History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 95

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

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The first known visit of white men to the site of Hillsborough was in that year. Before 1741 it had been the unrestricted and favorite resort of Indians, as is known by the numerous Indian implements dug up in the process of cultivating the land with the plow and hoe along the margins of the streams. Where Hillsborough Bridge village stands (a place where there are natural falls in the river) it appears that they had a common resort. It is supposed that the Pennicook tribe claimed the whole region bor- dering the Contoocook River through its entire length. Traces of that tribe have been found along the whole of that river and its tributaries, even to the region of the Monadnock. Indian relies have been found through the valleys bordering the Contoocook and its tributaries.

Ir the year 1741 Hillsborough was an unbroken forest; not only so, it was the part of an almost un- broken wilderness, extending west to the Connecticut River and to the north indefinitely. Here and there a few settlements had been commenced,-one such by a single family in Antrim. In that year the boundary line was definitely settled between the colonies of Mas- sachusetts and New Hampshire by a royal decree of Charles I., of England, and the township of Hills- borough No. 7) was granted by Massachusetts to Colonel John Hill. He afterwards obtained a quit- claim from the original proprietors or their heirs, Gorges & Mason. He could then give an undoubted title to the land to those who came and bought of him.

Colonel Hill immediately employed and sent a com-

petent surveyor from Boston to run the town lines and divide it into one hundred acre lots, and at once threw the land open for settlement. A small party re- sponded favorably to his invitation, and came on to make themselves homes at a great distance from neighbors.

The First Settlers .- The principal of the first to come with axe and pick-hoe were Samuel Gibson, James Lyon, Robert McCluer and James McColley. The new settlers set themselves vigorously at work. They wrought with a will in felling trees, clearing with fire and axe, and putting in seed so as to raise something to keep the wolf-hunger-from the door and supply other necessaries of life; for at their dis- tance from any market it would not be easy to con- vert ready money-if they had any that was converti- ble-into bread, meat, garments and other necessa- ries. Wool and flax, their own products, wrought into form by the skill and industry of woman's hands, milk from the home cow, bread from the growth of the newly-cleared fields, meat brought down by the trusty rifle were the means by which the early set- tlers lived in those early "days that tried men's souls." But not only for themselves at their homes, but for those, too, in the field fighting in a common cause, must they make provision. They bravely met all these numerous demands.

As an evidence of their good faith in starting this new settlement, they began from the very first to make provision to supply their spiritual wants which they regarded as absolutely imperative. They built a meeting-house, presumably of hewn logs, for at that early day, 1741 to 1746, there were no saw-mills in the limits of the town, and none nearer than New Boston. It met their wants. In one luxury, how- ever, they indulged. The meeting-house was fur- nished with glass windows and with a bell, in use-at least a few years ago-in Groton, Mass. This build- ing was located, as is believed, on the site of the buildings of the Clark Brothers, about half-way be- tween the Bridge and Centre villages. At the same place they erected also a parsonage. Young men came with their wives to create a home for themselves and families, as they hoped, for life. It required no small courage for tender and delicate women, in the freshness of their lives, to start for a howling wilder- ness full of terrors, at least for women and children, -terrors from hostile Indians, against whom it was necessary to keep a constant watch and guard. The Indians doubtless felt that they were an injured race, as they saw their hunting and fishing-grounds inter- fered with by the pale-faces, and their forests disap- pearing under the blows of the woodman's axe and the fire. There, too, roamed at large the bear, some- times exceedingly fierce when called upon to defend her young, provoked then to show signs of hostility.

James McColley, of Scotch Irish descent, a native of the north of Londonderry, which has furnished Inen unsurpassed in noble and heroic achievements,.

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took up his place of abode at what is now the Bridge village, on the ground now familiarly known as the Cyrus Sargent place, owned and occupied at the pres- ent time by the Hoyts. He built his log cabin-all the first honses were of logs-beside a huge granite boulder, which many years ago was blasted into fragments for building purposes and cleared wholly away. In this rude cabin was born into his family, January 18, 1742, the first child born of white parents in the town of Hillsborough. He was named John. He grew up to have a history.

