History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 46

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1714

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 46
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 46

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1776. Eight men were raised for the expedition against Canada. Measures were taken to raise money to pay bounties to these men, and also to pay their expenses. 1777, May 21st, a vote was passed to enlist a sufficient number of men as cheap as they can to fill the quota, and tax the parish ... to raise the money and pay the same. It was also voted "that every one in this parish must get himself ready and properly equipped for military service, both alarm and training-band, by next Monday, and then stand ready to march at a minute's warning." Also voted " supplies and preparations for an invasion."

1778. Voted supplies liberally and preparations in expectation of an invasion, as the " Committee of Safety have received advice, and for the men to be ready at a moment's warning."

1779. April 19th, voted "To give a bounty of fif- teen hundred dollars each to three men to enlist

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HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

in the service." This, of course, was in depreciated paper eurreney. Nearly as large sums were given afterwards in a number of instances.

1780. Great exertions were made to raise and pay soldiers, to whom large bounties were given in addi- tion to their wages.

1781. The town voted " we are willing to raise our proportion of soldiers for the Continental army ;" chose a " committee to raise men to fill the quota."

"The book containing the plan of government having been read and disenssed, it was voted to re- ceive it, under certain limitations."

1783. Approved of the plan of government and voted for its continuance.

We have now given extraets from the records of specimens of the spirit and action of the people. Through the war publie meetings were held fre- quently, and at different hours of the day and even- : ing. They often adjourned to a day not far distant without especial business, but looking for something to occur which would require concerted action and a vote of the town. The quotas were promptly filled, though sometimes at enormons prices.

Military preparations continued long after the close of the war of the Revolution, and soldiers styled "minute-men" were always in readiness. In 1794 and 1798 men were raised, to whom bounties were paid. In 1806 and 1807, and at various other dates, "minute-men" were raised and equipped by the town, and one hundred and fifty dollars was raised for the seleetmen to lay out for military pur- poses.

1812. It was voted "To make up to each soldier $15 per month, with what Government allows." At this date the war had broken out usually termed the war of 1812-14, or " last war with Great Britain," and our people were found prepared for it. In 1813-15 committees were chosen to look after the drafted men, to hire men to fill the quotas, to serve for the defense of the State. The calls of the gov- ernment were promptly answered and the quotas of the town always filled.

From 1815 to 1817, inclusive, there were violent controversies, biekerings, and strifes about the raising money for preaching and the expenditure of the in- come of the parsonage. In 1818 it was "voted to sell the parsonage, invest the money, and lay out the interest annually in preaching."

The "Toleration Act," passed by the Legislature of New Hampshire, July, 1819, provides that "no per- son shall be compelled to join or support any congre- gation, church, or religious society without his ex- press consent first had and obtained." ... "And any person may, if connected with a society, by leaving a written notice with the clerk of the so- ciety, be exempted from any future expenses." This act ended all controversy in relation to taxing the people to support a ministry. Thereafter every so- ciety attended to their own affairs. There has oeca-

sionally, and of late, been a little agitation and a slight ripple of feeling in relation to the disposition of the parsonage money; but nothing has ever re- sulted from it, and probably never will.

1830. The meeting-house, which had stood ninety- two years, was torn down, and the present town-house ereeted in its place. It was finished with pews. The house was completed, the pews sold at auction, and titles given May 2, 1831. It was to be occupied by the town whenever needed for town purposes; at all other times, and on Sabbaths, by the several religious societies such a proportion of the time as they owned pews. The selectmen decided annually what Sabbaths each society should occupy the house during the en- suing year.

1831 .. The wood on the parsonage was sold, and the proceeds applied to the payment of the debts of the town.

1837. On a petition of twenty legal voters, a town- meeting was held July 1st at the town-house, which was called to order by one of the seleetmen, when John Philbrick was chosen elerk pro tem., and Charles Sanborn was chosen moderator. It was then, on mo- tion, "Voted, That no one has a right to hold Aboli- tion or Anti-Slavery meetings in the Town Hall or other public buildings belonging to said Town." A division of the house being called for, seventeen were for opening the house and forty-seven were against it. Voted, "That the town authorize the Selectmen, or any freeholder in the town, to clear the public build- ings in said Town of any person or persons delivering or attempting to deliver any Abolition lectures or ad- dresses, and at the expense of said Town." We do not think any arrests were made under this town au- thority, and we do not know what attempts were made to hold meetings or lecture on slavery for a number of years thereafter in any of the public buildings. Still, the legality of this whole proceeding has been well doubted.

