USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 17
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The Pioneers.
seclusion in the remote region lying between the mountains east of the Connecticut and the waters of the Magalloway, and lived the life of a hermit, subsisting by hunting and fishing. He visited the settlements only when necessary to secure a supply of powder and lead. In 1790 his wife filed a petition for divorce, which was granted. Released from the bonds which bound him to one who was a wife only in name, he abandoned his retired life in the forests, and in 1791 returned to his home in Littleton. Soon after he married Miss Eunice Rich of Maidstone, and led the life of a prosperous farmer until her death, which was occasioned by a fall from her horse. He was a noted hunter. James W. Weeks of Lancaster is authority for the statement that in a single season he slaughtered ninety-nine moose, nearly exterminating them in that section. The wanton killing of these huge beasts brought upon him the enmity of the settlers of the Upper Cohos, and this feeling largely influenced him to seek a new abode in Canada. Soon after going to Brompton he married a Miss Bishop and reared a large family. By his second wife there were three children, all but the eldest of whom were born in Stratford. Nathan, Jr., died at Brompton, P. Q., in 1844 or 1845.
Osias Caswell, the second son of the first settler, was born in Hebron, Conn., in 1764. He served as a scout during the Revolution. In 1797, in company with his brother Jedediah and Samuel Bishop and Samuel Pierce, who subsequently became his brothers-in-law, he went to the Eastern Townships in the Province of Quebec, and settled in Brompton and a few years later in Windsor, P. Q. In both towns he was among the first settlers. He had two sons who lived and died in Canada. Osias, when quite an old man, returned to the United States and resided for a time with his sister, Mrs. Bishop, in Landaff. In 1839 he was a resident of Lyman. In 1843 he moved to Lyndon, Vt., where he passed the remaining years of his life.
Ezra, the third son, born in Orford, and John, the second of the children born in Apthorp, lived in Canada, the former at Stanstead, the latter at Compton. Both were much respected in the community where they passed their lives.
Apthorp, the fifth son and the first child of English extraction born within the limits of Littleton, remained with his father until he reached his majority in 1791, when he married Amarilla Holden of Charlestown, and in 1792 purchased a lot on Moose River in Concord, Vt. The farm was known in 1882 as the Remick place. In 1800 he followed other members of the family to Canada, and being one of the associates to whom the township of Eaton was VOL. I .- 12
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History of Littleton.
granted, he selected his lot, near the present village of Cookshire, and made a third beginning in the wilderness. He inherited the roving instincts of his father to some extent, and in 1817 left his family on the Eaton farm and travelled in western New York and Ohio, with a view of securing a new place of settlement in a warmer and more congenial climate. After three years of wall- dering, he returned to his family, where he found an excellent farm under a high state of cultivation. Four sons had nearly or quite reaclied the estate of manhood, and during the father's long absence had labored with great industry to maintain the family and subdue the stubborn soil. The father found the situation so agreeable that he ceased to rove, and settled down to a life of in- dustry and contentment. He lived on the same place until the close of his life, February 15, 1858. His wife died December 15, 1850.
Apthorp Caswell bore a strong resemblance to the old Captain. He was "five feet ten in his stockings," weighed two hundred and twelve pounds when in his prime, was broad-shouldered, with small hands and feet, brown hair and blue eyes. He was an athlete, and so spry and skilful of limb that he was for years regarded as the champion of his section of the Eastern Townships.
Of a family of eleven children, five - Roxey, Clarissa, Bingham, Aseplı, and Hannah - were born in Concord, Vt., Erastus H., Car- oline, Lyndolph, Apthorp, Jr., Saphrona, and Sabrana in Eaton. Of these children Bingham, who died in 1873 and Erastus H., who departed this life ten years later, were well known by many people still living in that section of Canada where they passed their lives. All speak in the highest terms of their capacity, probity, and honor. Mrs. Bingham Caswell, who was Miss Nelly Chase (daughter of Francis Chase and Sally (Pike) Chase of Kirby, Vt.), was living on the old homestead in May, 1897, at the great age of ninety-one years. She died a few weeks later. From her many facts concerning the Caswell family were obtained.