At an early age John McColley became a soldier in the King's army against the French and Indians; af- terwards he was a soldier in the American army against the same King (George the Third), and was among those sent to drive Burgoyne out of the coun- try. This campaign was the turning-point in the War of the Revolution.

Another event, which also proved to be historical, took place in No. 7, the new town just settled. A daughter, Elizabeth, was born into the family of Samuel Gibson, in another log cabin, built where S. M. Baker now lives, on the road from the Bridge to the Centre, May 19, 1742, just four months, lacking a day, from the birth of John McColley. In due time, at an early age,-early enough, twenty-five years,- they were married in Litchfield, received a present of a farm from Colonel Hill, the proprietor, and re- moved to Hillsborough and made it their home.

In the same year (1741), and perhaps at the same time, came Francis Graham,-a name afterwards changed to Grimes, as the name Graham itself has been changed from the old Scotch Graeme. Francis Graham was the grandfather of John Grimes, himself the father of a large family, as families are now reckoned,-six sons and two daughters. One of these children died in infancy. The oldest of his sons, Hiram, is the father of Colonel James F. Grimes, whose life will be briefly sketched in this history. So far as can be traced, the third child born in the town was Ann Graham, daughter of Francis; born in 1743; married Deacon William McKean and died July 12, 1825. Deacon MeKean was grandfather of Frank MeKean, once candidate for Governor in the State. The name Graham, as has been stated, became, for some reason not now known, changed to Grimes.

It would be interesting to know, if we could, the amount of land eleared, the number and quality of the buildings erected and the number and names of the children born during this first settlement, lasting from 1741 to 1746. We must remember that Hills- borough was then absolutely new to white men; it was a wilderness, and a part of a still larger wilder- ness, with only here and there an opening, hardly making a noticeable break in the mighty stretch of forests that covered the entire land. New Boston had a few settlers; Peterborough and Hopkinton a few; Antrim had one in the very northeast corner of the town, nearest Hillsborough. Neighbors were not

near enough to annoy in times of peace, nor to aid in times of danger from any sudden irruption of sav- ages or beasts.

The Cape Breton War, 1744-46 .- It is easy to conceive the alarm felt in the little settlement when, in three years from the time of their coming, in 1744, news came that war had been declared between France and Great Britain, and that, in consequence of that declaration of hostilities, the colonists in New England were affected unfavorably. A war on this side of the water, called " the Cape Breton War," was waged with great severity. An expedition was fitted out, in which New Hampshire bore a large share, the aim of which was to capture Louisburg, on Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia. The expedition was started in the autumn of 1744. Louisburg fell into their hands in the spring of 1745. By the fall of this fort- ress the French were greatly enraged. The Indian allies of the French were urged-nothing loth-to make a destrnetive invasion upon the thinly-settled towns in New Hampshire. These reports caused a hasty retreat of the new settlers from their rudely- constructed homes. They made the more haste from the news that came from Hopkinton, with only the township of Henniker between them and their treach- erous foes,-the distance only some twelve or fifteen miles. They had learned that a large body of Indians-they went in companies of fifty or sixty- were on the war-path, and made, in the dead of night, an irruption into Hopkinton on the 22d of April, 1746. By the negligence of one who had gone ont to hunt, the door of the block-house had been carelessly left unfastened. The Indians rushed in fully armed, and seized and carried off eight prisoners. When the Indians were about there was no safety in isolated houses, for they kept themselves hid for the most part during the day ; if they did not, they showed no open hostility ; but in the darkness of the night, dur- ing the defenseless hours of sleep, they made their attacks with tomahawk, scalping-knife and fire. Common prudence seemed to make it necessary for the settlers, few in numbers and scattered at wide intervals over the town, to leave. The Cape Breton War virtually elosed between France and England soon after the fall of Lonisburg ; but the Indians were slow to learn it and nnwilling to settle down in peace. The only way in which the settlers in new towns could stay was by converting their strongest honse into a block-honse for a common defense. The doors and windows were strongly barricaded, and all the inhabitants brought into it for protection. All work ontside was done under the protection of an armed guard, and the greatest precaution would be taken against surprises. The news of the attack of the Indians upon Hopkinton in the dead of night, and the seizure of prisoners, caused a sudden departure of all the original settlers from the place. So, conceal- ing, as far as practicable, their heavier articles of furniture and implements of husbandry, carrying

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lighter articles by hand and driving their cattle be- fore them, they start for the lower towns. Indians had been seen lurking about the falls, where the Bridge village is, so they thought it prudent to start at once.

