USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 168
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 168
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ROBERT BOODEY CAVERLY, THE POET AND AUTIIOR.1
A town becomes progressive and prosperous accord- ing to the force and valor of the great and good men who inhabit and inspire it. Even so, in a great measure, the achievements of an individual must de- pend on the quality and quantity of the blood and brain that move him.
Strafford has had numerous natives of much ability and merit, among whom our poet is prominent, and may well occupy a brief space in its annals. He comes down from a noble ancestry, and yet he in- herited nothing save his sonnd health of blood, manly independence, and lofty aspirations. From early boyhood and from the common schools he plodded and paid his own way up to a thorough academic education.
Entering the militia, he was made the adjutant of a regiment, thence he was advanced to a brigade major,
1 By the Rev. Elias Nason, of Massachusetts.
Ebenezer smith
1
Il. B. Councily
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STRAFFORD.
and thence to a division inspector at the head of Maj .- [ then " Arlington," then "Victory," and thence gen- erally he proceeded to his many productions of epics, lyrics, and ballads.
Gen. Demeritt's staff, of which the late Hon. John P. Hale and Judge C. W. Woodman, of Dover, N. H., were aids. His final resignation obtained the follow- ing voluntary approval :
" The commander-in-chief accepts the resignation of Col. Robert B. Caverly, Inspector of the Second Division of the Militia of New Hamp- shire, but m doing this hogs leave to express the high sense which he entertains of the active and efficient services rendered by Col. Caverly in the discharge of his tuil.tmy duties.
" By his excellency's command, " JOSEPH LOWE, Adjutant-General."
In the mean time our poet had become principal of the high school at Great Falls, N. H., and with as- sistants held charge of some four hundred students. Thence he advanced to learn the law with the late distinguished John A. Burleigh, of that place, and thence to the Law College at Cambridge, Mass., where he graduated under the presidency of Josiah Quincy and the professorship of Judge Story and Simon Greenleaf, with the diploma of an LL.B. He commenced the practice of his profession at Limerick village, in Maine, and there serving as a trustee of its academy, he continued six years in his profession, engaging in important causes in its highest courts, many of which may be found published in the law re- ports of that State. Removing from Limerick to Low- ell, Mass., he has continued in the law and in the wri- ting and publication of books until the present time. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he visited New Hampshire at the call of its Governor, and lectured in many places for the purpose of raising soldiers for the war and the Union. Thence he visited Wash- ington City, where he spent most of the four years of the conflict, and aided there, as far as he was able, the cause of the Union. During that time he was em- ployed in law trials in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, in the High Court of Claims in the capital, and in the Supreme Court of the United States. But the most of our poet's time has been spent in Massachusetts. Her law reports for the last forty years afford ample evidence of the active and successful labors of this son of Strafford, yet some- times he had been called to try causes in the courts of New Hampshire, one of which cases involved diffi-
While at Washington, in the war time, business of the day usually ended at three o'clock, thereby allow- ing much spare time for outside work, and, moved by the war and its incidents, our author began to deline- ate them practically.
First, in 1862, he wrote his "Soldier's Mother" and the "Light of the World," published in the Wash- ington Chroniele ; next, then, his "Merrimac," then the "Love-Letter," then "The Bride of Burton,"
In 1866, in the midst of his law profession, be pub- lished his " Merrimac," an epic of eighty pages.
In 1871 he wrote and published " Jewett's History of Barnstead."
In 1872-73 he published his second and third vol- umes of " Miscellaneous Poems."
In 1874 he led off in the building of the Duston Monument, on the Contoocook, and wrote for B. B. Russell & Co., of Boston, his "History of Hannah Duston," four hundred and four pages.
In 1875 he visited England and Scotland.
In 1876-77 he wrote his "Battle of the Bush," comprising five dramas, each preceded by an historic legend of some distinguished character as found in the New England Indian history.
Falling ill from overwork in 1878, he lost nearly a year's labor.
In 1879 he published the " Annals of the Caverly Family," two hundred pages.
In 1880 he wrote and published " Lessons of Law and Life," from John Eliot, together with his " Line- ; age of the Boodey Race," three hundred pages.
In 1881 he published at large his "Indian Wars of New England," including the exploits of Eliot the apostle, of Hannah Duston, and of the native Indian, five hundred pages.
His works, so far as they have been given to the public, have received unreserved commendation.
