USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Newfields > History of Newfields, New Hampshire, 1638-1911 > Part 14
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205. Winthrop Hilton, Jr., son of Ichabod, was born October 26, 1770, and married (1) Elizabeth Folsom, daughter of Colonel
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SOME OF THE EARLIEST SETTLERS.
John, and granddaughter of Jeremy, who was born June 23, 1769, and died March 8, 1800, and (2) May 22, 1800, Theodate, daughter of Francis Jenness, who was born February 11, 1780, and died December 16, 1866. He was active in parish affairs, 1797, 1799, 1810 and 1817; assessor, 1810 and 1816; selectman, 1811 and 1813-14; tithing-man, 1815; warden, 1817; and died October 15, 1817.
206. Rev. Samuel Tomb was born in Wallkill, N. Y., January 1, 1776, and married March 1, 1793, Mehitable Searle, daughter of Dea. Jeremiah and Mary Thurston of Georgetown, Mass. He was for a time a student in Columbia College, but did not graduate; studied theology with Rev. Dr. John Mason of New York City; received a call from Newmarket church July 28, and was ordained colleague pastor, October 22, 1794, with Rev. Nathaniel Ewer. The relation of the two pastors was not har- monious and cordial, and a mutual council, April 27, 1797, fail- ing to reconcile them, Mr. Tomb was dismissed by vote of the parish, July 10, 1797. He was afterwards installed over the Second Church, Newbury, Mass., November 28, 1798, continuing about ten years; then was pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Salem, N. Y., for more than 20 years. He then returned to his native place where his stormy but efficient ministry closed, and he died March 28, 1832. Among his printed discourses were an oration on the death of Washington, pronounced February 22, 1800, and a sermon delivered at the annual fast, April 7, 1803. "His mind was clear, vigorous and comprehensive, and while ex- pounding the great doctrines and principles of Christianity, in which his whole heart and soul was engaged, he gave utter- ance to thoughts that were eloquent and impressive."
207. Robert Mitchell was mustered with Capt. Joseph Par- son's company November 22, 1775; soldier, 1777-80; and bid off pew No. 41 in the new meeting house October 24, 1791.
Chapter X.
INDIAN WARS.
On November 21, 1632, a letter from Capt. Walter Neal to the governor of Massachusetts gave the information that Dixy Bull and fifteen other Englishmen had turned pirates and taken sev- eral boats and rifled Pemaquid. Later on December 5, Captain Neal and Mr. Hilton by letters certified "that they had sent out all the forces they could make against the pirates, viz. four pumaces and shallops and about forty men who coming to Pemaquid were there wind-bound three weeks." Bull was finally executed in England.
In 1641 Richard Bullgar was commissioned lieutenant, and Thomas Wardell sergeant of the "band of souldiers at Exeter, to be installed and confirmed by the freemen the next training day."
On October 18, 1669, the General Court in session at Boston, understanding there were about 60 soldiers in Exeter with no "common officer" over them, appointed John Gilman a lieuten- ant to take command and "exercise the Company as the Law re- quires."
King Philip's War, 1675-78. King Philip's War was the first serious trouble New Hampshire had with the Indians. The Pascataqua planters paid the Indians a valuable compensation and fair equivalent, in coats, cloths, kettles, hatchets and kinos, for untrodden forests and untilled lands, while the aborigines retained unmolested possession of all occupied planting, hunting, fowling and fishing grounds. Both dwelt side by side in neigh- borly good will for more than half a century. Passaconway, the statesman-sagamore of all the Merrimac tribes, lived a Chris- tian life, and died in the faith of the true God. The Rev. Wil- liam Hubbard bears this testimony: "The Indians always car- ried it fair, and held good correspondence with the English until the news came of Philip's rebellion, and rising against the in- habitants of Plimouth colony in the end of June, 1675."
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INDIAN WARS.
