USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Northwood > History of Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood, comprised within the original limits of Nottingham, Rockingham County, N.H., with records of the centennial proceedings at Northwood, and genealogical sketches > Part 39
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Nottingham > History of Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood, comprised within the original limits of Nottingham, Rockingham County, N.H., with records of the centennial proceedings at Northwood, and genealogical sketches > Part 39
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Deerfield > History of Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood, comprised within the original limits of Nottingham, Rockingham County, N.H., with records of the centennial proceedings at Northwood, and genealogical sketches > Part 39
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WHITE FAMILY.
William White, the first ancestor of Nathaniel White in this country, came from the County of Norfolk, England, about 1635, and was one of the original grantees of the town of Haverhill, Mass. Among his descendants were many distinguished men : the Phillips brothers, who founded the academies at Exeter and Andover, the Gilmans, Pea- bodys, Quincys, etc. Nathaniel White, who settled at Deer- field in the year 1806, was of the fourth generation from William White. His father was Hon. Phillips White of South Hampton, who was an officer in the army at Lake George, and a zealous patriot in the Revolution ; was a mem- ber of the provincial congress of New Hampshire, held in Ex- eter, December, 1775, which adopted the first state consti-
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HISTORY OF DEERFIELD.
tution in this country, six months before the Declaration of Independence. He was one of the committee of safety, member of the state legislature, and speaker of the House, judge of probate, member of the convention, 1778, and representative in Congress in 1780. His appearance is de- scribed as having a strong resemblance to that of Gen. Washington.
Nathaniel White, his son, who settled in Deerfield, and died in 1806, aged forty-five years, left six children. Phil- lips, his oldest son, was a sea-captain, and died in South Hampton. Nathaniel, the second son, was for many years engaged in mercantile pursuits in Deerfield. He afterwards removed to Amesbury, where he was for a number of years cashier of the Powow River Bank. He was one of the first settlers of the city of Lawrence, cashier of the Bay State Bank for twenty years, and treasurer of the Essex Savings Bank. He was one of the original members of the first church in that city. He died, 1866, at the age of seventy-five years, honored and respected. Theophilus Morrill, the third son, married the oldest daughter of Rev. Nathaniel Wells. He was early engaged in mercantile pur- suits, but afterwards retired to the family estate, and is still living on the original White farm. His son is president of the Boston and Mainc Railroad. John Thomas, the young- est son, removed to Medford, Mass., in 1817. He is still living, and has been for thirty years sheriff and collector of taxes in that town, and is a prominent man in the town, and in the church, of which he is an active member. Of the daughters, Sally, the oldest, died of yellow fever, in New- buryport, at the early age of fifteen years. Lydia married Charles Hodge, a sea-captain of Newburyport, where she resided for fifty years. She still lives in Lawrence, at the advanced age of ninety-one years. Mary, the youngest daughter, married Josiah Houghton, a lawyer of Deerfield. She survived her husband for twelve years, and died in Deerfield in 1847.
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HISTORY OF DEERFIELD.
WOODMAN FAMILY.
The ancestor of the Woodman family in America was Edward, who, in company with Mr. Archielaus Woodman, settled at Newbury, Mass., in 1635. They were passengers in the ship " James," whichi sailed from Southampton in the month of April of that year. It is believed they were brothers. Edward and Archelaus were for many years among the leading men of Newbury. Archelaus died Oc- tober 14, 1702, leaving no children. Edward was living in 1687 ; luis wife's name was Joanna, and they had seven children, four sons and three daughters; the sons were, (1) Edward, (2) John, (3) Joshua, (4) Jonathan ; hence the four great branches of the Woodman family.
(1) Edward had two sons, Edward and Archelaus; and this Edward had five sons, John, Samuel, Joseph, Edward, and Daniel ; Archelaus had six sons, Edward, Archelaus, Joshua of Kingston, John, Joseph, and Benjamin.
(2) John had two sons, John and Jonathan ; and this Jonathan had six sons, John, Jonathan, Joseph, Edward, Dowing, and Archelaus.
(?) Joshua had four sons, Jonathan, David, Joshua, and Benjamin ; and this Jonathan had five sons, Joshua, Jona- than, David, Stephen, and Nathaniel; and David, son of Joshua, had five sons, Moses, David, John, Benjamin, and Samuel ; Benjamin, son of Joshua, of the second genera- tion, had seven sons, Joseph, Benjamin, Joshua, David, Jonathan, Nathan, and Stephen.
