USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Northfield > History of Northfield, New Hampshire 1780-1905: In Two Parts with Many Biographical Sketches and. > Part 12
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Esquire Charles Glidden was a leading man in his day, who died in 1811, at the age of sixty-seven. Mrs. Jeremiah Smith, known to you so long, was his daughter. She died at the ripe age of ninety-one; and her husband, whose prosperous and useful life, three additional years would have rounded out to a century, after a union with her of seventy-three years, all which were passed on the old homestead, and having voted for every presi- dent from Washington to Lincoln, at last sunk to rest like a patriarch of old, crowned with length of days, and like a shock of corn, fully ripe. He left three children, viz .- Warren H. Smith, Esq., now leading the life of a prosperous farmer, and who maintains the honor of the patrimonial estate with becom- ing dignity in the old family mansion, which has been renovated,
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modernized, improved, and beautified; Mrs. William Gilman of Lexington, Mass .; and Mrs. Miles Glidden, for many years a resident of Ohio.
Mr. William Gilman, a hale and vigorous gentleman of about eighty, the most of his life a resident of Bay Hill, and his brother Charles, now in Illinois, are sons of Jonathan Gilman, who himself, or his father, was, I suppose, one of the original settlers. His great-grandfather on the mother's side, came from Lee, bought five hundred acres of wild land on and around Bay Hill, on which he settled his sons-Reuben, Nathaniel, William and Jonathan Whicher-many of whose descendants are now in town. The grandfather of Mr. Westley Knowles bought his farm of Nathaniel Whicher-paying for it, so the story goes, with a two-year-old heifer.
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Capt. Samuel Gilman, Joseph Knowles and Dr. Kezar were also among the first settlers on Bay Hill.
The excellent and very pleasant farms at present owned and occupied by Messrs. Monroe and William Clough, were pur- chased from Capt. Samuel Gilman about the year 1802, by their grandfather, Mr. Jonathan Clough, who emigrated thither from Salisbury, Mass., and died in 1836, aged eighty-six, leaving the farms to his two sons, Jonathan and Samuel; the former, the father of William; the latter, of Monroe. Could ambition exist at that early day and in such a small community? Yes. The desire to excel is the same in all ages and places. Captain Gil- man built a barn-the first in town, the wonder of the neighbor- hood-which barn still stands on the old place. The owner of W. H. Smith's farm determined to surpass it, and the next year built a barn twenty-five feet longer. Whereupon Esquire Glid- den built another with a still further addition of twenty-five feet, and the contest ended.
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Another of the pioneers of Northfield was Jonathan Wad- leigh, who was a native of Kingston, N. H., served in the Revo- lutionary army, lived for a while at Bean Hill, settled on the south side of Bay Hill, on what was afterwards called the Am- brose Woodbury farm, and finally died in Gilmanton. He was the father of Judge Wadleigh, whose son, Ephraim S., still lives on the first opened farm in town; and of Mrs. Capt. Isaac Glines, who, after having lived half a century or more at the Centre, . returned to her father's homestead on Bay Hill (now in the
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possession of her son, Smith W. Glines), and died at the age of eighty-two, in the same room in which she was born. This much for Bay Hill.
As to Bean Hill, I suppose it must have been twenty years later, or more, when Lieut. Charles Glidden moved thither from Nottingham, built a log hut, left his wife and two children and went into the Revolutionary army. In his absence she tilled the soil, felled the trees and hauled her wood with the help of oxen. After his return, he bought Nehemiah McDonald's farm near the old meeting-house. Mr. Glidden, his wife, and some of the children were buried on said farm. His wife was a Mills, and her mother, Alice Cilly. John Cilly, Robert Evans, a Mr. Cofran (father of Col. James Cofran), Gideon Sawyer and brother, Solomon French and brother, were early settlers of this region; and William Smith, the grandfather of Warren Smith, who was moved from Old Hampton by Mr. Glidden. Perhaps his son, Jeremiah, came with him, as he left Old Hamp- ton, where he was born, when a boy, and went to live in Canter- bury.
In those early times, there was no house between Glidden's and what is now called the Rand schoolhouse-some two miles or more. Ensign Sanborn, whose wife was a Harvey, lived not far from there. He probably served in the army for a while.
