USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 19
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The following year Silas Symonds 2 came from Charlestown, and located on the farm known to the present generation as the Adams place. He was a useful citizen, and served the town faith- fully and well in many ways. He was either Town Clerk, Select- man, Treasurer, or on committees appointed for special purposes for a period covering his active life.
Jonas Lewis came from Lempster in 1788, and located on the Connecticut River below Waterford bridge. He had a large family, and descendants of his have, since his coming, been residents of the town.
The annual meeting for 1789 was warned to meet at the dwell- ing-house of Capt. Samuel Learned on the 16th of March. At this meeting but few changes were made in the list of town officers, but a considerable addition was made in the way of filling new positions rendered necessary by the growth of the settlement. Thus for the first time the assembled freemen proceeded to elect tithing-men, whose duties were to enforce attendance upon, and preserve order during divine service. A recent contributor to " Johns Hopkins Historical Studies " says, regarding the functions
1 The farm has long been known as the Steers place.
2 He bought of Captain Caswell.
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of this officer : " The oldest people in New England remember the tithing-man as a kind of Sunday Constable, whose special duty it was, in the old parish meeting-house, to quiet the restlessness of youth, and to disturb the slumbers of age." Another office, filled for the first time, was that of Fence Viewer, and John Nurse was elected to the position. A committee, consisting of Samuel Learnard, Luke Hitchcock, and Robert Charlton, was appointed "to settle and adjust the selectmen's accounts." The three captains, Learnard, Miner, and Caswell, were elected a committee " to lay out the road." Jonas Nurse succeeded Caleb Hopkinson as Selectman, and Henry Bemis and Jonas Lewis were elected Tithing-men. Isaac Miner succeeded his father as highway sur- veyor for " the lower end of the town," Sargent Currier to serve in the same capacity at the "upper end," and Jonas Nurse for " the middle of the town." Isaac Miner and Sargent Currier were chosen " Hog-Constables," an office of importance at the time, when swine were frequently left free to roam wood and field, and were regarded as the most persistent of trespassers. The elections to fill the additional offices mark the progress of the community in several particulars. The brush fence was being replaced by more substantial structures, and disagreements among proprietors in regard to " line fences " required the services of the fence viewer to arbitrate their differences. The appointment of tithing-men signalizes the beginning of the movement to provide public religious worship which was to occupy a prominent place in the deliberations of town-meetings for many years. The record does not show what road the committee were to lay out, but pre- sumably it was one leading down the Connecticut, from the north end of the town, to the mills, then building on the brook at the west end. There were a number of places where beginnings had been made along the course to be covered by such a road, and nothing but an Indian trail connected them, and the importance of such a highway to give the settlers access to the mills is apparent. Whatever the action of the committee may have been, there is no record in regard to it.
At the annual meeting held at the house of Benjamin Nurse, 1 March 23, 1790, James Williams was chosen one of the Selectmen, Providence Williams Constable and Collector ; John Wheeler, in open meeting, becoming his bondsman. Jonas Nurse and Ebenezer Pingree were appointed Tithing-men and John Nurse Pound Keeper. Mr. Nurse lived near the centre of the town, and
1 He was the father of Benjamin Jr., Jonas, and John. He lived in the house built by his son Jonas at the junction of the roads near the G. W. Richardson place.
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it was voted that the pound be built near his residence, and " that on the third Tuesday of June each voter shall respectively assist, or hire a man to assist, in building s.ª Pound." It was also voted that the Selectmen " appoint suitable places for burying yards." The records of the Selectmen, Town Clerk, and Treasurer had been kept upon loose sheets of paper, and each officer retained his records after he had vacated the office. Efforts had been made to procure suitable books, but without success, and at this meeting the Selectmen were instructed to purchase or get town books.