The Wampanoag sachem, like Sassacus of the Pequots 40 years before, was ambitious to exterminate the English, and was able to engage most of the New England tribes in his enterprise. Thousands of praying Indians remained neutral, the Penacooks still continued friendly, the Squamscots had emigrated about 1672 to the Hudson; but the Ossipees, the Pequakets and the Tarateens of Maine ardently joined Philip's hostile confederacy.
In September, 1675, the frontier invasion swept down upon the Pascataqua settlers. The enemy appeared upon both sides of the river, burning houses and killing all who fell in their way. All the settlers were now filled with alarm, those on the Kenne- bec withdrawing to the Pascataqua and Merrimac, and business was suspended. A day of public fasting and prayer was ob- served by the New Hampshire towns, October 7, 1675. This month another party of Indians "got over or beyond the other branches of the Pascataqua river, towards Exeter and Lamprey Eele river, where they killed one man. Many of them were in the woods about Exeter, and between Hampton and Exeter, where they killed one or two men in the woods as they were traveling homeward, occasioning the people of those towns to stand continually upon their guard, which proved a great an- noyance to the inhabitants."
Before winter set in sixty were killed in this vicinity, and nearly as many buildings burned. The following account with- out date from the letter of Maj. Robert Pike to the governor and council belongs to this period, 1675-76.
At Hampton on Saturday last about 9 at night seeing an Indian coming from goodman Sleeper's barn toward his dwelling house having fire in his right hand and straw under his other arm, they shot at him about four rod from the house, and he tumbled down and the straw fell afire and blazed up. They saw another run away between the fire and the barn, but no hurt was done. In the morning they saw pieces of birch bark where the fire was, but found no Indian.
When the first house was built in Kensington by Stephen Green, it is said there was not another dwelling between it and Canada, except the wigwams of the savages. People used a lad- der to enter the house and at night drew in the ladder to pre -. vent the intrusion of Indians.
The following summer, June 13, 1677, four persons at North
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HISTORY OF NEWFIELDS.
Hampton, Edward Colcord, Jr., Abraham Perkins, Jr., Benja- min Hilliard and Caleb Towle, fell victims to savage cruelty. In July, 1677, Capt. Benjamin Swett of Hampton went to Kennebec with 200 Indians and 40 English soldiers, but was de- feated and slain with 60 of his men.
A formal treaty of peace was concluded with Squando and other chiefs at Saco, April 12, 1678, which put an end to this harrowing three years' war. But the New Hampshire settlers had learned to distrust their savage neighbors and kept themselves on the defensive. They palisaded their houses, gathered them- selves into garrisons, carried their guns afield and stacked arms at the church door, while a sentry kept watch during divine wor- ship.
In 1680 Robert Pike was commander of a troop of horse which was divided by the cutting off of Hampton and Exeter from old Norfolk County. In 1684, by order of Lieut. Gov. Edward Cranfield, the meeting houses in Hampton, Exeter, Portsmouth and Dover were fortified for garrisons. In 1687, the town of Hampton "ordered by vote that the selectmen shall take care to build a convenient watchhouse according to law, and to sett it where the ould watch-house stood, and to provide Powder, bullets, machflints, or what els the Law requires for a Perm. stock for the soldiers, and to make a rate for the same up- on the inhabitants not exceeding £10."
King William's War, 1689-97, between England and France. French emissaries now taught the Indians to call the English heretics, and incited them to hostilities and to find profit in the sale of scalps and prisoners in Canada. The inhabitants of New Hampshire in their danger and distress were on the point of abandoning the province, and in 1690 sought the government and protection of Massachusetts. Hampton and Portsmouth be- ing less exposed than Exeter and Dover suffered least in the common calamities.
On July 30, 1689, Capt. Samuel Sherburne of Hampton wrote to Maj. Robert Pike respecting the burning of houses by the Indians at Oyster River, who sent men to help ; Major Pike wrote June 23, 1691, "Many Hampton men were out in the woods after the Indians, to release a person captured at Salisbury,
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INDIAN WARS.
with little hope of recovering him. On Sunday last Capt. Greenleaf with 34 horses went to Hampton.
