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 57
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 57
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 57
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Elizabeth F., daughter of Levi Mead, born March 13, 1802, died April 7, 1839 ; Martha W., born April 23, 1804, became the wife of Deacon William Frost of Andover, Mass., having one son, William E. Louisa F., daughter of Levi Mead, born June 3, 1806, became the wife of Ben- jamin Coe of South Newmarket, and died February 24, 1868, leaving one daughter, Annie, born September 26, 1845. Mary Ann, daughter of Levi Mead, born April 23, 1809, became the wife of Abner Newhall of Lynn, Mass., where they now reside.
There are three branches of the Mead family : one in New Hampshire, the second in Pennsylvania, and the third in Connecticut. John Mead was a sea-captain in his early days, whose large sea-chest or trunk is still in the Plumer family at Epping. He lived in Stratham, married the daughter of Col. Folsom of Newmarket, and ultimately re- moved to that town. This Col. Folsom lived in an old brick garrison-house which might, until recently, have been seen on the road between Newmarket village and South Newmarket, where now stands the house of Constantine
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Mathes. The grandmother of Mrs. Plumer, of Epping, was born in that house. When about ten years old, one night between daylight and dark as she stepped out of doors, she saw an Indian peeping around the side of the house ; she ran quickly in and gave the alarm. That night two families who lived near were carried off by the Indians into Canada. This was in the beginning of the French and Indian war, and the first intimation that war had com- menced. This John Mead had five daughters : Rhoda married a Willey of Deerfield ; Mary, a Shute of North- wood ; another a Mr. Doe. The sons were : Benjamin, who lived in Newmarket; John, who lived in Deerfield ; Jeremy, the youngest, who lived on the homestead where Mr. Edwin Bennett now resides ; and Levi, who came to Northwood and settled where his son, Levi Hilton, now lives. He was a worthy citizen and a valuable helper in the town's struggle for a permanent and honorable existence.
MORRISON FAMILY.
Among the first settlers of Northwood who made a per- manent residence here prior to the close of the American Revolution, and one who took an early and an active part in that conflict which changed these British colonies into an in- dependent government, may be mentioned Robert Morrison.
He was the son of James Morrison, and was born at Nottingham Square, June 12, 1752, in the house built and occupied in 1728 by his grandfather, William Morrison, who was one of the first settlers, and, at that time, a pro- prietor in the township.
Both William Morrison and his wife, whose name was Mary Henry, were natives of Scotland, having been born there previous to 1690, at which time they bade adieu to the homes of their childhood, and, with their parents, left the wild scenery of " Bonny Scotland," -
" Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, Land of the mountain and the flood, Land of their sires !"
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and took up their residence in the " Emerald Isle." Here, several years after, they were married ; and here their son James, the only one who lived to manhood, was born, May 7,1725.
At this time the tide of emigration was setting toward New England; and favorable reports coming from their relatives, who, a few years before, had settled in London- derry, N. H., a new impulse was given, a company formed, and a vessel chartered, which sailed from Port Rush in the north of Ireland, August 7, 1726, and arrived in Boston on the 8th of October following.
Some of the party went directly to Londonderry, others to Groton ; while William Morrison, William Kelsey, and others, who afterwards settled in Nottingham, hired tenements for their families in Boston until they could examine the various localities offered for settlement, and prepare suitable accommodations for them in their future homes.
James Harvey, however, with his family of eight children, all born in Ireland between February 10, 1710, and Decem- ber 27, 1722, pushed on to Haverhill, reaching there October 16, and the next April went to Londonderry, but after- wards settled on Fish Street in Nottingham, where he died, May 4, 1742. Some of his descendants have since occupied posts of honor and trust in our state and national councils, as well as in the field and on the judicial bench.
Among the first settlers of Nottingham, the Scotch ele- ment formed no inconsiderable part, as the following names, taken from the proprietors' record, fully show ; viz., Andrew McClary, William Morrison, David Morrison, William Kel- sey, Robert Kelsey, Jolin McCrillis, William McCrillis, James Harvey, John Harvey, Francis Harvey, William Nealley, Andrew Nealley, Matthew Nealley, James Maxwell, Robert Beard, Simon Beard, Andrew Simpson, James Simpson, Neal McGaw, Hugh Montgomery, Jolin Dinsmore, Robert McCurdy, and Thomas Allison.
