History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 176

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1520

USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 176
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 176

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The line of boundary, as defined by the charter, was a straight northwest course, or, more accurately, north, 47º west, and from the southwest corner of Barnstead till the. Merrimack waters were reached, about twelve aud three-eighths miles, which terminal point was on the shore of the bay, a little south of the outlet of Great Brook and one and a half miles southwest of Burley's bridge, at East Tilton. The other line ran six miles on the Barnstead line, or, more accurately, six miles and one hundred and twenty-two rods, passing one mile, ninety-five rods beyond Barnstead northeast corner, as now estab- lished. This course was east, 43º north (said to be northeast), and thence the line was to run northwest (north, 47º west) two miles (two miles, sixty-five rods), and thence north (north, 1° west) seven miles to the lake,-i.e., seven miles, forty-eight rods. Thence the shore of the lake and the river, or series of bays, was to be the terminal margin, not including the islands off shore in the whole course. This tract contained about eighty-five thousand acres of land, about one- third of which constitutes the original town of Gil- ford as set off.

At the expiration of the three years, in 1730, the settlement of the seventy families had not been ef- fected, and the proprietors petitioned for extension of time. It is not alleged that the condition of out- breaking Indian wars formed the basis of this neglect and needed prolongation of time; but the country was far from being tranquil during this period. The charter, still unpaid for, was held by the clerk of the Council; yet they made provision for its redemption, and for laying out the plant and making it accessible by a chosen and cut or cleared-out pathway or road ; but this work was delayed another. year.

The principal names connected with the survey and much of the early doings of the proprietors were those of Edward Gilman, who seems to be the ac- cepted surveyor, and Jethro Parsons and Oliver Smith. These, with five other men as assistants, be- gan the bounding of the town June 14, 1731, and simply ran the easterly line, as defined by the words of the charter. This took twelve days, as the line was about sixteen miles long, and lay over the moun- tains. Beginning at a beech-tree, they ran six miles to a birch, then two miles to another beech, and finally reached a hemlock at the pond. With these four trees, only one in Gilford, the domain is located. One hundred and fifty years might not have wrought the decay of the beech and the hemlock (perhaps the birch should have gone); but tradition identifies them not, nor are seen the initials inscribed on them.

The next year a plan of the town and the laying out of lots were ordered, and these lots were to equal or exceed the number of proprietors. Five ranges of home lots were laid out in tiers, resting on the south- west base line, containing about forty acres each, and extending to the base of the mountains and nearly to the extent of the present town of Gilmanton. These

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lots were drawn by the proprietors for actual settling or for disposition to whomsoever they could induce to take up the land and improve it for themselves.

October 18, 1732, these lots were drawn and each one began to take measures to have the conditions of the charter carried out.

In 1733 it was decided to lay out a second division of lots, and to build block-houses at the extreme southeast part, and also at the extreme northwest, or Aquadocton, which is said to be " fishing-grounds," and also to examine the soil there, and see if it be good and fit for a settlement.

An opinion had already obtained that this part of the grant was more valuable and more desirable for a settlement than the lots already laid out. This proposition was not immediately carried out, but was renewed the three following years with variations in the committee to accomplish it.

In 1736 the committee performed their assigned work, and in eleven days from the 14th of June, cleared a pathway from Epsom to Gilmanton and built two block-houses, one at the southeast corner of the first division of lots, and the other at the Weirs. These were the. first houses built on the grant. As they were simultaneously constructed, the one in the present Gilmanton and the other in Gil- ford, the two towns may be said to be of equal age. The former was eighteen feet square and the latter fourteen feet; and these, with the other and larger one at the eastern part of the lake, constituted a tri- angulation of the region for fortification and protec- tion, and for aggression. The land on the lake-shore and river border was pronounced to be of good quality and suitable for settlement ; and, therefore, its laying out was recommended and urged by the committee and demanded by others. The lay and quality of the land inclined the judgment of the committee, that these lots should face the river, or west ; and as a detached section, should be erected in ranges extending from Aquadocton towards the Can- terbury line, and not connecting with or reaching the first division.

dred and ninety-two proprietors meant a little fortune in those days, to a mere settler, or husbandman. It would seem that these inducements should have been sufficient. But they did not secure acceptance; and the next year resort had to be made to the General Court to extend the time of settlement, and for authority to collect taxes of the proprietors. Already nearly two hundred pounds had been expended in surveying, building block-houses and cutting path- ways, and several proprietors were in default of pay- ment, and their shares had to be sold to satisfy the assessments made.