The Captain's eldest daughter was Hannah, born in June, 1774. She married Samuel Learned, Jr., in 1789. Charlotte, born April 20, 1778, and who died on the same day, was the first white person to be buried in Apthorp. Her remains await the final summons on the farm where her father and mother began their life in our town. Elizabeth married Samuel Bishop, then of Brompton, P. Q., and later removed to Landaff, where she died. She was the mother of the late Russell M. Bishop. Alice, the youngest
BINGHAM CASWELL.
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The Pioneers.
child, was the wife of Samuel Pierce, and lived and died in Canada. A singular parallel runs between this daughter and her mother. Each bore fourteen children, each lost one in infancy, and their other sons and daughters lived to rear children of their own. Anne became Mrs. Partridge and went to Ohio. Lydia was the wife of Luther Pike, of Waterford. The sons Jedediah and Daniel were in Canada at one time, but did not remain many years. Jedediah returned to Lisbon, where he passed his remain- ing days ; and Daniel lived in Lyndon, Vt., and his remains are there buried.
With the exception of Osias all the children of Captain Cas- well reared large families, and his descendants are scattered throughout the United States and Canada.
The second family of pioneers to make their home in Apthorp was that of Jonathan Hopkinson, consisting of his wife, four sons, and one or two daughters. . It is a singular fact that although this family consisted of self-reliant, sturdy, and unusually intelli- gent men, very little relating to them has been preserved by their descendants. At the time of the centennial celebration of the town in 1884, an effort was made to trace the obscure course of this family through our early history back to its source and for- ward to well-known families of the name in northern New Hamp- shire and Vermont, but with no success. Since that time the investigation has been continued, with the result that much that was then doubtful has been established as fact, and a large amount of new material collected. Still the family history is nowise complete.
The Hopkinson family was from Rhode Island. Before com- ing to New Hampshire they resided at Haverhill, Mass., from whence they removed to the Lower Cohos, but made no settle- ment there. In the winter of 1771-72 they came to Apthorp, and were the first to make a break in the wilderness on the meadows at North Littleton. The family consisted of Jonathan, Sr., and four sons : Jonathan, Jr., David, Caleb, and John. David was married at the time they came here. Jonathan, Sr., located on the Parker Cushman place, David on the Pingree lot, and a year or two later Caleb settled on the farm now occupied by George W. Fuller, and John made a beginning on the Rix place, until recently owned by Royal D. Rounsevel. Dr. White of Newbury, the first practising physician in the Cohos country, left a book of accounts that is still in existence, which throws an interesting side light upon our local history at that period. It contains, among many others, these entries : -
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History of Littleton.
1773 Old Mr. Hopkinson of Apthorp DR.
Aug't 23. To a visit from Davids to his house
To Spt. Levender, 1 s. Elix. Camphor 2 s. “3 "
To a visit 20 s. Physic. 2 s. Gum Camphor 2 s. 6 d 1. 4.6 To Myrrh 2 s. Sal Nitre 2 s. Valerian 3. " 7 "
£1. 17. 6.
Oct. 20th, 1786 Received the above by his son John's note.
1774 Mr. Jonathan Hopkinson of Apthorp DR.
Nov'r. 8th. To a visit 4 s. Physic 1 s. Spt Lavender 2 s Liquid Laud. 1 s., 6 d. " 6. 6.
To a visit 20 s. Cream Tartar 2 s. Rhu 2 s. 1. 4. « To Cortex 3 s. Spt. Lavender 3 " 6 "
£1.18.6.
Oct. 20th. 1786 Rec'd. the above by his note.
1775 Mr. David Hopkinson of Apthorp DR.
Aug't. 23d. To a visit 18s. Spt. Lavendr, 2 s. Sal Nitre, 2 s. Valerian 6 d. 1. 3. 6.
At the time of the first visit to " old Mr. Hopkinson," it seems the doctor had first been called to pay a visit to his son David, and the charge for travel made the item small, only three shillings. For the second visit and travel the item amounts to the consider- able sum of one pound, indicating that the journey had been made from the doctor's home in Newbury especially to minister to the wants of the old gentleman.
