USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Northfield > History of Northfield, New Hampshire 1780-1905: In Two Parts with Many Biographical Sketches and. > Part 17
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In 1809, Jonathan Clough, Benjamin Whitcher, Abraham Simons, Theo. Brown, Nathaniel Gilman, Josiah Ambrose, David Mason, Samuel Clough, Joseph Mann, Henry Tebbetts, Jonathan Emerson, James Forrest, husbandmen; Daniel Hills, Francis Smith, John Hills, Abraham Brown, Esq., Timothy Hills, gen- tlemen; and A. T. Clark, physician, bought of Stephen Chase, clothier, 25 square rods of land for a burying ground on the road leading from Canterbury to Sanbornton Bridge, said Chase re- serving an equal right with any of the said persons. The deed is signed by Stephen Chase and witnessed by William Knowles, un- der date of January 17, 1809, the consideration being $5. This lot adjoined the one on which the Methodist Church was built in 1826 and is still known as the "Burying yard by the Brick Meeting house." It has been twice enlarged towards the west.
The burial place on Oak Hill was a gift to the neighborhood from the French family. There is no expense except the charge for opening and closing graves and it is in care of Alpheus Keniston.
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The little space surrounded by a stone wall, back of the old meeting-house, though, perhaps, never a public burial place, is possibly the oldest one in town. The inscriptions on many of the stones were illegible 25 years ago. No one has been buried there since 1846. The Giles and Gliddens seem to have been the only families using it. A stone, marked October 10, 1782, shows the resting place of Rufus Gile. Esq. Charles Glidden died August 11, 1811, and some of his family, including his wife, Alice, who died in 1825, aged 77, lie beside him.
The Hodgdon yard was on the farm of Joseph Cofran and he sold space as desired. It was a quiet, shady spot and a popular burial place. Very many of the first settlers lie there.
The enclosure at the Abbott place, close by the Kezar Hills, was given by the Abbotts and Rogers and was kept in repair until both families were extinct. There is another on the farm of the Giles, in which a few Sawyers and many Cilleys and Giles are buried.
. The one at the Knowles place was never a public yard, al- though some other families buried their dead there. Further to the east are the Calef and Aldrich cemeteries. The Blanchards, the early settlers, Lindseys and Perkins, perhaps are buried in the Wadleigh orchard. Five graves are still plainly to be seen al- though there are no stones or dates.
Several of the Cross family were buried by the brook on the intervale, some of whom have been recently washed out. The caskets in which these early settlers took their long rest were formed by hewing out a log and placing a similar one above it.
The Williams yard, as well as the brook, were named by Will- iam Williams, who resided nearby. I cannot find any deeds to the lots and no one knows when or how it was established or who has any charge of it. It is one of the oldest in town. When the railroad passed through the town, it cut off a part of it, and many bodies were moved further back into the enclosure and their location forgotten. The Muzzeys, buried there some years previous, were removed to an interior location to avoid the grading. There is also a yard near the residence of Mr. Gorrell, where the Cloughs, Gorrells and some of the Kezars are buried. Still farther east are two, called the Aldrich and Calef burying grounds. There are also two family yards on Bean Hill, known as the Cilley and Evans yards.
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There is no public care of any of these grounds and many of them are hopelessly overrun by creeping, crawling forests.
TILTON AND NORTHFIELD AQUEDUCT COMPANY.
A charter was granted to an association, called the Tilton and Northfield Aqueduct Company by the Legislature of 1887. It was approved by Gov. C. H. Sawyer, June 21, 1887. The object was to secure pure drinking water for the village of Tilton, and Chestnut Pond was the desired supply. The capital stock was $18,000 and $9,000 in bonds, of which Hon. C. E. Tilton, J. J. and A. J. Pillsbury and Selwin B. Peabody were equal holders.
A petition to the town of Northfield to lay pipes in the streets was considered and a hearing ordered for August 22, which was postponed to September 1, 1887. This petition was granted and an agreement entered into, whereby the town would use sufficient water for troughs, fires and flushing prospective sewers, etc., to cover the taxes on the plant for 10 years, Tilton concurring in a similar arrangement.
