USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Lebanon > History of Lebanon, N.H., 1761-1887 > Part 7
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But all this time there is dissatisfaction with the locality, and the spot that should be the place is not the place after all.
So, when they came together September 4, 1771, they voted to remove the meeting-house from near the burying yard westerly in Mr. Hill's pasture, near the road that leads to the sawmill. This, as I understand it, would be but a short distance, some rods, west of Mrs. Alden's. Major Slapp, Silas Waterman and Huckins Storrs were appointed a building committee, and were directed to erect, enclose and lay a floor in the house by the 1st day of October, 1772.
But at a meeting held November 7, 1771, they voted to "trans- pose" the meeting-house from Mr. Hill's pasture to the "Clay Pit about fifty rods westerly of the spot before agreed upon." This locality was on the north side of the Mascoma, near Hub- bard bridge. Silas Waterman and Huckins Storrs are dropped from the building committee and Azariah Bliss and John Wheat- ley are put in their places.
December 2, 1771, they vote to raise a tax to build a meeting- house on the spot last agreed upon.
January 7, 1772, they vote to build on the field of Jonathan Dana, and to "transpose" the meeting-house from the "Clay Pit" to this new locality, which was, I think, on the river, below West Lebanon. Maj. John Slapp, Charles Hill, Lieut. John Griswold and Silas Waterman are the building committee this time.
They are not satisfied yet, and vote, April 7, 1772, to alter the
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
size of the meeting-house to forty feet in length, thirty in breadth and ten feet posts.
In the meantime Major Slapp and other members of the com- mittee had collected timber at the clay pit and cleaved the ground, for which the town paid.
At this meeting, April 20, 1772, the meeting-house is "trans- posed from Mr Dana's field to Mr Hills pasture near the house of Bela Turner." This was near the house of Richard Kimball, Esq. Azariah Bliss, Charles Hill, Silas Waterman, Major Slapp, Lieutenant Porter and John Wheatley are the building com- mittee. At a meeting a week later the committee are directed to proceed with diligence to erect and enclose "said house."
The proprietors may be considered the conservative and aristo- cratic power of the town. Hitherto they have done nothing as a body, but doubtless have watched the strife, possibly have been able to keep track of the meeting-house in its numerous "trans- posings." They think the time has come for them to take some action, and attempt to pour oils on the troubled waters. On the 26th of May, 1772, they vote to build a meeting-house and ap- point Aaron Storrs, Huckins Storrs and Jedediah Hibbard their committee. They vote a tax of forty shillings on each pro- prietor's right for that purpose.
This money is granted upon the conditions that the house shall be built upon such a spot as "may be within one month from this 29 day of May be affixed by an indiferent [impartial] judicious committee of three men chosen by the town of Lebanon, who shall be instructed to have regard to the general interests of the township of Lebanon."
Further: They agree to build a meeting-house for the use of the town on the south side of the Mascoma, on the east side of the road leading from Davison's mills to Nathaniel Porter's dwelling house, "At a certain beach tree marked on four sides, and with the letter M, standing on a small eminence 100 rods from Enfield road [King's highway] and 112 rods from Maj. Slapps corn mill."
This locality is on the road leading from Hubbard bridge to Nathaniel Stearns'. The letter M referred to is supposed to stand for meeting-house.
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INTRODUCTION.
They further stipulate that the house shall be forty-four feet in length, thirty-two feet in width and twenty feet posts, which dimensions are different from an'y yet given-they appear like a compromise between contending parties.
The town appears to have paid little attention to the proposi- tions of the proprietors for, August 10, 1772, they voted to build a meeting-house on the east end of Mr. Hill's pasture, near Major Slapp's. It was to be forty-eight feet in length, thirty- four feet in breadth and ten or twelve feet posts. They set aside all other votes and resolutions, reserving only the timber which had been collected.
This action seems to have been final, and the meeting-house was built on the south side of the road, a little to the west of Miss Fanny Alden's.
To us, at this day, this strife about the location of a meeting- house seems remarkable, and we are inclined to look upon the fathers of the town as a peculiarly obstinate, or "set" race. But we should do them injustice. They did not differ in this respect from their generation. The early records of the towns of the state show that the meeting-house was likely to be a bone of con- tention. In not a few towns the strife was so long and bitter, the interests or the tempers of the parties so irreconcilable that as a last resort they were obliged to appeal to the governor and council or to the Assembly. Not a few of the meeting-houses of this state in those early times were located by these high author- ities.
