USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Lebanon > History of Lebanon, N.H., 1761-1887 > Part 6
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No.
Jonathan Blanchard,
15
Jabez Barrow,
38
Joseph Wood, by S. Water- man,
3
Joseph Dana,
5
Aaron Storrs, Jon. Martin,
21
Joseph Martin,
32
John Swift,
9
Hugh Hall Wentworth, 63
Robert Hyde,
57
Mark H. Wentworth, Esq., School lot,
37
Lemuel Clarke,
48
Church of England,
58
David Turner, Joseph Tilden,
51
John Birchard, James Jones, 61
Daniel Ellis, right of Oneil Lamont,
31
Prince Aspenwall, right of Joshua Blodgett, 8
John Colburn, right of J. Yeomans, 26
William Downer, Robert
Barrow, 52
N. Storrs, John Hanks, 12
Oliver Griswold, J. Loomis, 28
Samuel Estabrook, T. Storrs, 55
O. Davison, T. Barrow, 62
John Griswold, Jesse Bir- chard,
25
Seth Blodget, 35
Thomas Storrs, John Storrs,
45
Huckins Storrs, Sr., D. El- dredge, 60
Amariah Storrs, J. Hyde,
2
Nathan Arnold, O. Clark, 49
Jedediah Dana, John Lasell, right of James Nevins, 56
Samuel Storrs, right of John Baldwin, 1
Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, 30
John Salter, 50
Aaron Storrs, right of Joseph
Turner,
39
Elijah Huntington, 18
Capt. Joseph Marsh, Samuel Storrs,
4
Nathan Blodget,
66
Josiah Storrs, 46
Nehemiah Estabrook, 41
63
Edward Goldstone Lutwyche,
36
James Ticknor, right of Dan- iel Allen, 10
Huckens Storrs, Sr., right of Juda Storrs, 53
Dr. Clement Jackson, Esq.,
14
Elijah Sprague, right John Birchard, 47
of
Nathaniel Hall, 19
Ministerial lot, 17
Benjamin Davis, by Benja- min Fuller, 65
John Allen, by Stephen
Powel, 20
Jacob Benton, right of Will- iam Dana, 1
Jesse Birchard, by Rufus Baldwin, 40
William Knight, 54
Samuel Penhallow, by Con- stant Southworth, 11
John Martin, right of Moses Hibbard, 13
Z. Downer, Gideon Peck, right of Constant South- worth,
6
Zalmon Aspenwall, right of
Daniel Blodget, 3d, 33
Following these there were divisions of fifty acres, of twenty acres, and smaller portions. By this time it is very difficult to locate the various lots. Many of the lots were laid out with some regularity, while others are irregular in their lines. There
51
INTRODUCTION.
are also records of alterations in boundaries, of changes of num- bers, of mistakes, of the transference of lots from one division to another. At this date it requires the patient labor of months, great ingenuity to identify the different tracts laid out before the close of the eighteenth century.
It is very difficult to identify the ownership of these divisions of land. Most of the original proprietors mentioned in the charter never came here. They sold their rights to others, and they to others still. These lands being distributed by lottery, proprietors found themselves owners of land distributed in various parts of the town; this led to exchanges between them, each one seeking to have his land in one body.
Some of the lots were located on the eastern line in Enfield, others over the southern line in Plainfield; upon the settlement of these lines of the town the proprietors were obliged to find other lots within their territory to compensate for these losses. This complicated and confused matters very much.
At this time there are not more than two or three lots which have not been alienated from the descending of the original pro- prietors. Mr. Charles Dana occupies a part of the lot of an original proprietor of his name. Mr. John Hebard's farm has not been out of the family until recently. I think that a part of the farm of Abel Storrs shares in this distinction.
The mode in which they marked the lots may be seen from the following extract from their notes. They are beginning to lay out the second division of 100 acres: "Began to lott on Enfield road Continued said road from the east side of the first 100 acre Division 100 rods to a middling beach tree and numbered W 15E thence 100 rods to a small beach tree and numbered W 5 1'E. thence 100 rods to a small beach and numbered W? 19 E thence 100 rods to a hemlock which is the S. E corner of No 11 (afterwards divided) said lots to be known by lines running perpendicular to said Enfield road, &"
There still remain a few of these original marks upon trees which in some way have escaped the axe, and the tempests.
SETTLING.