At the outbreak of hostilities in 1776, the Hopkinsons were well established in comfortable homes. In the time of the struggle for Independence they joined the company of scouts or rangers called into the service for the protection of the frontier, and much of their time was passed at the Upper Cohos. While in this service they became acquainted with the superior quality of the intervale in that section, and before the close of the war David abandoned his improvements in Apthorp and located in Guildhall. The change was made in the winter of 1779-80. At the first alarm of hostilities fear of Indian depredations led the settlers of Apthorp to flee for protection to the forts. The Caswells sought safety at Northumberland, and the Hopkinsons at Haver- hill. The fear soon proved to be imaginary, and the scattered residents of Apthorp reassembled at their homes in sufficient numbers to harvest the crops and put their cabins in order for the long winter months.
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The Pioneers.
The senior Hopkinson was well advanced in years at the time the family came to Apthorp. Dr. White, evidently not knowing his Christian name, styles him " old Mr. Hopkinson" when he enters the account on his books in 1773. Whatever his age may have been, he was young enough to enlist for the defence of his country in 1776, and sufficiently strong to remain in the service most of the time until the close of the war in 1782. About this time he and his son Jonathan, Jr., disposed of their interest in the meadow farm and went to the Upper Cohos. Their subsequent career is not known beyond the fact that both were residing in that section in 1786.
F. When David Hopkinson abandoned his improvements on the farm long known as the Pingree place, he purchased a right in what he supposed was the northeast corner of Lunenburg ; but the meanderings of the " great river," and the supposed errors of Captain Neal's survey, when allowance had been made for one and the correctness of the other established, finally located him on the governor's lot in the southeast corner of Guildhall. The disputed boundary was not settled until 1785, and during the in- tervening years David Hopkinson, considering himself a citizen of Lunenburg, took an active part in the affairs of that town and joined with six others in calling its first town meeting. It is probable that the absorption of the rights of the proprietors of Sto- nington by David Page and his associates of Lancaster had some- thing to do with the confusion as to the line between the two Vermont towns across the river. The original grants on each side of the Connecticut, as far north as the upper boundary of Haverhill and Newbury, were supposed to extend along that river six miles, and the northern and southern lines of these river towns were protracted and three tiers of towns chartered on each side of the river. When the charter of Guildhall was granted, October 10, 1761, provision was made for a future grant of five townships out of the intervening territory lying between the northern line of New- bury and the southern line of Guildhall. The settlement of the controversy transferred the allegiance of David Hopkinson and his family from Lunenburg to Guildhall, -- a very considerable loss to one and an equal gain to the other, as the family possessed both fine ability and high character, and was destined to play a notable part in the early history of both town and county. Under the judicial system established in Vermont for some years after its admission as a State into the Union, each county elected a chief justice and two associate justices to constitute its trial court. The first chief justice of Essex County was Daniel Dana, the
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History of Littleton.
grandfather of the late Charles A. Dana, long the distinguished editor of the " New York Sun." David Hopkinson filled the posi- tion in 1812-15. He held many other offices, and discharged every duty with credit. He had ten children. The eldest three were born in this town.
David Hopkinson, Jr., born in Apthorp in 1775, resided in Guildhall from 1780 to 1800, when he went to Salem, now a part of Derby, Vt., where he resided until 1818. In this year he pur- chased of his father the farm in Guildhall on which they made the first clearing and where his early manhood had been passed. He was an influential citizen, and held the office of assistant judge of the county court in 1827 and 1830, and represented the town in the Legislature in the years 1821 to 1824 and in 1826 and 1829. He died suddenly in 1837.
Caleb, the third son of Jonathan Hopkinson, married a daugh- ter of Capt. Peleg Williams, in 1783, and resided in town until 1790. The plural marital obligations of his father-in-law and the numerous conflicts necessarily resulting from such a state of affairs rendered a residence within speaking distance of the redoubtable Captain unpleasant ; so he sold his farm to Henry Bemis, and sought a home and peace in the Eastern Townships within the dominion of King George, against whose rule he had passed seven years in armed protest ; but the situation was such that he was forced to a choice of evils, and he preferred King George to Captain Williams and his wives. He is said to have possessed much of the ability for which the family was noted, but was wanting in that knowledge of human nature which smooths the way to a successful employment of other intellectual endow- ments.