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Thomas Allison, finding iron ore in Barrington, purchased the lot, erected a forge, and manufactured iron, which was used by the first settlers until a better quality of imported iron could readily be obtained. He married a daughter of William Kelsey, and their granddaughter became the mother of a distinguished member of Congress, B. F. But- ler, from Essex district, Mass.
The proprietors of Nottingham selected for their first place of settlement an elevated swell of land, commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country, laid out in the center a public square, from which radiated at right angles from each other four streets, named King, Fish, Bow, and North streets, on which they surveyed and num- bered one hundred and thirty lots, corresponding with the number of proprietors. These lots were restricted to ten acres each, having a front of twenty rods on the street, and running back eighty.
Besides these, were four other lots, of five acres each, on the corner of the Square; one of which was assigned to Gov. Shute, one to Lieut .- Gov. Wentworth, and two were reserved for a parsonage and school-house.
The survey of these lots was completed in 1727, when they were distributed by lot among the proprietors at their annual meeting held at Exeter.
Only twenty-six shares were owned in New Hampshire, forty-three in Newbury and vicinity, and sixty-one in Bos- ton, where William Morrison purchased of one Robert Knox, for sixty-six pounds lawful money, " the original right of James Stringer, including the Home-lot No. 39 on Fish street." On this lot he built a house, into which he removed his family from Boston in the autumn of 1728, where they continued to reside until 1757, when he sold the premises to Matthew Nealley, and with his aged partner, who had shared with him the trials as well as the happi- ness of a well-spent life, which now appeared to be drawing to a close, took up his residence with his son James, on the
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corner of the Square. Their decease soon followed, and they became the first occupants of what is now Judge But- ler's cemetery.
Although William Morrison had passed his three-score years and ten in 1754, he served that year on the board of selectmen, was auditor of accounts the year following, and, during the last three years of his active life, he was ap- pointed on three several committees, on one of which he was chairman to procure a minister for permanent settlement, when they invited the Rev. Samuel Mcclintock, a young clergyman of Scotch descent, who, however, accepted a preferable call from Greenland, where he became a distin- guished divinc. Both William Morrison and his wife died in 1758, about the age of seventy-four, in the house built and occupied by their son James in 1756; which house and lot he sold to Dr. Samuel Shepard in 1765 for one thousand pounds, and which was the residence of Gen. Henry Dearborn when he left Nottingham to join the American army in 1775. From this circumstance, the five- acre lot on which it stood, now owned by Hon. James But- ler, is called the " Dearborn Field."
James Morrison removed to Deerfield in 1774, where he died November 13, 1798, in his seventy-fourth year, having been twice married; first, to Mary Kelsey, daughter of William Kelsey, who was born in Boston, April 26, 1727, and again in 1756, to Martha White ; his first wife having died two years previous. Both of his wives died in Not- tingham, where his eleven children were born, and except one, that died in infancy, all lived to become of age. He and six of his children, viz., Henry, born May 5, 1761; Hugh, born February 23, 1763 ; John W., born September 18, 1764 ; Mary, born April 15, 1766; Jane, born March 12, 1768 ; Martha, born March 17, 1770, all died in Deer- field, and were interred in the Veasey Cemetery, situated on an eminence adjoining their homestead, where tablets to the memory of each may be found by their relatives.
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Only four of James Morrison's sons were ever married. All being farmers, each one purchased a farm on which lie continued to reside through life, rearing a family of chil- dren, and leaving it unencumbered to his heirs.
William Morrison, his eldest son, born August 15, 1750, settled in Bridgeton, Me., where he died October 23, 1821, aged seventy-one, leaving four sons and two daughters.
Capt. James Morrison, born September, 1754, served several years in the army of the Revolution, where for some time he was a member of Gen. Lee's body-guard, and settled in Parsonsfield, Me., where he died in 1840, aged eighty-six, retaining, like the late Gov. Pierce, his military air to the close of life.