The proprietors clearly saw that before their lands could be settled there must be some way of getting to them. At that time
52
HISTORY OF LEBANON.
all roads stopped at No. 4, Charlestown. Beyond, to the north, along the valley of the Connecticut, there was an unbroken wil- derness ; no roads, no paths. The river was their only guide, but a safe one. Their first care was to clear some kind of a passage to their possessions. Hence at their meeting December 22, 1761, they appointed Mr. Charles Hill to treat with the proprietors of the townships between Charlestown and Lebanon concerning a road along the banks of the Connecticut. At their meeting Sep- tember 1, 1762, they appointed as a committee to clear a road be- tween Charlestown and Lebanon, Nathaniel Hall, John Hanks and John Birchard. This road was to be simply a bridle path, not a road for wheels, but such as a horse with packs might con- trive to pass over. They were assisted in this work by the pro- prietors of Norwich, Hanover and Lyme, though the agent for Lyme seems to have refused to pay a proportion of the expense for that town. This path seems to have been completed some time in 1763.
Besides the surveying done in the town, work preliminary to a permanent occupation seems to have been done in the summer of 1762, most of the laborers, however, returning to their homes for the winter. Four men, however, are said to have passed the win- ter, 1762-'63, in the town, having with them some young cattle. The names of three are known : Levi Hyde, Samuel Estabrook and William Dana. The fourth may have been a hired laborer, but I conjecture that it was Charles Hill, who certainly was here very early. They had no house, but built themselves such a shel- ter of bark and boughs as they could. Tradition has assigned this camp to various localities, one of which was near the mouth of White River. I think this a mistake and that their camp was farther up the River Connecticut. When they made their survey of the Connecticut for the purpose of measuring and dividing the intervale they made the following note, "To the upper end of Camp Meadow.". Then, after running several courses, they came to the "lower end of Camp Meadow." This is a piece of low land lying between the first and second falls on the Connect- icut, going north from West Lebanon. This piece of land could only receive such a name from the fact that it had been a camp- ing place. Tradition further states that they kept their stock
MAJ. WM. WILLIS BLISS.
53
INTRODUCTION.
at a beaver meadow somewhere in this vicinity. Now to the east of this locality, in the vicinity of the "Boston Lot," the early settlers found a natural meadow, a place on which no timber grew, and covered with wild grasses. It would be possible to collect enough of this natural grass during the summer to keep life in their stock. I have no doubt that this was the first spot occupied for a home within the territory of Lebanon. And what a long, lonesome winter that must have been! To the north they had no neighbors nearer than Haverhill and Newbury; to the south none nearer than Charlestown. They must go much far- ther east or west to find any friends.
It is a curious fact in the history of the town, one little known, that the first occupant of the soil within the boundaries of the town was not a living, but a dead man. A stranger to the town had found here his final resting place in 1762. Michael John- ston and John Pettie spent the winter of 1761-'62 at Haverhill, under the same circumstances as those of the four in Lebanon. In June, 1762, they left Haverhill in a canoe to go down the river to Charlestown, to visit their friends. "They made their way pleasantly till they came near the mouth of the White River, when they were drawn into a whirlpool, their canoe upset, and they plunged into the river. Johnston made every effort to reach the shore, but sank into the arms of death. Pettie being the bet- ter swimmer, gained the shore and bore the melancholy tidings of Johnston's death to his friends.
"Some time after this event a stranger passing up the river in a boat, discovered the body of a man lying upon the shore of a small island in the Connecticut between Lebanon and Hartford, Vt. Not knowing anything of Johnston or of his fate, and being far from any settlement, he performed the kindest office to a stranger corpse which remained in his power. He dug a grave in the best manner he could, interred the body and left it the sole proprietor of the island. It now bears his name, Johnston's Island (it has also been called Dead Man's Island). Col. Charles 'Johnston, after he came to Haverhill and learned the resting place of his brother, went down to the island, found the lonely grave, bedewed it with his tears, and erected a monument to his brother's memory."-Powers' "Coos County."
54
HISTORY OF LEBANON.
During the season of 1763 additions were made to the perma- nent inhabitants of the town. July 11, 1763, came William Downer with his wife and eight children. He had taken up lot 15, first division of 100-acre lots, which lies to the west of the house of Nathan Stearns, on the south side of the Enfield Road- or King's Highway. His intervale lot was No. 6, which lies upon the Connecticut south of the land owned by Jeremiah Wood.
