History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 97

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

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The war was fought with varying success on both sides by sea and by land ; sometimes vietory was claimed by each party. A treaty of peace was made and signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, December 24, 1814. Nevertheless, our greatest vietory, which secured the Presidency to the victorious leader of the American army, General Andrew Jackson, was gained after the treaty of peace had been signed. viz .. on January 8, 1815. In the War of 1812 Hillsborough furnished her quota of brave soldiers and skilled commanders, and was represented on many a hard and well-fought field. The sons of sires who fought with honor in the American Revolution are found fighting with equal skill and bravery with their fathers in the War of 1812. Lieutenant John McNeil was at Bunker Hill, his son at Lundy Lane.

The McNeils .- The name of MeNeil occurs fre- quently in the war reports of the early days of Hills- borough. John MeNeil, who was in the Louisburg expedition in 1744 45, in the Cape Breton War, came originally from Londonderry to Derryfield (now Manchester) and thence to Hillsborough. His son, Daniel, moved to Hillsborough in 1771, and was ac- cidentally drowned in the Contoocook at Hillsbor- ough Bridge. His son, John, was a captain in the War of the Revolution, was in the battle of Bunker Hill and was one of the men that helped from the field the fatally-wounded Captain Baldwin, the first of the Hillsborough men to die for their country. This Captain MeNeil, of whom we have just made mention, married Lucy, the daughter of Isaac An-

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drews, Esq. Of this marriage were four children, viz., Mary, born July 6, 1779; General Solomon Me- Neil, born January 15, 1782 ; General John McNeil, born March 25, 1784; and Lney, who died in infaney. General John MeNeil, the third of the above children, was an officer in the War of 1812. At the age of thirty he led his regiment in the battle of Chippewa, being its major, and ranking the other officers on the field, and for meritorious condnet was breveted lieu - tenant-colonel July 15, 1814. In the same month General McNeil led the Eleventh Regiment in the engagement at Niagara, commonly called the battle of Lundy Lane, July 25th, just ten days after the battle at Chippewa. At this time he was breveted colonel " for distinguished valor" in this battle. He was severely wounded and made lame for life in this en- gagement, being hit by a six-ounce canister-shot which shattered his right knee; yet he kept in the field till the close of the engagement and a glorious victory had been won. Nor had his promotions ceased. On the same day of the battle, July 25th, he was breveted (a second time that day) brigadier-gen- eral. In 1830 he retired from the army and was ap- pointed surveyor of the port of Boston by his friend, President Jackson. He held this office until his death. He died at Washington, D. C., February 23, 1850, at the age of sixty-five, in the full possession of all his faculties. General MeNeil married a daughter of Governor Pierce, sister of ex-President Franklin Pierce. Of this marriage were a son and daughter. The daughter, Mrs. Frances McNeil Potter, relict of the late Hon. Chandler E. Potter, was born, I have been told, in Chicago, when it was a military post, when her father held command, and that she was the first white child born on the site of that city. Miss Fanny was a brave soldier's daughter, and shared in his glory. She has been distinguished for her cour- age, dignity of character and cheerful disposition under every allotment of Providence.

A son, named John W. S. McNeil for his father, and also the distinguished military chief under whom General MeNeil held a commission, fell in Florida while leading an attack against the Indians, Septem- ber 10, 1837. He was a lieutenant in the regular army, having been educated at West Point. He was killed at the age of twenty years and six months. His death closed up the line of succession in that branch of the family for transmitting the family name to posterity. Mrs. F. MeNeil Potter is the only rep- resentative of the family,-the fifth generation from John MeNeil of Londonderry. The historian wishes her a long and happy life.

died at his son's in Cambridge, Mass., in 1881. Mr. Templeton was a conscientious Christian man, very slow in making up his mind and slower still in carry- ing it out. He received government scrip entitling him to draw a quarter-section of government land, which he did in Michigan. When sold, the land brings to the government a dollar and a quarter an acre. He employed a professional agent to locate his land, stating his place of preference. The agent, however, did not locate where he wished ; and then began his trouble,-taxes upon taxes, heavy, because non-resident land is taxed heavily as a rule. He em- ployed an agent, as I have said, and then a man to watch the agent, and after a while, getting suspicious, a third to keep an eye on both to see that they did not conspire together. He employed me to write to find out concerning the whole. I do not know who looked after me.

