History of Lancaster, New Hampshire, Part 2

Author: Somers, A. N. (Amos Newton)
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Concord, N.H., Rumford press
Number of Pages: 753

USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > History of Lancaster, New Hampshire > Part 2

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THE LOCATION AND CHARTER OF THE TOWN.

Bounds of Stonington. "Beginning at A Maple Tree which Stands on the Easterly Side of Connecticut River and is about Thirty Miles on A Straight Line from Ammonusek Rivers Mouth and from thence Northerly up Connecticut River as that runs about nine miles on a Strait Line to an Elm marked Standing on the Southerly Side of the mouth of a Small Brook running into Connecticut River & carrying that Breadth Back between two East lines so far as that A Paralell Line to the Strait Line from the Maple afore Said to the Elm afore Said will make the Contents of Six Miles Square and that the same be, and hereby is incorporated into a Township by the name of Stonington." [State Papers, Vol. 25, p. 394.]

Taking Cargill brook in Northumberland as the small brook referred to here, we would have a distance of nine miles to the point I have designated as the intended northwestern corner of Lancaster.

LANCASTER CHARTER.

" Province of New-Hampshire. GEORGE, THE THIRD

Lancaster

P.S. By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, KING, Defender of the Faith &c.

To all Persons to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting.

Know ye, that We of our special Grace, certain knowledge, and meer Motion, for the due Encouragement of settling a New Plantation within our said Province, by and with the Advice of our Trusty and Well-beloved BENNING WENTWORTH, Esqr; Our Governor and Commander in Chief of Our said Province of NEW HAMPSHIRE in New England, and of our COUNCIL of the said Province ; HAVE, upon the Conditions and Reservations herein after made, given and granted, and by these Presents, for us. our Heirs, and Successors, do give and grant in equal Shares, unto Our loving Subjects, Inhabitants of Our said Province of New- Hampshire, and Our other Governments, and to their Heirs and Assigns for ever, whose Names are entered on this Grant, to be divided to and amongst them into Seventy Six equal Shares, all that Tract or Parcel of Land situate, lying and being within our said Province of New-Hampshire, containing by admeasurement Twenty three Thousand & Forty Acres, which Tract is to contain six Miles square, and no more; out of which an Allowance is to be made for High Ways and unimprovable Lands by Rocks, Ponds, Mountains and Rivers, One Thousand and Forty acres free, according to a Plan and Survey thereof, made by our said Governors's Order, and returned into the Secretary's Office, and hereunto an- nexed, butted and bounded as follows, Viz. Beginning at a Stake & Stones standing on bank of the Easterly side of Connecticut River, which is the South Westerly Corner bounds of Stonington, thence running South fifty five Degs East seven Miles by Stonington To the South Easterly corner thereof, then turning off & Runing South Sixty nine Degs West Ten Miles, then turning off again & Runing North twenty six Degrees West to Connecticut River thence up the River as that tends to the Stake & stones first above Mentioned the Bounds begun at And that the same be, and hereby is incorporated into a Township by the Name of Lancaster And the Inhabitants that do or shall hereafter inhabit the said Town- ship, are hereby declared to be Enfranchized with and entitled to all and every the Privileges and Immunities that Towns within Our Province by Law Exercise and Enjoy : And other further, that the said Town as soon as there shall be Fifty Families resident and settled thereon, shall have the Liberty of holding Two Fairs, one of which shall be held on. And the other on the

. annually, which Fairs are not to contine longer than the respective following the. said and that as

HISTORY OF LANCASTER.

soon as said Town shall consist of Fifty Families, a Market may be opened and kept one or more Days in each Week, as may be thought most advantagious to the Inhabitants. Also, that the first meeting for the Choice of Town Officers, agreable to the Laws of our said Province, shall be held on the first Tuesday in August next which said Meeting shall be Notified by David Page who is hereby also appointed the Moderator of the said first Meeting, which he is to Notify and Govern agreable to the Laws and Customs of Our said Province ; and that the annual Meeting for ever hereafter for the Choice of such Officers for the said Town, shall be on the Second Tuesday of March annually, To HAVE and to HOLD the said Tract of Land as above expressed, together with all Privileges and Appurtenances, to them and their respective Heirs and Assigns forever, upon the following conditions, viz.

I. That every Grantee, his Heirs or Assigns shall plant and cultivate five Acres of Land within the Term of five Years for every fifty Acres contained in his or their Share or Proportion of Land in said Township, and continue to improve and settle the same by additional Cultivation, on Penalty of the Forfeiture of his Grant or Share in the said Township, and of its reverting to Us, our Heirs and Suc- cessors, to be by Us or Them Re-granted to such of Our Subjects as shall effec- tually settle and cultivate the same.