In 1738 a committee, increased to the number of twelve, was constituted to lay out these lots, which they did in June, by the assistance of twenty other hired men, in ten days from the 20th of the month. The first four days were employed in clearing a way from White Hall, or the first block-house, to the Merrimack River, presumably at Aquadocton. The lay or route of this pathway was sketched, but with some indefiniteness ; and hence different opinions as to its exact location may be entertained. As the first cleared pathway, or road, in the town, its position is of importance. The surveyors' returns say that it lay " from White Hall to Loon Pond, one mile and a half; thence to Block-House Pond, a mile and a half; thence to Third Camp Meadow, four miles ; thence N. W. by N., to Skeiler's Meadow, three miles; and on the same course, five miles, to the Pond." With the want of expressed direction in the first three courses, or stages of advance, we are to make special use of the definiteness of direction and distances mentioned in the last two stages. Reversing the course of northwest by north, and laying off five miles, the meadow land in the valley of the Miles River will be reached, near the estate of the late David Brown, Esq., or that near John Foster's and Jona- than Morrill's, above the flowage. Then, laying off three miles in the same direction (nearly), the pond at the summit or the head-waters of the Suncook will be reached (or, from Foster's and Morrill's meadow, the margin of Young's Pond). Loon Pond is easily identified, and there remains only Block-House Pond for identification. A radius of four miles from Third Camp Meadow, considered as at the head-waters of the Suncook, would very nearly reach the Reservoir Pond, or the small pond a little to the east of it, and at the head of Mill Brook ; or, measured from Young's, would reach Pickerel Pond. Either of these three ponds may have been referred to as Block-House Pond. The only other plausible identification of points and direction of the route is, that Pickerel Pond, near Parsonage Hill, represents Block House Pond; and the vicinity of Young's Pond, the Third Camp Meadow; and the upper Gunstock Valley, south of Gilford village, to Esquire Weeks' estate, that of Skeiler's Meadow; and that thence the way crossed Meeting-House Hill to the Weirs; and this, though

A boom was now made for the settlement of the north part of the town, and two important privileges were offered, viz. : First, the choice of the lots to be laid out in the second division should not be in the arbitrary manner of drawing them by lot, but the proprietors, or settlers, could choose their shares together and at either end of the division, and so avoid being too scattered and exposed. Second, a bonus of forty shillings from each proprietor was offered to the first twenty or more settlers, who would within five years commence settlement, and would clear and break up two acres of land. This was an extension of time, two years, and a redne- tion of the quota of land to be cleared by one acre, as compared with the proposals made for settling in the first division ; and, besides, the premium was not inconsiderable, as two pounds from each of one hun- | answering well as to distances, does not agree as to

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HISTORY OF BELKNAP COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

the directions mentioned in the returns. As the first division of lots had already been laid out, it would be natural to follow them as far as they extended, and so avail themselves of the advantage of the surveyor's marks and partial clearing of pathways; and this would be in the direction of Young's Pond, and the pond at the summit, or head-waters, from which point Aquadocton, or its immediate vicinity, could be sighted, and its bearing taken; and hence at this stage first mention is made of direction ; and the course thence is made as direct as possible.

With this way cleared, the communication between the first and second divisions was made easy ; and these thirty-two men now divide themselves and their work iuto four parts. Two parties lay out the lots in five ranges,-in all, numbering one hundred and seventy-seven lots.

For encouragement to settle on these, not only might the settlers have the choice of their lots together, but they should receive forty shillings annu- ally from each proprietor,-a generous offer indeed.

The third house was built by one section of this party "for their shelter," but its site was not described, nor does tradition locate it.