In 1847, March 9th, at the annual meeting it was voted, "That the vote passed July 1, 1837, relative to the using of the public buildings to hold abolition or anti-slavery lectures or addresses in, be reconsidered." Since that time the town-house has been open for publie meetings without regard to the political com- plexion of the speakers or their friends.

1859. By votes of the town the rights of individuals to the pews in the town-house were purchased and taken away, and movable settees substituted.

When the civil war broke out there was much party feeling, but no lack of patriotism.

At a town-meeting called May 9, 1861, it was voted to authorize the selectmen to hire one thousand dol- lars to pay soldiers.

October 10th. Voted to adopt the act passed at the last June session of the Legislature, chapter 2480, . entitled " An aet authorizing eities and towns to aid the families of volunteers, and for other purposes," and that the selectmen carry this vote into effect.

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1862. August 18th, the selectmen were authorized to hire five thousand dollars to pay volunteer citizens, , three hundred dollars each. August 21st, the select- - men were authorized "to pay the bounty of three hundred dollars to as large a number of volunteers as may be sufficient to cover all quotas called for by the President."

1863. August 12th, voted, that the selectmen be au- thorized to hire such sum of money as may be neces- sary to pay each drafted man the sum of three hun- dred dollars. August 15th, voted, "That the town raise and pay to every inhabitant thereof who have been or shall be drafted or conscripted to serve in the army of the United States under the present draft, or to the substitute of such drafted or conseripted in- habitant, the sum of three hundred dollars bounty."

1864. June 13th, voted, that the selectmen be au- thorized to pay a bounty of one hundred dollars to each person who has entered into the service of the United States, and has not been paid a town bounty since May, 1863. July 20th, the selectmen were au- thorized to borrow five thousand dollars, and from the same to pay each volunteer or substitute who may be accepted and mustered into the military service of the United States ... such sums as they may find neces- sary or deem expedient, not exceeding the limit pre- seribed by law.

There went from this town forty-five volunteers and eleven substitutes, making the whole number fifty-six.

The surface of the town is moderately uneven. The soil is of a good quality, and well adapted to the cul- tivation of farm and garden products, and to grasses and all kinds of grain. It produces large erops of Indian corn, barley, oats, potatoes, and esculent roots. The former is not grown so generally as it was seventy years ago, on account of the cheapness with which it can be raised and transported from the West. Not so many sheep and neat cattle are kept or raised and sold here as there were seventy years ago. Neither is there more land under cultivation. There are more dwelling-houses than there were then. The area of the town is six thousand two hundred acres. The ap- praised value of the real and personal property in 1882 was two hundred and twenty- four thousand seven hundred and thirty-two dollars. The outstanding debt of the town is nine thousand four hundred dollars.

The Boston and Maine Railroad runs through the town from a point in Kingston near the southwest part of East Kingston to the extreme northeast, where it enters Exeter. From the station-house, near the centre of the town :

Boston is distant forty-five and three-fourths miles by the railroad, forty miles by the carriage-road as usually traveled, and thirty-five miles south five degrees west in a direct line.

Portland is distant sixty-nine and three-fourths miles by the railroad, eighty miles by the carriage- road, and sixty-two miles north thirty-seven degrees east in a direct line.

There are two mails daily from and to Boston and way stations, two from and to Portland and way sta- tions, and two from and to Kingston by wagon-car- riage, so that the mail facilities equal any and are superior to most places in the county. Nathaniel E. Tuck is postmaster.

Powow River flows through the southwest part of the town, having its source in the ponds of Kingston. The cutting of ice in the river is quite an item of business for the very cold weather. The ice-houses are capable of holding forty thousand tons, which are filled in good seasons aud transported to Boston for shipment or use. There is one saw-mill at Trickling Falls. The Salisbury and Amesbury Manufacturing Company bought up these and other mills above forty years ago, with the rights of flowage of the river above and below. For this reason there is very much less manufacturing here than had been done in pre- vious years.

There is a fall in the river at Salisbury and Ames- bury Mills of one hundred feet, where are extensive woolen- aud cotton-factories, which in the dry season are supplied from their extensive reservoirs in New- Hampshire.

