USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Plymouth > History of Plymouth, New Hampshire; vol. I. Narrative--vol. II. Genealogies, Volume I > Part 7
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To these instructions, and in acknowledgment of the election, Fenton replied : -
To the Frecholders of the Town of Plymouth.
Gentlemen,
4
I Return you my hearty Thanks for the Honor you have confer'd on me, by chusing me to represent you in General Assembly : I also accept your Instructions with that pleasure that every Loyal Subjeet and good Citizen should feel, from such evident Marks of good Sense and Prudence (which I have most throughly experienced in your general Conduet from the first Moment I knew you to this present Day) you may therefore rely on my using the most strenuous Endeavours to preserve the due Execution of the Laws, the true Rights and Priviledges of the People, and of doing every Thing consistent with the Essence of the Constitution to serve my Country, and this Town in particular.
JOHN FENTON.
The election of new members on the sole authority of the gov- ernor and without the consent and concurrent action of the assembly renewed an ancient controversy. The governor main- tained that through the prerogatives of his office he alone should order the election of members of the assembly and designate the towns represented. In direct opposition the assembly with equal logic and increasing spirit contended that the crown appointed the governor and the council, but the people through their rep- resentatives were the sole guardians of the house or assembly. For other reasons, and with the approval of the sitting members, the governor prorogued the assembly from May 6 until June 12. The assembly having met after the recess promptly and inci- sively closed the debate by a vote that " the members returned for Plymouth, Orford, and Lyme should not be admitted to a seat in this house."
John Fenton was elected a representative to the assembly by
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JOHN FENTON.
the voters and freeholders of Plymouth. He was instructed con- cerning his action in the assembly, and he politely returned thanks to the voters of Plymouth for the election. The statement inac- curately has been made that he was expelled. The fact is he was elected but never admitted to a seat in the house, and thus abruptly ends the history of the representation of Plymouth in the royal assembly. The instructions voted at the town meeting in Plymouth to their representative elect are the expressions and sentiments of a loyalist of 1775. There is no explanation of their adoption by the patriots of Plymouth. That this was not a true expression of the prevailing sentiment of the town is firmly estab- lished by the fact that in July of the previous year the town had sent Abel Webster to the first provincial congress at Exeter, and that at about the same time Fenton was elected in another town meeting the patriots of Plymouth had chosen David Webster a delegate to the third provincial congress, which convened at Exeter April 21, 1775. A few days later Abel Webster was sent to the same convention of patriots to supply the place of David Webster, who had returned to Plymouth to assist in the organization of the militia. It is safe to assume that the town meeting at which John Fenton was elected was slimly attended, and that by the few his election was rather an expression of regard than an endorse- ment of his known sentiments. To many of the voters of Ply- mouth Fenton was a comparative stranger, but they all knew and trusted Abel and David Webster. Later events afford ample proof that the election of Fenton at the time it was effected was a proceeding of which we find no reasonable explanation. The conjecture of the reader is as good as mine.
By nature an extremist, and in principle a loyalist, Fenton was a conspicuous advocate of the cause of the crown. That by bold- ness of speech and the repeated declarations of his loyalty to his king he had angered the people of Portsmouth is represented in a letter of Governor Wentworth in December 1774, in which he says, " The populace threaten to abuse Col. Fenton because he has to them declared the folly of their conduct and that he will
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
do his duty as a justice in executing the laws." In the same letter the governor, from the standpoint of a loyalist, proceeds to compliment his zealous friend. " They will never prevail on him to retract if all the men in the province attack him. If I had two hundred such men the castle and all therein would yet be safe."
During the recess of the assembly to which Fenton had been elected, or more definitely, June 7, 1775, he was appointed com- mandant at Fort William and Mary at Portsmouth and his pay was increased to £365 per annum. On the 12th of June he came from the fort to the assembly chamber, conscious of the dignity of his new command, and when expelled "he gave vent to his passions and expressed himself very freely as to the meas- ures pursued by the country. This enraged the populace, who collected to assault him, and he fled to the governor's house for protection. They brought a field piece mounted and placed it before the door and threatened to discharge it if he were not delivered up." Fenton was chivalrous, and to shield the governor and his house from harm he delivered himself up. He was sent a prisoner to the committee of safety at Exeter.