After the War of 1812 business was for a few years very brisk. Marcy's cotton-factory added to the enterprise of the inhabitants. It employed most of the spare hands in the place and kept up the price of female help. A whole generation gave their energies mainly to the pursuits of peace. The Florida War was carried on by the regular army, in which Hillsborough had representatives. But at length the sons of those who fought in the War of 1812 have work on their hands. War between the United States and Mexico was declared to exist by the aet of Mexico. An army was raised and sent into Mexico under Gien- eral Zachary Taylor " to conquer a peace." It was in this war that the gallant Hon. Franklin Pierce, after- wards President of the United States, fleshed his maiden sword in the blood of the Mexicans. Hills- borough was well represented in that war.

In the mean time the nation has been constantly growing, from a twofold canse,-natural increase from births and increase from immigration. The territory so immense occasioned differing interests in the different sections. And so it turned out that a civil war of gigantie proportions burst upon the nation in 1861. The different sections sprang to arms with different purposes in view,-on one side, to seeure a separation of government, as well as of interests ; on the other, to hinder the separation and preserve the Union. In this terrible war blood was poured out freely as water. Hillsborough sent her full share of brave boys, some of them, alas! never to return to dear and loving homes. The bones of some lie mouldering in Southern swamps. Some dying away or killed in battle were brought home for interment.

War of the Rebellion .- Besides privates and non-commissioned officers, some were honored with commissions, and did good service in the field. One beld a colonel's commission,-James F. Grimes. Colo- nel James Forsaith Grimes was the son of Hiram

Men in the Ranks .- Hillsborough furnished men for the ranks for the War of 1812. Among these were two well-known names to Hillsborough people, viz. : George Dascomb and Daniel Templeton. Mr. Das- comb died more than thirty years ago, a man useful : Grimes and grandson of John Grimes, originally of in the church and in society greatly missed and Deering, who removed thence with his family to Francestown as proprietor of the hotel in that place. lamented. Mr. Templeton lived to a good old age, and

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

and thence to Hillsborough Bridge, to the place known long after as the Totherly place. The elder Grimes was a successful business man, and reared his family to business habits. Two of his sons went West, to Burlington, lowa, and amassed each a large property. One of these, Hon. James W. Grimes, was in the United States Senate at the time of the Rebellion.

At the beginning of the late civil war Colonel James F. Grimes, of Hillsborough, received a cap- tain's commission, and opened a recruiting-office at the Bridge. Enlistments were secured, and the tap of the drum was a familiar daily sound and the drilling of squads a familiar sight. The military spirit was roused in boys and men, and soon there began to be companies and regiments, of which the the field. Colonel Grimes, then a captain of the regular army, was constantly employed for some months in enlisting and drilling volunteers and re- eruit- for the service, and with excellent success. He went himself to the field, and, in due process of time, by meritorious conduct in the field, he rose by degrees, and at length was breveted colonel. He re- mained in the army till the close of the war, being in the battles of the Wilderness, and for several years after its close doing military service in the South, hi- faithful wife sharing in camp-life. Their second child, John, was born in camp.

Hillsborough did its full share in the late war in furnishing men and money. The question is often asked, What did Hillsborough furnish for the defense of the government during the dark days of the Rebel- lion? The answer is ready : She furnished her full share. During the first part of the war there was a recruiting office in Hillsborough, and the waving of the Union flag was a familiar sight at the Bridge village. I subjoin a list of the distribution of men raised in Hillsborough who took part in the war, showing the number in the different regiments and other military organizations in the Union army.

The following list will show the distribution of the men belonging to Hillsborough who were sent to the War of the Rebellion :

seuil Rezinwent 30

Third Regiment 10

Fourth Regiment 11

sixth Regiment

seventh Regiment 11

Eighth Re_went

laghth Regiment

North Ropiment 5

Eleventh Regunent

Twelfth Remment 3

Fourteenth Regiment 1

atom nth Rament 26

light. nith Regiment 3

1. . ht Beltery 3

Sharpshooters

Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment . 1

Seventeenth United States Infantry 5 Veteran Reserve Corps 9

Not reported and unknown 10

Total 195

Killed and died from wounds as nearly as known, forty-five.

