USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > New Boston > History of New Boston, New Hampshire > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
This transaction occasioned great consternation among those who had settled within the limits of this Masonian grant, be- cause these men were in power, and it was seen that it would be hard to resist their claim. But these gentlemen took no unreasonable advantage of their position, but were governed by the most liberal principles. Accordingly, in 1751, after a com- mittee of the proprietors of New Boston had. expressed to the
67
purchasers a desire to compromise the matter with them, the following are the records of the Proprietors :-
PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
At a meeting of the Proprietors of the Lands purchased of John Tufton Mason, Esq., in New Hampshire, held at Portsmouth, on Monday, the tenth day of June. One Thousand Seven hundred and fifty-one.
Whereas the said Proprietors have been informed that there is a Tract of Land, within the Claim of said Proprietors, called New Boston, and claimed by a Number of Gentlemen under the Government of the Massachusetts Bay ; and whereas it is suggested that those claimers are disposed to come to an Accommodation and Agreement with the said Proprietors, on such Terms as may be agreeable to both Parties ;
Therefore. Voted that Joseph Blanchard, Esq., is hereby anthorized and fully impowered to agree and Compound all Claims and Demands, Differ- ences, Disputes, and Controversies, whatsoever, made, being and subsisting between the said Proprietors and the Claimers of said Tract of Land under the said Government, as fully and amply to all Intents and Purposes as said Proprietors themselves could, or might do personally, and in case he shall see cause to grant and Convey the said Land or any Part thereof to any others, on such terms as he shall judge best for the Interest of this Propriety.
Copy of Record Examined
By GEORGE JAFFREY, Propr Clerk.
The foregoing action of the Masonian Heirs was in response to the action of the Proprietors of New Boston, May 15, 1751, when it was
Voted, The Question be put whether this Propriety would choose a Com- mittee to make application to the Proprietors of Mason's claim to know upon what condition they will grant us their rights; and that John Hill, Robert Boyers. Esq., and James Halsey, the standing Committee, be empowered to settle with them on the best Terms they can, if they think proper, and they be desired to offer this vote to each Proprietor for their approbation.
This vote was approved, and the Committee held a confer- ence with Col. John Blanchard, which resulted in the following charter from the purchasers of Mason's claims to the Proprie- tors of New Boston, by which their former grant from the Mas- sachusetts Bay was confirmed, and no small part of what is now Francestown was added; and this extension of their limits westward was ever afterward designated as the " New Addition," and continued a part of New Boston until the incorporation of Francestown, June 8, 1772.
68
PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Pursuant to the power and authority granted and vested in me by the pro- prietors of land purchased of John Tufton Mason, Esq., in the Province of New Hampshire, by their vote, passed at their meeting held at Portsmouth, in said Province, the tenth day of June, 1752.
I do, by these presents, on the terms and conditions hereafter expressed, give and grant all the right, title, property, and possession of the proprietors aforesaid, unto Job Lewis, Henry Howel, John Steel, Thomas Bullfinch, Rob- ert Jenkins, John Spooner, Benjamin Bagnall, Samuel Tyley's heirs, James Townsend's heirs, Isaac Walker, Joseph Wright, Eleazer Boyd, Daniel Pecker, William Dudley's heirs, Robert Boyes, Thomas Smith, Thomas Cochran, Pat- rick Douglas, John Homans, James Day, James Caldwell, Gilbert Warner, Richard Checkley's heirs, James Wilson, Jonathan Clark, William Speak- man's heirs, Benjamin Clark's heirs, John Erwin, William White, John Hill, Esq., John Taylor, John McCallester, Edward Durant's heirs, William Bant, John Maverick, Rufus Green, James Halsey, Daniel Loring's heirs, Joseph Green, James Hunter, Thomas Wilson, of, in, and to that tract of land or township called New Boston, in the Province of New Hampshire aforesaid, of the contents of six miles broad and seven miles long, bounded thus: Begin- ning at a beech-tree the southeast corner, and from thence north by the needle, two degrees westward, six miles, or until it comes unto the northwest corner, formerly made under the Massachusetts grant, for the northeast corner of said tract, and from thence west by the needle two degrees to the southward, and from the first bounds mentioned, the southeast corner aforesaid, west by the ' needle two degrees southward, six miles, or until it meet with Salem Canada line (so called), and turning and running north by the needle two degrees westward, two miles, or until it come to the most northeasterly corner of Salem Canada township as formerly laid out, then turning and running west as aforesaid, two degrees southerly so far, and extending the north line of the premises likewise westward, until