River, the land to lay square, on condition that he built a good grist-mill near the falls, kept it in re- pair, and at all times supplied the inhabitants of the township with meal for the lawful and customary toll, when they brought their corn to be ground. The

It was probably built in the autumn and winter of that year, as we find the proprietors, at a meeting | grant was to be forfeited in case he should fail to

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

grind and supply the town with meal forthwith,- unless prevented by some extraordinary casualty,- or if he should wholly neglect to grind for the space of eight months ; but, provided he gave an answer to the clerk by the 20th of June next following, accept- ing the conditions of the grant, and had the mill ready to grind by the 20th day of May, 1741, in the meantime giving bonds for performance of the contract, the grant would holl good.

Wilkins seems not to have accepted the offer, as, April 30, 1741, it was

" Toled, that the Proprietors will give to Mr. John Shepard One hun- dred and twenty acers of land, to begin at William Peabody's line and Run down the River to the Bottom of the falls, and soe wide as to make the hundred and twenty acers on the conditions that the sixty acers was voted to solliman Wilkins, as appears by the records before ; Ile building a good Grist-mill and a good Saw-mill on said Souhegan River against the aforesaid land, and to finish them by the last of November next, and Keep them in good repair for the use of said Proprietors, he giving a bond to our Tressurer to comply with the same forthwith, he having lib- erty to Cut such white Oke Timber for the mill as he wants and ha'n't of his own."

Mr. Shepard was from Concord, Mass. He ac- cepted the grant, built the mill, and became a useful and honored citizen of the town.

At the same meeting they voted that they would build a bridge over Souhegan River, and appointed Captain Samuel Bancroft, Captain Thomas Tarbox and Joshua Hicks a committee to say where it should be built, and get it done.

They also " voted, that they will give noe encour- agement to a blacksmith to settle among them ; " but they soon thought better of it, for, May 22, 1745, they " voted that they will give encouragement for a black- smith to settle with them, and that Captain Parker, Lieutenant Prince and Mr. Lamson be desired to agree with a good smith to settle with them."

As the sixty families required by the grant had not settled in the township, the proprietors voted, at a meeting held March 11, 1746-47,

" That they will chuse a comittee to git an obligation drawn & sub- scribed, that shall oblige at least sixty famalies, with them that are already There, to selle Inonediately, or gitt sum to setle there for them, agreeable to the grant.

" l'oted, for the Comittee, Capt. Raiment, De'con Tarble & Robert Andrew."

September 26, 1758, the proprietors voted that their committee

" May : 1, lay out a Road from Salem Canady to Capt. Shepard's bridge ; 2, a Roml from Hezekiah Lovejoy's to the meeting house ; 3, a Road from Josiah Sawyer's lo the meeting house ; 4, a Road Irom Thomas Clark's to the meeting house ; 5, a Road leading from the meet- Ing house to Cap. Shepard's mill ; 6, a Road from Small's to the meeting house, with a road from William Peabody's into said Road, all to be dun as the Committee think fitt.

" Jonted, that there shall be a Road laid out, four rods wide, from Eb- inezer Lyon's house to his Bridge, so called.

" Toute I, that they will build a Bridge over Soughegan River, wheare Lyon's Bridge was, and appoint Mr. Lyon, Mr. Towne and Mr. Read the Comporter to build it.

" Toted, to allow Capt. Shepard and others, eighty pounds, old tenor, towards building the bridge called Shepard's bridge."

In 1753 the following petition for incorporation as a town was presented to the Governor and Council by the citizens of Souhegan West :

"To His Exelency the Governer and to the IIonorable the Council of the Province of New Hampshire :

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 54

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