(4) Jonathan had three sons, Jonathan, Ichabod, and William ; and this Jonathan had two sons, Jonathan and Hilton ; Ichiabod had one son, Ichabod.
The children of Edward and Joanna Woodman were : -
(1) Edward, who settled at Newbury; (2) John, who was born about 1630, married Mary Field, July 15, 1656 ; settled at Dover, now Durham ; she died July 6, 1698 ; he married, for his second wife, Mrs. Sarah Huckins, October 17, 1700 ; he died September 17, 1706; had two children,
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HISTORY OF DEERFIELD.
John and Jonathan ; he settled in Durham more than two hundred years ago. The garrison is standing now which he built; is owned, and occupied by his descendants, never having been out of the name.
The issue of Jonathan was : -
Edward Woodman, who married Martha Doe December 18, 1740 ; their children were: (1) John, born September 18, 1742; (2) Edward, born May 3, 1746; (3) Samuel, born September 19, 1749; (4) Elizabeth, born November 18, 1753 ; (5) David, born September 13, 1757 ; (6) Eben- ezer, born March 29, 1760.
The children of Samuel Woodman and Lydia Durgin were : -
(1) Martha, born October 17, 1775; (2) Susan, born April 15, 1777 ; (3) Samuel, born May 14, 1779; (4) Ed- ward, born December 10, 1781; (5) Susan, born June 8, 1784 ; (6) Lydia, born January 2, 1787; (7) Mehitable, born January 8, 1790 ; (8) Saralı, born February 10, 1792 ; (9) Lewis, born April 24, 1794 ; (10) Lewis, born October 11, 1796.
The children of Samuel and Anna Woodman were : -
(1) Mary, born 1804; (2) Samuel, born November 26, 1806, married Sarah Gile, born March 20, 1807; their children were: (1) John and Joseph, twins, born 1808; (2) Andrew K., born 1810; (3) Nancy, born 1812.
Andrew Chapman and Mary Woodman (of the seventh generation) had one son, Samuel W.
Joseph Woodman had one son, Samuel.
The children of Andrew and Betsey Woodman were : James K., Ira H., John, and Samuel.
James K. Woodman had one son and three daughters ; the son's name was Charles; Ira H. Woodman had one son, Arthur ; John Woodman had one son, Almon.
Tradition says, that the father of the first Edward, and another son, came to America, but on landing became dis- couraged, and returned to England in the same ship, the "James."
HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
Buffon Boste^
Elliotple, bogowell,
HISTORICAL ADDRESS,
DELIVERED AT THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION IN NORTHWOOD, SEPTEMBER 6, 1873,
BY ELLIOTT C. COGSWELL.
T THE mother has called home her children, far scattered amid the activities of busy marts, and homes on the hills and in the vales of the vast empire. Her summons has been heard amid the pines of Maine, and the golden sands of California. To every son and daughter she has said, " I am now one hundred years old." A century is a long period. Mighty revolutions have occurred during these years, and events that have agitated all the empires of earth. But, though old, she is not wrinkled, nor infirm. Her face is fairer from age, and her step is all the more elastic by reason of years, and her heart is as full of the warm, gushing passion of love for her offspring as when they nestled in her arms, or slept on her bosom. She in- vites back to the home of their childhood her dear offspring, not to fill their ears with the story of her woes, but, as a young mother, once more to caress her offspring, and romp and sport and feast with them, that they may taste again the pleasures of the old homestead-life, live childhood over again in the kitchen and chambers under roofs that shel- tered sons, sires, and grandsires; in gardens where the peach, pear, and apple tempted the appetite; in fields where harvests smiled ; in pastures where the ox and cow,
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HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
the horse and the sheep, roamed ; in the forests where the shade cooled, the soft winds refreshed, and the bird charmed them. She spreads her table, around which all her chil- dren may gather, not to partake of richer food or rarer lux- uries, but to taste of the home-made bread which the mother's hands have made, and the cup which the mother's hand has poured, while they on each other gaze and witness the smile, and hear the voice of the venerable parent ; and where she may, once more, and all together, bless her sons and her daughters, as they return to their new-formed homes, or start once more to battle in life's rugged path- way.