After his election and before the assembly convened Colonel Fenton addressed an open letter to the people of Grafton County. The letter was written at Portsmouth. It is worthy of note that in nearly every mention of Colonel Fenton, from his advent in New Hampshire in 1773 to his arrest and imprisonment in June, 1775, he is found in Portsmouth. The letter of Colonel Fenton is preserved in the archives of the State.
PORTSMOUTH April 26, 1775
To the People of the County of Grafton, from a real friend, who sin- cerely wishes their well-being :
For God's sake pay the closest attention to the sowing and planting your lands, and do as much of it as possible, not only for your own and families' subsistence, but to supply the wants of your fellow-men down country ; for you may be assured that every kind of distress, in the provision way, is coming upon them.
75
JOHN FENTON.
Let nothing induce you to quit your farming business ; mind no re- ports ; there are enough without you, therefore your diligence in farming will much more serve your country than coming to assist us. Much depends on the Back settlements raising plenty of grain.
I am informed, that if the People of the Back settlements take up arms, a number of Indians & Canadians will fall upon them, but that if they remain quiet they will not. This I inform of from the love I bear you and give it you as a sincere friend should do.
JOHN FENTON.
The object of the letter is not ambiguous. In other times it would be construed as good advice, but in 1775 it was the advice of a Tory. It attracted the attention of the provincial congress, and promptly, May 23, that body sent the following communica- tion to Colonel Fenton : -
Sir.
A letter with your signature directed to the People of the County of Grafton has been laid before this Congress, the contents of which they consider as of some importance at this day; more particularly the Information you give them that "a number of Indians and Canadians will fall upon them if they should take up arms, but if they remain quiet, they will not."
We are anxious for the security of our Friends in the Frontier settle- ments, as well as elsewhere, could we rely upon this it would afford us the greatest ease and pleasure. This Congress, therefore, express their desire that you appear as soon as possible and inform them respecting the grounds of the aforementioned intelligence.
To this communication Colonel Fenton made reply : -
PORTSMOUTH 234 May, 1775
To the Provincial Congress at Exeter.
Gentlemen. I, this moment, received your letter of 23d instant. I do assure you, Gentlemen, I mentioned the matter respecting the Indians coming down on our Frontiers in my letter to the People of the County of Grafton, as a matter of opinion only, nor have I the least clue or circumstance to guide me in that sentiment but sincere opinion.
I am Gentlemen your most obedient & very hble servant JOHN FENTON
P. S. I wrote that letter to the People of the County of Grafton out of absolute Friendship & Regard to the country.
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
The provincial congress, having made a dignified inquiry and having received a prompt and courteous reply, did not invite a controversy at that time and in that connection.
The connection of Colonel Fenton with Plymouth and with Grafton County here ends, but his conduct and his attitude on public affairs were not overlooked by the provincial congress. This body proceeded with a system and an apparent deliberation that allowed of no stay of proceedings until the offender was removed from the colony. First the provincial congress voted that " Col. Fenton is not a friend of this country." This was the opening. Then congress slept a night and the following day voted all the files and records of the Court of Common Pleas and the Probate Court of Grafton County be taken from the custody of Colonel Fenton and be delivered to John Hurd for safe-keeping. Abel Webster, the delegate from Plymouth, was one of the committee to execute this vote. Then they voted that Colonel Fenton be confined in the jail at Exeter and there be supported like a gentleman. The provincial congress slept again, and with a new day the congress had new conclusions. The fol- lowing day, July 1, it was ordered by the congress that Captain Moulton be instructed to take four men and an officer and send Colonel Fenton to the headquarters of the New Hampshire forces. The committee of safety a few weeks later paid Theodore Carlton of Exeter fourteen pounds and six shillings for boarding Colonel Fenton. This probably covers the time from June 13 to July 1, 1775. From the army at Winter Hill Colonel Fenton was sent to Hartford and was there confined when the congress at Phila- delphia, in September, 1775, gave him leave to repair on parole to Great Britain or Ireland. At the time of the arrest of Colonel Fenton in June, 1775, his wife, with her children, a son and two daughters, repaired to Boston, and the following year she obtained permission to sail with her children to any port of Great Britain.