The Hopkinsons were strong men, singularly self-centred, with little of the curiosity or family pride which would lead them to take an interest in their progenitors; hence it has been a work of some difficulty to gather the little information concerning the family here presented.
A sketch of Peleg Williams prepared for the Littleton Centennial gives a good idea of the redoubtable Captain, and, with slight changes, is reproduced. Capt. Peleg Williams became a citizen of Apthorp in 1781. He purchased the improvements of Jonathan Hopkinson on the Cushman or Cleasby place. He was born in Rhode Island, the land of Roger Williams and the Quakers ; but there was little in his character indicating that he was a descend- ant of the founder of that State, or belonged to his mild and peace- ful sect, for if there was anything he seems to have thoroughly
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The Pioneers.
detested it was the reign of peace. He had been a soldier in the French and Indian War, and the beginning of hostilities, in 1775, found him a resident of Charlestown. He at once joined the army before Boston, and served until 1781, when failing health and differences with some of his fellow officers induced him to resign his commission. He came to Apthorp. When he left his native State, his wife, son, and daughter did not accompany him to Charlestown. There he formed an alliance with Sarah Wheeler, a tall, raw-boned, muscular, and strong-minded woman, with whom he went through the forms of marriage, and she accompanied him to this town. She was the only being on earth who ever aroused a sense of fear in the old Captain. For twenty years Captain Williams was a leading man in the town, serving as selectman and as agent of the town to the General Court to secure an adjustment of taxes assessed against the township during the War of the Revolution.
Within a year of his arrival, the wife and children whom he had abandoned in Rhode Island followed him. The son, Provi- dence Williams, settled just above the Gilman Wheeler place. He was an active business man, fond of traffic, and at one time owned several farms in town and accumulated a large amount of personal property. He sold out and went to Canada before 1800. The daughter became the wife of Caleb Hopkinson. There was no love lost between the families of wife number one and that of number two. The Captain and his son-in-law, Hopkinson, were in a chronic state of warfare, often resorting to the law, both civil and criminal, for a settlement of their differences. They charged each other with destroying crops, burning buildings, and poisoning cattle. One of the results of this system of warfare was that the Captain resided for several months in jail at Haverhill. After his release from durance Captain Williams returned to Charlestown, and resided there one or two years. Sarah Wheeler, during these troublesome times, remained in possession of the property. Her daughter Margaret married a Frenchman, by the name of Du Clarette, who is believed to have been the first of the race to settle in town. The fighting character of the family was well maintained by the old lady and her son-in-law. Soon after 1800 Du Clarette and wife moved to Canada. Sarah Wheeler established the fact of a marriage to Peleg Williams, and obtained a pension as his widow. She lived to be nearly a century old, and when ninety- four was so vigorous that she journeyed on foot to Canada to visit her daughter, and returned in the same way.
Captain Williams was of slight build and light complexion.
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History of Littleton.
He possessed an irascible temper which he seems never to have learned to govern. He could not easily brook the commands of others or submit to the restraints of law. He was well educated, possessed a large fund of information, and had great experience in public affairs. He had great force of character, a vigorous intellect, and a will that might break but never bend. He died at Salem in March, 1821, while on a journey to Providence, R. I.
With Captain Williams there came to Apthorp a young man, about twenty-five years of age, whose character was in marked contrast to his own. Robert Charlton was a lover of peace and order, a respecter of law, a refined and scholarly gentleman, and a devout Christian. He was born in England, and when a mere youth found his way to Nova Scotia, whence he drifted to Rhode Island. Here he formed the acquaintance of Peleg Williams, and as each admired in the other those traits of character wanting in himself, a firm and lasting friendship was formed between them.