The Edinburgh Review (in Scotland), alluding to them, says, " Both Americans and English ought to thank Mr. Caverly for his laborious and interesting resume of those old Indian wars."
In 1866, Hon. H. W. Hazen, alluding to our poet's " Merrimac," through the Essex Banner, says, "The author of this poem is a distinguished lawyer in Lowell. He has brought into fresh notice times and men who should not be forgotten, and embalmed their deeds and memories in verse, which in this region may well be immortal."
Hon. Judge J. Howard, late of the Supreme Court 1 of Maine, in a long letter, says, " I have read these cult questions wherein the laws of Massachusetts ap- 1 volumes (poems, Vols. I. and II.) with interest, and peared to conflict with the statutes of New Hamp- shire. He was called into this case by an able lawyer who had previously been engaged in it. It was argued before the full bench in the State-house at Concord, and success followed his side of the case. find them filled with effusions that seem to carry me back to other scenes and other times, and there is a freshness of the present mingling with the past in graceful measures, that seem to touch the life and experience of the many." .
Rev. Elias Nason, in a letter of 1872, discoursed of these volumes, saying, " I have peru-ed the several pieces with keen and sympathetic pleasure, and I congratulate the author on the advanced record lie made in beating the sweet fields of poetry. Aside from the intrinsic merit of his muse, the local scenes and circumstances which he poetizes become a part of our own life and being, and thus in reading him ! we have the joy not only of perusing tuneful num-
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HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
bers, but of seeing common things we know around us, as by an enchanter's wand, transfigured into beauty. So the poet lives because he makes things live around him. Hence comes the dignity of the vocation."
Rev. Dr. Bouton, late historian of New Hampshire, in commendation of the same volumes, discourses of them as being " elegant in form and beautiful in sen- timent and expression."
William Cullen Bryant, the poet, in his commen- dation of this anthor's war-poems, says, " What I most of all admire is the patriotic spirit which ani- mates them."
Rev. Austin S. Garvin, in alluding to our author and his poems in a public journal of 1877, as heard at one of his lecture readings at Greenwood, Mass., says, "The entrancing interludes on the organ did not more surely carry the listener out into the pure, intoxicating enjoyment of nature than did the musical beat of the speaker's words, as in his first and longest piece he described the sights and sounds of primitive New England. As we listened, we thought it might not improperly be called a symphonic song, or poem of the creation, there was such comprehensive blending of varied melodies. We were taken back to the time when 'the morning stars sang together,' and then, by the gradually more measured tread of the lan- guage, the worlds were launched, and the mountains reared their crests up to the stars. In majestic dic- tion the hills of New England were depicted. In the more flowing numbers that succeeded we were aware that the streamlets were born, and trickling, drew their silver line down the rocky slopes. Through the meadows meanders the peaceful river, gladdening herb, and bird, and man. The songs of the happy tenants of the air, and the sounds of many innocent and prosperous industries are heard from every side. Then, in more constrained, almost impatient rhythm, is given the vivid picture of nature in chains, but even the captive is beneficent. No longer the sport- ive, rambling runlet, but now the giant Merrimae in the hands of Philistines. The noise of a thousand wheels, the whirl of ten thousand spindles, and the clatter of looms are pictured in language fitly chosen to typify these active, gigantie, and incessant activi- ties. And then, like peace after strife, comes the melodious description of the gorgeous fabrics, more wonderful than any fairy legend, and by the rich, subdued spirit of content that fills the verse, we feel, without being told, that a state of society in which all amenities, graces, and charities flourish is the purposed end of the magnificence and wealth of the creation."
Mr. Caverly has the honor of inaugurating and being the first president of the society known as " The Literati," in Middlesex County, Mass.
The mother of this poet had two brothers, the one, Robert Boodey, who, born in Madbury, went to New Durham, N. H., and finally settled in Liming- ton, Me., and the other, Rev. Joseph Boodey, who
settled in Strafford, north of Bow Lake, and died and was buried there in 1827. These elergymen were the very first two men who, with Benjamin Randall, were ordained as Free Baptists in that then new de- nomination of Christians. The first church of the denomination was organized in 1780, in the cele- brated Boodey House, in New Durham, which these two brothers then occupied. Robert, in Maine, for some reason turned Quaker minister, and living long, Quakerized almost everybody who fell within the scope of his ministry.