Isaac Morrison, born February 3, 1760, settled in Pem- broke; his townsmen sent him some fourteen years to the legislature, and retained him on the board of selectmen more than twenty ; he died January 9, 1846, aged eighty- six, leaving in that town two sons, Capt. John Morrison and Capt. James Morrison, and several daughters ; his son Henry, who owned and occupied the old homestead in Deerfield, having previously died, leaving one son, Capt. Isaac Henry Morrison, who has since represented that town in the legislature, and commanded a company in the Elev- enth New-Hampshire Regiment at the battle of Fredericks- burg, where he was wounded, and who is now the only representative of the family name in Deerfield.
Robert Morrison, whose name has before been mentioned, was one of a company of young men who left Nottingham on the receipt of the news announcing the commencement of hostilities at Lexington, in April, 1775; and who re- mained in the same company during the first campaign.
The previous winter had been one of unusual excitement among all classes in the Province of New Hampshire. The proclamation of the king's order in council, prohibiting the importation of powder into the colonies, had aroused the whole people to a sense of their condition ; the inhabitants
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on the Piscataqua and its branchies had seized the powder and guns at Fort William and Mary ; the royal governor had fled to the Isles of Shoals ; a convention of deputies had assembled at Exeter and assumed legislative powers in be- half of the people, appointing delegates to Congress, county magistrates, and a committee of safety with executive powers.
At this critical time, the young men living on and around the Square, where the relations existing between the colonies and the home government were freely dis- cussed, adopting the principle that " self-protection was the first law of nature," formed themselves into a company, and choosing Dr. Henry Dearborn for captain, met at the store of Thomas Bartlett for military drill on suitable evenings during the winter.
News from Lexington on the afternoon of the 20th of April brought them together at the store in the evening ; and the next day found them with shouldered muskets on their way to the scene of civil strife.
They reached Medford on the 22d, and the next day went over to Cambridge, where, for want of field officers from their own state, they put themselves temporarily under those of Massachusetts, but were afterward trans- ferred to Col. Reid's regiment, which, on the night before the 17th of June, was encamped at Medford, not far from Charlestown Neck.
At early dawn, on the morning of the 17th, Robert Mor- rison was selected by Dearborn from his company as one of the picket guard around the redoubt, then being con- structed, which place he reached, to use his own words, " just as the sun was rising, where Gen. Putnam was sitting on his horse, giving the workmen directions how to con- struct it."
He was immediately placed on picket duty, from which he was not discharged until the arrival of the New-Hamp- shire regiments, a short time before the commencement of
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the action, when the guard was dismissed and each mem- ber joined the company to which he belonged.
He was at the rail-fence during the battle, and was one of the small party with and near Major McClary, when he fell in attempting to have "another shot at the enemy," as he expressed himself at the close of the action.
After seeing the body deposited behind a building stand- ing near, in which several balls from a floating battery in Charles River were then lodging, he hastened forward, over- took Capt. Dearborn with the rest of his company, and informed him of the disaster, who sent back sufficient assistance to take it to Medford, where a coffin was fur- nished and it was appropriately interred.
Morrison's services during the day were fully appreciated by the officers in command ; and in September he was appointed bearer of dispatches from Gen. Washington to the Committee of Safety in New Hampshire, directed to " Portsmouth," whom he found, however, in session at Exeter, who received him with more consideration and a warmer cordiality than he had anticipated.
He was, at this time, twenty-three years of age, of a san- guine temperament, with florid complexion, regular features, and a well-formed head; and being the first person the committee had seen who had taken a part in the first pitched battle of the Revolution, in which the New-Hamp- shire troops had borne so conspicuous and so honorable a part, they appeared to look upon him as a fair specimen of the citizen-soldier who had left his plow in the furrow, rushed to the post of danger, and on the fourth day after the first aggressive shot had been fired at Lexington, had enrolled his name at Cambridge, helping to form the very nucleus of that military organization which was to bring out of colonial servitude a new empire, and place a new star in the constellation of nations, and it required no little effort on his part to withdraw himself from their personal attentions and hospitality.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
Unlike his brother James, Robert Morrison had no par- tiality for a military life ; yet, when Burgoyne had taken the posts of Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and was push- ing his troops into New York to form a junction with Sir Henry Clinton on the Hudson and cut off all communica- tion between the North and South, he shouldered the same musket lie had brought home from Winter Hill and marched to the Hudson ; served there during the summer and au- tumn of 1777 ; was at both Stillwater and Saratoga, and, at the latter place, witnessed the surrender of Burgoyne in October.