It is not difficult to see some of the elements which would en- ter into the question of the location of a meeting-house in a community planted in a wilderness which they must subdue be- fore they could gather around them the conveniences of civil- ization. Let us remember that the population is scattered,-an opening here and there in the primeval forest made for a home. Roads are few; none are good. From many a log cabin there would be only a rough path Distance under such circumstances counts. A mile or a half mile is worth a struggle to avoid, when probably the whole family must go on foot "to meeting," or at best in the rudest vehicles.
And the location of a meeting-house in those days was not only
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
a matter of convenience, but of interest. Wherever the meeting- house was placed, other things would gather around it. It would be a center, and making surrounding lands more valuable. They naturally expected that a village would grow up around the meeting-house, hence each would contend for a location which would be most to his advantage.
Yet when we remember that a radius of half a mile would cover all the localities chosen and abandoned so many times, we cannot avoid the impression that some of the people were "pretty set in their ways."
One cannot help feeling sympathy with the youthful pastor of the town, who was an eye witness of much of the struggle. A place of worship was so much needed, so desirable for his minis- trations, and yet so hard to fix in any given locality. So much bitterness was engendered in the strife to stand in the way of that cordial union needful to their young enterprise of building up a church of Christ in the wilderness. He must have spent many days of anxiety while the strife was warmest, and he must have rejoiced greatly when the house was finally located and its doors were opened for the simple and earnest worship of the time. It is said that at one time when timber had been delivered on the river road "in Mr. Dana's field," a number of men with teams came to remove it. The young pastor made a warm appeal to them, assuring them that he could not remain unless they were more harmonious. His words had their designed effect and pre- vented a collision between antagonistic parties.
BOUNDARIES.
Very soon after the land of the town began to be occupied there arose a dispute between the proprietors of Lebanon and those of Plainfield concerning the boundary line between the two townships. A tree marked is mentioned in the charter as the southwest corner. Whether the tree could not be found as described, or whether there were two, I cannot determine, but it is plain that the lines claimed by Lebanon extended into territory claimed by Plainfield. The first formal action taken by the pro- prietors was on June 29, 1767, when they appointed a committee to confer with a committee of Plainfield concerning the matter. In the meantime there had been some communication with the
Dag by Mature & Silsbee.
K Chandler & Bro Lille, desl'on
PROF. IRA YOUNG.
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INTRODUCTION.
governor and council, and a letter received from Theodore Atkin- son, which the proprietors considered at a meeting February 25, 1768. Of the tenor of that letter nothing certain is known.
The committee reported their action to the proprietors May 17, 1768, and it was accepted as satisfactory to them, but proved not satisfactory to the proprietors of Plainfield. A joint com- mittee of the two towns was appointed upon the advice of Theo- dore Atkinson, or of the surveyor-general, to take the matter into consideration. The committee made the following report : Sir:
With submission, these wait upon you with respect, and may serve to Inform, that we the subscribers Committees for the proprietors of Leba- non and Plainfield in pursuance of your advice, have established a bound between said towns and as near the center as possible, said bound being a large White Pine tree marked 3 and 4 and standing a lit- tle Below the Meadow called Hedge-Hog meadow in said lebanon, [a little north of Bradley Trues], just in the bend of the river, on the north side of a hill, on the east bank of Connecticut river
These are therefore to desire the favor of your Honr, if you, in your wisdom, shall judge our procedure in said affair to be Legal and Con- clusive to certifie the same to his Excellency for his approbation thereof, that the same may be established as to law and custom doth appertain.
And we, as in duty bound beg leave to subscribe
Your honors most obedient And very humble serv'nts
John Wheatley 'Nathaniel Porter Charles Hill
Thomas Gates
Thomas Gallup John Stevens
Dated Lebanon
New Hampshire Oct 1768
The first three of the subscribers were of Lebanon, the others of Plainfield.
Four years later the dispute continues, and the proprietors vote to make application to the surveyor-general "To affix the South West corner and run the south line and affix the South East corner of the township of Lebanon." This application seems not to have had any effect, for at a meeting September 29,
5
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
1772, they are still seeking some method to settle the southwest corner of the township. They appointed Aaron Storrs, Nehe- miah Estabrook, John Griswold, Jedediah Hibbard and Nathan- iel Porter a committee to ascertain the southwest corner of the town and run the south line. They were also directed to give fair warning to all who were trespassing upon land which they claimed, to depart, and if they refused to do so, then to prose- cute them to the extent of the law.