a line parallel with the east line will include the contents of seven miles long and six miles broad, as aforesaid. To have and to hold, to them, their heirs and assigns forever, excepting as aforesaid, on the following terms, conditions, and limitations (that is to say) that as the greatest part of the tract aforesaid has heretofore been divided into sixty- three shares, now, therefore, that there be reserved for the grantors, their heirs and assigns forever, out of the lands already divided, nine shares or sixty-third parts, as followeth, viz .: The home lots number four, number twenty-five, numbers thirty-three, nine, twenty-eight, five, twenty-nine, eighteen, and ten, with the several lots annexed to the same, as in the sched- ule hereafter; also so much of the common land, or undivided, to be laid out in that part of the said tract, near the great meadows, as shall be equal to one-half part of a share, reserved as aforesaid, which half share is appropri- ated to Joseph Blanchard, Jr., with the same proportion of the common land, each in that part formerly within the bounds called New Boston, exclusive and excepting five hundred acres hereby granted and appropriated to the grantees,
69
to be by them disposed of for encouragement for building and supporting mills in said township; also reserving unto the grantors, their heirs and as- signs, after the five hundred acres aforesaid is laid out and completed in the common, one-fourth part for quantity and quality of the lands by this grant added within the bounds of that called New Boston, as formerly laid out ; the said grantors' parts to be divided, lotted, and coupled together, and drawn for with the grantees, according to the number of shares as before reserved, so as for the grantors to have one full quarter-part as aforesaid; said work to be finished within twelve months from this date, at the charge of the grantees only. Also, that the grantors' right in three of the shares laid out, as afore- said, be and hereby is granted and appropropiated, free of all charge, one for the first settled minister, one for the ministry, and one for the school there forever, as they are set down in the schedule hereafter.
That the aforesaid reservations for the grantors, and as well for Joseph Blanchard, Jr., be free from all duties, charges, taxes, or expenses whatsoever, until improved by the owner or owners, or some holding under them.
That all the lots in said township be subject to have all necessary roads or highways laid through them as there shall be necessary occasion for, free from all charge of purchasing the same.
That the grantees, on their parts, make forty-five settlements in said town- ship, in the following manner, viz. : Each to have a house built of one room, at least of sixteen feet square, fitted and finished for comfortable dwelling in, and three acres cleared, inclosed, and fitted for mowing and tillage, on each of the forty-five shares, at or before the first day of August, 1754, and within one year afterwards, a family or some person inhabiting there on each settle- ment, and to continue residency there for three years then next, and within that term to fit four acres more each for mowing or tillage, as aforesaid.
That the grantees build a meeting-house there, in four years from this date.
That the grantees, at their own expense, make the settlement aforesaid, and within six months from this date ascertain the particular grantees whom they shall determine to make settlement and inhabit there, as aforesaid, and certify the same under their clerk's hand in the grantors' clerk's office ; and in case any of the grantees be delinquent, who shall be enjoined the settlement as aforesaid, on any part of duty enjoined by this grant, on such share hereafter ascertained, the whole share or right of such delinquent shall be and hereby is granted to such of the grantees who shall comply on their parts ; provided they fulfil such delinquent's duty in two years after each period next coming that such duty should have been done ; and on their neglect, then all such delinquent's right or shares to revert to the grantors, their heirs and assigns, free and clear from all future charges thereon.
That the grantees hold, under the conditions herein, the several lots of up- land and meadow already laid out in said township, as set forth in the sched- ule annexed, and the future divisions to be ascertained by and according to the Massachusetts grant to them or their vendors.
That one home lot (so called), viz., number sixty, be set and relinquished unto John and Jonathan Simpson's assignee, Joseph Wright ; always provided.
70
and on this condition only, that he build, clear, inclose, and settle a family on said lot, according to the periods and several articles of duty enjoined and specified for one of the forty-five rights aforesaid ; and this settlement to be over and above the said forty-five; and in case of failure or neglect of any part of the said duty, the said lot number sixty to revert to the grantees and grantors in common, to be apportioned with the other common lands ; also, provided the said Wright, or his assigns, pay the proportionable part of charge for that lot, in carrying forward the settlement.