The matter of State and county taxes was still unadjusted, but a proposition had been submitted by the agent of the town to the State Treasurer which, it had been intimated, the General Court was likely to accept at the June session. In view of this contem- plated action by the Legislature, a special meeting was warned to meet at the house of John Wheeler on the 3d day of May, 1790, " to employ some person to go to Exeter after the old precepts " and " to raise a sum of money to Buy town Books." The meeting authorized " Mr. Wheeler to agree with Mr. Samuel Young, Repre- sentative, to bring the precepts from General Court and to be well paid for his trouble." Mr. Wheeler was also instructed " to go to Col. Johnson's in Newbury to see if lie can purchase two Town books & to be allowed reasonable pay for his trouble." The meeting then adjourned to the third Tuesday in June and again to the 20 day of July at two o'clock in the afternoon, at which time, the agents not being ready to report, the meeting dissolved.
The first action of the town in relation to national affairs was at a meeting warned and held at the house of John Wheeler Inholder on Monday the 30 day of August, 1790. Ebenezer Pingree served as moderator, and the assembled freemen proceeded to cast their ballots for three persons to represent the State in the Congress of the United States, and " Samuel Livermore, Esq., Jeremiah Smith, Esq., and John H. Sherburne," Esq., received ten votes each, and the moderator, if we may believe the record made by so good a man as Robert Charlton, declared Samuel Livermore, Jeremiah Smith, and Jolin H. Sherburne " unanimously chose viz 10 yeas 0 nays." In the State there was no choice for two mem- bers of Congress, and a new election was ordered. The constitu- tional candidates were Jeremiah Smith, Nicholas Gilman, Jolın S. Sherburne, and Abiel Foster. At the meeting held on the 13th of December, eight votes were cast of Messrs. Smith and Sherburne and none for the other two candidates, and the moderator once more declared these gentlemen " unanimously chose." There was little political feeling in the State at the time. The contest over
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the adoption of the Federal Constitution two years before had been animated, and in that conflict was laid the foundation of two great political parties. The friends of the Constitution were styled Federalists, while those who opposed it on the ground that it con- ferred too much power upon the national government, took the names first of Anti-federalists and then of Democratic Republicans. The people of the Cohos country were ardent friends of the Consti- tution, and the first votes cast in this town for the United States officers reflected the general political sentiment in favor of the Federalists.
This special meeting adjourned to meet at the house of Jolin Nurse on the 21st instant, when it was " voted that six dollars be raised to purchase Town Books," " that Robert Charlton purchase the book for the use of the Town Clerk," and Capt. Nathan Caswell those for the use of the Selectmen. Wheat was then the standard of value and about the only currency in circulation, and at this meeting it was voted that the wheat, for the purchase of town books " be collected and paid into the treasury by the third Tues- day of March next."
The office of Justice of the Peace was, at that time, regarded as of great importance. As a rule, but one person was appointed to the position in a town ; and beside the power and dignity it conferred, it was often of considerable pecuniary benefit to the holder. The record shows that at this meeting action was taken in regard to the appointment of a magistrate for the town, and that Capt. Nathan Caswell was "unanimously chose for a Justice of the Peace." The appointing power then, as now, was vested in the Governor and Council, and the action of the meeting cannot be regarded as an attempt to elect Captain Caswell to the position, but rather the vote was to be used in the form of a petition to the appointing power praying for the Captain's appointment. It seems that the selection was never ratified, for what reason does not appear.
The only other business transacted at this meeting was the election of Capt. James Williams as " an agent for the town to go to Lancaster concerning the division or making a new county and the town to hire a horse which should be pay for his services."
The first census of the United States was taken in 1790. It was but an enumeration of the population, and gives the number of inhabitants in Littleton as ninety-six.
The annual town meeting for 1791 was held at the house of John Nurse on the 15th of March. The warrant contained, in addition to the usual articles for the election of town officers, one providing that the voters should cast their ballots for "County
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Treasurer and Recorder of Deeds in said County," but the record does not indicate that any action was taken in reference to this article.