Mrs. William Gilman, to whom I am indebted for many of the above facts, relates that woods, wolves and bears were plenty in those times, and carriages very scarce; so that when Esquire Samuel Forrest's mother died, her corpse was carried on a bier laid on poles between two horses to the graveyard by the brick meeting-house, some three or four miles distant.
She further says that old General Dearborn drove the first double sleigh into Northfield on a visit to her grandfather.
I have been able to learn but little of the pioneers and settle- ment of the Centre and Eastern parts of the town, with the exception of the Forrest family-a short account of which was furnished me by Mr. John Sanborn, which I give in nearly his own words.
"William John Forrest came from Ireland when eighteen years of age, and died in Boston. Of his four sons, Robert settled in Canterbury, and the others in Northfield-John on the Leighton place, William in the Centre district, and James
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on the farm now owned by James N. Forrest, his grandson. Two of his daughters married Gibsons, and the other one, Mr. Clough; and all settled in Northfield. William Forrest settled in the Centre district, or rather commenced clearing the timber in 1774, just before the War of the Revolution broke out. One day, while felling trees, he providentially escaped death by lightning, which completely demolished an ash tree, under which he had designed to take shelter. "He enlisted in the war, and served his country with credit. He was the father of fourteen children, of whom thirteen lived to grow up, and all except one attended school near the old meeting-house." To this sketch Mr. James N. Forrest adds : "My grandfather James came here --- on the farm where I now live-in 1784, and subdued the forest, erected buildings, built roads, and left a worthy son to inherit his property, and do honor to his name. My father, who was an only son, named me for his father, and I have named one of my sons-Samuel-for him. How long the names will rotate, only the destiny of the family will reveal." I understand that this family has furnished more teachers and held more official posi- tions than any other in town.
Oak Hill proper, I am informed, was for the most part orig- inally in the possession of Obed Clough, who was succeeded by the French and Batchelder families. The latter are still repre- sented in that part of the town-among whom the best known face is that of "Uncle Moses," as he is familiarly called, still hale, vigorous, and whole-souled-one of the patriarchs of the town, showing to the younger generation what a life of tem- perance, industry, with a good conscience, can accomplish towards the attainment of old age.
I quote from Mr. Goodwin again, who says, "Ensign San- born, Gideon Sawyer, the brothers Archelaus, Samuel and Abner Miles, John and Jeremiah McDaniel, Nathaniel and William Whicher, Capt. Thomas Clough, George and Joseph Hancock, and the four brothers by the name of Cross, were in town very early." These, I suppose, mostly settled in the western part. "On the Crosses they had some verses running in this wise :
Cooper Jess and Merchant Tom, Honest Parker and Farmer John.
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These Crosses had a sort of village down at their place on the intervale, opposite the Webster farm. They had a coopering es- tablishment, a store and a tavern there, and it was, in fact, a business emporium for all that region."
The first manufacturing in town was done on what was called the Cross Brook. Here, and near the Intervale and Oak Hill, were made earthen and wooden ware, lumber, jewelry, and es- pecially the old-fashioned gold beads. They had there a grist mill, a fulling mill, and carding machine-the first in use-a grocery, jeweler's shop and tailor's shop. The father of Mr. William G. Hanaford had a shoe shop, and some one had a blacksmith-or what was then called a shoeing shop. In fact, almost every branch of industry was carried on there in the very first decade of the town's history.
Steven Cross, the great-grandfather of O. L. Cross, Esq., mar- ried Peggy Bowen and settled near Indian Bridge, and raised a family of thirteen children, who were all living when the youngest was forty years old. The oldest, Abraham, married Ruth Saw- yer, daughter of old Deacon Sawyer of Canterbury, who was a soldier in both the French and Revolutionary wars, and who had two sons killed at the surrender of Burgoyne, where the father was also a soldier. Deacon Sawyer owned the ferry two miles below the Cross ferry, and always attended to it himself to the last year of his life, he being within two months and three days of one hundred years at his death. He was the father of twenty-two children, twenty of whom grew up. Abra- ham Cross settled near his father Sawyer, and there Jeremiah was born in 1805; but the year before the family had settled on the Winnipiseogee and built a sawmill, ever after known as the Cross Mill. Jeremiah married Miss Sarah Lyford of Pittsfield, settled near the Cross Mill, and about thirty years ago built, on a beautiful elevation overlooking the mill, a fine mansion in which a few years since he died, leaving behind an enviable character for honor, integrity and business enterprise. He was buried with Masonic honors.