Philip Riley, the only settler at the time in Antrim, the one referred to as living in the northeast corner of the town, on what is familiarly known as the Whittemore place (formerly the home of Judge Jacob Whittemore), went with them and acted as guide. They were more than satisfied with their ex- perience of frontier life. The first settlement con- tinted five years or a little more, -from 1741 to 1746. Fear of the Indians drove them away. We can see that the first settlers did not leave without good cause. I learn from the " Military History of New Hamp- shire," written with great painstaking and accuracy of detail by the late Judge C. E. Potter, a resident of Hillsborough, that the Cape Breton War was under- taken mainly to wrest the fortress of Louisburg out of the hands of the French, through the New Eng- land troops, under command of Major Vaughn, of Portsmouth.

Governor Benning Wentworth was the first Governor of the colony of New Hampshire, and he entered vig- orously into making preparations for the defense of the colony. In May, 1744, he sent out forty-one men under Captain Tebbits as scouts. These were not ordered to any particular place, but to be on the lookout for the enemy, wherever they might be found. Some guards were stationed at the most ex- posed places, as at Canterbury, Contoocook and some other posts. Colonel Potter has given the muster- roll of Captain Tebbits. He has also given the mus- ter-roll of the men enlisted under Captain Clough, as volunteers to keep garrison where ordered. In the autumn of 1744 the plan was arranged by Major Wil- liam Vaughn, of Portsmouth, for the capture of Louisburg. It was matured during the winter of 1744-45, and the expedition set sail in March for the place of rendezvous. Louisburg was the strong- hold of the French on this continent, and from this place expeditions were fitted out against the English colonies in this country. It was thought that, as this was the very key to the French possessions on this continent, nothing should be left undone to get pos- session of it. New Hampshire furnished for this campaign five hundred men, one-eighth of all the force- employed. A part of these served under Col- onel Moore, of Portsmouth. One hundred and fifty of the New Hampshire men were attached to a Mas- sachusetts regiment. Louisburg fell into the hands of its assailants June 17, 17 15.

tection of a strong armed guard. Whenever a man had occasion to go to a neighbor's on an errand, he carried a loaded gun. Whenever he went to his barn, he went armed. While some were listening to a sermon inside the church, armed men walked to and fro on the outside for the sake of protection; and in case of the announcement of danger seen, the wor- shipers instantly seized their arms, and were ready for action at a minute's notice.

As has been said, the Indians went in large parties of fifty or sixty. It is said that in Rumford (now Concord), August 10, 1746, a party was ambushed by the Indians; five were killed outright, two were taken prisoners; only one escaped. And this was done between two garrisons with full complements of men, and the most distant not more than a mile and a half from the place.

The French and Indian War, 1754-63. - A greater war than the Cape Breton War broke out in 1754, called the French and Indian War, and continued until 1763, when, after various engage- ments resulting in great loss of blood and life on both sides, a treaty of peace was signed at Paris. It was in this war that Braddock was killed and Wash- ington fleshed his virgin sword in blood, and bravely conducted the defeated army from the very jaws of destruction into a place of safety. The experience thus gained aided Washington in after years in lead- ing the small yet heroic armies of the new republic safely on to victory and independence.

New Hampshire bore a full share in this ill-fated war,-a war," for the most part, with savages, seemingly without heart or conscience; a war in which women and children were often the helpless victims; a war full of terrors, especially to the unarmed and defense- less. In 1763 it came to an end. In the mean time Colonel Hill had matured all the plans for resettling the town, now that danger from Indians lurking to kill was over, and he was prepared, with the grant from Massachusetts, sanctioned by Governor Wentworth, and with a quit-elaim from heirs of Gorges & Mason, original proprietors, to give satisfactory titles to the land.