A hard and toilsome journey this adventurous family must have had from No. 4, where all roads ended, to their home in Lebanon. From there onward there was only a "horse road;" no track for wheels, but only a path over which a horse might make his way. Fortunately a vivid sketch of this journey has been preserved for us by an adventurous settler of Orford, who two years later made his way over the same "horse road." "John Mann, Esq., and his wife came into Orford in the autumn of 1765, both from Hebron, Conn. They left Hebron on the 16 of Oct. and arrived in Orford on the 24th. They both mounted the same horse according to Puritan custom, and rode to Charles- town, N. H., nearly one hundred and fifty miles. Here Mann purchased a bushel of oats for his horse and some bread and cheese for himself and wife and set forward-Mann on foot, wife, bread and cheese, and some clothing on horse back. From Charlestown to Orford there was no road but a horse track and this was frequently hedged across by fallen trees; and when they came to such an obstruction as they could not pass, Mann, who was of a gigantic stature, would step up, take the young bride and set her upon the ground; then the oats, bread and cheese; and lastly the old mare was made to leap the windfall, when all was reshipped and the journey resumed. This was acted over time and again until the old beast became impatient of delay, and coming to a similar obstruction while Mann was some rods in the rear, she pressed forward and leaped the trunk of a large tree, resisting all the force her young rider could exert; and when Mann came up there lay the bride upon the ground with all the baggage resting upon her. The old cerature, however, had the civility not to desert them in their predicament, and as no bones were broken and no joints dislocated, they soon resumed their
55
INTRODUCTION.
journey, Mann for the rest of the way constituting the van in- stead of the rear guard."-Powers' "Coos County."
This is the journey of a young and vigorous couple-how much more difficult the journey of a mother and eight children, some of whom must have been quite young. With only such a path to a new home how many things must be left behind. How slender must have been the furnishing of those early homes; how many comforts and conveniences must be wanting; how must their in- genuity be exercised to furnish rude substitutes for all house- hold utensils. It is no wonder that about this time a traveler passing through a neighboring town found a wife declaring that she was "terribly" homesick and "that she would not stay there in the woods." Nevertheless there was in the wilderness a rude abundance out of which the patient and ingenious settler could extract substitutes for the luxuries and conveniences left be- hind, which would have their own wild charms.
In the fall of the same year, 1763, came Oliver Davison, James Jones, Elijah Dewey and their families.
Oliver Davison settled on land now owned by Mrs. Luther Alden. The proprietors were very liberal in their offers to him as a settler. At their meeting December 22, 1761, they voted a tax of ten shillings upon each right, to be paid in one year and an additional tax of the same amount to be paid in two years, to aid Mr. Davison to build a sawmill in the town, provided it should be completed within two years. They also voted to him 100 acres of land at any locality suitable for a sawmill. The mill was built near the Hubbard bridge, within the specified time. At that period it was a necessity to the settlers, aiding them greatly in providing for themselves homes. Mr. Davison died some time in 1769. Though he was not an original grantee, the proprietors allowed his heirs the same rights with themselves, and granted them a generous portion of land.
Elijah Dewey settled in what is known as Poverty Lane. James Jones settled on the King's Highway, near Mr. Foster's.
Charles Hill was among the first to take up his abode in Leba- non, in what is now the village of West Lebanon. His house and that of Oliver Davison are the first mentioned in the records. His lot extended from the river eastward to the old burying
56
HISTORY OF LEBANON.
yard, which was originally the southeast corner of the lot. He was prominent in all the affairs of the town, frequently select- man, and on many of the important committees.
Asa Kilbourn took up one of the intervale lots on the Con- necticut just south of the Mascoma. It was at his house that the first town meeting of which we have any record (May 13, 1765) was held. He afterwards removed to Canaan, and was a selectman in 1773.
Aaron Storrs settled on the river below Mr. Kilbourn and was frequently employed in the business of the town, moving finally to Hanover.
The Danas settled on the river, north of the Mascoma.
Nathaniel Porter settled on the place now owned by Nathan Stearns.
Nehemiah Estabrook on the farm owned by Mr. Slack. Sam- uel Estabrook on the Sweatland place.