Now the charter fixes the southwest corner of the town at eighteen miles from the northwest corner of Charlestown. The committee resolved to measure from that monument to ascertain the southwest corner. They employed Jonathan Freeman of Hanover as a surveyor and David Woodward, James Hutchin- son and Samuel Haze as chainmen. The measurement was duly made and Mr. Freeman returned the results to the proprietors who, on February 10, 1775, voted to accept the bound estab- lished by him. But the matter was not settled yet. Three years later, March 24, 1778, the dispute appears again, and now new parties appear,-Enfield and Grantham, all anxious to ascertain their true corners and lines. They appoint Elisha Ticknor, Jed- ediah Hibbard and John Griswold a committee to join commit- tees from the other towns to settle the dispute. The report of the committee was adopted and the line between Lebanon and Plain- field established, September, 1778. Lebanon, notwithstanding the gallant fight made, lost in the battle. Land which the pro- prietors claimed and had occupied, fell into Plainfield, and they were obliged to make the occupants compensation for their loss.
CONTROVERSY WITH ENFIELD.
Though there are no references upon the records for about seven years to any further disputes about town lines, yet all the time the fires seemed to be smouldering, and burst out anew in 1785, when we learn that Nathaniel Porter had brought an ac- tion of ejectment against Joseph Johnson of Enfield. Johnson claimed territory which had been assigned to Porter as a part of Lebanon. The proprietors voted, January 11, 1785, that they would sustain Porter in his suit, and pay the expense. The suit was finally withdrawn.
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INTRODUCTION.
State of New. Hamp
Grafton SS
Whareas, we the subscribers Being appointed a Comtee by the Honble General Assembly of said State to Establish the boundaries be- tween the towns of Lebanon and Enfield have met accordingly upon said towns and after Due Examination of the Bounds and lins of s'd of said towns of Lebanon and infield-Perceded as followeth, firstly begain at a white Pine tree on the easterly bank of Connect River which is called the agreement tree between Lebanon and Plainfield six mild to a stake and stones comonly known by the name of Sum- ner Bound-then examined the lins and records shown us Between s'd Lebanon and Enfield and find a bound standing on the Northeast Cor- ner of s'd Lebanon comonally known by the name of the birch tree, but said tree being fell down, a stake and stones erected in the place where said birch stood, and we do establish the first said stake and stons called Sumner Bound to be a bound between said Lebanon and Enfield on the southerly side of said towns and the said birch tree (now stake and stons) to be the northerly Bound Between s'd Lebanon and infield, and Do order that a strat line Be drawn Between said Sumner Bound and said Birch tree or stake standing in place of said Birch tree, to be the Dividing line Between the said Lebanon and the s'd infield and have recommended to said Committee to settle with all parsons who are on land in either of said towns, which shall fall out of the town which he settled in, in the best way they can, according to ower order from said Gen1 Assembly
which is humbly submitted
Oct ye 23 1786.
Charles Johnson Jeremiah Page Moses Chase
State Papers
CONDITION OF THE TOWN-1775.
The records so far given, and the narrative, have given the chief incidents of the history of the town to 1775. New and ex- citing events lie in the immediate future-the Revolution and the Vermont controversy. Before entering upon these scenes let us seek to realize the condition of the people by such descrip- tions as are possible at this distance.
The number of the inhabitants has steadily increased with each year, after the first bold wintering here in Camp Meadow. By a return of a census ordered by Gov. John Wentworth in 1773, long supposed to be lost, but discovered in 1876 on file in the
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
library of Congress by the Hon. A. H. Cragin, for many years an honored citizen of this town, and then of the United States Senate, we find the population of the town to be as follows: Unmarried men from 16 to 60, 44; married men from 16 to 60, 50; boys 16 years and under, 62; men 60 years and upward, 4; females unmarried, 79; females married, 54; widows, 2; slaves, none; total, 295; showing increase.
Population of Plainfield at same time, 275; of Hanover, 342; students at college, 90.
In 1775 another census was taken, with the following returns : Males under 16 years of age, 86; males from 16 years of age to 50, not in the army, 91; all males above 50 years of age, 13; per- sons gone in the army, 2; all females, 155; negroes and slaves for life, none; total, 347; increase in two years, 57.