Arriving in Dublin, Ireland, Colonel Fenton became known as, and he subscribed himself, Capt. John Fenton. He received
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JOHN FENTON.
an annual stipend from the public treasury until the Marquis of Buckingham, then governor of Ireland, appointed him in the customs of Dublin, which position he held until his death.
He visited England in 1784 as a claimant for losses sustained in America on account of his loyalty to the crown, and while prosecuting his claim he was " stricken with a palsy." He re- turned to Dublin and there died in January or February, 1785.
In his schedule of losses he includes thirty and one-fourth acres on Bunker Hill in Charlestown, highly cultivated, with an exeel- lent house, stable, orchard, and garden. He states that he had about thirty-five tons of hay on the ground in large cocks, ready to house on the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, together with a large gondola, carts, and horses. All were lost. The above place was burned, he says, by General Gage a few days after the battle, when he was a prisoner. Fifty-six acres in Plymouth, very rich intervale, with excellent new house and barn just fin- ished for his residence. On the ground, almost ready for reap- ing, were eighteen acres of wheat, peas, oats, barley, flax, and hay; also carts, ploughs, oxen, horses, cows, and pigs. Eleven acres in Plymouth, very rich intervale, adjoining the above, under flax, peas, and grass. Eighteen hundred acres, being six rights, but of this five rights, or fifteen hundred acres, had been sold to Samuel Livermore, Esq., of Holderness. He states that all the foregoing parcels were acquired by purchase. Three thou- sand acres by king's grant, lying in Plymouth and in Cocker- mouth, on which are many houses and farms. The schedule is dated Feb. 19, 1784.
It is true that Colonel Fenton lost his hay at the battle of Bunker Hill. The patriot army had a use for it. It must have provoked a grim smile with funny wrinkles on the visage of the British lion when the government paid for the hay used by Colonel Stark for breastworks. A greater price could have been paid if Colonel Fenton had removed his hay the day before the battle.
His wife, Elizabeth (Temple) Fenton, the mother of his chil- dren, died in Ireland soon after her arrival there. He was again
78
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
married. Soon after his death his family received from the government on account of his losses in America £1210, and each of his two daughters was granted an annual stipend of £30. His widow Catherine, who was living in Cork, Ireland, 1787, was the recipient of £40 annually. His only son was an officer in the army, and in the words of the finding upon the losses of Colonel Fenton, " the son needed no additional support." In the papers in the case of Colonel Fenton, preserved in the London archives, it is stated that he lived genteelly, and such would be the conclusion from the view we have obtained of the man. There appear in the records many inferences which arise to the dignity of fact that in Massachusetts and in New Hampshire Colonel Fenton left many creditors, and it is pleasing to believe that if his affairs had not been disarranged by the Revolution he would have met every obligation. In New Hampshire he was proscribed by the act of Nov. 19, 1778, but his property in this State was not confiscated. At first his lands and personal property in Plymouth were taken in charge by the committee of safety, and later by the selectmen of the town. It was leased by them on shares for a few years to Gershom Hobart and Peter Stearns for the year 1776, to Gershom for the year 1777, and to Jonathan Robbins until 1781. During these years there appears to have been only one-half a crop, and that went to the lessee as his portion. Horses and oxen were found missing, and one of the good men of the town took a chimney from the dwelling-house without leave. From the nature of the report of the managers of the estate, farming did not pay in those days.
In 1781 the committee of safety of the State intervened and committed the custody of the lands of the Fenton estate in Ply- mouth to Hon. Charles Johnston and James Woodward of Haver- hill. In the meantime the attachments of creditors accumulated and the sheriffs virtually superseded the appointed committee. The authority of the State was again invoked. An act approved Feb. 28, 1783, recited in the preamble that a former act relating to the estates of the absentees prevented the creditors of John
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JOHN FENTON.
Fenton from recovering their demands, and the act was repealed so far as the estate of Fenton was concerned. It was further enacted that Moses Baker of Campton be appointed an attorney to defend the estate from mercenary plaintiffs and to protect alike the honest creditors and the absent defendant.
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
VIII. THE REVOLUTION, 1775.
A STATEMENT of the causes of the War of the Revolution and the story of the campaigns, defeats, and triumphs of the patriot army are subjects of State and national history. The patriotic record of the town of Plymouth, the many and grievous sacrifices at home, the valor of the men of Plymouth in war, and the loyal attitude of the town to the county and the State during the Revolution more immediately invite attention in the following chapters.