That the grantees, or their assigns, at any public meeting called for that purpose by a majority of votes of the interest present, grant and assess such further sum or sums of money as they shall think necessary for completing and carrying forward the settlement aforesaid, from time to time, and all other necessary charges, until the same shall be incorporated. And any of the grantees who shall refuse and neglect making payment of their respective sums and taxes for the space of three months next after such tax or assess- ment shall be granted and made, that then so much of said delinquent's right, respectively, shall and may be sold, as will pay the tax or taxes, and all charges arising thereon, by a committee to be appointed by the grantees for that purpose.
That all white pine trees fit for masting His Majesty's royal navy, growing on said tract of land, be and hereby are granted to His Majesty, his heirs and successors, forever ; and, as a further condition of this grant, that the grantees herein mentioned, within three months from the date hereof, signify their consent and acceptance, as well as their fulfilment and conformity to the whole of the conditions herein specified, by countersigning these premises with their hands and seals, and, on failure thereof, to receive no benefit by the aforewritten grant; always provided there be no Indian war within any of the terms and limitations aforesaid, for doing the duty conditioned in this grant; and in case that should happen, the same time to be allowed for the respective duties, matters, and things as aforesaid, after such impediment shall be removed.
To all which premises, Joseph Blanchard, agent for and in behalf of the said grantors, on the one part, and the grantees on the other part, have here- unto interchangeably set their hands and seals, this twenty-fourth day of December, 1752.
Signed and sealed. JOSEPH BLANCHARD, in behalf of grantors, and grantees.
This charter was accompanied by a " schedule of the Lotts as they now stand granted ; the Home lotts were laid out for fifty acres of the best Land and qualified for poor Land with a larger Quantity ; the second Division contained two lotts for each share of one hundred and fifty-three acres each - as re- turned by Robert Boyes, Esq., authorized by the grantees for that purpose."
71
The addition to the old limits of New Boston began at the northwest corner of present limits, and ran parallel with the northern line, west about two miles and a half, thence nearly south, parallel with the west line of present limits about three miles and a half, and thence by Lyndeborough, to the west line of present limits, near Mr. William Parker's farm, making a parallelogram two and a half miles from cast to west, and three and a half miles from north to south. In the southwest corner of this tract was located a farm for the grantors, con- taining four hundred acres ; in the southeast corner was another lot laid out for the grantors, " of four hundred and thirty acres, with allowance for what part of the Haunted Pond it takes in;" and in the centre Col. Joseph Blanchard's farm was located, containing three hundred acres. The remaining portion was divided into fifty-one lots. This division was made in "1753, by order of Robert Boyes, Esq., Comitee, for Matthew Patten, Serveyor." The dimensions as given above may seem too large for the "New Addition," but they correspond to the plan re- ferred to above.
WARREN R. COCHRANE.
Mr. Cochrane is the son of Hon. Robert B. Cochrane, born August 25, 1835. He fitted for college chiefly at Francestown, under Sylvanus Hayward, now pastor of the Congregational Church in Dunbarton ; and graduated from Dartmouth in the class of 1859. Mr. Cochrane was appointed tutor in Dart- mouth College in 1861, and subsequently elected for another year, but was compelled to relinquish his relation to the col- lege on account of ill health, which at present, requires free- dom from severe mental application. His many friends sadly deplore his physical indisposition to enter some field of Chris- tian activity, for which he is so well fitted, both by discipline of intellect and grace of heart.
Mr. Cochrane consented, with great reluctance, to deliver a poem on the occasion of the Centennial ; but the plaudits of the assembly assured him of their high appreciation of it, and the reader will find no less pleasure in its perusal.
10
POEM.
WHO does not feel as year by year departs, As one by one our loved companions fall, That stronger sympathies should bind our hearts, And larger fields our memories recall ?
Who has not felt that age to age should bear Its friendly gifts, its pledges of regard, Wrought in the forms of eloquence and prayer, Traced in the lyrics of the humble bard ?
Who has not felt that the historic pen Had grown too partial to the suns of fame, As though kings could be something more than men ; And humble souls be left without a name ?
Have not the humblest minds, the wisest sages, A like ambition to be linked at last With all of fame that lights the future ages, And all of glory that adorns the past ?
Do we not come to-day with some such feeling, Such hope of blessing, and of being blessed, Here at the altar-place together kneeling, The gray old century our only guest ?