A few years after returning from Saratoga, he was mar- ried, by the Rev. Mr. Hutchins, to Anna Randall, daughter of Miles Randall, Esq., of Lee, in the garrison of her father, which was built by his father, Nathaniel Randall, in the first part of the century.
Nathaniel Randall was a native of England, who landed at the Isles of Shoals, where he remained a few years, when he came up into that part of Durham which is now Lee, purchased a lot of land, and, on the south side of the Mast Road, built a substantial garrison, which not only protected his own family from the Indians, but served as a place of refuge to the inhabitants whose houses soon after dotted the forest around it.
An aged lady, one of the first scttlers of Northwood, who died here more than fifty years ago (Mrs. Jolin Durgin, whose maiden name was Susan Pitman), told the writer that she had slept in its spacious attic, which on such occa- sions was appropriated to the children, when the floor would be covered by them, sleeping on mats, until the Indians had left the neighborhood.
After the town of Nottingham was surveyed and came into market, he purchased lot No. 29, on Summer Street, where he erected mills and entered extensively into the lumber business, and where he died suddenly in 1748, while inspecting the operation of the mills.
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He had previously seen his children all married and well settled ; his daughter Elizabeth having married Samuel Demeritt of Durham, whose three sons, Andrew, Nathaniel, and Israel, afterwards owned and occupied contiguous farms on the Turnpike in Lee and Durliam ; while Mary had been married to Capt. Jones of Portsmouth, who on his decease left her a large farm in Lee, between the Mast Road and Turnpike, which after her decease was cut up into twenty- eight lots and divided between that number of her nephews and nieces.
To his sons, Nathaniel, Jonathan, and Simon, had been given each a farm in Lee ; and to Miles, the homestead, with the garrison.
Miles Randall took a prominent part in the affairs that immediately followed the proclamation of the king's order in council, sending pine wood and timber to Portsmouth, helping to construct the boom across the river ; and the saltpeter he obtained under his buildings, to Exeter, to be made into gunpowder; and was, in January, 1775, commis- sioned a county magistrate by the authorities at Exeter.
He had many years before been married to Abigail Run- nels, daughter of Job Runnels, who had six children : three sons, Israel, Thomas, and Job, and three daughters, Deborah, Anna, and Lois.
Israel settled in Nottingham, on a farm his father bought of William Nealley, remaining there until Vermont was ad- mitted into the Union, when he removed with his large family to tlie " New State," as it was then called, being one of the first settlers in Danville, in Caledonia County.
Thomas settled in Northwood, on a farm purchased of Capt. Joshua Furber (No. 5, in the seventh range), but soon after emigrated to Canada ; when Job was married and took the same farm, but was the next year recalled to the homestead in Lee, which he inherited on his father's de- cease, near the close of the century, and where he died some forty years since ; a few years previous to which, he
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took down the old garrison and utilized its then sound' timbers in the construction of a new barn.
Deborah married Lieut. Benjamin Chesley of Durham, whose seven sons and four daughters all lived to mature age; and excepting one, Valentine, who died at sea, or in a foreign port, were married.
Lois married Simon Huckins of Lee, where he inherited a farm, which he sold, and with his family moved to Effing- ham, where she died some fifty years ago.
Anna, who on her marriage became Mrs. Morrison, was the last of Miles Randall's children to decease.
Robert Morrison had been from early manhood familiar with the somewhat rough, though varied and picturesque, scenery of the " North Woods," as this part of Nottingham was then called ; with its swelling ridges and deep valleys, its rounded hill-tops and sloping declivities, its winding streams and ten silver lakes, five of which lie in the boson of its hills, and a like number that decorate its borders ; and in 1781 he purchased for himself a farm bordering on one of its little lakes, or ponds as they are here called, to which, on the following spring, he removed from Notting- ham his youthful partner of eighteen summers, where they passed together forty-two years in a quiet, happy home ; improving their farm, and rearing a family of five children, four sons and one daughter, each of whom became the head of a family : Miles, born October 7, 1781; Mary, born February 7, 1785 ; James, born August 7, 1787 ; Jolin, born October 3, 1790; Robert, born June 30, 1797. Selecting James to remain at home, who proved to be a faithful son and a practical farmer, they gave to the other three sons an academical education, and here closed the labors of a useful and exemplary life ; he dying, November 11, 1823, in his seventy-second year ; and his wife, March 21, 1844, at the age of eighty. Their remains now rest in the family cemetery, situated on an eminence overlooking the little lake that washes its base below.