Plymouth was chartered by a royal governor and in the name and by the grace of George III. For a decade the town was sub- ject to laws and political conditions over which the people had no control and in which they had no voice except obedience and submission. From the beginning the frontiers of America were the universities of freedom. The isolation and the hardship of their daily lives educated the settlers in the wilderness in freedom of thought and independence in action, and when discontent and the spirit of resistance assumed the dignity and stature of war the hardy men of Plymouth came to the front with matured opinions and a determined purpose.
It is a slender thread that connects the civil government of a dependent province with the government of the independent State of New Hampshire. In the assembly of the province convened at Portsmouth it was voted May 28, 1774, " that John Wentworth of Somersworth, the speaker of the assembly, Samuel Cutts of Portsmouth, John Giddings of Exeter, Clement March of Green- land, Josiah Bartlett of Kingston, Henry Prescott of New Castle, and John Pickering of Portsmouth be a committee of this house
81
THE REVOLUTION, 1775.
to correspond with similar committees appointed by the other colonies." This measure was adopted by a majority of two, and an effort made at the suggestion of the governor to reconsider failed by one vote. The governor was irritated by this independent action, and in the hope that a new election would return members more in accord with his opinions and policy he proceeded to dis- solve the assembly, and subsequently ordered the election of a new assembly to be convened at Portsmouth May 4, 1775. In the election which ensued twenty-two of the thirty-four members of the former house were re-elected. The twelve new members in- cluded John Langdon of Portsmouth, Otis Baker of Dover, John Hale of Hollis, Isaac Wyman of Keene, Samuel Hunt of Charles- town, and others equally zealous of the rights of the people. In this proceeding the governor weakened rather than strengthened his influence over the assembly.
In the election and brief proceedings of this assembly the town of Plymouth in the election of John Fenton became involved. As represented in a former chapter, Fenton was refused admis- sion to the house, and the town of Plymouth was never represented in the assembly of the province. In the meantime the committee of correspondence, chosen May 28, 1774, became the connecting link between a colonial government under the crown and a state government founded and controlled by the people. This com- mittee called a convention of delegates to be chosen by the people and to assemble at Exeter July 24, 1774. This convention of freemen was the first of five conventions known in the annals. of New Hampshire as the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth provincial congresses. The fifth congress resolved itself into a' legislature and adopted the temporary constitution which was superseded by the constitution of 1783. The pedigree of the government of New Hampshire is easily traced. The assembly of the province begot a committee of correspondence, the com- mittee begot a provincial congress, and the congress begot a State.
The journals of the first and of the second provincial con- gresses were not preserved. The town records of Plymouth of VOL. I .- 6
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
over thirty years are lost. For a century it has been supposed that Plymouth, like many other towns, was not represented in the first congress. While this opinion has prevailed, a small fragment of paper has been embalmed in the bottom of an old trunk in the office of the town clerk and has escaped observation for many years. This paper preserves the written evidence of a special town meeting in Plymouth and the election of Abel Webster to the first congress. On one side of the sheet, about four by five inches in dimension, is plainly written in the handwriting of Abel Webster: -
Having Just Rec'd Advice from the Chareman of a meeting of the members of the Late house of Representatives Desireing This Town to chuse a suteable person to Represent them at a meeting to be held at Exeter 21 Instant, 10 Clock forenoon for the choice of Delicates for the General Congress to be held the first Day of September next at Phila- delphia, it is therefore Desired that the Inhabitance of the Town would meet at the meeting [house] in this town at four o'Clock this afternoon for the above purposes.
Plymouth July 19th 10 Clock, forenoon, 1774 S
On the reverse side of this interesting paper is a record of the most historic meeting assembled in Plymouth : -
July the 19th 1774.
At a Special Town Meeting held at Plymouth by the frecholders and inhabitance thereof for the Choice of Some person to Represent Said town in a General meeting at Exeter the 21 Day of July Instant.
Voted Thomas Lucas moderator.
Voted to send one person to attend said meeting.
Voted Abel Webster goo to Represent said town in the general meet- ing at Exeter.
In the margin upon this side of the paper is the record of the money raised by subscription, in the same handwriting, to pay the expenses of the delegate to Exeter expressed in sterling money.
83
THIE REVOLUTION, 1775.