II. That all white and other Pine Trees within the said Township, fit for Mast- ing Our Royal Navy, be carefully preserved for that Use, and none to be cut or felled without Our special License for so doing first had and obtained, upon the Penalty of the Forfeiture of the Right of such Grantee, his Heirs and Assigns, to Us, our Heirs and Successors, as well as being subject to the Penalty of any Act or Acts of Parliament that now are, or hereafter shall be Enacted.

III. That before any Division of the Lands be made to and among the Grantees, a Tract of Land as near the Centre of said Township as the Land will admit of, shall be reserved and marked out for Town Lots, one of each shall be allotted to each Grantee of the Contents of one Acre.

IV. Yielding and paying therefor to Us, our Heirs and Successors for the Space of ten Years, to be computed from the Date hereof, the Rent of one Ear of Indian Corn only, on the twenty-fifth Day of December annually, if lawfully demanded, the first Payment to be made on the twenty-fifth Day of December, 1763.

V. Every Proprietor, Settler or Inhabitant, shall yield and pay unto Us, our Heir and Successors yearly, and every year forever, from and after the Expiration of ten years from the abovesaid twenty-fifth Day of December, namely, on the twenty-fifth day of December, which will be in the Year of Our Lord 1773 One Shilling Proclamation Money for every Hundred Acres he so owns, settles or pos- sesses, and so in Proportion for a greater or lesser Tract of the said Land ; which Money shall be paid by the respective Persons abovesaid, their Heirs or Assigns, in our Council Chamber in Portsmouth, or to such Officer or Officers as shall be appointed to receive the same; and this is to be in Lieu of all other Rents and Services whatsoever.

In Testimony whereof we have caused the Seal of our said Province to be here- unto affixed. Witness BENNING WENTWORTH, EsQ; Our Governor and Com- mander in Chief of Our Province, the Fifth Day of July in the Year of our Lord Christ, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty three and in the Third Year of Our Reign.

By His EXCELLENCY'S Command, With Advice of COUNCIL, Province of New Hamp' July 6 1763

B. Wentworth-

T. Atkinson Jun" Secry

Recorded according to the original under the Provincial Seal

₹ T. Atkinson Jun™ Secty

F.G.

PLAN OF TOWN ON BACK OF CHARTER, WITH NAMES OF GRANTEES.

THE LOCATION AND CHARTER OF THE TOWN.

The Names of the Grantees Lancaster,-

David Page

William Page

Nathaniel Page

John Warden Silas Bennit

Thomas Shattock

Ephraim Shattock Silas Shattock

Solomon Willson

Isreal Hale

Joseph Stowell

Isreal Hale Jun"

Joseph Page

Daniel Hale

William Dagget

William Read

Isaac Ball

Benja Baxter

Solomon Fay

Mathw Thornton Esq

Jotham Death

Andw Wiggins Esq™

John Sanders Elisha Crossby

Majr John Tolford

Luke Lincoln David Lawson

Benja Man Daniel Miles

Silas Rice

Thomas Rogers

Thos Carter

John Duncan

Nathaniel Smith

Ephraim Sterns James Read Timothy Whitney

Daniel Searles

Thomas Rice

Isaac Wood

John Sawyer John Wait

Nathaniel Richardson

Samuel Marble

John Herriman

Joseph Marble

Ephraim Noyce

Jonathan Houghton

Benjamin Sawyer

John Rogers Abner Holden

Hon : Josh Newmarch

Stanton Printice

Daniel Warner

Benja Willson

James Nevin

Stephen Emes John Phelps

Revd Mr. Joshua Wingte Weeks & Benja Stevens

His Excellency Benning Wentworth Esqr a Tract of Land to Contain Five Hundred Acres as Marked B-W- in the Plan which is to be Accounted two of the within shares, One whole share for the Incorporated Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, One Share for a Glebe for the Church of England as by Law Established, One Share for the first settled Minister of the Gospel & one Share for the benefit of a school in said Town

Province of New Hampr July 6th 1763

Recorded from the Back of the original Charter of Lancester under the Provincial Seal

T. Atkinson Jun" Secry

David Page Jun™ Abraham Byaur Reuben Stone John Grout John Grout Junr Jonathan Grout

Nath' Barrel

Esq™ª

Ebenezer Blunt

Charles How

Mesech Weare Esq™

HISTORY OF LANCASTER.