Another section of the party spent six days in " looking out a convenient place for a way to Canter- bury." This second way in the territory was distinct from the one from Epsom, via White Hall, and ran parallel with the ranges, along the margin of the river at first, and then south through the upper part of the town, or Upper Parish.

When it seemed so assured that the town would be speedily settled, and the union of New Hampshire and Massachusetts under one civil administration had kept somewhat in abeyance the conflicting claims to lands on the margin of the river, so that without hes- itation, question or protest, the second division of lots was laid out and offered to settlers, being nevertheless all comprehended in that part of the domain claimed by Massachusetts, and the settlement of the boundary in 1741 had given advantage and impulse to the pro- jects and interests of the proprietors, there seemed un- accountably a stay in proceedings, as neither the town, or parts of the town, realized progress.

Then the unsettled state of affairs in Europe cul- minated in the declaration of war between England and France, and brought on the dark night of conflict in the American colonies, paralyzing all schemes. So that from 1738 to 1748 all things remained stationary, or were retrograding. Two cleared ways and three houses were all of Gilford and Gilmanton. On the cessation of hostilities, in 1749, there were attempts madeto revive the interests of the scheme, and, as pre- paratory to it, a committee, with twenty men, by order of the proprietors, spent eleven long summer days in renewing the metes aud bounds and repairing the houses and adding one new house at Third Camp Meadow (the claim to which is not determined either in favor of Gilford or Gilmanton, as its site is not set-

tled) and renewing the way cut ten years before, which by disuse, had become almost untraceable and useless.

But the time of peace was too short to admit of much progress, and a second war deferred for another decade all advancement ; and this, despite new and generous offers held out to pioneers. To at most forty settlers, who, within one year, should build houses and bring under cultivation three acres of land yearly, there was proffered a premium of fifty acres of land additional from the undivided land, and this to be doubled at the end of six years, as an additional bonus,

The only immediate effect of this proposed bounty was some felling of trees in 1750 by parties from Pena- cook, on land chosen and intended for a homestead, but which was soon quit by reason of the renewal of hostile demonstrations. Indeed, so low did the enter- prise run, that twenty-one shares were to be sold to pay arrearages of unpaid taxes. The sale of Mason's claim to twelve men of Portsmouth further complica- ted and embarrassed matters pertaining to the settle- ment of the town.

To overcome this effectual obstacle, the uncertainty of valid title, a way must be devised. A compromise was made whereby these purchasers, called the heirs of Mason, quit-claimed the remainder of the territory for eighteen shares in equality with the original pro- prietors; these shares to be reserved in guaranty to them and exempted from taxation till occupied. With this ob- stacle removed, a new bonus is offered of one hundred pounds old tenor, in eight quarterly instalments, and two forty-acre lots of land, to the first twenty settlers, and, when there should be ten families, to support a minis- ter and also to build a saw-mill. It would seem that such liberal conditions should have secured a rush for the prize. But dangers and war are more powerful than all gain.

The contract with the Masonian heirs involved or required the survey and laying out of their eighteen shares and the making of a plan of the town, which was done in 1752 by one Nathan Sanborn, under the direction of a committee whose chairman was Oliver Smith. This was the third division, or third laying out of lots, and was made, as the contract specified, from the extreme eastern side of the grant. They were laid off in two ranges running from the lake-shore on the north, and extending to the margin of Young's and Lougee's Ponds, and quite to the north-eastern limits of the first division of forty-acre lots. These lots were to be equal in quantity and quality to the shares of the original proprietors, and they varied in size from two hundred to four hundred acres.

Thus, having the two vexed questions settled,-viz., that of title and that of jurisdiction,-the way seemed prepared to easily carry out the plans for improvement of the grant. But there remained still one, and an abiding, hindrance,-that of exposure to Indian cru- elties and attacks. The block-houses and fort did not prove sufficient for defense. The borders of the lake were no ordinary or insignificant locality. The drama

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GILFORD.

of Indian conflicts and struggles was conspicuously laid on this battle-ground and rendezvons.