A large number of residents work at the shoe busi- ness, mostly for the manufacturers in Haverhill, Mass. J. W. Greenlay has a manufactory near the railroad- crossing in the south part of the town. It is fitted up with modern machinery and a steam-engine for pro- pelling, capable of employing forty or fifty men. He has nearly half that number at the present time. A larger number of persons are employed in smaller shops in various parts of the town, while a few work in Haverhill, going and returning by the railroad- carriages. There are three briek-yards in the town, in which were manufactured several years since six millions of brick. The production has since decreased to three, two, and one million annually, and may be calculated upon according to the demand in Massa- chusetts cities.

A fair estimate is an average of the above, or three millions annually. The labor is mostly done by Frenchmen from Canada. Four stores and one livery stable do a prosperous business. A number of market-men of meat supply not only this but the neighboring towns. The carpenters and blacksmiths are more than sufficient for the business, so that a part of the work of the former is in other towns.

First Settlers .-- It has generally been supposed that William and Abraham Smith settled here when there were no others within the limits of the present town. Every gazetteer and history which refers to the subject states that they were the first settlers or among the earliest settlers. On the contrary, William Smith, the elder of the brothers, was born in 1703, and it is a tradition of the family that he came here to live in 1724, when he was twenty-one years old. There is an old deed that shows that the places where John P. French and Arthur T. Robinson now reside

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HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

were purchased by "Robert Smith, of Salisbury, otherwise Hampton," which is now Seabrook. It was purchased of Christopher Pottle in 1732, but was originally the RIGHT of Nathaniel Sanborn, one of the commoners. On this place Mr. Smith settled his sons. We do not think any two men were first settlers. They came as colonists from Hampton to Kingston, in companies, So far as can now be as- certained, the earliest were Ebenezer Webster (1), Ebenezer Stevens (1), John Swett, Nathaniel San- born, and Capt. John Webster.

The south part of the town and a part of the main road emigrated from Salisbury and Amesbury. The Greeleys and the Frenches early made a settlement. Edward French and Abraham Brown located or pur- chased lands, but personally never settled on them. They were obtained for their children, The Curriers and Blaisdells secured lands at the Falls, and moved in as early as they thought it prudent to do so on ac- count of the Indians. It is claimed that Ralph Blais- dell was the first who crossed Powow River from the south for a settlement, and that the old cellar and well are yet to be seen where the road was straight- ened, near the Goodrich and Webster places, The mill-grant was laid out March 15, 1710. This is the earliest date of records we have found. The deed of the French place is dated June 16, 1710. Benoni Clough purchased the Caleb Webster place in 1715. A part of the Brown place, with improvements thereou, was purchased in 1716. The first land was laid off by the lot-layers, hence no person obtain- ing land by deed was the first settler or owner of that land.

Capt. John Webster was made a freeman in 1705, and some years later had land assigned him by the lot- layers on the north road, where his son, Jeremy Web- ster, lived. A part of it is now owned by one of his descendants, Mrs. Isabella (Webster) Currier, never having passed from the family. The old house was burned not many years since.

The homestead of Ebenezer Webster (I), one of the grantees of Kingston, which was also the homestead of Ebenezer Webster (2), where Ebenezer Webster (3), who was the father of Hons. Daniel and Ezekiel Webster, was born, was located earlier than either we have named. This place is situated on a moderate eminence on the north side of the Salisbury road or highway leading to Kingston. It is less than a mile west of the railroad station, and half a mile east of the boundary line of Kingston. For a time it was owned by Capt. John Currier, and was set off to his widow as a part of her thirds. It is known by the family as Old Orchard. After the death of Mrs. Cur- rier it was divided among the heirs, and most of it sold out of the family. George Webster, a descendant of Thomas, one of the grantees of Kingston, owns a part by inheritance from his mother, who was a daughter of Capt. John and Widow Phoebe Currier, and inherited from them; Charles E. Marsh owns

that part of it where the house stood, and the loca- tion of the cellar is still to be seen. The well has been filled or covered within a few years.

The French house and the Brown house are sup- posed to be older than any other now standing. The Tappan, Greeley, Nelson, Robinson, Webster, Morrill, and Ordway houses and the Buzzell house on the north road are all ancient dwellings, It is a long time since any of these lean-to houses have been built.