M'a

STONINGTON 7 MILES

SATIW 01 INIT'S

S.E. Cor. STONINGTON

Prov of New Hampr July 6 1763

Recorded from the Back of the original Charter of Lancaster under the Pro Seal

T. Atkinson Jun" Secry

[Additions to the town were made at subsequent times. Barker's Location was added to it June 22, 1819. A portion of Stark was annexed December 4, 1840, and a portion of Kilkenny December 15, 1842. State Papers, 25, (Vol. II.) 187.]

It was a piece of unheard-of boldness on the part of Governor . Wentworth, and his council, to parcel out a large, unsurveyed terri- tory among so many townships, by simply starting at a certain kind of tree-maple or elm-or a stake and a pile of stones, or a bend in the river.

The country, with its maple and elm trees, bends in the river, and stakes and stone-piles, was as unfamiliar to " Governor Page " and his followers as it was to Governor Wentworth and council who un- dertook the foolish task of parcelling it out on almost imaginary lines .* The arbitrariness of the procedure was at the root of many,

*In 1760, Governor Wentworth commissioned Joseph Blanchard, of Dunstable, N. H., to make a survey of the Connecticut River, in which he was to mark trees, or plant stakes on both sides of the stream every six miles to serve as corners of town-

LANCASTER.

if not all, the conflicts between the towns with respect to their boundaries. Aside from the matter of the boundary of the town- ship the terms of the charter were very liberal and reasonable. The proprietors were not hampered in any respect save the restriction in regard to making use of, or destroying, such timbers as were suitable for masts in his royal highness's navy. Even that restriction was not a grievious one, for there was more good timber beside such as the king reserved than they knew what to do with. If traditions and estimates are to be relied upon at all, the first settlers rolled millions of feet of good pine timber into the rivers to get rid of it with the least trouble possible. The lands were all heavily timbered, and until within the memory of men still living the choicest of pine was to be found in Lancaster. His majesty never got any ship masts or other ship timbers from Lancaster, for within a dozen years of the settlement of the town his subjects rebelled against his rule and annulled his rights and took things into their own hands; and none of his subjects exceeded his Lancaster settlement in doing things their own way. In fact from the very inception of the town, though preserving the form of obedience to the royal government, they were among the most democratic people on this continent. Many of them hailed from Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, towns where the spirit of true democracy was seen, and manifested, at its best. They were a sturdy, thrifty, and law-abiding people who settled this town. While they loved liberty above everything else they yet had a due regard for law and good order. They were neither ad- venturers nor speculators who came here and erected log cabins and lived contentedly in them. They were home-seekers and home- builders, and in building homes they helped to lay the foundation of that greater structure of which we are so proud-the nation.

CHAPTER III. LANCASTER.

The town of Lancaster is situated in Coos county, in the northern part of New Hampshire. It lies along the Connecticut river a dis- tance of more than ten miles, running back on its northeasterly line

ships to be surveyed from them. This task was performed on the ice in the month of March, from No. 4, (now Charlestown) to the north-east corner of Newbury, Vt. During the next year, and in the same manner, Hughbastis Neel began where Blanchard left off and continued the survey as far as the north end of the " Upper Coos," which probably was at a point near where Maidstone, in Vermont, and Northumberland in New Hampshire, meet. It was the custom of Governor Wentworth to take these marked trees or stakes as starting-point and block out his projected townships, two tiers deep on both sides of the river. Such a method was as full of difficulties as the river was full of bends, and made the settlers no small amount of trouble in the division of their town lands.

HISTORY OF LANCASTER.

seven miles, and on its southeasterly line ten miles, and its southerly line is two and a half miles. As originally designed it was to con- tain six square miles. It is bounded on the north by Northumber- land, and Kilkenny, east by Kilkenny, south by the towns of Jeffer- son, Whitefield, and Dalton, and on the west by the Connecticut river, the west bank of the river being the boundary.

The town consists in the main part of fine meadows lying on the Connecticut river and Isreals river, and what the early settlers called " upland." Beginning with the first river terrace the " up- lands " slope gradually up to the foot of the hills, which rise rap- idly into quite high hills, or mounts, the highest of which is Mount Prospect on the southerly line of the town. This mount reaches an altitude of 2,090 feet and affords a very fine view of the surrounding country for many miles. It is easy of ascent, as a good road was some years ago built up its northerly slope to a hotel erected on its summit. Mount Pleasant just south of the village and Mount Orne-the three being known as the " Martin Meadow Hills "-are the highest hills in the town ; but these are not very high, nor are they so steep but good farms have been cleared almost to their summits.