Resettlement .- In 1763, the year the last-named war closed, Colonel Hill had employed Daniel Camp- bell, of Amherst, a skillful surveyor, to run out anew the lines of the town, and divide it into one hun- dred acre lots. Soon settlers began to pour in who had come prepared to stay. The following is the list of those who were known to be there in 1767. One family came before the war closed,-in 1762, five years before. The rest came a few at a time, and were these, viz .: John MeColley, Captain Samuel Bradford, Lieutenant Samnel Bradford, Jonathan Durant, Jon- athan Easty, Timothy Wilkins, John Gibson, Samuel Gibson, William Williams, Benjamin Lovejoy, Wil- liam Pope, Jonathan Sargeant, Moses Steel, Isaac Baldwin, William Taggart, Isaac Andrews. Of these,

Notwithstanding the fall of their stronghold, and perhaps in consequence of it, the French incited the Indians to renewed hostilities, so that they kept the people continually harassed, and oftentimes filled with terrors at the unknown evils that might befall them. The people did their planting under the pro- i it will be remembered that John McColley was the

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first-born son and child in town. The two Gibsons were younger brothers of MeColley's wife. The first settlers-who left during the Cape Breton War- never came back to Hillsborough to reside. Of these, there were eight or ten families living at the Centre, the Bridge and near the meeting-house which they had built, located between the two. On the return of peace everything was favorable for success. Those who purchased could obtain a good title to their land. True, they were not wholly relieved from anxiety from fear of the Indians ; still, they knew that they had the protection of the militia and every able-bodied man belonging to it, which could be called out for defense in seasons of danger at the shortest notice. The in- vestment in Hillsborough lands seemed to be popular. Lands were bought not for speculation, but for homes. Men-young men-came with their wives, calculating to be contented and stay.

A word of admiration is due to the courageous couple Daniel Murphy and his wife, who came from Chester, and settled on what was afterwards named, and has since been called, Bible Hill. They were truly pioneers. The traces of his cellar on the old Symonds place (now owned and occupied by Alonzo Tuttle) have been seen by persons now living. It is reported that at one time he left his wife alone more than two weeks, with no human habitation nearer than New Boston. Mr. Smith, the first annalist of Hillsborough, tells the story so well that I will quote his exact lan- guage,-

" How desolate must have been her situation in this dreary solitude ! She afterwards related that on one occasion, so overpowered was she by a sense of her loneliness, and so desirons to hear the sound of a human voice answering to her own, that at midnight, when no sound was audible save the distant howl of the famished wolf and the distant moan of the waving pine, she went forth from her hut and cried aloud at the height of her voice, that she might hear the responsive echo resounding through the dim aisles of the forest."

It was through many perils, inconveniences and personal sacrifices that the town was reclaimed from its wilderness condition and made to become the pleas- ant abode of civilized life. For some time Murphy's family bore the strain of entire solitude. Unless they had become misanthropie through living alone, I should think the sight of other settlers must have been a joyous one. Man was made for social life. Society, as a rule, is indispensable to complete development.

CHAPTER II.

HILLSBOROUGH -- (Continued).

Incorporation of Town-The First Town-Meeting-The American Revo- Intion, 1775-83-Veterans in the War-The Contoocook Bridge- Witches-Legends-Wild Game.

Incorporation of Town. - Hillsborough, having at the time twenty-two freeholders, was incorporated as a town in 1772, through the ageney of Isaac An- drews, Esq. It is related that he secured the services

of a Congregational minister, Rev. James Scales, of Hopkinton, the first minister of the town, to draw up the petition. This is one of those incidental facts which shows two things: first, that the clergy at that day were expected to know much relating to public business, and, secondly, that the estimation in which they were held was a right one. The charter of in- corporation bears the date "November 14, 1775," and was issued in the name of " George the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith," etc., "by and with the advice of our truly and well-beloved John Went- worth, Esq., Governor and Commander-in-chief of our province of New Hampshire," ete. The bounda- ries of the town are recited in the charter, and are marked by numbers placed upon beech-trees. The surveyor begins at the southeast corner of the town, the same as the southwest corner of Henniker, from a beech-tree marked 7, perhaps because the township was originally "No. 7." From that tree is the first southern line of Hillsborough, south, 84° 30' west- this means that the line deflects to the south 5° 30' from an exact east and west line-to another beech- tree marked 7, 8 and so on, till the first-marked beech-tree is reached. In the charter all the white pines in the town are reserved for the King's use. Colonel Hill paid a liberal fee to Governor John Wentworth for signing his name to the charter, viz. : a sum equivalent to fifty dollars in gold. But, then, it must be remembered he could afford to pay liberally to have his name transmitted to posterity in the name of the town; yet, strange to say, some think it is called Hillsborough because the land is so hilly. Some, more learned than wise, suppose it received its name from " Wills Hills, the Earl of Hillsborough, who was one of the Privy Council of George the Third, and whose residence was at Hillsborough, in the county of Down, in Ireland." It is said that it was originally named Hillborough, and that the s was inserted by a popular drift of pronunciation, and is now established by the law of usus loquendi. I think the fifty dollars given to Governor Wentworth for signing the charter settles the question that it was named for Colonel John Hill, the proprietor.