The mother has not forgotten the throes of child-birth, nor the joy she felt when young life craved nourishment at her breast ; nor has she forgotten, or ceased to care for, her grown-up offspring, who, fledged, have flown from the nest where maternal love fostered the helpless, but growing re- semblances of herself. Hence, she has spread this feast in love, and called to her presence the absent, not to chide them for follies, but to joy with their joy, and to incite them to higher aims, and nobler resolves. And her lan- guage to-day is :-
" Welcome home again, ye children ! Welcome to your native town ! Laden each with well-earned honors, - We are glad in your renown ; Every heart in pleasure beating With an honest, grateful glow, That our fathers this location Sought, one hundred years ago."
And your response to the mother's call is as cordial as the invitation was sincere and tender. Yielding to a com- mon instinct of our nature, you have come from distant and varying lines of activity to share in this feast of friendship. The broad prairies of the West, the orange groves of the South, and the stirring marts of the Middle and the Eastern
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HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
states, have instinctively yielded you up and constrained you to obey the desire of your nature to revisit the scenes of your childhood. For, -
" Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself has said, This is my own, my native. town ! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned, From tarrying in another clime ?"
The eye and the heart of every one of you have turned at the summons, to this high swell of land, whence Mt. Wash- ington, calm and stern in summer, but cold and boisterous in winter, whence Belknap, Kearsarge, Pawtuckaway, Sad- dleback, and Blue Ridge, may be seen, kissed by the earliest rays of the morning sun, and on which linger the fading beams of declining light; whence may be traced the fair towns of Massachusetts and of Maine, names ever dear to the sons and daughters of New Hampshire ; whence may be seen the blue waters of the Atlantic, whitened with her sails by day, or sparkling with her beacons by night ; yes, the eye and the heart of every one of you turned to these miniature inland seas, sparkling like gems on the breast of beauty, uniting their waters to swell the Merrimack and the Isinglass, and then pouring their waters into the At- lantic. In these you have bathed your heated foreheads, or plunged your youthful bodies, when released from the toils of a summer day, or in them you have caught the hungry pickerel or the smaller tribes that abound in these waters ; yes, the eye and the heart of every one of you turned to this broad highway, extending for eight miles, through the en- tire length of the town, adorned with beautiful farms, and set on either side with neat, white cottages, or more stately dwellings, with the stir of trade or the noise of handicraft ; and you have exclaimed,
" This is my own, my native town."
33
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HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
Hither with hurrying steps you have come, and to these, all so smiling in gladness, we bid you welcome ; nay, these mute objeets reach out their hands to you, and, by the smiles they give, say to every one of you, " Welcome back again, ye children that have strayed from us, and all, the lakes and streams, the hills and valleys, the fields and for- ests, the cottages and the mansions, are at your service and for your pleasure."
Sadder associations may have been not less influential in inclining hither some of you. Hearthstones forsaken ; graves fresh and moistened with sorrow's teardrops, or grassed over and imperfeetly marked and long neglected ; graves of fathers and mothers, and of earlier generations who first grappled with the sturdy oak and lofty pine, - may have attracted you irresistibly to the place of your birth ; and to these we bid you welcome. We invite you to the task of finding their resting-plaees ; the foundations of early and rude habitations ; whence they came; the char- acters they sustained ; the deeds they wrought, "and the works that do follow them." It is but just that you snatch from oblivion the names and the deeds of the pioneer settlers. Three generations have already passed, in the grand march to eternity, since the hardy adventurer stepped foot on what is now our fair inheritance. Here, and now, as the century gathers its mantle about itself, it behooves their posterity to gather up the scattered, and rapidly di- minishing, fragments of their history, and rear a monument to perpetuate their memory, for the honor of the past, the comfort of the present, and the advantage of the coming generations. And, indeed, we have met to-day " to chron- icle events, while we glean in the field of recollection; to pause in the rapid round of years, review the past, and make a record; to witness the closing scenes of a dying century, and raise a monument, and traee upon it a brief inscription to its memory. Though the range of immedi- ate inquiry is narrow and special, the task of its examina-
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tion, which we propose to ourselves on this occasion, is not devoid of general interest."