The following persons are known, upon indisputable evidence, to have been in the town by 1767: Aaron Storrs, Charles Hill, Asa Kilbourn, William Downer, Levi Hyde, William Dana, John Wheatley, Silas Waterman, Jedediah Hibbard, Samuel Meacham, Oliver Davison, Joseph Dana, Elijah Dewey, Jesse Cook, James Jones, Huckins Storrs, Sr., and Huckins Storrs, Jr., Joseph Tilden, Joseph Wood, Sr., John Griswold, Jedediah Dana, Samuel Storrs, John Slapp, Nathaniel Hall, Nehemiah Estabrook, Samuel Estabrook, Nathaniel Storrs, Jonathan Dana, Zalmon Aspenwall, James Hartshorn, John Bennet.
There were others in the town, but I have not been able to re- cover their names.
In the year 1767 a census was taken of all the towns in New Hampshire. The return of Lebanon was as follows: Unmarried men from 16 to 60, 12; married men from 16 to 60, 30; boys, 16 years and under, 50; men, 60 years and over, none; unmarried females, 40; females married, 30; no slaves and no widows; total population, 162.
Mr. Powers in his history of Coos County, on the authority of 'John Mann, who passed through the town in the autumn of 1765, states that there were then but three families in the town : Charles Hill, son and son-in-law; yet we have it on record that
57
INTRODUCTION.
in May of that year there had been a town meeting whose ob- ject was to provide for preaching in the town. At the time of the census none were found in the town over sixty years of age, which shows that the population was made up of those in full vigor of life. The probability is that some of those who make up the above number were only hired laborers who had no inten- tion of making themselves homes here.
The population of Hanover at the same time was 92, of Plain- field 112, of Cornish 133, Canaan 19.
It is evident that the people were busy in making themselves homes; that there were many openings made in the forests; that fields were prepared, planted and reaped. While they were busy in their arduous labors they were also thoughtful concerning those organizations, civil and religious, without which fertile fields lose their value and homes half their charms.
The people who came here from Connecticut had a hearty love for the institutions of religion. The thing which they would part with, with the greatest reluctance in their old homes, would be these institutions; about these they plan early in their new homes. At a meeting of the proprietors held September 2, 1762, they appointed a committee to join committees from ad- joining townships to provide for preaching in the township. This was before there was an actual settler. This action was taken to encourage good people to make their homes in the wil- derness.
At their meeting in March, 1763, upon a report of this com- mittee, they voted a tax of four shillings upon each proprietor "for encouraging the preaching of the Gospel," and Nehemiah Estabrook was appointed their committee. At a meeting held in December, 1764, they voted a tax of eight shillings on each pro- prietor's right, to be paid by the first day of May, 1765, and Nehemiah Estabrook and Samuel Storrs were appointed a com- mittee to provide preaching for that year.
In May of this same year the town takes action for the same purpose, appointing Aaron Storrs to circulate subscription pa- pers and enjoining the selectmen to provide quarters for the minister when he should come.
There was undoubtedly preaching in the town during that
58
HISTORY OF LEBANON.
summer, but probably there was no permanent minister in the town. In the summer of 1766 we find by the records that a "Mr. Treadway was resident among them, and the town chose John Wheatley, Charles Hill and Joseph Dana as a committee to treat with him, in order to his steady administration of the Gospel ministry in said town." Mr. Treadway seems to have declined any permanent engagement.
The proprietors of the town at a meeting held October 6, 1766, voted a tax of twenty shillings on each right for "the settlement of the Gospel in said Lebanon." This certainly implies that the proceeds of the former taxes had been expended. A Mr. Wales was in town as a preacher in 1767 and seems to have been here some time previous. On July 27, 1768, they gave him a formal call to the ministry of the town, fixing his salary at fifty pounds a year, with the addition of five pounds per year till the sum should be seventy pounds. September 30, 1768, Mr. Wales sent a verbal answer by Dea. Nehemiah Estabrook to the call of the town, which they declined to accept; for what reason cannot now be known.
On the 22d of May, 1769, the town again took up the matter of preaching in the town and appointed Charles Hill, John Wheatley and Joseph Wood a committee, directing them to ap- ply first to Mr. Kenne and if he could not be obtained, to do the best they could. Whether they were successful, there is no record.
The town seems to have taken no further action for the settle- ment of a minister till the 21st of August, 1771, when they re- solved to give Mr. Isaiah Potter a call "to continue in the work of the Gospel ministry, in order to a settlement amongst us." From this it appears that Mr. Potter had previously preached in the town. The matter was not settled till July 6, 1772, when Mr. Potter accepted the call. They voted a donation of thirty-eight pounds in addition to sixty pounds granted by the proprietors to the first settled minister. His salary was to be "fifty pounds lawful money for the first two years and then to rise annually five pounds a year till it shall amount to eighty pounds, which was to be his stated salary." In addition, he came into posses- sion of certain rights of land reserved by the proprietors for that
HON. EXPERIENCE ESTABROOK.