P. S. Hampton men are not gone out against the enemy as we heard they had."
On July 4, 1690, eight persons were killed as they were mow- ing in a field near Lamprey River, and a lad was carried away captive. The next day Capt. William Hilton's garrison on Fowler's Hill at Newfields was assaulted, and relieved by Lieu- tenant Bancroft with a loss of eight or nine men1 who were buried in one grave on the hillside southwest of the garrison. Simon Stone, afterwards of Groton, Mass., received nine wounds and two cuts with hatchets, and was thought dead, but recovered. In the course of a week forty persons were killed between Lam- prey River and Amesbury, Mass.
Edward Walker, with others, was killed by the Indians at Lamprey River, July 6, 1690.
August 4, 1691, Capt. Samuel Sherburne and James Dolloff, both of Hampton, were killed by the Indians at Casco Bay.
The following letter from Henry Dow to Major Pike, dated September 29 or 30, 1691, will give some idea of the situation :
Sir. We have received intelligence from Sandybeach - Rye - that since 12 o'clock this day the enemy have killed or carried away sixteen persons of which old goodman Bracket's and goodman Rand's families have the greatest blow. The messengers that brought this news, on their returning home about the time the moon did rise this night, at a place called Raggy Neck, about half a mile this side of Sandybeach garrison, they do affirm to me they saw, as they adjudged, about forty enemies coming toward Hampton with five or six canoes on their heads, which caused them to come back to Hampton again, and brought us word of it; which we have thought it convenient to signify to your worship, lest they should come along with their canoes in the night and do damage to houses near the sea. We are in a sad condition, the enemy is so violent. The Lord give us all wisdom to teach us what we ought to do.
So with my respects presented to you, I remain your loving friend and servant,
HENRY DOw.
1 Bancroft was a civil engineer with Sir William Phipps in erecting the new fort at Pemaquid in 1692. It was now rebuilt with stone, called William Henry, and believed to be impregnable. Mather says it was the finest fortress that had been seen in those parts of America. Some primitive defensive works had existed here as early as 1630, and rifled in 1632 by Dixy Bull.
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146
HISTORY OF NEWFIELDS.
At a meeting of the town of Hampton, October 26, 1691, Nathaniel Weare, Henry Dow and Joseph Smith were sent to Portsmouth, "as a committee to Advize what is most requisite & needful to be done in our defense against the common Enemy."
Hampton voted May 17, 1692, "that liberty is given to so many as are willing to remove the Fortification from about the Meet- ing House and to Sett it between the Minister's House, the Prison and the Meeting House in some convenient place, that there may be liberty for any concerned in it, to build Houses in it according to custom in other Forts."
Voted that there shall be a House builded in said Fort at the Town's charge, of 14 feet wide and 16 feet long, and finished for the use of it; it shall be improved for a Scout House, or the Watch House removed and made habitable.
The General Court at Goat Island, April 24, 1693, required Hampton to impress ten able bodied men with arms and ammu- nition to be posted at the several frontier garrisons. Two of these men were stationed at Edward Hilton's garrison, New- fields, and two at Lubberland garrison.
Oyster River was attacked July 17, 1694, by 250 Indians who burned five of the twelve garrisons, and twenty-one houses. Ninety-four persons were lost. Rev. John Buss was killed and his house and valuable library destroyed. The garrisons of Smith and David Davis at Lubberland were defeated, and Thomas Edgerly's destroyed.
The Council at New Castle, July 24, 1694, "Ordered, That warrants be issued for detaching 100 men, viz. out of Hampton 50, out of Exeter 20, out of Portm. 30. Ordered, That they rendezvous at Exeter with four days provision, to range the woods head the towns and rivers from thence to Newiehawan- nick-Salmon Falls-river."