Mr. S. J. Winslow of Pittsfield contracted to put in the plant under the immediate supervision of Messrs. Tilton and Pillsbury, and the work was begun at once. A 300-feet dam was built at the outlet of Chestnut Pond, sufficiently high to raise the water 12 or 14 feet. This was done at a cost of $7,000. The water from this dam runs unrestrained one mile to a pool and is then piped to a reservoir holding 3,000,000 gallons, from which a 10-inch pipe or main conveys it across the fields along Bay and Elm Streets to the bridge. It there divides. An eight-inch main crosses the river and runs through Main Street, uniting with a six-inch main running through Elm Street and over the lower bridge to a point of intersection opposite the railroad station, requiring in all eight miles of pipe. The descent from the reser- voir is 220 feet. The highest pressure is 112 pounds to the square inch at Tilton Mills.
It was later found practicable to add a mountain stream to the supply. Accordingly Hilly Brook was piped one and one fourth miles to change its course, from which point it flows naturally into the pond. The work was completed and water turned on, August 24, 1888. In 1904 the eight-inch pipe, bringing the water from the pond to the reservoir, was supplemented by a 10-
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inch cast-iron pipe, having in view an ample and satisfactory service.
Still further plans are now in progress for a greatly increased supply from the Forrest Pond in Canterbury, three and a half miles distant. It lies south of Bean Hill and is 280 feet higher than Chestnut Pond. The aqueduct strikes the Dolloff, or Rogers, Brook on its way, which is to be piped with it. This brook, after receiving two or three tributaries in the Skendug- gody Meadow, is known as the Kendegeda Brook.
NORTHFIELD SEWER.
The selectmen were instructed at the annual meeting, March, 1902, to construct a sewer if it should be petitioned for, and it was exempted from taxation. A petition followed and the work was begun the September following, by the Osgood Construction Company of Nashua, Arthur W. Dudley of Manchester, civil engineer; 1,325 feet were laid on Park Street; 850 on Elm; 700 on Summer; 900 on Bay; 1,275 on Park, to Brook and to River; 1,150 on Vine Street; 325 on Holmes Avenue; total, .6,525 feet. A flush tank was placed at the head of every line and all appli- ances were Al. The deepest cut was 18 feet, under the railroad; the least, seven, with an average of 12 feet across fair ground. The entire cost was $6,699.26, all of which was borrowed at 31/2 per cent. from the citizens of the town. Cost for entrance was $15 for single, $22 for double, house.
Sewer No. 2 .- The Howard Avenue sewer was laid in the autumn of 1903 by the selectmen, E. J. Young, Fred Scribner and C. L. True. It was 1,100 feet in length and cost $618.27. C. W. Sleeper, surveyor and civil engineer, made the survey. A line on Vine Street had been put in the previous year, extending from Oak Street to Holmes Avenue.
PAUPERS AND CRIMINALS.
The care of the criminal class and the dependent poor of the town was a source of annoyance from the start. The third an- nual meeting voted to "take the Buzzel family into the cear of the town," and it was the custom for at least a dozen years to sell the maintenance of the poor at public vendue to the lowest bidder; the use of all and everything such a person possessed should be a part of the price paid. Very strenuous rules and
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regulations were in force regarding their possessions, be they land, clothing, household furniture or daily labor. The town re- served the right to furnish medical attendance and in case of death, paid funeral charges.
A single transaction must suffice. "Samuel Dinsmore .was struck off to Jacob Heath for $34, to be paid quarterly in produce at the Current market price, otherwise he should be paid in money at the end of the year, said Dinsmore to be considered in health and to be bound by indenture." Often, a dozen or more were thus provided for under varying conditions. Often, the whole number were kept in a single family and a large amount of work was accomplished by them.
The town poor were thus sold at auction until 1824, when the selectmen purchased a farm at East Northfield of Nathaniel Gil- man and all were respectably housed there, though to say it was a humane movement is to put it too mildly, as the following rules and regulations must be implicitly observed by both overseer and pauper.
A "house of correction" with dungeon was attached to it, and Josiah Woodbury, Horace Noyes, Simeon Cate, Thomas Chase, Benjamin Rogers, Daniel Austin and George Kezar were chosen "informers." Judge Peter Wadleigh drew the "Orders and Regulations," receiving therefor $3.