The Climate is unusually healthy. From 1738 to 1771, a term of thirty-three years, there were three hundred and one deaths, or an annual average of nine. The largest number in any one year was twenty-one, and the smallest number was two. For the next seventy-nine years, from 1771 to 1850, from our best sources of information, though not sure of exactness, there were seven hundred and thirty-four deaths, or an annual average of nine and three-tenths. From 1850 to 1882, from tables kept by E. W. Phil- brick, Esq., a period of thirty-two years, there were three hundred and ten deaths, being less than ten per year. The largest number in any one year was sixteen, and the smallest number four. From these statements the number of deaths for the one hundred and forty-four years since the parish was chartered have been one thousand three hundred and thirty-five. an annual average of nine and two-tenths. We have not access to any census prior to 1773, but at that date the population was four hundred and two, which has gradually increased to five hundred and eighty-two in 1880. While the increase of inhabitants has been forty-five per cent., the death-rate has increased less than ten per cent. The number of deaths has fallen from two and one-fourth per cent. to one and three- fourths on the population. The conclusion is irresist- ible that the town is one of great healthfulness, that there are now a less number of deaths annually, ac- cording to the population, than at any previous time since its settlement, and that it is constantly increas- ing in healthfulness.

Education .- The town is comprised in one school district, having four school-houses, with an average annual expenditure of eight hundred and fifty dol- lars. This includes the interest of a legacy of two thousand dollars left by the late Jeremiah Morrill. A legacy of fifteen hundred dollars, the interest thereof to be expended annually in the support of schools, was left last year by Mrs. Elizabeth Towle. Most of those persons who have obtained a liberal education graduate at Harvard or Dartmouthi Col- leges. There is a small library of really valuable books, though it has not been replenished for many years. Two Sabbath-school libraries complete the public institutions for education.

Temperance .- This town has always been in the front rank in the temperance reform. As early as 1827, A. R. Brown joined a society in Hampton, and John Gale, the same year, in West Amesbury. In 1829 a number took the pledge, prohibiting WINE.

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About this time a temperance society was formed, Jonathan Bailey, president; Amos Tilton, secre- tary. This was made auxiliary to the Rockingham County Society, which was organized in 1828, and made auxiliary to the New Hampshire State Tem- perance Society. The East Kingston Society re- ported in 1833 ninety-seven members. Additions were frequently made during the following years. The pledge which included the prohibition of cider was adopted in 1840. This and the Washingtonian movement of 1841 were both in advance of previous positions, and had their good effects. That there has been real advance in temperance is certain.

A Good Templar lodge was instituted May 2, 1867, and a division of the Sons of Temperance in 1868. In these societies Joseph C. Sargent, now of llaver- hill, Mass., was a prominent actor. Both have ceased from activity.

A reform club was organized Oct. 3, 1876, which attracted a wide-spread attention and exerted a salu- tary influence for a brief period ; but it vanished like the mists of the morning. There is no known place in the town where distilled liquors are sold. The con- sumption of cider is one-fourth of what it once was.

Geological .- In the north part of the town is a natural curiosity interesting to geologists. By the roadside is a granite bowlder, a portion of which is deeply imbedded in the earth, having peculiar water- marks, which looks as though it had been a layer of sand or soft clay, over which a person once walked with a cane in his left hand, causing indentations, and in that state became petrified.

CHAPTER XXVHE

EAST KINGSTON .- (Continued.)

Distinguished Men-Eminent Names.

Persons belonging to the learned professions, most of whom are natives of the town, who have emi- grated and settled in other places.

William Smith, M.D., son of William and Betty (Cilley) Smith, was born in East Kingston, Aug. 2-13, 1737. He studied medicine with Hon. Benj. Rowe, M.D., of Kensington. He soon commenced practice in Kensington, but removed to Gilmanton, N. H., Oct. 15, 1768, where he practiced long without a rival. He was in the practice of medicine over seventy years. Of the large number of professional men who have emigrated from this town, Dr. William Smith stands pre-eminent for usefulness and respec- tability. He died Feb. 25, 1831.

Jonathan Bailey, M.D., was born in Weare, N. H., March 9, 1784, and died in East Kingston, Feb. 12, 1834. He married Elizabeth Fifield, Nov. 17, 1816. She was tbe daughter of Col. Joseph and Elizabeth (Sanborn) Fifield, was born May 1, 1792, and died

June 12, 1881, aged eighty-nine years. Dr. Bailey had an extensive practice. He left three children, one of whom, Albon W. Bailey, is now a prosperous farmer.