Joseph, strong and eloquent, continued in Straf- ford as its first leading elergyman from 1780, upwards of forty years, to the date of his decease.
These brothers and sister were children of Aza- riah Boodey, of Barrington, who was the only son of the New England ancestor, Zachariah Boodey, who, a French boy in 1695, at the age of eighteen years, landed in Boston from France, and with other boys there deserted the ship, took to the wilderness, and, evading the detectives, hid himself in a haymow in an old hovel, then in a corner of Cocheco, now Madbury, N. Il., lived on milk from the cows, and crawling out after the ship's departure for France, settled down there at Cocheco, among the Indians (who would not harm a French boy), became a valiant pioneer, reared up a family, and from whom all the Boodeys in New England have descended.
A monument to the memory of this pioneer settler, with a large corn-mortar carved in it by the Indians, has recently been erceted at his grave, under the supervision of our poet. It graphically marks the spot where the white man and red man in the long ago lived together in faithful, kindly fellowship. The monument is a granite boulder of many tons, in- scribed in large letters and figures on its south side, "Boodey, 1695;" on its north, "King Philip, 1675 ;" on its east, "Demeritt, 1758;" and on its west side, " Caverly, 1880."
The Caverly ancestry extends back upwards of seven hundred years, first from our poet, born July, 19, 1806, to the father, John Caverly, lieutenant, who took his acres from lands thitherto possessed by the Indian tribes, and who, through labor, made him- self a husbandman, well favored of fortune, and among men highly respected.
The old house which he built in 1777 still stands there on the old Province road, about a mile sonth of Bow Lake, in Strafford. It serves as a monument to the pioneer's early manhood, and a perpetual honor to his generous descendants, who to this day have carefully preserved it.
At the door of this old native cot our poet has thus soliloquized of the
OLD HOME.
Dear, dear as ever, my native cot,
Framned of the father In the world; My fond old mother marked the lot; They look it from the tribes of old.
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ROCHESTER.
The giant growth of a thousand years, The sturdy oak, the clambering vine, Fell at the foot of pioneers That greeted then that olden time. . .
Old cot, I gaze upon ye now, Oft changing place to look thee o'er.
I seem to see the floweret how It budded blooming at thy deor, Imparted love to high and low Those many, many years ago.
Ye tell me of paternal toil, That fenced the field in fervent care; Brought golden harvests from the soil, Through constant culture, generous, fitr,
Brave, kindly spirits, filial, deer, They flit around me lingering here. . . . 1
Thence from the father we follow back to Moses Caverly, of Barrington ; thence from him to Moses, an emigrant from England, to Portsmouth, N. H., who, as appears, married Margaret Cotton there, Jan. 30, 1714, and who, with his sons, in 1746 be- came a part of the forty-two settlers of Barrington, where now, near the site of the late old French Mill, and within a mile of its old garrison-house (now gone), he, with several of his descendants, peacefully reposes. Thence we trace the blood farther back to Sir Henry Caverly, of England (1680), whom Hume says was a man of much distinction ; thence to Ed- mund, an author, in London (1696); thence to Sir Anthony, whose arms bear date June 10, 1544; thence to Sir John Caverly, of 1403, a general officer of high distinction, as Hume has it, who fell in the battle of Shrewsbury, which Shakspeare elaborates ; thenee to Sir Hugh Caverly, of 1350, "the Chevilier virtie," who in the days of Edward III. and Richard Il., having command of the armies of England, in- vaded France, took Calais, and as Governor of it, held it some twenty years. At that time he started off with forty thousand volunteers from the populace of England, made pitched battles, and thus achieved many victories (Hume's "History," vol. ii. p. 282). Thence we go back to our poet's remote ancestor, "John," of Scotland. He originated within the time when " surnames" were nearly unknown, and before it had become fashionable to endow the infant with a surname. In truth, "John" never had one.
In 1116, " John," then a boy, coming down from Scotland into Leeds, England, was there made a steward to the Empress Maud. At length a young lady (Gospatrick) and John fell in love, and soon after their intermarriage the Caverly manor, a vast inheritance of many hundreds of acres, situated about five miles west of Leeds, fell to her.
By this and by his own industry John became wealthy, built and endowed a church at Calverly, which ever since has, for seven hundred years, been kept in repair, and in which "John" still stands in statuary, with his three sons, John, Walter, and Wil- liam, kneeling behind him.