Among the early settlers were also the names of William Kenniston and a Mr. Danforth. The latter was a soldier of the Revolution, and, having been wounded, always persisted in say- ing that he carried the ball still imbedded in his shoulder. The statement was not credited, however, till, years after his death,
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upon the removal of his remains, it was found that the old soldier was right, for there, firmly fixed, so that a hammer was required for its extrication, was found the bullet, embedded in the solid bone.
The three Miles brothers came into town in 1769 or 1770, and settled on one farm; lived on it six or seven years, then sold it to Reuben Kimball of Concord in 1776. This farm has been kept in the Kimball name to the present time, Reuben giving it to his son, Benjamin, who sold it to his brother, David, whose descendants are still there. Reuben Kimball was a soldier of the Revolution and in the battle of Bunker Hill was hit by musket balls three times-once in the crown of his hat, once on the powder horn which hung at his side (which horn is now in the possession of the present occupant of the farm) and once in the leg, which wound never healed to the day of his death, June 12, 1815.
Well, Time whirls his wheel a little queerly sometimes. Now here is Mr. J. A. Kimball, the last possessor of that farm, whose wife is a direct descendant of Abner Miles, the first possessor of said farm. Said Abner sold his right and title to the farm and cut off his descendants, heirs, assigns, etc., from all right, title, fee simple, forever and forever, when 'lol a descendant of his steps in and claims equal rights with the purchaser. And, what is still more strange, it is said to be the result of a suit-not a law suit-which terminated in her favor; and so the descend- ants of the seller and the descendants of the purchaser both . share equally in the blessings of said farm.
Another excellent farm in western Northfield, which is as well cultivated as any upland farm in town, or perhaps in the county, is the one owned and occupied by Mr. John S. Dearborn, which was deeded to his grandfather, Shubael Dearborn, in 1779, just one hundred and one years ago, by his great-grandfather, who then lived on the Edmund Dearborn place. The deed is still preserved in the old family chest. Shubael was married in homespun, at twenty-six years of age, and commenced house- keeping without bed or crockery and in a house containing only one pane of glass. The story goes that he was taxed extra for the glass and for every smoke in the chimney. But frugality and industry overcame all obstacles in time, and Mr. Dearborn lived to see himself in comfortable circumstances, with a good
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house to shelter him, and well furnished for the time. He was obliged to haul his building material from Portsmouth with an ox team. He died at the age of fifty-eight. The farm has been in the family name ever since, passing from Shubael to his son of the same name, and thence to his son, the present possessor, John S. Dearborn.
"The Intervale upon which the Crosses and Joseph Hancock settled (once a part of old Northfield, but now included within the limits of Franklin) is one of the largest and richest on the Merrimack." It here spreads out into a broad field of more than one hundred acres, level as a prairie, a sort of delta, or minia- ture Egypt, which is flowed in spring and fall, but never washed, as the water sets back upon the land through a channel con- necting with the Merrimack on the lower side. Portions of this have been mowed for nearly a century, and still produce from one to three tons per acre. Here Joseph Gerrish, Esq., settled in the year 1804. He was a native of Boscawen, born in 1784- almost one hundred years ago-and was the son of Colonel Henry, and grandson of Capt. Steven Gerrish, one of the first settlers of Boscawen, and a native of Newbury, Mass. The great- grandfather of Steven (Capt. William) came from Bristol, Eng., to Newbury, where he settled in 1639-removing thence to Bos- ton in 1687.
Joseph Gerrish was a man of great shrewdness, business tact and enterprise, hospitable and genial. During the War of 1812 . he started a distillery here for the manufacture of potato whiskey, which he gave up on the return of peace, and turned his atten- tion more exclusively to farming, bought the George Hancock farm on an adjacent ridge, and thus enlarged his domains to ample size, with due proportions of upland for grazing, and in- tervale for tillage. Soon after, he removed his residence to the upland farm, where with convenient buildings, good horses, ample means, generous living, and a family of thirteen children, he lived till his death in 1851, looked up to and respected as one of the most substantial farmers Northfield has produced. His wife was Susan Hancock of Northfield. After his death, his broad acres were divided among his three sons-Milton, Leonard and Stephen; the two former taking the intervale, the latter, the upland farm. Milton and Leonard still abide by their inheri- tance, and with full garners and contented spirits we presume
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they enjoy that peculiar happiness and health a farmer's life only can bring. Steven, however, after a few years of very successful farming, his house being destitute of children, grew lonely, we suppose, and migrated across the Merrimack, to try the charms of a village life in West Franklin, where he still re- sides. His place was bought by John Kelley, Esq., the present possessor, in whose experienced hands the farm bids fair to keep up its ancient reputation.