59
INTRODUCTION.
purpose-one of which was the farm where Mr. Albert Miller now lives, so long occupied by Mr. Potter and his family. All the above was the action of the town in its corporate capacity.
On September 27, 1768, the Congregational Church was formed, consisting of the following six members : John Wheatley, Azariah Bliss, John Slapp, Jonathan Dana, Joseph Dana, Zac- cheus Downer. It was doubtless under the action of the church that Mr. Potter first came to the town. They also accepted him as their pastor, and he was ordained and installed as pastor of the church on the 25th of August, 1772. The ordination took place in the open air under a spreading elm standing on the banks of the Connecticut in the southerly part of the village of West Lebanon, Rev. Bulkley Olcott preaching the sermon.
THE FIRST MEETING-HOUSE.
The first public action concerning a meeting-house was taken February 26, 1768, when the question was proposed at their meeting. We cannot doubt that they felt the want of some place of meeting for civil and religious purposes. All their assemblies had been held at private houses; often at Charles Hill's, some- times at Estabrook's, and often at Bela Turner's. But they were not yet ready for action, for they resolved to do nothing.
At a meeting held July 19, 1768, they decided the location of the meeting-house; that it should be upon a spot of ground near the "Burying Place," that is, near Miss Fanny Alden's. I sup- pose that they meant that when they should build a meeting- house, they would build it there, for they do not seem to have formed any plan concerning it since their meeting in February preceding.
At a meeting held September 7, 1768, it appears that some were dissatisfied with this location and sought to have the town reconsider their decision, but the majority were averse to any change, and the location of the future meeting-house remained fixed-for a time.
The affairs of a meeting-house continued to be warmly dis- cussed in private, but do not appear in public for more than two years. At a meeting held November 5, 1770, they took up the matter again and voted to build a meeting-house-but they fur- ther voted that they would not build a meeting-house "for the
60
HISTORY OF LEBANON.
convenancy of Publick Worship." The only explanation of this apparently contradictory action which the historian has to give is this: They resolved to build a house for civic purposes, what we call a town hall, but they would not build a house for reli- gious purposes-a church. But they made no plans for build- ing any house, only decided that they were going to build.
But they met again on the 26th of November and voted this time that they would build, not a town hall, but a house for "publick worship." They decided that it should be thirty feet square and "ten feet posts." They further decided (for the time) that it should be placed upon "the road that leads to the mills in said Lebanon upon a peace of Flat Land east of Mr. Charles Hills barn." This would be on the road to West Leba- non, near the southern portion of that village.
In the meantime they had been considering and discussing the matter, and came to the conclusion that they were not quite right; nobody was satisfied, and so at their meeting, January 7, 1771, they resolved to reconsider all their previous votes and to start anew, which they did in this way: They resolved that they would build a house for public worship; that they would take a longer time; that they would locate it upon some other spot; that they would choose a committee from out of town to "fix a spot to set said house upon and that said spot shall be THE spot."
They chose as their committee, Samuel Chase of Cornish, David Woodward and Hezekiah Johnson of Hanover.
It is not known what location this committee selected, but wherever it was the after action of the town shows that it was not satisfactory "to all concerned."
The following, found among certain old papers in the garret of Mr. George Hall, is the receipt of one of the committee :
Cornish March ye 7 1771
Then Received of Mr Aaron Storrs Nine shillings Being in full for my sarvice Going to Lebenon and assisting with ye Commity in prefixing ye place for seting a meeting house
Sam1 Chase
At a meeting January 29, 1771, evidently after the action of their committee, they voted to build a house for public worship,
61
INTRODUCTION.
"that it should be thirty feet square and ten feet posts;" and that Maj. John Slapp, Lieut. Nathaniel Porter and John Wheat- ley, Esq., should be a committee for building. Nothing is said about the locality, so we are warranted in supposing that it is settled.
By this time they have the prospect of regular worship under the guidance of a settled minister. Upon thinking the matter over they see that the projected meeting-house will hardly meet. their wants so they vote, August 21, 1771, to enlarge the meet- ing-house from "thirty feet square and ten feet posts to forty- eight in length, thirty feet in breadth and twenty-five feet posts."
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