In the spring of 1877 great pains were taken to find the graves of deceased soldiers who had been buried in cemeteries in use by the town, one of which was just over the line in Deering.

I will here insert the names of soldiers whose graves were then found and decorated with flowers and a flag. It will be seen that one was in the old French and Indian War exclusively, a goodly num- Hillsborough boys formed a part, getting ready for | ber served in the War of the Revolution, others in

the War of 1812, but the largest list of those now sleeping with the dead served in the late Civil War, that nearly rent our land asunder. Since 1877 others have joined the army of the dead, as George Pritch- ard, the one-armed soldier citizen, and Warren Muz- zey, so long the sole care of a loving and faithful wife.

The following is a list of Hillsborough soldiers who served in the several wars of the country whose graves were decorated with flags and wreaths of flow- ers on May 31, 1877, and succeeding years :

French and Indian War .- William Symonds, Jr.

ll'ar of the Revolution .- Samuel Symonds, Major William Symonds, William Taggart, Zachariah Robbins, Captain Isaac Baldwin, Lieutenant Ammi Andrews, William Gammell, Daniel Kellom, Nathaniel Parmen- ter, David Munroe, Nathan Mann, Timothy Grey, Thaddins Monroe, Lieutenant John McNeil, Colonel Benjamin Pierce, Nathaniel Colby.

H'ar of 1812 .- Simon Robbins, Eli Wheeler, Jonathan Danforth, Da- vid Livermore, Luke G. Hosley, Captain Ransom Bigsbee, Captain Dickey, Stephen Richardson, William Pope, Benjamin Putney, John Adkins, David Roach, William Burrill, George Dascomb, William H. Heath, Richard Gould, Harvey Hubbard, Isaac Murdough.

War of the Rebellion .- Harm Munroe, F. W. Robbins, Charles P. Baldwin, John H. Clement, Captain B. S. Wilson, Captain S. Gibson, William N. Clapp, William smith, Charles G. Hall, Captain George Rob- bins, Solomon Buford, J. B. Raliegh, A. H. Wood, Edwin Lewis, Leonard Lewis, David Lewis, Charles T. Robbins, John Adsit, William Burrill, Jr., Sergeant John Reed, Ingals Gould, L. S. Burt, Obadiah Rumrill, George Vose, Leander Eaton, Sumner McAdams, Thomas M. Carr, John Morrill. William P. Cooledge, A. Fairbanks, Richard D. Gould, William Burrill, Jr.

These foot up as follows :

French and Indian War 1

War of the American Revolution 17

War of 1s12 . 18

War of the Rebellion 32

Total 68

The writer of this article had full opportunity to learn the griefs of households for "the unreturning brave." One care is of peculiar sadness. Some young men, having served their time, having been stationed among the deadly swamps of Louisiana, had at length received their discharge, and were about to return home the next day. Charles Mc-

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Clintock, a noble youth, who left his preparation for college to serve his country, was taken down with malaria, and left there to die and be buried hundreds of miles from his waiting and expecting friends. Willard Templeton, son of Daniel Tem- pleton, was killed by a gun-shot at Petersburg. And so death came upon young Merrill, Rumrill, Reed and Wilson ; young Burt came home to die. But peace, blessed peace ! came at length, thank God! The sears of battle have in the main been healed, though there are hearts that will not cease, but with the end of life, to feel and mourn in secret for their dead. We, to-day, enjoy the blessings of " the Union of States," which, by their sacrifice, has been pre- served. Animosities between sections are dying away. The "gray and the blue" meet together to honor the brave men who died, some for "the cause," some for "Union." They were foes worthy of each other's steel.

The common productions of New England are raised. More bushels of wheat to the acre are some- times raised without difficulty than is averaged in the great West. The advantage at the West is the illim- itable acreage possible in a single field rather than in the amount on a single acre. And it is so in corn. At the West, cultivation of the soil is easier than in New England, being for the most part performed with the aid of horses or mules. The land in Hillsborough, where it is thoroughly worked, where the hay and grain raised on it are mostly fed out on the same, so that ample returns may be made for what is taken off, produces bountifully. True, it is hard to till in many parts,-perhaps this may be truthfully said of the greater part,-but it pays well for hard work; it rewards industry. The land reciprocates every favor received. It has been truthfully said, " If you tickle her with a hoe, she will laugh with a harvest."