This is the amount of our researches respecting Oak Hill and the west part.
1 And now, having given this imperfect sketch of the first set- tlers and their acts during the first twenty years, and traced their families down as fully as our information would allow, it remains to exhibit them in their corporate capacity, beginning with their town meetings, and following with the great raising of the old meeting-house-a momentous event in its day, hardly to be equalled by a centennial in our time-but of these matters a few items must suffice for the present, as an extended account will be given of them in the History of Northfield, which it is proposed to prepare during the coming year. The following is a copy from their earliest
"REIGHCORD OF MEETINGS, &C. :
"At a meeting held in Northfield tuesday ye 21-Nove'r 1780
1 Voted Mr John Simons Moderator
2 Voted to a Low Mr Nathanil witchers acompt in Gitting ye in Corpration.
3 Voted to Rais Monny to Buy a parrish Book
4 v to Rais Nineteen hundred Dollars to Defray Parrish Chargis"
SECOND MEETING.
"At a Meeting held in Northfield on Tuesday ye first of March 1781, at the hous of Mr John Simons
1 Voted Capt Ednor Blanchard Moderator
2nd Voted Arche Miles Clerk
3rd Voted Reuben Witcher John McDaniel Thomas Clough Select Men
4 Voted Ebenesor Kimbol Constobel
5 Voted Joseph Car David Blanchard Charles Glidden Mat-
thew hains & Peter hunniford Servayers of hy wais
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6 Voted Edward Blanchard David Morrison hog Refs.
7 voted Aaron Stevens Sealer of Measur
8 Voted the Select Men be a Committy to git the Monny a Beef Cauld for By the Cort.
9 voted to Raise Six thousand Dollars to Repir high ways labour at forty dollars per day.
Said Meeting adjurned to the firs of Apr at two of the Clc in the After Noon at the Saim plais"
The foregoing is a full record of the first two meetings af the town was incorporated.
As to how the old meeting-house was raised by the wh town in convention assembled, how Master Bill Durgin fram it, and Elder Crocket blessed the enterprise, how libatic were poured out and in, how the women cooked the dinner, h the Hill women of Bay Hill furnished the bread, and M Knowles and others prepared the fish, potatoes, etc., by the ed of the woods, and how races were run up the east hill by m with bags of grain on their shoulders, and other games; all t] and much more we hope to place before our hearers in the I distant future, as the work is in the hands of one whose ances! kept a complete diary of the proceedings of that eventful da
In this place, it will be appropriate, perhaps, to introduce brief account of the churches of Northfield.
The old meeting-house was originally free to all sects, but later years was occupied exclusively by the Congregationali: who abandoned it in 1841, since which it has been used o1 for town-meetings.
In regard to common schools, the one remarkable fact is 1 strange diminution in the number of children attending th since earlier times. Why is it? The population of the town now larger. This may be accounted for in various ways. Fi the young people leave at an earlier age to obtain a more : vanced education in the higher schools; second, families : smaller; and third, the young grown-up people and young fa ilies leave town. But of this last reason I will speak furt] on.
The first schoolhouses, of course, were made of logs, of wh an example has been given on Bay Hill, and were genera private dwelling houses. Female teachers began to be employ about 1806, and were considered competent if they had master
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the first four rules in arithmetic. In illustration of the great advance made in female education since that time it is only necessary to point to the many young ladies graduating each ayear from our female colleges and other higher institutions, as has witnessed this week in the Seminary near by.
The Bay Hill school, which formerly contained upwards of fifty pupils, has, during the past twenty years, often been re- duced to less than half a dozen.