"SECTION 1. There shall be a house of correction established in said town into which shall be committed as the law directs all per- sons found in said town of the following description viz. All rogues and vagabonds, lewd, idle or disorderly persons; persons going about begging, or using any subtle craft jugling or unlaw- ful games or plays; or persons pretending to have knowledge in physiognomy or palmistry; or such as pretend they can tell des- tinies or fortunes, or discover by any spells or magic art, where lost or stolen goods may be found; common pipers, fidlers, run- aways, stubborn children or servants, common drunkards, common night walkers, common railers or brawlers, such as neglect their calling or employments, mis-spend what they earn, and such as do not provide for themselves or for the support of their fam- ilies. 1
"SECTION 2. All or any person that shall be adjudged by the proper authorities guilty of any of the offences aforesaid and
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sentenced to the house of correction shall be liable to be called up and set to work by the Superintendent of the House of Cor- rection at five oclock in the morning and employed until seven oclock in the evening, from the 21st day of March to the 21st day of September, and from this date to the 21st day of March fol- lowing, called up at six oclock in the morning and employed until nine oclock in the evening . All males, at any of the mechanical arts at farming, or husbandry or any kind of labor that males usually work at, and all females . . at spin- ning, weaving, knitting, sewing or housework as females usually perform unles unable on account of ill health, age or infirmity."
There are certain other rules in regard to punishments, impris- onment in dungeon, etc., and strict rules governing every duty of superintendent, overseers, informers and reformers. These rules were modified and changed in 1840 and a new set adopted.
David Hill, Samuel Dicey, David Brown, Nathan Wells, Joseph Libby, Emanuel Forrest and George S. Tibbetts were some of the many superintendents employed for long or short terms. Poor people who were unable to pay their taxes were allowed to work them out at the poor farm.
In 1867, on the erection of the new and commodious county farm home, pauper settlements were abolished and all the de- pendent poor and petty criminals cared for at Boscawen. The farm was sold to Benjamin Haines and James N. Forrest in 1866 and Northfield, at the present time, has no town or county pauper and is, with a single exception, the only town in the county so fortunate in this respect. We have had no criminal in state prison for a long term of years and no licensed saloons.
In 1875, the expense to the town for paupers was $1,056.56; in 1880, it was $600; in 1900, $135; and nothing in 1905. Some of these figures were the result of contagious epidemics.
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MERRIMACK COUNTY.
Before Merrimack County was instituted, Northfield was in Hillsborough County and the great distance to the courts and court records made a change greatly to be desired. The first effort was in the line of establishing a half shire town for Upper Hills- borough. Hopkinton was selected and the Legislature met there for several years and the governors were inaugurated there. In 1823, after much debate and delay, Merrimack County was
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formed and Concord constituted the shire town. Judge Peter Wadleigh was the foremost man in the town in this matter and assisted largely in its establishment. It is the central county and is bounded by six of the others. It is 60 miles long from Dan- bury to Hooksett and 55 miles wide from Pittsfield to Newbury. It contains 505,000 acres. It then had a population of 33,000. Northfield had 277 polls, 287 horses, 367 cows, 202 sheep; money on interest and in bank, $4,900; stock in trade, 57,580; mills and machinery, $88,900, and real estate, $437,590. This is in strange contrast to the count of 1786, probably the first ever made, of which the following is a true copy :
"NORTHFIELD Apr. 11th ye : : 1786
"This to sartify a greeable to an Act Past the 3: ye: 1786 a trew a Count of all the Males poles is 75 and the number of women and children 274
75 274
WILLIAM PERKINS WILLIAM FORREST - Selectmen"
THOMAS CHASE
Increased, in 1880, to 46,300. Northfield had, in 1823, "1. meeting-house, eight school houses, six districts; no tavern; two stores; five saw-mills, two clothing mills; three carding mills and four tanneries." Its population, in 1820, was 1,304 and, in 1880, 918, a rather uncertain increase.
In 1833, the New Hampshire Register gives the following: "Two meeting-houses; three stores; one tavern; two doctors; no lawyer; one cotton factory; six sawmills; two grain mills; two fulling mills and two carding mills. Benjamin Ambrose Chase was representative to General Court and there were ten Justices of the Peace viz Thomas Chase, James Cofran, Benjamin Chase, Samuel Forrest, Charles Glidden, Obadiah Hall, Thomas Lyford, Jeremiah Smith, Jeremiah Tilton and Peter Wadleigh." We find, for the year 1904, one church, one store, one doctor, no law- yer, no minister.
POST OFFICES.
The first postal facilities were afforded by post riders and, a little later, by the stage-drivers. Many old people remember when the postage to Boston was 16 cents, and beyond a specified distance was even more.
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
Dr. Enos Hoyt, soon after his arrival in town, caused an office to be established at the Center and the letters were sorted while the relay horses for the stage were being led out. Bradbury Tib- betts served him as clerk. When the doctor moved nearer the village the office was retained by John Mooney, who purchased his house. It was later kept by Benjamin Brown until the com- ing of the cars to Tilton and the discontinuance of stages.