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The century preceding that in which our town history is involved, was one of comparatively small beginnings through- out New England. In the territory now known as New Hampshire, small settlements, independent of each other, had been made at Dover, Portsmouth, Excter, Hampton, and elsewhere. As they suffered from the misrule of men claiming proprietorship of territory, and from the unfriend- liness of some of the Indian tribes, they sought protection from the State of Massachusetts. This state had claimed that the territories of New Hampshire and Maine were in- cluded within the limits of their original charter, and will- ingly took these settlements under their care, which proved not a little beneficial. Immigrants from England came in greater numbers, not only increasing settlements already existing, but pushing further from the sca-coast into the in- terior, making settlements at Epping, Lee, and Nottingham. Nottingham was incorporated as early as 1722, including what may now be known as Deerfield and Northwood, in addition to its present limits. Deerfield was incorporated as a town in 1766. But the eyes of the energetic and rest- less settlers of the lower towns did not fail to observe the high slope of land lying on a line between Portsmouth and Concord. Hunters found this region abounding in game, and gave, on their return to settlements nearer the coast, glowing descriptions of the excellence of the soil and the richness of the forests. A few liad from time to time con- structed temporary huts, and purposed permanent settle- ments ; but they were not the men to fell the trees and rear a population so remote from any considerable settlement as wa: this tract of country long known as North Woods.
In 1762, there arrived in thic east part of the town, and halted there for the night, four wearied, weather-beaten,
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determined inen. The day was one of those warm, sunny days in spring, when the south winds blow, and the heart leaps with joy at the sight of fresh soil and green leaves, and at the sound of the blue jay and the cunning raven, as well as at the plaintive strains of the thrush. These men each bore upon their shoulders an ax and a gun, with provisions to last them a few days. No wife, no child, ac- companied them. They build their booth of pine boughs, kindle their fire, and, partaking of their rude fare, lay them down for rest. Wearied as they were, they could not sleep without interruption from the howlings of the wolves in their vieinity. On the morrow, they survey the tract of land around their camp-fire, and find it to be a beautiful swell, sloping towards the rising sun, in the neighborhood of meadows abounding in forage and adequate water-power for mills. Three of these men, Moses Godfrey, John and Increase Batchelder, resolved here to make for themselves permanent homes, while the fourth, Solomon Biekford, re- solved to look further. Accompanied by Godfrey, he spot- ted his way over the height, where the eye may detect the blue waters of the Atlantie, and reached the north-western part of the town, now known as " The Narrows." And here, too, were meadows abounding in forage and water- power ; and in sight of these, and near the gem of lakes, the Suneook, he ereeted his pillar and resolved to build and abide.
One of the great obstacles to the taking of new lands re- mote from other settlements, is the want of forage for eat_ tle, so essential to success. It requires several years to clear the land and bring it into grass sufficient to sustain any number of eattle both summer and winter. Hence these sensible men resolved to obviate this by making their settlements near where a supply was already provided in meadows, of which they took possession, with none to dis- pute their right. And, more than this, they were both farm- ers and mill-wrights, and they knew, if they would gather
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HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
around them other families, they must be able to furnish building materials ; and so they sought the water-fall, and planned at onee the rude mill that should meet this urgent want.
Godfrey and the Batehelders naturally affiliated, being from the same neighborhood, and of the same religions ten- dencies, and expected many others of like sympathies to follow them ; while Biekford saw that it would be better for him to seize a point around which he could gather his friends, and those in sympathy with him ; while both parties ever afterwards sustained the friendliest relations.
Bickford and Godfrey returned to the camp, around which the Batehelders had effeeted a elearing, and all aided in erecting a log house for Godfrey, in a field now owned by Nicholas D. Hill, west of the turnpike, for God- frey was a married man, while the Batchielders were not. Having made rude beginnings, these four friends returned, Bickford to Lee, Godfrey and the Batchelders to Hampton, now North Hampton ; and, on the twenty-fifth day of the following Mareh (1763), Godfrey, with his family, and John and Inerease Batchelder returned to occupy the land they had chosen, the Batehelders boarding with Godfrey, until they might build near him, where now stands the house of Franeis J. Hanson. Theirs was the first frame house built in Northwood.
In December following, Biekford, with his family and his brother John, returned to possess the land at the Nar- rows, building where stood the dwelling-house of the late Deacon Asa Bickford, where was born to him a son, named Solomon, June 25, 1764, the first child born within the present limits of Northwood.
The next man that eame was Samuel Johnson, from Hampton. He spent the first night following the day of his arrival between two rocks that had been rent, one from the other, spreading over them a eovering of boughs. This was near where now stands the house of Charles O. Brown,
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HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
and close by the base of these rocks lie the ashes of the good man, and of many of his descendants. Johnson's arrival was in November, 1765, when there were only twelve persons within the present limits of the town ; five men, Godfrey, John and Increase Batchelder, Solomon and John Bickford, and two women, the wives of Godfrey and Solo- mon Bickford, and five children.