In the election of town officers Capt. Nathan Caswell was much in evidence. The meeting fairly rained its honors upon him. He was chosen Moderator, Town Clerk, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, Town Treasurer, and a member of the committee to hire a minister. Thus, by the favor of his townsmen, the gallant Captain was placed in charge of all the important business affairs of the town. From this distance it would appear that possibly the Captain was what, in modern phrase, would be termed a " boss," and he had simply arrogated to himself that which was his own, instead of parcelling out the honors among his followers. But such was not the fact. A study of all the evidence attainable in regard to the character of Captain Caswell shows beyond a doubt that he was not a self-seeker, nor despotic, nor avaricious, nor ambitious, but a quiet, unassuming gentleman who endeavored to discharge to the best of his ability every duty imposed by his fellow citizens, the laws of the State, and the commands of God. These services were the last he was destined to render this town. He had stood by its cradle and had lived to see it reach a lusty youth. The trials and privations incident to the life of the pioneer, and the perils endured through the long contest for home and liberty during the War of Independence had shaken the strength of a once strong constitution, and planted the seeds of disease from which he was never again to be free in this life. He continued to reside here until 1803, when he went to Compton, P. Q., where he entered upon his final reward in 1820.
Aside from the election of town officers, the only business trans- acted was to pass the following votes in regard to providing re- ligious worship and for schooling :
" Voted to hire preaching for two months the ensuing Summer and that Capt Nathan Caswell and Mr. John Wheeler be a committee to hire a minister."
" Voted that sixteen bushels of wheat be raised for the use of schools next winter."
In this year Captain Caswell sold his farm on the Ammo- noosuc meadows to Ephraim Bailey, a son of Gen. Jacob Bailey of Newbury. The Captain and his son Apthorp moved to the Connecticut river, settling on the Adams place. Jacob Bailey, a brother of Ephraim, came to town about this time. Where he settled is not known, but it is more than probable that it was on
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History of Littleton.
the same meadows below his brother. Another newcomer of this year was Capt. David Lindsey, who located at the west end of the town. While these men resided in town they were active citizens, but they remained only a few years. Their names disappear from our records about 1800. The elder Bailey emigrated to northern New York. David Lindsey was a man of capacity, and was fre- quently called upon to discharge public duties. He was the first citizen of the town to hold a commission as Justice of the Peace. He served as Moderator, and was a member, with Robert Charlton, of the committee to spread upon the town books the transactions of the several town meetings, and the acts of the Selectmen. Cap- tain Lindsey was well advanced in life when he came to Littleton, and his active career closed with his removal from town in 1798. In the north burying-ground at Guildhall, Vt., an old stone bears this inscription : "David Lindsey. August 7, 1801." Beneath the crumbling slab undoubtedly lie the mortal remains of the first magistrate of our town.1
The additions to the citizenship of the town during the remain- ing years of the century included such important factors in its history as the Rev. David Goodall and his sons David, Ira, and Solomon ; the Palmers, Cushmans, Wheelers, Carters, Manns, Savages, Abner Smith, Joseph W. Morse, Penuel Levens, Peter Bonney, Dr. Calvin Ainsworth, Douglass Robins, Samuel F. Ham- mond, Josiah Newhall, Elkanah Hoskins, Abijah Allen, and others who acted an honorable but less active part in affairs. This list includes the first doctor and the first clergyman to become permanent residents, the founders of the village, those who first established important business enterprises and mechanical trades as well as those who added materially to the agricultural wealth of the community.
In these years all the business of the town was transacted or directed in town meeting. One subject that was a matter of frequent consideration was that of procuring town books for the use of the Selectmen and Town Clerk. Several committees were, at different times, raised to purchase them. We have seen how one was directed to get them of Colonel Johnson at Newbury and failed, and how other attempts with a like result were made at later dates ; how an appropriation of wheat was often made with which to pay for them, and how, after many fruitless efforts, they were procured, and Capt. David Lindsey and Robert Charlton
1 He was a Scotchman. He came here from Thornton, soon after James Rankin. While living in Thornton he served as Moderator and Selectman, and was a prominent citizen.