The war-horse is worn when the battle is won, The limbs are weak when the race is run ; And every power of arm or mind By man directed or man designed Is wasted in a single day, - Begins, develops, and dies away,
76
As philosophical people say. Then can it be strange that a muse like mine, A stranger to the original time, Unwinged by genius, unfired by wine, And uninvoked in a single line, Somewhat weary and weak appears In a backward flight of a hundred years ? Can it be thought that the jaded thing Would then be able to charm or sing Without a draft from the nectared spring, - Some needed rest from a flight so far, Where the homes of its lost companions are ; In the crumbling halls of the dreamy past Where the joyous shout, or the trumpet-blast, Where the songs of peace or the cannon's roar Are heard no more - are heard no more ?
Then let us pause - since pause we will - In the rough old church on the top of the hill, And standing where our fathers trod, Offer, like them, our prayer to God, - Our praise to God that we, to-day, Have a house of prayer and a heart to pray, - Our praise, that He who ever hears Has blest our fathers' prayers and tears Through the changing scenes of a hundred years ! Next let us honor them who came, To feed devotion's holy flame, To hear God's voice, and learn his will, In the rough old church on the top of the hill. Hard by the spot where they sung and prayed, One by one have their graves been made, And their names like those of every age, Are fading away on memory's page. But their deeds are written in larger lines, In the towering elms, and the mossy shrines ; In the fruitful fields and the " meadows gay," On the hills where the flocks of their children stray, In the laws they established and we obey ;
77
And the sires are seen in the sons to-day ! "Tis a heritage rich to be owned as heirs Of sires like them and lives like theirs ; And a sacred duty here to-day, - And year by year till we pass away, - To name, to love, to honor those Whose prayers in God's first temples rose ; Whose strength these grassy slopes have cleared, Whose hands these ancient piles have reared, Whose places are remembered still In the rough old church on the top of the hill.
The men we praise were godly men, Who lived in Christian honor then, With humble heart and poor array, Walking the strait and narrow way, Content if God his grace bestowed, And hope illumed the stormy road. No shallow pride inspired their breast, No summer dream, no earthly rest ; But, earnest, thoughtful, much in prayer, They toiled as faith directed where. Faith was to them a living power,
No tinsel robes to them were known ; They plucked the fruit, and not the flower, They lived for heaven - and heaven alone. Each Sabbath morn the preacher's call, Was heard and answered by them all, With simple garb, and manners grave, As if each had a soul to save. And oh ! if we could come like them, - With none to scoff, evade, condemn, - All eager to the house of prayer, All earnest in devotion there, How quickly would the prospect stir, Each dull and thoughtless worshipper ! How gladly would we linger still, In the rough old church on the top of the hill ! And a quaint and a queer old church was that,
78
Where the gray-haired sires of our fathers sat ; With its framework strong, and its fashion old, It was cushionless, carpetless, clean and cold ; While carelessly hung the huge sounding-board, That, when the preacher whispered, roared ; And when he roared, it thundered so, It shook the very walls below ! Assisted thus, he could not lose, His hearers in those huge old pews, In which a regiment might snoose, Or Roman holiday be kept, When Rome was all the world, - except The ashes that in Sparta slept.
The men we praise were men of nerve ; They would not bend, or yield, or swerve From duty's narrow path to gain The applauses of the weak and vain. Theirs was a higher, larger plan, - To honor God, to ennoble man ; And mark their lives, whoever would, This double aim was understood. They were a bold and fearless race ; They bearded danger to the face, Thirst, hunger, cold, and beasts of prey, And savage men more fierce than they, And war's grim garments rolled in blood, The fire, the famine, and the flood : Still to their God and country true, They bore the fiery banner through. In every rise and every fall, They owned alike the great and small, Cared for their own and then for all. First to the few, to whom we owe Our highest duty here below, Then to the world was freely given, But first and last and all to Heaven. And so in fortune's smile or frown, In rural haunt or crowded town,
79
Whate'er we think or feel or do, Still is it best, and still 'tis true, Our noblest work, where'er we roam, Begins, like charity, at home. 'Tis true that theirs were humble lives, Secluded homes and godly wives ; Yet humblest, happiest, sterling pleasure Is not gay and gilded treasure ; "T'is a spirit deep and holy, Dwelling with the meek and lowly ; 'Tis a calm and quiet feeling, Duty-bought, and love revealing ; "Tis a blessed flame that glows In hearts like theirs and homes like those Where wants are few, where creeds embrace The Bible and the altar place ; And human hearts have never found Serener peace or holier ground. Nor fail we ever to repeat, Religion and retirement sweet, In loving life-long league allied, - With her whom both have sanctified, Make all of home that home endears, And all of earthly hope that cheers, Or human life except its tears.