The Centre school in former days numbered sixty, sometimes reaching eighty. Here Mr. John E. Forrest, one of our oldest citizens, was accustomed to attend when a boy, one of whose duties was to carry for Master Gleason, who boarded at his father's, a bottle of cider each day. By mistake one morning herfilled the bottle from the vinegar barrel. At the proper time, after the wear and tear of the morning hour, Master Gleason repaired to the closet where the cider was wont to be kept, and disposed of a stout dram before he discovered the mistake. . Speechless with rage and vinegar, he could only shake his fist in the face of the innocent cause of all this turmoil, at the same time giving such power of expression to his face as would have been highly applauded on the stage. Finally recovering his speech, he roared out the threat of a flogging to the rascal. Doubtless he wore a sour look the rest of the day.
Other early teachers of the Centre were Master Morrill of Concord, Masters Bowles, Solomon Sutton of Canterbury, Josiah Ambrose of Northfield, Phinehas Thorn and Edmund Dearborn. Miss Morrill and Nancy Glidden were among the female teachers. The school now numbers from fifteen to twenty.
In early times, the school in the Hodgdon district numbered from seventy to one hundred, and John Cate, an old teacher, took oath in a certain suit that he had one hundred and ten scholars. Now there are no scholars large enough to attend, and no school-one of the greatest changes in a school district that I have ever known.
Among the oldest teachers were Masters Knapp, Parkinson, Meshech Cate, John Blanchard and Edmund Dearborn. It is related that Master Dearborn's mother used to follow her children to the schoolhouse, stick in hand, whenever they were unwilling to go, and as the result they all became excellent scholars. Think of that, ye who rely entirely on moral suasion ! Among the fe-
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male teachers were Nabby Abbott, Sally Hazelton and Esther Parkinson. Dudley Leavitt, the famous astronomer and almanac- maker, was the first to teach in that district after the building of a schoolhouse. At that time he lived at Bean Hill and boarded . at home, walking to and from school each day. He wore slippers and once, when passing old Squire Lyford's, one of them slipped off, but he was so agile, he threw his foot into it again and passed on without stopping. He was tall and commanding in person, as were many of the Leavitts of those days.
Now, having tarried so long among the early fathers, and gathered into one bundle the few items we could pick up here and there of their settlement, families, modes of life and manners of governing, let us in company glide downward two or three scores of years and saunter somewhere along the middle of the century, and strive to catch a glimpse of the financial situation and social life of our people at that period and then by a few short steps transfer ourselves to the present time.
And first I would say, that from twenty-five to seventy-five years after the incorporation, the rural portion of the town appears to me to have been in its most prosperous state. Village life had not grown to such proportions then, the majority of farmers were in middle life, with iron frames, strong arms and stronger hearts, with stout boys ready to assist and plenty of them, with buxom girls in equal numbers, to card, spin, weave, help mother generally, and even to rake hay, when occasion called, so that those freshly-opened farms fairly laughed with harvests-filling the barns with hay to bursting and the garners with grain. The schoolhouses were crammed with great boys, little boys, middling boys and girls ditto. Those were the golden days of the Northfield farmers.
"Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke, How jocund did they drive their teams afield, How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke."
Since then village life has gained and, as a consequence in con- nection with other causes, rural life has lost.
In the second place, our fathers and mothers, as well-seemed inclined to combine amusement and sociality with their daily labor more than their descendants of the present day. Instead of formal calls-now the fashion-the good housewife would
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often take her wheel and spend the long summer afternoon with a chatty neighbor in spinning-the whir of the wheel keeping time to the wagging of the tongue, and which went faster would be hard to tell.
There were the raisings, when a new house was to be erected, whether of logs or framed, when the men came from far and near, with the purpose of having a high time generally, and they generally had it. Then there were the shooting matches, and wrestling matches, and apple parings, and quilting bees, sleigh- ride parties, and coasting parties. There were the spelling- schools, which were occasions of much interest, when the young people met, chose sides and strove to surpass each other in navi- gating the intricate mazes of English orthography. And there were social parties, when the young men and women-often from fifty to a hundred in number-would gather at the house of some substantial farmer, where, before roaring fires, in spacious, old- fashioned rooms, warm and comfortable, though the weather might be zero without, they would spend the all too swiftly pass- ing hours in lively chat, or in playing games, such as button, rolling the plate, Copenhagen, bean porridge, hot and cold, etc., and in singing and marching to the songs of "Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow," and "When the snow blows in the field," and "Arise, my true love," etc.
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