John Fenton Esq
0-6-0
William Simpson Esq 0-6-0
Doctor Right
0-6-0
James Hobart 0-3-0
Col. Hobart
0-6-0
George Hull 0-3-0
Dª Webster
0-6-0 Maj. Webster 0-6-0
John Webber
0-1-2
Thomas Lucas
0-3-5
Thomas Lucas
0-2-5
Doc' Emerson
0-1-0
Samuel Emerson
0-6-0
Town Money
0-8-4.
In the estimation of the people of Plymouth this was a patri- otic meeting and the beginning of a revolution. In the opinion of those who remained loyal to the crown the proceedings were treason flavored with the essence of rebellion. The date and the proceedings of this meeting are essential in a discovery of the prevailing sentiment of the town at the dawn of the Revolution. It was held seven months previous to the election of John Fenton to the assembly of the province. Meetings of a similar import subsequently were frequent, but the election of John Fenton was not repeated. It was one of the events on the playbill of the Revolution that was not encored. The election of a representative to the assembly at Portsmouth in 1775 was not an expression of loyalty to the crown. All the towns in New Hampshire, receiv- ing permission in the writ of election, were represented in the same assembly.
From what motives or influenced by what considerations the people of Plymouth passed by the Websters, Colonel Hobart, Captain Cummings, Francis Worcester, Samuel Emerson, Ben- jamin Goold, Ebenezer Blodgett, Samuel Dearborn, John Wil- loughby, Jacob Merrill, and others, whom they delighted to honor, and elected John Fenton, a newcomer and a pronounced Tory, was left unsolved in a former chapter and still remains an unex- plained mystery.
The first provincial congress to which Abel Webster had been elected convened at Exeter July 21, 1774. This body chose John Sullivan and Nathaniel Folsom delegates to the general congress of the colonies, and instructed the members of the congress at Exeter to recommend to their respective towns to take into con-
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
sideration the distressed condition of the town of Boston. The names of sixty-four of the eighty delegates collected through correspondence with town clerks are found in the State Manual for 1897; to which is now added the name of the delegate from Plymouth. In October, 1774, the Continental Congress at Phila- delphia adopted a lengthy declaration which became known as the " Association." It was in the nature of a pledge to abstain, as individuals and communities, from imports and exports and the use or consumption of any goods imported from England. The document is found in State Papers, Vol. VII, p. 426. The pledge was sent for approval and adoption to the several towns in the American colonies represented at Philadelphia. At a special town meeting assembled at the meeting-house in Plymouth Jan. 16, 1775, it was voted to adjourn to the house of Moses Dow, and Francis Worcester, David Hobart, Abel Webster, David Webster, Benjamin Goold, Moses Dow, and Samuel Emerson were chosen "to see that the Association be faithfully observed as agreed upon by the Continental Congress." "That we will cheerfully and strictly adhere to and comply with every article recommended to us by the grand Continental Congress, particu- larly the association, as the rule of our conduct and behavior in order for the redress of our present grievances imposed upon us by the British parliament until they shall be removed."
At the same meeting Abel Webster was chosen a delegate to the second provincial congress at Exeter.
The second provincial congress, composed of one hundred and forty-four delegates, convened at Exeter Jan. 25, 1775. The session was brief, and from the files of the New Hampshire Gazette it is learned that John Sullivan and John Langdon were appointed delegates to the Continental Congress, that a committee was chosen to call another congress, and that an address to the people was adopted.
The proceedings of the third provincial congress indicate the increasing solidity of public sentiment and the near approach of war. This body, elected on a modified plan of representation, was
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THE REVOLUTION, 1775.
composed of over one hundred delegates, and convened at Exeter April 21, 1775. This was after the election of John Fenton and previous to the meeting of the colonial assembly. In this con- gress David Webster was a delegate from Plymouth. The intel- ligence from Lexington and Concord and the discordant notes of war called many of the delegates to their homes to hasten prep- aration for the grim struggle now at hand. David Webster returned to Plymouth to mature the military organization of the town. The congress was in recess three days, and when the body reassembled April 25, Abel Webster appears as a delegate from Plymouth. The session was brief, and in the proceedings the town of Plymouth, except as a part of the colony, was not in- volved. There is no record of adjournment, but the journal ends with the record of the proceedings of May 2.
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