It was then kept for some years at the store of Isaac Whittier, where the Northfield grocery store now stands. There was an- other over the river, kept by Archibald Clark for 20 consecutive years on the spot where it now is. These were finally united and we find John Taylor in charge in 1843, followed by Amos Jones in 1846 and Benjamin Colby in 1850. It had heretofore been kept in some store in the village. Carlos Clark was chosen in 1853, the first Northfield resident to hold the office.
He was followed by a short term with Bradbury Morrill in charge. No other resident of the town held the position until the coming of Daniel Emery Hill, whose sketch and portrait are here subjoined. The office was moved to its present location during his term of service. The name was changed to Tilton post office in 1869.
Major O. C. Wyatt was the next from Northfield to hold the place. At present, Luther H. Morrill, also from our town, with quarters greatly enlarged and improved, leaves nothing to be desired in the way of efficiency and promptness. (See portrait.)
NORTHFIELD DEPOT POST OFFICE.
Merrill M. Moore was the first holder of this office. He was a trader and the mail was kept at his store. When, later, the store was burned, the office was moved to the depot and kept by Amos M. Cogswell, who was also station agent. A store being built later by Leonard Gerrish, he was chosen to fill the office, from whom it passed to Charles Henry Ayers. After some years it was discontinued, but re-established in 1870 by Sumner A. Dow, who conducted it until his removal from town. It was then kept by William C. French for 16 years and has recently been dis- continued, since the region is now covered by two rural delivery routes.
. LUTHER H. MORRILL.
DANIEL EMERY HILL.
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MISCELLANEOUS.
DANIEL E. HILL. (See portrait.)
Daniel Emery Hill, son of John Hill and Mahala Rollins, was born in Northfield, September 7, 1833. He came of Revolutionary stock and his ancestors were among the first settlers of the town, coming here from Salisbury, Mass., in 1780, and settling on Bay Hill.
On the farm where his father was born Mr. Hill grew to boyhood and was educated in the town district schools and at the old academy, which then stood on Academy Hill, near the site of the seminary of today.
In the year 1858 Mr. Hill was united in marriage to Mary Otis Young, daughter of Thomas J. and Ann Kimball Young, and great granddaughter of the Rev. Winthrop Young, for 35 years-from 1796 to 1831-pastor of the Free Baptist Church in Canterbury.
In the ancestral home on Bay Hill the greater part of their married life was spent. For a few years Mr. Hill was connected with the bag- gage department of the Old Colony Railroad, when they resided in Boston. In 1889 Mr. F. B. Shedd of Lowell, Mass., purchased of Mr. Hill his estate on Bay Hill, for a summer residence.
After an interval of four years, during which time Mr. and Mrs. Hill made an extended stay in California and claimed residence in Concord, they returned to Northfield and purchased of J. G. Davis the residence off Summer Street, where Mrs. Hill now lives.
Mr. Hill passed away October 2, 1899, after a very brief illness, with heart disease. He was honored by his fellow-townsmen with many positions of public trust. For three terms he served Merrimack County as commissioner and for 10 years filled the office of postmaster of Northfield and Tilton. As a representative of the Republican party, of which he was a staunch supporter, Mr. Hill served his native town in the Legislature of 1897. For more than a score of years he was a . devoted member of the Doric Lodge of Masons.
ANNEXATION TO TILTON.
A "bill" was presented to the New Hampshire Legislature in 1901 by citizens of Tilton and Northfield, asking that the "town of Northfield in the county of Merrimack be and hereby is severed from said county and annexed to the town of Tilton and made a part of Belknap County."
Section two provided for all lawsuits then in progress.
Section three provided for a just division regarding county debts; and other "sections," 12 in all, dealt with paupers, selling town house, schools and other matters of existing alliances, etc.
This measure was backed by a petition of 45 legal voters, 10 of whom were owners of real estate in Northfield and another
13
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
from the residents of Tilton, containing 93 names. A publie meeting of the citizens of Northfield was held and the town authorized Messrs. O. C. Wyatt and Frank Shaw, two of its selectmen, and a special committee of four, consisting of Albert C. Lord, W. S. Hill, Byron Shaw and Clarence W. Whicher, to vigorously oppose the measure. They were reinforced by a peti- · tion containing the names of 215 legal voters and representing property to the value of $400,000.