At the birth of these sons "John" honored the
1 Frem Caverly's " Epics, Lyrics, and Bullods," p. 421.
name of his wife's inheritance by giving to the sons the surname "Calverly." And from "John and his boys have descended all the Caverlys that have ever existed.
Thus, like the vapory wave of ocean, the gener- ations of earth rise up, and making haste, chase each other down.
CHAPTER CVII.
ROCHIESTER .?
Geographical-Topographical-Incorporation-The Royal Charter-The Town Numed-First Meeting of Proprietors-First Clerk-First Se- lectmen-Survey of the Township-Drawing the Lots-The Pioneer Settler-Other Enrly Settlements-Subsequent Division of Lands- "Norway PlaIns"-Close of the Proprietors' Beigu-Last Meeting- Tuwn Assumes Control of Affairs.
THE town of Rochester lies in the eastern part of the county, and is bounded as follows: on the north by Farmington and Milton, on the east by Salmon Falls River, which separates it from Maine, on the south by Somersworth, Dover, and Barrington, and on the west by Barrington, Stratford, and Farmington.
The surface of the town is rolling, and the soil gen- erally fertile. It is watered by the Salmon Falls, Cocheco, and Isinglass Rivers.
Incorporation .- This town was incorporated by royal charter under date of May 10, 1722. The char- ter was granted in the name of King George I., and the signing of this document, which gave a "local habitation and a name" to this section, was the last act of government performed by Col. Samuel Shute, his Majesty's governor of the colonies of Massachu- setts and New Hampshire. Its caption bears the fol- lowing :
"George, by the Grace of God of Great Brittain France and Ireland King Defender of the faith &c."
The town was named in honor of the Earl of Roches- ter, a brother-in-law of King James II., and one of the most eminent men of his time. For a number of years he had held the exalted position of lord treasurer.
Immediately following the charter is " A Schedule of the names of the Proprietors of the Town of Roches- ter with their respective proportions ascertained being Part of the Charter." First appears a list of fifty-two whole-share proprietors, heading which is the name of Col. Richard Waldron, and at the close "Parson- age," "Use of Grammar School," and "First or- dained Gospel Minister." Secondly, "Half-share Proprietors;" of these there are eight. Then come twenty-four quarter-share proprietors,, and, finally, " Associates admitted, Governor Shute for a home
" The following history of Rochester was chilefly compiled from un- published manuscripts of the late Franklin McDuffve. Mr. McDuffeo manifested a deep interest in historical matters, and contemplated the publication of a history of his nativo town.
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IIISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
lot and five hundred acres; Lieut .- Governor Went- worth, ditto. Eight other members of the Govern- ment Council a whole share each."
The petition for the charter of the town was signed by most of the inhabitants of Dover, with others from Portsmouth, Newington, and Durham.
The first meeting of the proprietors was held at the meeting-house in Cocheco, July 9, 1722, " to consider, debate, and resolve such matters and things" as were necessary for the performance of the conditions of the charter. Col. Richard Waldron was chosen moderator, and Paul Gerrish town and proprietor's clerk.
--
The first condition of the charter required that within three years the proprietors should build a house and settle a family therein, and within four years plant or sow three acres of ground. The right of those who fail to comply was forfeited. It was therefore decided at this meeting that the most com- modious part of the town should be laid out into "home lots," where the several proprietors might build their houses and settle their families. A committee was appointed to "pitch upon" the best location, and were also instructed to lay out roads and also a suitable " train-field." The clerk was in- structed to procure a " book consisting of three quires of paper bound up in parchment, at the charge of the commoners," to keep the records in. This was all the business transacted. In consequence of the Indian troubles, which kept the border settlements in a con- stant state of alarm for the next few years, no meet- ing of the proprietors was held until April 24, 1727. At this meeting Paul Gerrish was re-elected clerk and served until his death, in 1744.
The first selectmen were also chosen at this meet- ing, as follows: Capt. Francis Matthews, Capt. John Knight, and Paul Gerrish. At this time but little interest seems to have been taken in the new planta- tion. The selectmen notified the committee which had been appointed five years before to lay out the home lots to reconsider a plan of division, and after five months a plan was submitted which proved not acceptable to the proprietors, and was voted " void and of no effect."