On May 20, 1695, it was ordered that "the selectmen in each town to provide Bread by an assessment upon the inhabitants to be ready for four days march of those men that are im- pressed." These 50 Hampton men were placed under the com- mand of Capt. Joseph Smith who in 1695 succeeded Maj. Wil- liam Vaughan in command of the increased militia of the state.
The following men were on Capt. Kinsley Hall's pay roll in
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INDIAN WARS.
1696. They were "prest men in Exeter" who served in Exe- ter and Oyster River from November 4, 1695.
John Young, Sr., and Job Judkins, serving from November 4 to December 2, 1695; Thomas Rollins, John Sinkler and John Judkins, serving from November 14 to December 12, 1695; Edward Dyer serving from December 2 to 30, 1695; John Beane, James Beane and Stephen Gilman serving from December 30, 1695, to January 27, 1696; Freeman Lyford, Biley Dudley serv- ing from February 6 to March 5, 1696; James Young serving from February 24, to March 23, 1696; Peter Folsom serving from March 5 to April 2, 1696.
Jonathan Thing served in the garrison at Oyster River from April 2, 1696, being still there when the pay roll was made up, as certified by Capts. Kinsley Hall and John Woodman, April 8, 1696.
The "billetting" of Andrew Wiggins, Edward Hilton and Richard Hilton, was appended, the expense amounting to £18, 12s., 4d.
Capt. John Woodman April 8, 1696, certifies that the fol- lowing soldiers were boarded at Oyster River from November 2, 1695 to March 6, 1696, at an expense of £51.
Joseph Smith Thomas Bickford Thomas Edgerly
William Durgin Jeremiah Burman
Stephen Jones
Joseph Meder
James Bunker Lieut. Davis
David Davis
John Woodman
On December 2, 1695, Capt. Henry Dow of Hampton stationed four men with Captain Hall of Exeter, and seven with Captain Woodman of Oyster River, and his other seven went home. The men of Newfields in garrison service in 1695 were John Young, Sr., Jacob Smith, Job Judkins, Ebenezer Dwyer and John Beane.
On March 5, 1696, Capt. Joseph Smith had two men at Exeter and two at Oyster River. In July the men in garrison service at Newfields were Francis Lyford, Biley Dudley, Job Judkins, Ephraim Folsom, William Taylor, Philip Dudy, Jacob Smith, John Beane, Sr., and Cornelius Leary.
The following is the account of "Exitors Charge of Clames" for soldiers serving in the Exeter garrisons, from April 13 to November 9, 1696 :
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HISTORY OF NEWFIELDS.
"Ephraim Folsom, Samuel Dudley and David Roberson, serv- ing from August 3 to August 31, wages and subsistence, £20. Charles Glidden, William Taylor and Jonathan "wodlash," serving from August 31 to September 28, 1696, wages and sub- sistence, £20. James Gilman, Theophilus Smith and Jeremiah Gilman, serving from September 28 to October 26, 1696, for wages and subsistence, £20. For John Gilman and Nathaniel Stevens go- ing to Haverhill by the Lieutenant Governor's order two days, 10s. James Godfrey for riding the Governor's horse from Exeter to "ye Bank" 3s. To subsistence of two Hampton men at Mr. Wiggin's six days each from April 7 to 13, 1696, 8s. To sub- sistence of two Hampton men at Mr. Hilton's from April 9 to 12 or 13, 4s."
The account was presented by Capt. Kinsley Hall.
November 3, 1696, the Council "Ordered that Maj. Smith & Cap. Hall dismiss the soldiers posted at Hampton and Exeter on Monday next, untill farther orders."
A treaty of peace between England and France was signed at Ryswick, Germany, December 10, 1697, occasioning the bury- ing of the hatchet and returning of the captives.
Queen Anne's War, 1702-13-England against France and Spain. Massachusetts and New Hampshire bore the chief calam- ities of the war. The government now offered a bounty of thirty-two pounds for every Indian scalp. In 1702 Hilton's scout was between John Smith's, Lubberland, on the north and Pickpocket on the south.