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named as a committee in 1793, six years after the organization of the town, " to Examine the Town papers and put them on the Town Books." No wonder the recorder over-capitalized the record when he put the finishing touches to a work that had compelled so much earnest effort. These books were bought at Hanover, and are still well preserved in substantial new dress. They constitute volumes one and two of the town records. The ink is somewhat faded, but still legible. The penmanship of Robert Charlton is in the old copperplate style, clear and beau- tiful. In 1794 the town voted to pay Mr. Charlton and Captain Lindsey nine shillings each for services in copying the records into these books. Thus closed a vexatious episode in the early history of the town.
There was much town legislation during these years in refer- ence to locating and building a pound. Pound-keepers and Hog Reives, or Hog Constables, were annually chosen ; and in 1790 it was voted to build a pound "nigh " John Nurse's, and in 1794 Ebenezer Pingree, Jonas Nurse, and Nathaniel Webster were con- stituted a committee to build a pound to be finished by the first of the following September, and " to make a statement as to cost, and deliver it to the Selectmen, they to make a rate to be paid in wheat unless paid in labor." This committee did not comply with these instructions. As a matter of fact, the pound was not built. It is apparent, from the record and other evidence, that "location" was the stumbling-block in the way. The distance between the settlements at the north, west, and southern parts of the town rendered it impracticable to fix upon a location that would accommodate each section. So the matter dragged through two decades, until it wore itself out, and the town ceased to elect an officer whose duties were merely perfunctory. For many years the records contain notices of estrays embracing all sorts of animals, - an indication that each man had become a pound- keeper for such creatures as trespassed upon his estate.
Reference has been made elsewhere to the road, or rather path, cut by Moses Blake through Littleton and Dalton. For some years this remained the only highway through these towns. The growing settlements at North Littleton and near the Rankins brook rendered it necessary to unite them by constructing a road bordering the Connecticut from the G. W. Richardson place to the mills. A few years later this road was extended to Lyman line at the Foster place. At the third annual meeting in March, 1789, without formal action establishing highway districts, surveyors were elected for the upper, lower, and middle parts of the town,
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the point of division being at the junction of the roads at Richard- son's. In 1795 a new district was created by dividing the lower at the mills. The annual appropriation for roads during the seven years following the organization of the town was thirty pounds, to be paid in labor at four shillings per day. In 1795 the sum was increased to fifty pounds, and in 1800 it was eighty pounds. The number of districts had increased to eiglit, which were substantially the same districts, having the same numbers when the district system was abolished and the town system adopted in 1891.
The first school was kept by Robert Charlton at his cabin in the winter of 1787, and all his pupils were children of Capt. Thomas Miner. ; It was a private affair, maintained for a few weeks each winter, until the town provided for a school by voting that " sixteen bushels of wheat be raised for the use of schools next winter " at its annual meeting in 1791. The school estab- lished under this vote was kept at the same place and by the same teacher. At this meeting the town was divided into three school districts, the division being at "the parting of the roads at the Wheeler place, so called." I The increase in popu- lation caused the creation of new districts, and, at the close of the period covered by this chapter, there were in town five school districts, with an increasing demand for the establishment of others. The first governing board was chosen in 1793, and con- sisted of Silas Symonds, Nathan Applebee, and Robert Charlton. Their duties were similar to those subsequently exercised under the laws of the State by the Superintending and Prudential com- mittees. Nathan Applebee was but recently from Franconia, and had settled on the place 2 occupied by Orrin H. Streeter oul the meadows at South Littleton.
The time came when the residence of Mr. Charlton ceased to afford the accommodations required for the school. In November, 1794, a meeting of the inhabitants of " Littleton Lower District" was warned to meet at the house of Capt. Thomas Miner on the 24th inst. to take action in reference to providing a place for a school and hiring a teacher. The meeting " voted to build a school house between Mr. Miner's and Mr. Eastman's in some convenient place near the causeway," and it was " agreed that each of the inhabitants shall (?) pay or work their proportional part towards building a house finding glass, nails, &c." It was also " agreed to build another school house at the lower part of the district nigh Mr. Blake's Potash, to be built in the month of June." The
1 The G. W. Richardson place.
2 1898.
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The Closing Years of the Eighteenth Century.
meeting made provision for a teacher by passing the following vote " Agreed to give Robert Charlton eight bushels of wheat per month to keep school & to begin about the last of December and keep two months."