Together they went to Charlestown, then the most important post on the New Hampshire frontier. Mr. Charlton, while sym- pathizing with the people of the Colonies in their struggle for independence, was restrained by a sense of loyalty to the mother country from taking part in the conflict. In 1779 he taught school in Haverhill. He was a surveyor and pursued that profession, and the west part of the town was surveyed and lotted by him. When he came to town in 1781, he was unmarried, and lived with Captain Williams for two or three years ; he then married Miss Keziah Powers, of Bath, and settled on the Howard place on the Connecticut River. He was our first Town Clerk, and held that position at different times for twelve years. His penmanship was of the old-fashioned copperplate style, as legible as print ; in beauty and minuteness of detail his records have not been equalled by any of his sucessors. He also frequently served as Moderator and as a member of the Board of Selectmen ; he was Treasurer in 1797. When the Congregational Church was organized, he was one of its first members chosen deacon in 1823, and served in that capacity until 1837. He died November 22, 1843. He reared a considerable family. He was a citizen of the town more than sixty-two years, and during that long period was honored and respected by all who knew him.
In that part of Apthorp afterwards incorporated into Dalton, Moses Blake and Walter Bloss had settled. Mr. Blake was born in Milton, Mass., in 1744. He took a contract to build for the proprietors of Apthorp a road from Haverhill to Lancaster which would pass a one-horse wagon with two persons. In payment for
185
The Pioneers.
this service he received a deed of three hundred and twenty acres of land lying on the Connecticut River and on both sides of Johns River at their confluence. Here he built a log cabin and later a frame house, and was licensed as an inn-keeper. For many years this hostlery was famous among travellers between the Upper and Lower Cohos. A large family grew up around him whose character honored and whose conduct blessed his name.
Walter Bloss settled near the Sumner place on the upper side of the road, and lived there many years. In the course of time the log house gave place to a large two-story structure which was long one of the landmraks of the town. For some years these two families were the only inhabitants of Dalton.
We have considered it important to sketch at some length the outlines of the lives and characteristics of the men who laid in the wilderness the civic foundations of our town. They were men of unyielding courage and endurance, and possessed many virtues. They endured the hardships of frontier life for many years, and when the troublous times of the war for the independence of the colonies came, they bore withi unflinching loyalty the double burden of maintaining their families in this remote section and . protecting the frontier from constantly threatened incursions from hostile Indians and Tories.
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History of Littleton.
XIII. THE ORGANIZATION OF LITTLETON.
T `HE early township grants by the Colonial Governors of New Hampshire were, as a rule, issued to proprietors who in- tended to establish homes within the limits of their purchase. Such townships were surveyed and allotted among the proprietors in accordance with the provisions of the charter, were rapidly settled, and town governments were organized which at once assumed their full relations with the provincial government. The settlement of Apthorp was inaugurated under different circumstances. The proprietors never became residents of the town and seldom paid it a visit. It was with extreme reluctance that they parted with their title to any part of the township. Their method was to give a bond for a deed in which they guaranteed to give a title when the settlers had cleared a prescribed acreage, placed it under cultivation, and paid the full amount of the purchase money. In addition to the execution of the bond the proprietors bound themselves to build roads and erect a saw and grist mill for the accommodation of the settlers. The Caswells, Hopkin- sons, and other pioneers who immediately followed them, held no title to the soil. Their only investment was that of time and labor. This method was not calculated to produce the best re- sults for any of the parties in interest. Without the attachment to the soil which a sense of ownership alone can produce and which is so essential to the development of a new country, the settlers failed from the start to put forth their best efforts for the improvement of the land which they occupied ; and when they saw an opportunity to better their condition by removing elsewhere, they had little to abandon, and many of them, a few years later, broke the loose ties which bound them to the town, and emigrated to the eastern townships of Canada, where they obtained from the government a title to rich agricultural lands for a merely nominal consideration.
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The Organization of Littleton.
The burden and responsibility of procuring settlers and caring for other interests of the town fell unequally upon the proprietors, who held the title in common, and disagreements among them were of frequent occurrence. This led, about the time of the close of the war, to the absorption of the interests of most of the smaller proprietors by Moses Little of Newbury. This, however, did not remove the friction among the remaining proprietors, and they began negotiations looking to a division of Apthorp and the erection of two towns out of its territory. An arrangement was made in June, 1783, whereby it was agreed that Tristram Dalton and Nathaniel Tracy should take so much of the northern portion of Apthorp as their holdings in the township entitled them to, and the Littles should take the remainder. Accordingly Messrs. Dalton and Tracy presented the following petition to the General Court praying for a division of Apthorp : -
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