We have, fortunately, a list of all the male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one and over, in the town in 1776. They are as follows :
John Wheatley,
Nathaniel Wheatley,
John Slapp,
Walter Peck,
John Baldwin,
Zacheus Downer,
Samuel Bailey,
Asa Colburn,
Jonathan Dana,
Constant Storrs,
Eliezer Robinson,
Stephen Colburn,
William Dana,
John Williams,
Hezekiah Waters,
Isaiah Potter,
James Jones,
John Wheatley,
John Gray, Jesse Cook,
Azariah Bliss,
Samuel Estabrook,
Stephen Bliss,
Samuel Paine,
John Ordway,
Elijah Dewey, Jr.,
Nehemiah Estabrook,
Huckens Storrs,
Rufus Baldwin,
Joseph Tilden, Jr., Elkanah Sprague, Daniel Hough,
Nathaniel Porter, Jr.,
Elijah Dewey,
Samuel Bailey, Jr.,
Phinehas Wright,
Daniel Bliss,
William Downer,
Barnabas Perkins,
Joseph Tilden,
Nathaniel Porter,
Azariah Bliss, Jr.,
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INTRODUCTION.
Charles Tilden,
James Hebard,
Oliver Griswold,
Levi Hyde,
James Hartshorn,
Elias Lyman,
Nathaniel Kidder,
Theophelus Barbrick,
David Colburn,
Eleazer Woodward,
Moses Hebard,
John Slapp,
Jeremiah Griswold,
Henry Woodward,
Benjamin Fuller,
John Griswold,
James Fuller,
Nathan Durkee,
Lemuel Hough,
Samuel Sprague,
Elisha Ticknor,
Charles Sexton,
Isaiah Bliss,
John Slapp, Jr.,
Nathaniel Storrs,
William Downer, Jr.,
Samuel Millington,
Zalmon Aspenwall,
Solomon Millington,
Joseph Martin,
Benjamin Write,
Abel Wright,
Hobart Estabrook,
Ebenezer Bliss,
Nathaniel Hall,
Thomas Willes,
Jonathan Bingham,
Jonathan Bettes,
Silas Waterman,
John Hyde,
Jedediah Hebbard,
Shuman Lathrop,
Joseph Wood,
Abiel Willes,
William Radman,
John Colburn,
Joseph Dana, Eighty-nine in all.
These are the names of the male inhabitants of the town in 1776. Of these family names only the following remain in the town at the present time, borne by descendants: Dana, Gray, Estabrook, Hall, Waterman, Hebbard, Wood, Peck, Storrs, Dewey, Hough, Bliss, Griswold, Ticknor, Durkee, Aspenwall, Lathrop.
By this time openings had been made in the forests in all parts of the town, and smoke arose above the tree tops from the settlers' rude cabins in all directions, except along the north- ern line of the town.
If the people wished their lumber sawed they could go to Davison's mills on the Mascoma, near Hubbard bridge, or to the sawmill of Huckins Storrs on Sawmill Brook, later known as Hinkley or True Brook. If they wished their grain ground
1
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
they need not carry it down to No. 4, but they could take it to Maj. John Slapp's mills on the Mascoma, below Hubbard bridge. There were shoemakers in town. If they wished to build a house they could call upon Barnabas Perkins or Thomas Blake, joiners. I cannot learn that they had any store at this period. Their place of trade was No. 4, and "down country," though they might trade with Aaron Storrs of Hanover. They had a meet- ing-house for their civil and religious gatherings. No doctor, no lawyer, had as yet taken up their abode here, so far as known.
Roads sufficient to accommodate the people were built. A road ran through the town from north to south along the banks of the Connecticut, called the "Country Road," built not only for the accommodation of the town, but for those who went on beyond to settlements to the north. The river itself was also a highway on the ice in the winter; by rafts and boats in the sum- mer. A road ran through the town east and west, the old Enfield Road part of the way, another keeping on the north side of the river by Edwin Perley's into the village by Jesse Cook's on Hanover Street, on across the meadows north of the village, up the side of Mount Tugg, through East Lebanon to Benjamin Fuller's, Zaccheus Downer's and Simon Slapp's, on to Enfield line. Roads led from the river road to Huckens Storrs' sawmill; they came from Poverty Lane and from the south part of the town where the Lathrops, Houghs, Hebards, Martins and Huntingtons had taken up their abode, to the same point, and to the King's Highway.
If they wished to go to law they could begin with John Wheat- ley, Esq., justice of the peace, and if their ardor for justice con- tinued they could carry up their suit to the court of common pleas for Grafton County.
If they wished to give their children a superior education, as many of them did, they could send them to
"Dartmouth, happy in her sylvan seat."