And another and extremely severe conflict was at hand ; or rather the former one, supposed to have ended in 1748, broke out anew in 1754, and ended not till the most stubborn of these foes (the St. Francis tribe) was broken, in the year 1759, and peace was se- cnred.

Indeed, the fear and reluctance of men to throw themselves too far from a base, into the unoccupied and exposed places, was not relieved till the various colo- nies began to combine and make common cause. The action of the congress of commissioners and their declaration in 1754, and the consequent successful conduct of affairs in the five following years, did much to assure men who would undertake enterprises in the new parts. But the second French War employed and exhausted all the reserve forces of the country, and no one turned his thoughts toward the development of his interests in unsettled lands till after 1760. Although, to any sagacious eye the northern part of Gilmanton had the most promising future, and, with its mighty motive-power in the three water-falls at the Weirs and Lower Weirs (Lake village) and Winne- squam (Laconia), was destined to outstrip the other sections, yet the settlement came up, and that slowly, from Epsom, through the cleared way, to the southeast part of the grant. Here the appearance of a settle- ment was effected in the last days of 1761. But, in order to effect this, increasingly generous offers had to be made.

The fourth laying out of lands was made of that lying contiguous to the first division of forty-acre lots, and was disposed into six ranges, and two ranges of gores, these equal in number on each side of the first division ; and these, of one hundred acres each, (though varying somewhat), were offered in pairs to go with each home lot to the first forty settlers. A grist-mill and a saw-mill were also promised to he erected by the proprietors for the settlers as soon as there were ten families.

A great inconvenience and impediment to progress at this time was the want of proper roads. The one " cut " and twice afterwards " cleared," from Epsom to the Weirs, twenty-six miles in extent, and also others, were not much more than mere foot-paths or trails, capable, however, of use to riders on horseback, which mode of travel and transportation was then most common (even the iron-work of the first saw-mill and grist-mill being brought into town in this manner). A road for wheels was first partially made to the border- line of the town in 1750, but was impassable for ox- teams in 1762. The town had to make their road through the unsettled portions of the town next to it, in order to find access or approaches to its own do- main.

Water communication in places bordering on the lake and river in a measure supplied this defect, and travel in this way was there common. The first im-

provement of land was not in the northern or second division. The two families that came in 1761, the eight that were added in 1762, and even the total of forty-five found there in 1767, comprising two hundred and fifty individuals, all took their choice of lots in the lower part of the grant, though some of them sub- seqnently moved into the upper section, or Upper Par -. ish. It was not till 1777 and 1778 that families made permanent location in the northern part. Contrary to reasonable expectation, and strange to say, one hun- dred and fifty-five years elapsed between the settle- ment of Dover and that of Gilford, though only less than forty miles lay between their boundaries, and a natural roadway extended directly from one to the other, via the lake-shore, and, moreover, though pe- culiar advantages offered indncements to expansion in this very direction. So, also, upwards of sixteen years has marked the progress of only ten miles in occupation northward from White Hall.

The laying out of the first parish, in 1761, in the sontheast corner of the town, six miles by six and a half, almost identical, in position and extent, to the present town of Gilmanton, and the providing for preaching there, and the building of a saw-mill and grist-mill, respectively, in this and the following year, all hy the proprietors for the benefit of the settlers, seemed to act nnfavorably to the wider dispersion of the inhabitants, and to the development of the upper and better lands, and the using of its natural re- sources. This effected concentration of privileges and interests there, formed the germ of a distinct munici- pality, and gave rise to a counter and competing cen- tralization, which resulted, after fifty years of munici- pal unity, in the dismemberment and separate civil existence of Gilford, and, in theend, of Belmont. The special adaptation of the upper part of the territory to agricultural purposes, and of its great motive- power in the immense volume of water furnished hy the lake to manufacturing, as contrasted with the in- significant streams on which the first proprietors' mills were placed, only to be shifted or to go to de- cay, evidently pointed to future separation and growth. Men of keen foresight plainly saw this to be inevitable and wisely acted npon the evidence; and, first of all, after Samuel Jewett, two men, Cap- tain S. F. Gilman and James Ames, in 1778, chose their lots here and pitched.