A party of thirty Indians August 17, 1703, under Captain Tom, made a descent on Hampton Village, now Seabrook, and killed five persons. The first person slain was the Widow Muzzy, a talented speaker among the Friends and much honored by them. She was passing by a swamp when seized, dragged into the woods and her brains beaten out with a tomahawk. Thomas Lancaster, another Quaker, was next killed on his way to mill. Jonathan Green was slain, beaten on the head with the butts of guns and mangled in a horrible manner. Nicholas Bond was killed and scalped in his own house. The widow of William Hinckley had left her boy in the care of two girls and gone into the field to pull flax. When the Indians came to the house,
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INDIAN WARS.
the girls fled, and the lad, endeavoring to follow, was seized and his head dashed against a plough standing near.
These outrages coming to Governor Dudley's ears, he soon issued the following command :
Hampton, 11 Oct. 1703.
I hereby Direct that you forthwith order a convenient Number of Garrisons for the Town of Hampton, particularly one in the body of the Town, Near the Church, to be of large Contents, where the women and children may repayr in Case of Danger, that your soldiers may the better defend the place, and that you command all the soldiers of your Towns to attend thereof till they be finished. Given under my hand the day and year above written.
J. DUDLEY.
On January 27, 1704, Major Hilton undertook an expedition with three companies, 360 volunteers, on snowshoes to Pequacket, -Conway- which resulted in taking no scalps, and receiving no bounty, but his service was deemed honorable and a hand- some gratuity of 12 pounds was awarded him, and his captains were given five pounds each. Hilton, however, did excellent service in an expedition sent to Port Royal the following May and lasting all summer. Col. Benjamin Church with 550 men accompanied him. Prisoners were taken and some French set- tlements destroyed.
On March 27, 1704, the Council "Ordered that the Secretary give notice with all possible expedition to Capt. Henry Dow and Capt. Jacob Green of Hampton that they muster their several Companies under their respective Commands on Monday next, being the third of April, by ten of the clock in the forenoon, and that Major Winthrop Hilton, or such as he shall employ, may have liberty of listing Volunteers for the service aforesaid." On September 18, following, the Council ordered that "from all the towns 36 laborers and 12 carpenters be impressed to labor on the fort at Hampton."
On April 25, 1704, Edward Taylor was killed and his wife and son captured at Lamprey River.
In 1705 a nightly patrol watched the seashore from Hampton to Portsmouth to prevent any surprise by sea.
January 8, 1705, Colonel Hilton with 270 men started on an expedition to Norridgewock, Me., where he burned wigwams and
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HISTORY OF NEWFIELDS.
the chapel of Sebastian Rasle. On June 5, he was ordered to ' send men to the fort, and beginning with September 5, reduced his scout from twenty to ten men every ten days.
February 25, 1706, he made another expedition to Norridge- wock.
On June 17, 1706, the Council acting upon a letter from the governor, "Ordered that in case the Selectmen of Hampton and Exeter have not their stock of provisions for scouting ready in four days time from the date hereof, to be delivered to the Capts. of the several Towns when called for, that they may be sent for to the next Council Board in order to be proceeded against as they shall deserve."
On July 6, Colonel Hilton was called before the Council Board and answered that "as to the little scout, Province scout, he was forced to leave it off, there being eight of the souldjers from Hampton, and the town of Hampton had no provisions for them as the law directs."
Early in July, 1706, notice was received that a large body of French Mohawks were on their way towards Pascataqua. Colonel Hilton with 64 men marched from Exeter to intercept them, but was obliged to return, for want of provisions, without meeting them.