Desertion of Hill Farms .- A change has been go- ing on gradually which will continue indefinitely, viz. : a desertion of the high hills as tillage land, and their conversion into pasture land. This has already been done to a great extent. The original settlers preferred the hill land as their home. It was easier cleared. Thetimber was not so heavy, and was usually beech and maple. The land was dryer than in the basins. The stumps would decay sooner than in wet land. The first crops were better, as the low land, in its first state, needed draining to make it cultivat- able or productive. Hence they sought the hills, at least far up their sides. They could see further. They could signalize each other better in case of dan- ger. On the whole, they chose the hill country for its supposed advantages.

The ashes left upon the ground at its clearing was all that was needed for years to enrich it sufficiently to insure a good harvest. They were less liable to severe late frosts in spring and early frosts in autumn on the hills than in the villages; hence, away to the hills and ply the axe. In process of time the hills, being bared of their forests, became more dry in con-

Industries of Hillsborough .- Since the war the prosperity of the country has been unexampled. Im- migration has rapidly increased our numbers. Hills- borough has shared in the new impetus given to bus- iness and in the coming in of foreign blood. The | sequence; water sometimes is scarce or fails for a sea- son ; the soil becomes thinner from one period to another ; the rain washes out the strength of the soil and bears it to the valleys ; the wind drives away great portions in dust ; usually it is found conven- ient to sell some of the hay and reduce the number of heads of cattle kept on the farm without returning an equivalent ; the result is, the farm grows poor and the farmer poorer. The girls are married and go to their new homes. The boys, as they become young men of

village at the Bridge has more than doubled since the war in its population and wealth. The principal oc- cupation of the town, numbering sixteen hundred and twenty-three inhabitants in 1860, is that of farming in some of its various forms. The town has a strong, loamy soil, admirably adapted to the small grains and grasses; hence hay is raised in great abundance and good pasturage abounds. The land, for the most part, is too rough to admit the use of modern machinery. Most of the labor on most of the farms must be done ; age, go West or to the villages. In process of time by hand. Still, year by year, one field after another , is cleared of stumps and stones to admit the use of

father and mother grow old and feeble, sell out to somebody wanting a pasture, and go to the village or the cultivator and mower, so that machinery is get- ; to live with one of the children. And so it is that ting to be in quite common use in town. There is also along the streams some smooth and level land just adapted to improved machinery, thus greatly fa- cilitating the work of farming.

farm after farm in the most hilly section of Hills- borough has been deserted, and the once well- cultivated farms are either growing up to forests or the process retarded by great herds of cattle roam- ing over them at large. Whole school districts, where once was the hum of busy life, where once were troops of laughing children playing about the house and barn, are now deserted and the buildings either taken down and removed, or, if left, are fast falling to decay and " cureless ruin." This process will doubtless go on. More than half the inhabitants of the town are now living within a mile of the arched bridge near the mills, which gives its name to the village.

These hill lands are actually depreciating in value every year, owing to two facts,-first, distance from the railroads, and, second, the natural disintegration of the soil, owing to frosts, heat and water, and its con- sequent subsidence to lower lands. The writer of this article knows from personal observation that in cer- tain school districts, where once were from forty to sixty scholars, there are now only from ten to fifteen; and other districts have been reduced from forty, some to

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

two or three, and some to nothing. Nominally, the town has seventeen whole school districts, besides the independent distriet at Hillsborough Bridge, formed in accordance with the Somersworth Act ; also a half- distriet in union with a half-district in Antrim, unless very lately the union has been dissolved. But this half-district for a considerable time furnished but one scholar. Another district in town, one larger in num- bers, did not furnish, for several years, a single scholar of its own, but at length revived with one scholar and the teacher, sister and brother.

From all this it can be readily seen why some of the best farmers in town have turned their attention of late in so great a degree to the milk business and, in connection with producing milk, to the making of butter for market. The usual mode of proceeding is to allow the cows to run free in the pastures during the summer. Coming in in the late fall, they are kept in stable through the winter and fed with hay and ground feed, and butter is made for the market and sent weekly by railroad. Usually, the butter from these creameries brings at that season a good price and a sure sale during the winter months, and it is found to be more profitable than the usual way of making butter in the summer. The large farmers, after the season of milking is over, turn the eows out to pasture, reserving the best milkers for furrow cows or new milch cows the next winter, and selling the others for beef after they are well fattened.