The way to this step was prepared, in a large meas- ure, by the building of the Province road, eight years before. To facilitate the settling of new towns to be granted, and those already granted, but not im- proved (for many waited long for inhabitants), the General Court laid this road in 1770, to extend from Portsmouth to Canada; and its lay was diagonally across Gilmanton, from the First Division and settled portion to the narrows in the river as it enters Win- nesquam, just below the Falls, in Gilford, at later times called Meredith Bridge.

The General Court imposed on the towns the

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HISTORY OF BELKNAP COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

building of the road through their domain. The in- habitants of Gilmanton were opposed to the extension of the road into the upper part of their territory, and officially refused to construct it. It cut the lots diagonally and much to their damage, while the lay- ing out of the town provided for a regular system of roads and made the lots rectangular. The expense was considered excessive and burdensome, while they were struggling to provide for other things, as schools and churches and the necessary roads to reach their in- dividual lands and residences. It was also unfavor- able to concentration and prosperity in the neighbor- hood already formed, to induce the forming of distant and rival neighborhoods ; so that the project was not viewed with favor. But the General Court ordered the road to be built by contractors, and the cost, three hundred and thirty-one pounds, was assessed on the town. Thus a passable highway was opened, in 1770, into Gilford, and, very wisely, to the part where the power was. This assured a settlement there and growth.

About the same time Samuel Jewett settled above the Falls, at the terminus of the Province road. It is claimed this was in 1777.

The first two to locate afterwards were farmers, and, with good judgment, made their choice in the vicin- ity of the Intervale, the one at the southeast and the other at the southwest angle of that rich tract of al- luvial land.

James Ames settled near the house built and occu- pied by Ebenezer Smith, Esq., and Captain S. F. Gil- man at the head of the spur of the valley or meadow land, near the heads of Black Brook and the Meadow Brook.

About this time Levi Lovit made a temporary resi- dence near the outlet of the Lily Pond, and opposite the house afterwards and lately occupied by Increase W. Davis.

Abraham Folsom began improvements at the Lower Weirs, and though his residence was in that part which, till recently, belonged to Meredith, and, later, Laconia, yet his enterprise was for the interests of Gilford, and his mill (grist-mill) was the one ne- cessary accommodation of the first settlers.

Daniel Stevens located on the Gilford side of the river, and his house, still standing, was for many years the only house at that place on the Gilford side.

Soon after these came Malachi Davis, Samuel Blaisdell and Lowell Sanborn, the first two of whom settled near the residence of Captain Gilman, and the last of whom at the extreme end of the range, on the lake-shore.

Esquire Benjamin Weeks, who came into the lower part of the town in 1768, led a party into the upper section and located at the western base of Mount Ma- jor, in 1787, where there afterwards dwelt a large community of that name. He was a leading man and large land-holder, and successful in business.

The population of the town increased rapidly after the first few years. There are no returns extant that show the number of actual residents within the limits of that portion of Gilmanton which was set off to constitute the town of Gilford at the time of such de- tachment living there. But by the census of 1810 we find that the whole town then contained 4338 inhabitants ; and by the census returns of 1820 it had then 3752 re- maining in the old town, and Gilford had 1816 ; so that it is probable that about 1500 inhabitants were set off to form the new town. The little band of 250 in 1767, of 775 in 1775, or of four at the beginning of 1762, had a remarkable growth. And the increase in the . second division was not less rapid than that of the first, or of the whole, which numbered only 775 in 1775, two years before the first families entered the upper part and actually made a beginning of settle- ment there. The census of 1790 gives a population of 2613, and that of 1800 makes it 3752. As above . stated, in 1810 it was 4338, and probably in 1812 the aggregate was not less than 5000.

The list of tax-payers of Gilford in 1813, the first one made after the incorporation, contained 294 names, including a few non-residents. The assess- ment of that year was for $1207.08, comprising State tax, $182.68; county tax, $67.35; and school tax, $492.08; and town tax, $465.73.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 176

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1520

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1520