About 20 of these Mohawks lurked around the house of Colonel Hilton intending to destroy this brave and energetic officer. On the morning of July 6, observing ten men going out into the field with their scythes to mow, the Indians crept stealthily between them and the weapons which they had laid aside, thus intercepting their return to the garrison, and sud- denly fell upon them, killing Richard Matoon, his son, Hubartus, Robert Barber and Samuel Pease, and taking captive Edward Hall, Samuel Mighill, and a mulatto. Joseph Hall, John Taylor and one other escaped. Hall, a nephew of Colonel Hilton, and Mighill were carried to Canada, where Hall built a sawmill and obtained much favor from the French and Indians therefor, so that they were allowed to go into the woods to hunt. Taking ad- vantage of this they made their escape, and after traversing the forest for three weeks on foot, subsisting on lily roots and the rind of trees, Mighill became so exhausted that he lay down to die. Hall made all possible provision for his comfort and left
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INDIAN WARS.
him. Reaching Deerfield, Mass., he sent out a relief party, which found Mighill alive and brought him to the fort where he recovered his strength, and they returned home.
There is a family tradition that Robert Barber was killed in his own cornfield between the schoolhouse and the river at Pis- cassic. One Indian made an assault, and while Mr. Barber, though a small man, was defending himself successfully, an- other Indian appeared, and the two were too much for the brave man.
On July 9, 1706, the Council "Ordered that the Secretary summons the Selectmen of Hampton to appear before the Coun- cil to-morrow by ten of the clock in the forenoon, to answer to the complaint of Lieut. Col. Hilton, in not having their Town stock of provisions ready to supply the souljers of the town in Scouting &c." On the following day it was "Ordered that the Selectmen of the town of Hampton do forthwith send a Barrel of pork to Lieut. Col. Hilton's house, out of their Town stock of provisions for Scouting as he shall see meet, and that the Secretary issue forth his warr.t to the Selectmen accord- ingly."
The same day sixty men with provisions were ordered to Colonel Hilton's house, and on July 20, more provisions to be furnished him.
Colonel Hilton made a horseback trip to Boston, December 21, 1706, to consult with Governor Dudley, and as a result was off to the east January 21, 1707, with 220 New Hampshire and 90 Massachusetts troops. On his return to Black Point he cap- tured a squaw and papoose, and by her assistance surprised and slew eighteen of the enemy.
In 1707, the government commanded the captains of Exeter and Hampton to arrest the deserters from Kingston and cause them to return to the defense of the settlement, or to do duty at Fort William and Mary.
Colonel Hilton commanded the Second Regiment on an ex- pedition to Port Royal. With 1,000 men he left Nantasket May 13, 1707, reaching Port Royal May 26, returning on June 5. July 16, on the eve of a second departure, he writes his wife from Casco. By August the expedition had proved a total failure.
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HISTORY OF NEWFIELDS.
In the following September eight young men with Capt. Sam- uel Chesley were killed in the woods at Oyster River. Colonel Hilton pursued the Indians to Cocheco with 54 men, and to Ossipee and Pequacket with 360 men, but "made only a few discoveries."
On September 23, 1707, Colonel Hilton sent out on a scout towards "Winnepissauke pond, fifty six fresh men from Hamp- ton, on Monday morning last, who was [were] to tarry out five days." In October of that year "£175-1-0 is allowed and or- dered to be paid to Colonel Hilton for himself and the Exeter, Hampton, Portsmouth and Dover men."
Throughout the summer of 1708, an additional force from Hampton and Portsmouth was stationed at Fort William and Mary.
On February 19, 1708, Hilton was out with a scout of 20 men, and made an expedition to Pequacket with 270 men.
On August 2, 1708, it was ordered that Colonel Hilton "for the future send but sixteen men out of Portsmouth and Hamp- ton in proportion, to her Majesty's Fort Wm. and Mary, to make up the standing souldjers there twenty persons and noe more." And on August 15, it was "Ordered that Lieut. Colonel Hilton imediately draw out twenty proper souldjers from Hampton, Exeter and Dover as a Scout to march to Winne- pissiacoe pursuant to his Excellency's letter."
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