The First Town-Meeting .-- The first town-meet- ing was held on Bible Hill, at Captain Bradford's tavern,-the first one built in town,-November 24, 1772. Captain Isaac Baldwin presided as moderator, and Isaac Andrews was elected town clerk. At that meeting it was voted to accept the charter, and Isaac Andrews, John McColley, Daniel MeNeil, Isaac Bald- win and William Pope-six noble men and the an- cestors of noble men-were elected selectmen.

First Meeting-House .- The first meeting-house was burnt during the time, between the two set- tlements, when the town was destitute of inhabit - ants. Common rumor, right or wrong, fixes the act of burning upon one Keyes, of Weare. who, happen- ing that way after all the inhabitants had left through

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

fear of the Indians, and having taken out the glass windows and buried them for his own use, set fire to the building, Nero-like, for the wicked pleas- ure of seeing it burn. As relies of the red men in the place, there were found buried in the earth im- plements of their daily use, such as spoons, ladles, pestle- for pounding grains, hatchets, tomahawks, hooks and various other things wrought of stone or home.

The American Revolution, 1775-83 .- The second settlement had barely got under way when the great American Revolution broke out. The quarrel was of long standing. Repeated acts of injustice and oppres- sion drove our forefathers into opposition to the acts of King and Parliament, and from opposition to open war in defense of their rights by the arbitrament of arm -. In this war of nearly eight years Hillsborough bore a full share. The town of Hillsborough bore their part in furnishing recruits for the army. It should be borne in mind that the settlers forming the | second and permanent settlement had been in the town but a very few years when the news of the battles of Lexington and Concord bridge electrified the whole country with a ery " To arms, to arms, and avenge our slaughtered countrymen !" Hillsborough caught the cry, and echoed it. This seems the best place to insert the names of those who responded favorably to this appeal,-those who did service for the country as soldiers in some capacity, as officers or privates, in the War of the Revolution, some of whom laid down their lives on the battle-field, while some bore the scars of battle to their graves.

Veterans in the War .- The names are as follows without their titles : Benjamin Pierce, Isaac Baldwin, Anni Andrews, Isaac Andrews, Jr., Moses Steel, William Pope, Thomas Murdough, Solomon An- drews, John McNeil, Silas Cooledge, Samuel Brad- ford, Jr., John McColley. Samuel Symonds, William Booth, Asa Wilkins, Nathan Taylor, William Tag- gart, James Taggart, Archibald Taggart, Joseph Tagzart, John Taggart, Robert Taggart, Nathaniel Johnson, Jacob Flint, James Gibson, William Jones, Jr., Baxter How, William Symonds, Zachariah Rob- bin-, William Gammell, Nathaniel Parmenter, David Munroe, Timothy Grey, Thadius Monroe, Nathaniel Colla, Nathan Mann, and Daniel Kellom-thirty-six men, and six of the same family name. Neither is it likely that these are all. So many names, at any rate, have been resened from oblivion. They deserve of us to be written in letters of gold. If every town then settled in New Hampshire sent as large a proportion of their whole population to the war, then surely New Hampshire did her share. Some of the names in this list are already historie names,-heroes and the ances- tor- of heroes. Some of the men deserve special no- tee for the part they took in the war and for personal bravery on the field of battle. It would be a grateful task to the Instorian to say something of each, did space permit, and recount in detail the praiseworthy

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 95

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