Capt. Robert Evans was then chosen by the proprie- tors to survey and lay out the plantation in one hun- dred and twenty-five lots, one lot for each share, of sixty acres each, in ranges from Salmon Falls River to the Barrington line.
The survey having been made, the drawing of the lots was commenced December 13th, at the inceting- ; house in Cocheco, by Rev. James Pike, and completed on the following day at Oyster River (Durham), whither the meeting had adjourned.
The territory now having been properly laid out, and the home lots satisfactorily drawn, the next move passed into his custody, and the office became vested
was the settlement of the town ; and to Capt. Tim- othy Roberts it seems is due the honor of having been the first to settle within the bounds of the
present town of Rochester. This was Dec. 26, 1728. He was not a proprietor, but purchased a quarter of a share of Samuel Twombly, of Dover, for ten pounds. He located below Gonic on a part of lot 90, first di- vision. The deed of Twombly to Roberts was the first conveyance of land in the territory. Capt. Roberts was soon followed by other pioneers, prominent among whom were Eleazer Ham, Benjamin Frost, Benjamin Tebbets, and Joseph Richards. From this time forward the settlement rapidly increased in pop- ulation, and soon became known throughout the State as one of the most important of the border settlements.
Although some of the settlers were of the Scotch- Irish immigrants, still the town was settled princi- pally by people from Dover, where the greatest number of the proprietors lived. Of the first sixty families not one-fifth part were families of actual proprietors. To the original proprietors the lands were evidently more a matter of speculation and profit than of occupation and improvement. It is worthy of notice that the names now most common in town are those which frequently occur in the list of proprietors. Among these are Hayes, Went- worth, Hanson, Bickford, Edgerly, Whitehouse, HIurd, Horn, Foss, Ham, Evans, Roberts, Varney, and Tebbetts.
April 20, 1730, it was decided to make another division of land, comprising a much larger tract than the first. Each share contained not less than two hundred and forty acres, and extended from the head of the first division to the region of the Three Ponds, including a large part of the present towns of Milton and Farmington. In the first and second ranges, third division, was a level tract, quite large in extent, to which was given the name of "Norway Plain," from the Norway pines with which it was covered. A large part of the plain was left common, and was the site of the present village of Rochester.
Dec. 17, 1730, the lots were drawn, and at the same meeting a town treasurer was chosen. Beside several votes in relation to the church and the minister, it was also voted that the ten-rod road running across the town by the meeting-house should be cleared " fitt for man and horse to pass and repass." An over- seer was appointed, with authority to hire men to carry on the work.
The proprietors held the entire control of affairs in the town until about the year 1740, when their politi- cal importance rapidly declined. They, however, kept up an organization until 1763, but their business was restricted to matters which concerned the prop- erty only. The last meeting of the proprietors was held at Stephen Wentworth's, in Rochester, June 28, 1784, when the town clerk was elected proprietor's clerk, and all books and papers of the proprietors were in him and his successors forever.
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ROCHESTER.
CHAPTER CVIII.
ROCHESTER .- ( Continued.) INDIAN HISTORY.
The First Garrison-Houses-Indian War-The First Battle-John Rich- ards-Jonathan Door-Danger of abandonment of the Settlement- Petition for Soldiers-The Old Iron Cannon-Maj. Davis defends the Town-Attack by the Indians-The Killing of Mrs. Hodgdon-Peace -The British Press-Gang.
ALTHOUGHI the settlement of Rochester had been long postponed on account of Indian wars, yet since it first actually commenced nothing of this kind had thus far occurred sufficient to interrupt its prog- ress. The inhabitants must have numbered at this period (1744) nearly one hundred and fifty families, and being upon the very frontier, they were exposed most helplessly to all the horrors of the impending conflict. For a few weeks or months they might have neglected their work and lived in garrisons, or en- gaged in active operations against the enemy, yet, as the war continued, they were compelled to expose themselves in order to provide means of subsistence.
In 1774 the proprietors gave to the inhabitants all the mill-rents then due, to be appropriated for build- ing five block-houses or forts, "three on the great road that leads to Norway Plains, one at Squamana- gonic upper mill, and one on the road by Newich- wannoc River, or as his Excellency should otherwise order," and appointed a committee to carry out the vote. The forts were built, although the rents could not be collected to pay for them. Besides these public garrisons many were built at private expense, which received the names of their owners.
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