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The homestead has since been owned by the children of Capt. James Morrison, who died August 5, 1823, at the age of thirty-six ; Capt. Miles Morrison died October 12, 1849, aged sixty-eight. Their daughter Mary, who married Capt. Moses Haseltine of Manchester, died in Roxbury (now Bos- ton), Mass., February 10, 1869, aged eighty-four ; and Dr. Jolin Morrison died in Alton, May 17, 1878, in his eighty- eighth year.
Miles, on leaving the academy, applied himself closely to teaching for several years, in which he was successful and popular ; was always cheerful in the school-room, where he was ever respected, and where a mutual attachment usually grew up between the pupil and teacher.
He was married in the autumn of 1806, to Martha, daughter of Deacon Increase Batchelder, and, the next April, settled in Nottingham, where for several years he employed his time industriously in some mechanical pur- suit ; served some years on the board of selectmen ; and seemed never to allow adverse circumstances to discourage him, or to relax liis energies while he had the power to meet the duties of life. His wife died in Nottingham, June 27, 1831, where his children were born, only two of whom now survive, both daughters, and, since their mar- riage, residents of Northwood ; Nancy B. being the wife of Capt. Joshua Hoyt, and Mary J. the wife of Richard Hoyt, Esq.
John taught school for some two years, when he com- menced the study of medicine with Dr. Graves of Deer- field, which he finished with two physicians in Vermont, where he acquired a knowledge of the practice.
He subsequently attended the medical lectures at Dart- mouth College, and, in 1814, received a diploma from the New Hampshire Medical Society, of which he soon after became a member ; was appointed surgeon on board of the privateer " Fox," commissioned by government, in which capacity he was serving when the war closed, in 1815.
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In 1816 he married Mary Randall, daughter of Simon Randall of Lee, and settled as a physician in Alton, where- he had an extensive practice for more than half a century, and acquired a large estate; leaving, on his decease, a widow in her eighty-fifth year, and one daughter, Mary Ann, now the wife of Moses T. Cate, Esq., of Wolfeborough.
Robert, the youngest and now only surviving member of the family, commenced as a teacher of a public school at the age of sixteen ; and, after keeping a winter school, in May, 1814, traveled into the State of New York, where he- obtained a school to which he applied himself closely until the next spring, when he returned home; and, for a few years, alternately kept and went to school at some acad- emy. He then passed two years in a store, one as a part- ner ; after which, he returned again to the academy, and, having obtained some knowledge of chemistry, assisted a lecturer in that science in his laboratory through several courses of lectures. Having already acquired a general knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and read a few authors on the theory and practice of physic, he resolved. on pursuing those studies ; and subsequently qualified him- self for the practice of medicine, studying with his brother- in Alton, and two other physicians in the State of Maine,. where he went through a thorough course of instruction. in anatomy and physiology ; and in 1824 - 25, he attended. the medical lectures of Harvard University, given in Bos- ton ; at the same time witnessed the clinical practice in the Massachusetts General Hospital ; and was riding with a physician in Deerfield to acquire a knowledge of the coun- try practice in which he was taking a part, when he was offered a good situation as teacher in one of the public schools in Portsmouth, which he accepted ; was soon after married, and took up his residence in Portsmouth, where he was encouraged to remain in that profession ten years ;. the last three in a private school, well patronized by the first families ; wlien a change in occupation being deemed
Robert Monnesou
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HISTORY OF NORTHWOOD.
essential to his health, he relinquished the business, reeeiv- ing from his successor a liberal bonus, and giving him a bond to teach no longer in Portsmouth.
But before leaving town, a vacancy occurring in the office, he was appointed superintendent of the public insti- tutions, consisting of house of correction, almshouse, hos- pital for the insane, and town farm, all tlien recently united under one department, of which he had the control for some five years with popular success.
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