History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 62

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 62
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 62

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Mr. Joseph Gilman was himself chairman of the Com- mittee of Safety at one period, and held various public

After John Langdon, in the midst of the apprehen- sions excited by the triumphant incursion of Bur- goyne, inspirited the people of New Hampshire, by trusts during and after the war. His wife was a woman | the offer of his private property to organize an expe- of thorough education and many accomplishments. dition under Gen. Stark, with the purpose of turning back the invader, Col. Folsom was delegated by Presi- dent Weare, chairman of the Committee of Safety, to visit Gen. Stark, to convey him money for contingent expenses, to learn how his expedition was progress- ing, what articles it stood in need of, and to "advise with all persons in the service of this State on such things as he thought needful to forward the business they are engaged in." His confidential and discre- tionary mission appears to have been executed to the satisfaction of all parties; and we know how thor- onghly Stark was enabled to perform the part required of him when he met the enemy at Bennington. His house appears to have been repeatedly visted by strangers of distinction during the Revolution. Some of the high-bred French officers who drew their swords in behalf of America are said to have ex- pressed their admiration for the culture and esprit of Mrs. Gilman, as beyond anything they had witnessed elsewhere in the country. Samuel Adams passed a night at Mr. Gilman's house in the latter part of 1776, just before the victories at Princeton and Tren- ton had relieved the feeling of despondency caused by the prior disasters to our arms; and all Mrs. Gil- man's powers of pleasing were said to have been ex- erted to cheer the drooping spirits of the patriot with- out effect. A military success was then the only cure for the gloom of the stern king-hater.

The dwelling-place of Maj. Jonathan Cass, one of the veterans of the Revolution, was where the house of Mrs. J. L. Robinson now is. At the outbreak of the war he was twenty-two years of age, and accord- ing to description was an erect, handsome man, with keen black eyes. He enlisted in the army as a private | soldier, and served until peace was established, having taken part in most of the principal battles. As early as 1777 his merits procured him promotion to an en- signey, and at the close of the war he was a captain. He then resumed his residence in Exeter for a few years, and his distinguished son, Lewis Cass, was born here in 1782. About 1790 the father re-entered the

army in command of a company raised for the defense | residences, and give some account of the services, of

of the western frontier, and subsequently received the commission of major. Ile was so much pleased with the appearance of the western country that he estab- lished his home in Ohio, where he died in 1830. -

Lewis Cass remained in Exeter till he finished his studies at the academy, and received a diploma, signed by the principal and president of the board of trustees, certifying his proficiency and good conduct, a copy of which, in his own youthful handwriting, is still pre-

served. His career after he quitted the home of his bridge, was a major in Col. David Gilman's regiment. youth is a matter of familiar history.

Col. Samuel Folsom, a brother of Gen. Nathaniel Folsom, was a well-known and respected citizen in 1776 .. His house was at the easterly corner of Court Square and Water Street, and is now occupied by Mr. George W. Dearborn. It is believed to have been built a year or two before the date mentioned, proba-

bly to replace a former edifice removed or destroyed. Col. Folsom kept a public-house, as his widow con- tinued to do many years after his death. He was lieutenant-colonel of the Exeter Corps of Independ- ent Cadets, commanded by Col. John Phillips, Ile was intrusted with much important business during the Revolution, requiring sound and tried capacity and devotion to his country's interests.

A couple of years afterwards Col. Folsom was se- lected by the General Court to discharge the agreea- ble duty of presenting in behalf of the State to Col. Joseph Cilley a pair of pistols which had been the property of Col. Stephen Holland, the Tory absentee ; and the receipt of Col. Cilley remains to testify that the commission was duly accomplished.

It was at the house of Col. Folsom that President George Washington stopped and partook of a colla- tion when he visited Exeter in his tour through the Eastern States, in the autumn of 1789. There is prob- ably no person now living who saw the father of his country here, although one or two who well remen- ber the occasion have but recently deceased.

If time would permit, information could be ob- tained, no doubt, which would enable us to fix the many others of our former townsmen who responded to the call of the country in the struggle for independ- ence. But the brief space allowed for the comple- tion of these sketches forbids extended inquiry and research, and we must be content with recording such fragments of personal history of that character as are to be collected at short notice.

Peter Coffin, the predecessor of William Elliot in his store, near the western extremity of the great His family name was once familiar here, and his an- cestors are said to have lived in what is now the yard of the academy. An orchard which belonged to them then bore its fruit on the ground now covered by the academy.

The old Exeter family of Robinson was well repre- sented in the Continental service, two of its members

258

HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

holding commissions therein ; the one, Caleb Robin- son, as captain, and the other, Noah, as ensign.