These Batchelders were the descendants of the Rev. Ste- phen Batchelder, who arrived at Boston, June 5, 1632, having sailed with his family in the ship " William and Francis." He immediately went to Lynn, where, on the following sabbath, June 8, he preached his first sermon in America. From Lynn, February, 1636, he removed to Ips- wich, and soon after to Yarmouth, and in 1638 to Newbury. On the 6th of September, it would appear, the General Court gave him permission to settle a town at Hampton. Hither, with his family and some personal friends, he came, and was installed the first minister of Hampton. In the year 1654, he returned to England, and died at Hackney, near London, in 1660, in his one hundredth year. He left in this country two sons, Henry, who is believed to have settled in Reading, Mass., and Nathaniel, who remained in Hampton, from whom descended the Batchelders who ear- liest came to Northwood ; for he had a son named Samuel, and his sous settled here; two at first, and a little later, two others.
It appears that these noble pioneers were soon followed by Daniel Hoyt, Jonathan, Thomas, and Ebenezer Knowl- ton, brothers, from Kensington, Jonathan and Taylor Clark, brothers, from Stratham, Jonathan Jenness from Rye, John, Simeon, and Benjamin Johnson, brothers, Joshua Furber, Abraham and Samuel Batchelder, and others, so that the high places of the town were taken possession of, mills had been erected, and paths with bridges had been con- structed, leading to the various settlements along the cen- tral line through the town from south to north in the
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HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
direction of Concord, as well as over the swells of land on either side, as early as 1772. And as this portion of Not- tingham was so far from what was then the center of busi- ness, the inhabitants began to agitate the propriety of being erected into a separate township. Accordingly, at the ses- sion of the General Court in 1773, a petition was presented by the inhabitants for an act of incorporation ; and this was granted, February 6, 1773, while John Wentworth was Governor of the Province, and George the Third was king of England. We do not know the exact number of the inhabitants of Northwood when erected into a separate parish or town. But two years later, that is, in 1775, the town numbered three hundred and thirteen.
The following is the act of incorporation : -
INCORPORATION.
Anno Regni Regis Georgii tertii Magna Britannia, Francia, et Hibernia, decimo Tertio.
An Act to sett off Part of the Town of Nottingham into a distinct Parish by the name of Northwood.
Whereas a number of the Inhabitants of Nottingham in this Prov- ince have petitioned the general Assembly to be sett off and erected into a distinct Parish agreeable to a vote of said Town set forth in said Petition and after public notice thereof given, no Person hath appeared to oppose the same; and the same appearing to be for the public good -
Be it therefore enacted by the Governor Council and Assembly that that Part of the said Town of Nottingham which was to the north- westward of Long Street so called and is bounded Southwesterly on Deerfield Line be and hereby is sett off from said Town of Notting- ham and erected into and established to be a distinct and separate Parish by the Name of Northwood ;
And that the Inhabitants thereof be invested with all Powers and Privileges by Law invested in any Parish within this Province; And are hereby fully exempted from paying any further Tax to the said Town of Nottingham except the Province Tax which they shall con- tinue to pay there until a new Proportion be made. And Benjamin Johnson of said Parish is hereby authorized and impowered to call the first meeting of said Parish of Northwood for the choise of Parish
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HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
officers by setting up a Notification thereof in some public Place in said Parish fourteen Days beforehand and to govern said meeting untill a moderator be chosen, and then they are to proceed to the. choice of said officers as the Law directs.
PROVINCE OF
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 5 February 6, 1773.
This Bill having been read three times, Voted that it pass to be- enacted.
J. WENTWORTH, Speaker.
IN COUNCIL, Feby 6th, 1773 ..
This Bill was read a third time and passed to be enacted.
THEODORE ATKINSON, Secretary.
Consented.
J. WENTWORTH.
Benjamin Johnson was authorized to call the first meet- ing of the town for the choice of officers and the transac- tion of other business. Accordingly a meeting was notified " at the house of mister Volintine kinson," March 23, 1773, at which Benjamin Johnson was chosen moderator; Increase Batchelder, clerk ; and Benjamin Hill, Joseph Demerit, and Samuel Johnson, selectmen ; Moses Godfrey was chosen constable ; and the selectmen were instructed to settle with Nottingham, matters growing out of the act of incorpora- tion, while Asel Blake and William Blake were tithing- men ; William Wallace and John Harvey fencc-viewers ;. Jonathan Knowlton, Asel Blake, Solomon Bickford, and Daniel Hoitt were surveyors of highways; Zeblon Norris and John Harvey were chosen hog-reeves; Solomon Bick- ford, leather-sealer.
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