Within the last ten years Hillsborough farmers have been coming into the foreground in the matter of butter-making, and do not fear now to stand in the market-place side by side with the famous butter- makers of Vermont, who for many years threw them completely into the shade. There are many good creameries in Hillsborough ; many farmers furnish a first-class article in the way of butter. I will illus- trate by referring to some few individuals well known in town, without wishing it to be inferred that there are not many others equally good, viz., Charles W. Conu. James Bickford & Son, James MI. Wilkins, the Clark Brothers, the Gammells, Jeremiah Dutton, Samuel M. Baker and others for whose names I have not space, but whose sweet and yellow butter I have often tasted and know it to be good.

abounds in forests, heavily timbered. It is thought that with all the waste, wood grows in town faster than it is used for all purposes.

Pine Timber .- It may be interesting to the general reader to learn any facts in regard to the growth of pine timber in Hillsborough. It will be remembered that King George III. reserved all the white pines for the use of the royal navy. The settlers did not relish this restriction, and soon entrenched upon the King's prerogative and cut pines for home use. At- tempts were made to arrest men and bring them to justice for the crime of stealing timber from their own land ; but the neighbors would interfere with the free and unrestricted course of law and justice, and the sheriff was sometimes glad for leave to return unmo- lested without his man. The writer has seen pines of great length drawn to the railroad for shipment to the navy-yard for masts, not, however, for King George. The pines, except very small ones, are nearly extinct in town.

Contoocook Mills .- A quarter of a century ago the old cotton-factory of the Marcys had passed into other hands, and about that time John B. Smith bought and took possession and set up the business of hosiery-knitting. The old saw-mill standing near the south end of the bridge, which had sawn boards, lum- ber and turned out shoe-pegs by the cart-load, passed into his (Smith's) hands, and was transformed into a large and convenient factory. For a time George D. Reaseler run the south mill-the old cotton-factory- and J. B. Smith the newly-modeled one near the bridge, but at length the north factory came into his hands, and for several years he operated both mills to the best advantage, and amassed a fortune. A few years ago the Contoocook Woolen Company was formed and now exists in active operation.

In the new company by far the heaviest owner is the original owner, John Butler Smith, and next to him his nephew, a sister's son, George Edward Gould, who is also foreman and business manager in the factories. Mr. Gould is a natural mechanic, a perfect genius in putting wrongs in machinery to rights, and equally competent to manage help as machinery. He is the regulator of all the internal arrangements, and has always enjoyed the perfect confidence of the head of the establishment. The Contoocook Woolen-Mills have a high and well-deserved reputation abroad. Their goods stand among the first, if not the very first, in the market, and are not excelled. They are exactly what they are recommended to be, both as to the material of which they are made and the weight and the work that is put into them.

Forestry. - Another industry which furnishes business for many men in Hillsborough is eutting und drawing wood and lumber. The forests within three miles of the railroad station in town have been notably thinued; yet the wood is constantly growing. and every year wood and lumber are drawn from greater and still greater distances. On many farms the most profitable growth is the forest growth. To These mills employ from fifty to a hundred hands, male and female, at remunerative wages. Besides, a great amount of work is done outside the mills,-such parts of the work as must be done by hand on under- shirts, drawers and socks. In almost every house for miles may be seen the inevitable garments, since the secure in the shortest time new timber fit to be cut, cattle should not be allowed to browse the young shoot -. It should be as carefully guarded from them as a wheat-field. In a few years-if left to itself-it will be large enough for the wood-pile, or even the saw-mill. Hillsborough, especially back on the hills, ! work is easy and commands ready pay once in two

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HILLSBOROUGH.

weeks in money. The 15th of the month is a golden day at Hillsborough Bridge for help and the creditors of help. If the Contoocook Woolen-Mills should stop work, or should cease to give out work, many would be at a loss for spending-money. It does not pay, they say, but it is better than nothing. Yes, and it is a great deal better than making white cotton shirts, all told, as is done in Boston, at the rate of six cents apiece.

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 97

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