The gravelled walk all shaded o'er, The chiselled step, the gilded door, The stately hall, the cushioned chair, And flowers nursed in foreign air, And gay and festive music there, Where fortune smiles, and fashion brings Her host of unremembered things, From Afric's sand, or ocean's foam - This is not home, this is not home ! But the willing hand and the ready art, A smile when we meet and a tear when we part, From an angel's eye, but a woman's heart, - That soul which stands in human form
80
'Mid the chills of life's winter serene and warm, Like an island of peace in an ocean of storm, Checring the way when our prospects die, When the lightnings flash in the darkened sky, Or peacefully, quietly, earnest to share In the daily toil and the evening prayer ; - Kindness and charity, cheerful and free As the soul of a Christian should ever be ; Haste to forgive, and a heart to endure The failings which tenderness cannot cure, Or the fault of a friend, though neglected and poor ; - Joy in receiving what mercy bestowed, Patience in bearing the heaviest load, Though dark be the prospect, though thorny the road,
Though faded each dream that a transport gave, ' When hope wreathed her flowers round our path to the grave - This, - in luxury's gilded dome,
Or the poor man's cottage - this is home !
Such homes as this were dotted o'er These stately hills of yellow prime ; And added to each humble store Was the open heart and the open door, In the days of the olden time. I'm afraid we cling to each little dime Of the much which God is giving us now, With a fiercer grasp, though its worth be small, Than they who opened the way to it all ; - And I long, like the traveller of wintry brow After sixty years, as he comes to climb These hills where his feet were wont to tread With the hopes that are blighted, the friends that are dead, For the cordial welcome that met him of yore, For the open heart and the open door Of the days of the olden time !
The men we praise were men of toil ; They chose, they cleared, they tilled the soil ; And on cach spot, thus tilled and cleared,
81
A rough, rude, humble cot was reared, Nestling the towering hills between, Hid under leafy folds of green, Near nature's heart at rest, as though The hand parental left it so, As if in slumber soft and low. From these our stately homes have grown, Homes that we boast to call our own - Fields, orchards, houses, - all that please The lovers of taste, or the lovers of case. Labor then was lord in the land ; The sun-burned brow and the toil-worn hand Were the freeman's boast and the lover's pride : The poor man's comfort and hope and guide Were the strength that was full, and the arm that was tried.
And even the women, though women of wealth, For the sake of beauty and vigor and health, For the sake of those who in sadness or mirth
Bear the dearest names that are spoken on earth, - By choice or necessity - no matter which - Taking the distaff, or taking the stitch, Spinning all day by the open door, Weaving the very clothes they wore,
Riding the horse through the field of corn In the jocund hours of the early morn, Driving at twilight the waiting cows, With the arms full loaded with hemlock boughs To be traced in a broom ere the coming day From its eastern chambers should dance away ; Were always working at useful things, As though time had value, as well as wings ; Bright, vigorous, fair, and strong, It is not strange that their lives were long. But oh! how changed is the modern taste ! - To work in the field is to be disgraced ; - Distaff, spinning-wheel, and loom, Sweeping with a hemlock broom, - Or any at all, - is an awful doom !
11
1
82
Healthy life in the open air, Roaming free as the breezes there, Health-stamped lips by nature minted, Tinted cheeks - by nature tinted - Suit not ladies' taste, they say, - Will not serve the world to-day ; Paint supplies an easier way ! Fashion now bears absolute sway ; First ambition, hope and dream Now is not to be, but seem ; Dress becomes the chiefest art, Fills the head and fills the heart ; - At home, at church, in every station, 'Tis the theme of conversation. Thus many a modern belle, I know, Lives for nothing at all but show, Twenty, thirty years, or so, Half-alive in heated rooms, Carbon acids and perfumes ; Dragging life's journey wearily through, Time hangs heavy on idle hands, - Always longing for something new ; Being happy with nothing to do Is "out of the ring," as the matter stands ;
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.