Benjamin Rowe, M.D., son of llon. Benjamin and Susanna Figg Rowe, was born in Kensington, July 17,1750. He studied medicine and commenced prac- tice with his father; was assistant surgeon in the Revolution, and surgeon to a company of minute- men in 1775. He married Joanna Tilton, who was born March 24, 1751, and died March 28, 1843, aged ninety-two years. On leaving Kensington he settled in this town, had an extensive practice, and was highly esteemed. He died Nov. 7, 1818, aged sixty- eight years.

Rev. Nathan Tilton, son of Col. Philip and Molly (Batchelder) Tilton, was born July 2, 1772; gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1796; was pastor of Second Parish in Scarborough, Me., from Dec. 10, 1800, to 1827. He died in 1851, at a good old age.

Joseph Tilton, son of Col. Philip and Molly ( Batch- elder) Tilton, was born Aug. 10, 1774. He graduated at Harvard College in 1797, studied law at Exeter, N. H., with Hon. Jeremiah Smith, and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 1801. He practiced a few years in Wakefield and Rochester, but removed to Exeter in 1809, and remained there till his death, March 25, 1856.

Weare Tappan, son of John and Abigail ( Weare) Tappan, was born March 3, 1790. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1811, in the class with Judge Joel Parker, Ethan Shepley, of Maine, and other distinguished men. He studied law with Hon. Caleb Ellis, of Claremont. He married Lucinda Atkins, of Claremont, in 1816, and settled in Bradford, N. H., in 1818, where he resided till his death, April 4, 1868. He was an able lawyer, and had an extensive prac- tice. He was a Whig in political opinion until the formation of the Republican party, which, as the party of progress, he was not long in joining. He was a strong lover of freedom and equal rights, and an abolitionist from the beginning to the end of the anti-slavery struggle. He was the father of our pres- ent attorney-general, Hon. Mason W. Tappan, of Bradford.

Jonathan Tappan, M.D., son of John and Abigail (Weare) Tappan, was born March 10, 1772. He studied medicine with Dr. Levi Bartlett, of Kingston, and had engaged to settle at Hampton Falls in the practice of his profession, but died at his father's house, Feb. 11, 1796.

Calvin B. Magoun, M.D., son of Simon and Betsey (Barstow) Magoun, was born July 15, 1798. He studied medicine with Drs. Perry, of Exeter, and Cheever, of Portsmouth, and attended medical lec- tures at Pittsfield, Mass., and Bowdoin College, Maine. He went to New Orleans in 1830, but settled in Cen- treville, Miss., in the practice of medicine. He re- mained there a few years, then moved to Woodville,

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HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

. Miss. lle married Mary E. Harbour in 1835, but died at his residence in Woodville, Dec. 4, 1837, leaving a widow and one daughter.

Cyrus S. Magoun, M.D., son of Simon and Betsey (Barstow), was born Feb. 2, 1815. He completed an academical course of study at New Hampton, N. H., in 1834; studied medicine with Dr. E. B. Moore, in | Epping; attended medical lectures at Dartmouth College, at Philadelphia, and at Pittsfield, Mass., where he received his diploma. He commenced prac- tice as a physician at South Bend, Black River, La., and continued in practice till his death, Oct. 18, 1862. He was twice married.

Rev. Elihu Thayer Rowe, grandson of Rev. Elihu Thayer, D.D., of Kingston, and of Dr. Benjamin Rowe, M.D., of East Kingston, and son of Joseph F. and Mary (Thayer) Rowe, was born Aug. 10, 1813. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1840, and was ordained at Hillsborough, N. H., May 29, 1845. He was classical teacher at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., and chaplain of Fourteenth New Hampshire Regiment in the war of Rebellion. He removed to Auburndale, Mass., where he taught a family classical school, and died at Auburndale, March 21, 1867.

Samuel 1I. Stevens, A.M., son of John, grandson of Col. Ebenezer Stevens, and great-grandson of Maj. Ebenezer Stevens, was born Nov. 20, 1802; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1830; studied law ; . . . prac- ticed in Bristol, N. H., twelve years, in which time he was two years a member of the Legislature. He also practiced two years in Lawrence. Mass., and for nine years was cashier of the Granite State Bank in Exeter, N. H. He married Serephina Sanborn, daughter of Moses Sanborn, of Kingston, July 27, 1840. IIe died at Concord, N. H., March 19, 1876, leaving a widow and one daughter.

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History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 46

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1714

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1714