Northfield was asked to give up her name and corporate exist- ence and 17,000 acres of territory. Just what the consideration was is not given in the bill, unless it was given in article or section eight, which reads as follows: "All real and personal property, including all debts, uncollected taxes, claims and demands of every kind, now owned by and due to the said town of Northfield shall become the property of the town of Tilton as constituted by this Act but all moneys on hand belonging to said town of North- field and all money collected from outstanding claims, and money received from the sale of the Northfield town house, should it be voted to sell such house, after the payments of debts shall be expended in the territory comprising the town of Northfield as constituted prior to the passage of this Act towards constructing a system of sewers.'
Public meetings were called and private consultations held along the byways and highways. Legislative hearings, with Messrs. Jewett and Plumer of Laconia and Judge W. B. Fellows of Tilton as counsel for the petitioners and Judge Charles F. Stone of Laconia, Sargent & Niles of Concord, Hon. E. B. S. San- born and Barron Shirley as counsel for defendants, debated the case with much warmth and spirit. The committee on towns struggled with the question week after week and finally submitted the bill February 21, 1902, in both majority and minority reports.
A majority of seven recommended its passage under a new draft, which asked for the village portion of the town only, which contained 67 per cent. of the whole valuation and 16 miles of highway, leaving the balance of the town with 64 miles of high- way and 33 per cent. of valuation.
The minority of five, consisting of Messrs. Melvin of Lyme, Whiting of Tamworth, Hicks of Colebrook, Jones of New Dur- ham and Andrews of Somersworth, in a report covering three
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columns of newspaper print, strenuously opposed the passage of the bill in any form.
After much debate, on February 27, 1902, it was declared inex- pedient to legislate by a vote of 275 to 33. The outcome caused great rejoicing and many of those who favored the change in the outset retracted their position long before the matter reached its final issue.
A grand ratification meeting was held on the evening of March 7, 1902, and if the enthusiasm shown was any pledge of the love of the citizens for their dear old mother town, Northfield has reason to be proud of her sons and daughters. That she escaped so great a peril adds a keener joy to her Old Home Day festivities.
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CHAPTER X.
CLIMATIC DISTURBANCES AND CASUALTIES.
Our town has been wonderfully free from climatic disturbances such as have distressed the inhabitants of more favored localities, but a few of minor importance I have deemed worthy of notice. These will be given without chronological order or rank as to importance.
In 1867 the farm buildings of John G. Brown were destroyed by fire, including one horse, several hogs and 17 head of cattle. Supposed to be of incendiary origin.
James Batchelder, living on Coos Brook, is supposed to have fallen asleep on the bank while fishing and was drowned.
January 19, 1876, Taylor & Parker's store, on the site of the present Northfield grocery company's store, with George Baker's printing office, were burned.
July 3, 1865, a railroad accident occurred near the Winslow crossing, whereby the engine, "Paugus," and a large number of freight cars were completely wrecked and David Ferguson fatally scalded. An excursion to The Weirs the next day was cancelled, as the road was impassable.
In the spring of 1857 a disastrous fire occurred at Northfield Depot. The wood shed, containing 400 cords of dry wood and many hundred cords outside, together with wood-sawing machin- ery and water tank, were totally destroyed. The fire ran through the field and woods for nearly a mile.
All trains were delayed for 10 hours, the track being twisted so it was impassable.
Two sad cases of drowning occurred among the students of the seminary, who were at first allowed sports on the Winnepesaukee. A young man named Tebbetts was drowned at the "steep eddy" while bathing, and another named Wilkins was carried over the .
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dam near the upper bridge with a boating party. All but one were rescued.
"Tom Roby's train" was derailed near the Forrest crossing one intensely hot day, August, 1881 (1), by the spreading of the rails, and Patch Clifford received injuries from which he never fully recovered.
Samuel T. Holmes' barn was demolished by a cyclone, June 28, 1879.
Samuel Sewall's house on Bay Street burned April 26, 1877. Doubtless an incendiary fire.
July, 1852, - - Stockdale was fatally injured in a prema- ture blast in the cut below the village during the construction of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad. Levi Cross also received fatal injuries at the same place.
Residence of Benjamin Glines struck by lightning, June 17, 1898, but escaped destruction. It was burned April 28, 1901.
Nat. Bean was frozen to death during a winter storm ..
Lightning destroyed the farm buildings of Deacon Gardiner S. Abbott, June, 1878.
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