For money, they had the currency of England with Spanish coin, having about this time many counterfeit "milled dollars" originating, it was supposed, "somewhere on the Connecticut River." They had also the paper money of the province, easily
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INTRODUCTION.
counterfeited, and therefore subject to depreciation. They had also as a measure of value the bushel of wheat at six shillings, more or less.
They had been relieved some years before from the burdens of the Stamp Act, by its repeal.
They were marrying and giving in marriage. About this time Dea. Nehemiah Estabrook led to the altar Anna Bliss; Na- thaniel Wheatley, Vinal Bliss; Simon Peter Slapp, Lucretia Wil- son. Children were born and death claimed his victims.
Busy as they were in subduing forests, preparing virgin soil to bear for them food and the comforts of life, building homes and meeting-houses, and mills and roads, gathering for them- selves conveniences and comforts, they nevertheless were com- pelled to think of other things, to take into their minds for solu- tion the gravest problems.
THE REVOLUTION.
The gradually accumulating wrongs of the Mother Country had awakened, first the fear, and then the indignation of the colo- nies. Everywhere there was the same determination of resist- ance to any further aggressions upon their rights and privileges. It was also clearly seen that resistance, to be successful, must be united. It was therefore determined to call a Congress of the colonies. The Assembly of New Hampshire wrote a circular let- ter to all the towns of the state, requesting them to send deputies to meet at Exeter, July 14, 1774, and also to send their propor- tion of £200 to defray the expense of delegates to the General Congress. It was in response to this request that the town, at a meeting held in July, 1775, voted £2 as their share of the expense.
An order of the king in council had been passed, prohibiting the exportation of gunpowder and other military stores to America. The people of Portsmouth and vicinity, learning of this act, proceeded secretly, December 13, 1774, to Fort Will- iam and Mary and took possession of the powder and arms found there. April 19, 1775, occurred the battle of Lexington. All these things intensified the hostility of the people in the remotest towns and hamlets. The people of the province took up arms
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
and hastened to the assistance of their brethren in Massachusetts. The battle of Bunker Hill had been fought and the tidings of it reached the people to make their course decisive.
Governor Wentworth had abandoned the province August 24, 1775, and all authority seems to have been passed by the Pro- vincial Assembly to Conventions or Congresses made up of dele- gates chosen by the towns. These conventions made all possible preparations for the struggle which was near. They provided men and means to the best of their ability. They appointed a general Committee of Safety, with broad, but somewhat unde- fined powers. It was recommended that towns should appoint their own committees of safety. The town, at a meeting held July 17, 1775, appointed a committee of safety as follows: Nehe- miah Estabrook, John Wheatley, Esq., Maj. John Slapp, Silas Waterman, Jedediah Hebbard, Azariah Bliss. Three of these were empowered to act upon any matter which might come before them; any one of them might issue a warrant and deputize an officer in case of necessity. They were also directed to confer with the committees of neighboring towns, that there might be uniformity of action. At the same meeting they appointed Ne- hemiah Estabrook, John Slapp and John Griswold to meet com- mittees of neighboring towns to take action concerning the for- mation of regiments and their field officers.
The records of the town for this and the succeeding year, 1776, are very few, and recourse must be had to other sources of in- formation. Swiftly following events had produced great ex- citement in the eastern towns and many were forsaking their employments and enlisting in the army or in local service. Farms were deserted, and it began to look to some of the more thoughtful as though food might fail the people. It was thought that the people in the Connecticut valley, at a distance from ex- citing scenes, might do good service to their country by remain- ing at home and raising food for others. Accordingly, Colonel Fenton, a citizen of Portsmouth, addressed a circular letter to the people in Grafton county, as follows :
To the people of the County of Grafton from a real friend who sin- cerely wishes their well being
For Gods sake pay the closest attention to the sowing and planting
CAPT JOHN BLISS.
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INTRODUCTION.
your lands, and do as much as it is possible, not only for your own and families subsistence, but to supply the wants of your fellow-men down country, for you may be assured that every kind of distress, in the pro- vision way, is coming upon them
Let nothing induce you to quit your farming business-mind no re- ports-there are enough without you-therefore your diligence in farm- ing will much more serve your country than coming to assist us. Much depends on the Back settlement in raising grain
I am informed-that if the people in the Back settlements take up arms, a number of Indians & Canadians will fall upon them, but that if they remain quiet they will not. This I inform you of from the love I bear you, and give it you as a sincere friend should do
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