The Connecticut river has a fall of less than two feet in more than ten miles of a course along the western bounds of the town. The main elevation of the town is about 900 feet above sea-level. South Lancaster has an elevation of 867 feet and Lancaster village (Main street) 870 feet. Isreals river has quite a rapid descent for about two miles before entering the Connecticut river, affording three good water-powers within the limits of the village. The Isreals river valley (East Lancaster) comprises a river-basin on the level of the second terrace of the Connecticut of about thirty-six feet.

In the south part of the town is Martin Meadow pond, covering an area of about one hundred and fifty acres. Near by it, to the eastward, is another pond known as Blood pond. Beside Baker pond and Spot pond, two small ponds within the village limits, these are the only ponds in the town. There are no swamps of any considerable extent in the town. What few there are are so situated as to be easily drained, and converted into fertile meadows.

From a scenic point of view Lancaster is one of the most beauti- ful sections of New Hampshire. It is completely encircled by mountains, and its surface sufficiently varied to present to the eye one of the most pleasing landscapes. The outlines of the landscape are bold, yet even in their curves. The shadings of mountains, hills, and forests are varied in degree. From any eminence one looks down upon fine farms, neat buildings, with the village nestling at the foot of Bunker Hill and Mount Pleasant.

The earliest settlers were not slow to recognize the beauty of the

LANCASTER.

scenery, and generally their houses were located so that the outlook was the best afforded upon their lands. Many of them sought to enhance the beauty of the scenery by planting trees about their premises, and along the village streets and highways. Many of the giant elms that line our streets and along the highways were planted a century and over ago.

The geological formation of the town (described in Part II) gives it a pleasing surface. In contrast with its rocky hillsides lay the beautiful diluvial meadows, possessing a wonderful degree of fer- tility. The "uplands" are fertile also, and capable of profitable cultivation with the exception of certain slopes where the glaciers deposited vast quantities of the coarsest rubble. These hillsides, however rough, afford good pastures, and are generally utilized as such. The rocks are of such formations that their gradual disinte- gration adds elements of fertility to the soil.

The agricultural and grazing importance of the town is not excelled by that of any other town in the northern portion of the state. The entire intervale of the Connecticut river above the Fif- teen-mile Falls was once the bed of a lake through which the river ran, as it now does through the Connecticut lake. The basin-like arrangement of the surface, surrounded by the high rim of moun- tains, affords shelter from the strong and prevailing winds in both summer and winter. While the winter temperature goes very low, sometimes reaching from thirty-six to forty degrees below zero, there is very little wind accompanying the fall of temperature. The air is dry and calm during these cold turns. The summer tempera- ture often exceeds ninety degrees. It occasionally reaches ninety- six or ninety-eight. The average temperature is one very favorable to vegetative growth, consequently good crops are raised in fields and gardens, and a rank growth of wild plants and forest trees occurs every year.

As in other places in this latitude, frost is sometimes seen nearly every month of the season; and not infrequently the late severe frosts of the spring retard planting if they do not injure crops, yet the growth is so rapid that late planting does not necessarily indi- cate danger of injury from the frosts of the fall. In the early years of the settlement of the town, frosts sometimes destroyed whole crops. Now, and for many years past, the like of it is unknown, and well-matured crops are the rule.

The fertility of the soil was so great at the time of the settlement of the town that it was thought manure was uncalled for, and it was thrown into the river as offering the easiest means of getting rid of it; but continuous cropping for many years convinced the people of their errors, and now not only barnyard manures, but the com- mercial fertilizers, are extensively used, and to the best advantage.

HISTORY OF LANCASTER.

This section had long been a favorite hunting-ground of the Indians when first discovered by the white hunters, who penetrated far beyond the settlements early in the eighteenth century. There is no evidence to show that any permanent settlements of Indians, or clearings by them, ever existed. The long winters and short summers did not invite the shiftless Indian to a point so far from the more congenial localities with which he was acquainted, except on hunting excursions. It is doubtful if any of them ever tried to spend the winters here. There is abundant evidence that they were in the habit of passing through the Connecticut river valley spring and fall to hunt and fish. They no doubt had temporary camps at various points along what they called " Quinne-attuck-auke," or "Long-deer-place " (the Connecticut river).