The location of the house provided for in the first vote was the site of the present house in old Number Three. Mr. Miner lived on the Curtis L. Albee farm, and Mr. Eastman on the Steers place. The house contemplated by the second vote was not built until after a division of the district in 1795. These schoolhouses, like all other buildings in the settlement, were built of logs, with huge fireplaces and rude benches of plank.
The sums raised for schools kept pace with the growth of the community. In 1795 fifty bushels of wheat were appropriated for that purpose. In 1796 the circulation of silver had increased in this section sufficiently to warrant the town in levying a tax to be paid in currency, and forty dollars was raised for the support of schools. In 1797 the sum for this purpose was fifty dollars, and in 1798 sixty ; in 1800 it reached the amount of one hundred dollars. Joseph Hatch, the progenitor of those of that name here, came from Thornton soon after James Rankin located in town, and one of his sons, Ansel, a young man of many accomplishments, taught the first school in the new district set off from that at the lower end. For several years Messrs. Charlton and Hatchi held a monopoly of pedagogy in town. At the close of the year 1800 there were four schoolhouses, built of logs, in Littleton, two at West Littleton, one at the north end, and one in what the present . generation knows as the Fitch neighborhood. From this distant point of view the provision made by the early settlers for the edu- cation of their cliildren would seem very inadequate. But when we recall their surroundings, the customs and demands of the period, the seeming disregard for the educational welfare of their children by the pioneers fades away. By a universal practice the limits' of a common school education were fixed at mastering the three R's, reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic. Every hearthstone was a schoolroom where the mother gathered her children and taught them these fundamentals, - a practice at first rendered necessary in all widely scattered settlements, and continued as a matter of custom as well as convenience long after the cause which first compelled it had ceased to exist.
The founders of our town were a God-fearing people endowed with the courage and blessed with the virtues of their Puritan ancestors. They believed that public worship was not only a privilege, but a duty which could not be neglected without hazard
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to the state as well as the individual. The Caswells, Miners, Eastmans, Rankins, and Pingrees were members of an organized church before coming to Littleton, and Rev. David Goodall had long been an active and successful pastor of a church in Vermont. While their numbers were few and their means insufficient to enable them to organize a church and engage a pastor, they were accustomed to meet each Sunday at the house of one of their number, usually at Capt. Thomas Miner's, for a service of prayer. When James Rankin joined the settlement, meetings were held at his house. Mrs. Pike of Waterford, a daughter of Captain Miner, frequently attended these services, and in her old age related to Dr. Moore her recollection concerning them. She states that Mr. Rankin was a good reader and gifted in prayer ; he generally led the service, often reading a sermon. He also officiated at funerals. Nathaniel Webster was a leader at these meetings. Sometimes all the inhabitants would be in attendance on such an occasion.
In 1790 the Rev. Mr. Atkinson, a young minister sent out by the Home Missionary Society at Portsmouth, was located here for six months. His services were of a character to lead the people to desire their continuance, and at the annual meeting in March, 1791, Capt. Nathan Caswell and John Wheeler were appointed a committee " to hire a minister," and a vote passed to hire preach- ing for two months. In 1792 James Rankin and Isaac Miner were constituted a committee "to hire preaching," and nine pounds raised to pay the minister. Nothing can be found in the records to throw light upon the action of this committee beyond the fact that in 1796 the town voted to pay James Rankin £1 2 s. 7 d. for going for the minister, Mr. Atkinson, and £1 13 s. 8 d. for going to Hanover. The meeting also voted " pay for the horse hire 7 days 1 s. 4 d." It was further voted to pay Mr. Rankin the remainder of his account, £3 5 s. 10 d. This seems to have been an old account, covering the period from 1791 to the date of the meeting. It is more than probable that in 1792 he went to Portsmouth, a seven days' journey, and secured the services of the Rev. Mr. Atkinson for a second time, and the trip to Hanover was for the purpose of engaging a minister. Whether he succeeded in his mission, and, if so, who answered his call, is not known.
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