There was a trail from the headwaters of the St. Francis river in Canada to the headwaters of the Connecticut river, and down the latter to Isreals river (called by them Siwoog-a-nock), where a branch trail passed through the White Mountain Notch to Pickwa- qet (Conway-Pigwaket) on the Saco river. The main trail down the Connecticut was intersected by a branch of the White Mountain Notch trail, near the mouth of the Ammonoosuc river, and thence the main trail continued down the Connecticut through "Lower Coös," to the various settlements along that river.

They left but few relics behind them. Once in a while the plow of the white man has turned up an arrow-point or a rude stone hatchet. These were lost in hunting. There were never found any ruins of villages, or burial grounds, in the limits of the town. In the spring of 1894 a freshet washed out a cache of arrow-points on the meadows, on the Vermont side of the river, just above the Union, or South Lancaster, bridge. These had no doubt been hidden for use on some subsequent trip to the place by an Indian hunter who failed either to find them, or to return on a proposed hunting-trip. At that point it is said they were accustomed to remain for a time to make, or mend, boats on their hunting-trips . along the river. The only relic of importance that has ever been found in Lancaster was a very curiously carved dish turned up by a plow in working the road just east of Prospect Farm, owned by George P. Rowell of New York.

This interesting dish was badly broken by the plow that turned it up, and no effort was made to save the fragments. From the de- scription of it there can be little doubt that it was the product of more skilful hands than those of the tribes known to have laid claim to the lands of " Upper Coos."

All the Indians known to have frequented this section of country were Algonquins. They were known by various tribal names, but were of the same stock. Northern New Hampshire was held by

LANCASTER.

Abenaquis and Taratines, residing for the most part on the Penob- scot, Saco, and Piscataqua rivers. Those on the Penobscot river were known by that name, while those on the Saco were called Pickwaqets. Those residing on the Androscoggin (Aneriscogin) river were known by the euphonious name of Arosagontacooks (St. Francis tribe). These were local names applied to them by the settlers who had imperfect knowledge of them.

The Connecticut river valley and Vermont was claimed by both the Abenaquis and Iroquois, as their rightful hunting-ground. The Abenaquis and Mohawks (Iroquois) were bitter enemies of each other, and were in constant hostilities. That may, in a measure, account for the very slender hold the Abenaquis had upon this sec- tion of the country, and failed to develop permanent settlements in it.

Both nations hunted in the disputed territory, and neither held it by occupation or abode. After many contests with the colonists in Massachusetts and the southern part of New Hampshire the various tribes of the Abenaquis nation being either destroyed, or rendered peaceful in the main, their incorrigibles and outcasts found a refuge with the St. Francis tribe in Canada, from whence they continued their attacks upon the frontier settlements. During that period this medley St. Francis tribe made the Coos country their highway from their stronghold at the mouth of the St. Francis river to the settle- ments of English in New Hampshire. This lasted for a period of more than fifty years, and was encouraged by the French occupants of Canada who were glad to beat back the tide of English settle- ments by means of exciting the Indians to depredations of the most diabolical sort. Their threats, and their known evil character, pre- vented the settlement of the country long known in the older settle- ments by the names of " Cohoss " and " Moose Meadow."

Among the St. Francis tribe thus feared were outlaws from King Phillip's bands, the tribes once led by Paugus, Massaudowit, Kan- cauragus, and Wahawa. The vicious character of these outlaws was well known, and led old pioneers to look upon them as the sum of all evil aggravated by French intermeddling. They delayed the set- tlement of Coös county by half a century, and would not then have yielded to the English occupancy of the country but for the chastise- ment they received at the hands of Major Rogers's Rangers.

After the French and Indian War had been in progress for some time, and Crown Point had fallen into the hands of the English and was strongly fortified, General Amherst determined upon proper punishment of the Indians. Among other very important steps taken by him for the future safety of the settlements on the frontier was the sending of Major Rogers, in command of a small force of his famous Rangers, to destroy the village of St. Francis and punish the Indians.

HISTORY OF LANCASTER.

He marched against the place and on the morning of October 6th, 1759, led an assault upon the village in which every Indian except a few women and children was slain. The Rangers found more than six hundred scalps that had been taken in their assaults upon the frontier settlements, or lonely hunters who had ventured into the forests in pursuit of game and furs. From that time on, the St. Francis tribe of outlaws never recovered the loss they sustained at the hands of Rogers's Rangers. From that time the Coös country became a safe place for hunting, and soon was open to settlement, as we shall see.

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History of Lancaster, New Hampshire, Part 2

Author: Somers, A. N. (Amos Newton) Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Concord, N.H., Rumford press Number of Pages: 753

Author: Somers, A. N. (Amos Newton)
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Concord, N.H., Rumford press
Number of Pages: 753