Noah Emery, a name handed down for generations here, was a paymaster in Col. Isaac Wyman's regi- ment and commissary. In the latter capacity he had the charge of a large amount of stores, which tradi- tion says were housed in a building in Spring Street, familiarly termed " the State's barn." It is of Pay- master Emery that a story is toll that, being ordered to carry some dispatches by night on horseback in a strange part of the country, he crossed a bridge on his way, which he did not discover until the next day had been previously stripped of its planking. His horse had cantiously felt his way over it upon the timbers, while the rider was all unconscious of the fearful risk he was running. The statement wouldl hardly be credited if there were not authentic ac- counts of other similar occurrences. The duties per- formed by Mr. Emery under the direction of the State authorities must have kept him very busy. He was employed frequently in the purchase, forwarding, and distribution among the troops of the various needed supplies, and was relied on to transact much incidental business. Indeed, towards the close of the war he and John Taylor Gilman, afterwards Governor of the State, appear to have attended to most of the wants of the New Hampshire troops. Perhaps Col. Eliphalet Giddons, the collector of the " beef tax," should be included with them.

Dr. Samuel Tenney was a surgeon in one of the Rhode Island regiments. He had previously settled in this town, and returned and married a wife here at the expiration of his service. He was a person of uncommon literary and scientific attainments, and contributed articles to the publications of the Ameri- can Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a topo- graphical account of Exeter to the Collections of the Masschusetts Historical Society. He felt a warm in- terest in political matters also, and was for seven years a representative in Congress. He was also judge | marched to Saratoga to aid in the capture of Bur- of probate, and was highly respected.

Another citizen of Exeter who served in the medi- cal department of the army was Dr. William Parker, Jr. Ile was a grandson of Judge William Parker, of Portsmouth, whose father married, it is said, a daugh- ter of the English patrician house of Derby. Dr. 1

Parker died in Exeter of yellow fever, which he con- tracted from a patient.

James McClure was the adjutant of a New Ilamp- shire regiment in the Continental service. He is be- lieved to have lived in the house on the south side of Water Street now belonging to Mr. Franklin Lane.

Benjamin Boardman performed a tour of duty in . ing nature of the emergency, and of the absolute the Revolution as the commanding officer of a com- pany. He was a noted man in the town, and many years afterwards kept a public-house on the east side of the river.

Ebenezer Light was a lieutenant for two years or more in the New Hampshire line. His name was

once a common one in Exeter, and Light's tavern, on Tower Hill, was a well-known place of entertainment. But no branch of the family now remains here, so far as we can ascertain.

Samuel Brooks, of Exeter, appears to have been quartermaster in Col. David Gilman's regiment. Whether this was the excellent deacon, who lived in a house removed to make way for the present Metho- dist Church, we are not certain. But if he undertook the duties, it is safe to say that he made a good quar- termaster, for he was a faithful and thorough man. There is no doubt that he was employed by the Com- mittee of Safety to pay the New Hampshire troops who were in Arnold's ill-fated expedition against Quebec. It may interest the reader to learn that the amount paid them, including expenses, was three hundred and forty-eight pounds seven shillings.

Ebenezer Clifford, who was quartermaster-sergeant in Col. Poor's regiment in 1775. was probably the person who removed hither from Kensington about 1790, and lived in the Brigadier Gilman house until his death. He was an ingenious mechanic, and con- structed a diving-bell, with the aid of which he is said to have recovered a quantity of silver money from the wreck of a Spanish or other foreign vessel at the Isles of Shoals. The coin had suffered during its long submersion a wondrous sea change, and was found to be covered with some kind of marine incrus- tation. A portion of it was placed for safe-keeping in the old Exeter Bank, and when the vault of that institution was entered and robbed of its valuable contents, about the year 1828, some of Mr. Clifford's silver pieces were among the spoils. The story goes that the peculiar appearance of the money afforded the clew by which the guilty persons were detected.

It would not be just, in any recital of the services of our townsmen in the Revolution, to omit to men- tion the independent company that volunteered under the command of Capt. John Langdon in 1777, and goyne. The lieutenant of the company was Col. Nicholas Gilman, and the private soldiers were com- posed of the solid men of Exeter, Portsmouth, and Newmarket. Most of them were of mature age, and many had held military commissions. No roster of the company is now accessible, but it is known that among the Exeter quota were such men as Capt. Sam- uel Gilman, Col. Eliphalet Giddings, Col. Nathaniel Giddings, and Ephraim Robinson, Esq. That citizens of such age and standing were ready to leave their families and business to shoulder the musket in de- fense of their country is proof positive of the press- necessity then felt that the progress of the hostile army should be checked, and a substantial triumph gained to the cause of America. And the momentous consequences which ensued from the capitulation of Burgoyne proved that this feeling was founded in reason and a just appreciation of the situation.

259

EXETER.

There were of course not a few other persons in Exeter whose services were called into requisition in some way by the State authorities.

John Rice, Esq. (we append the title, because it was not common, though much valued, in those days), whose house was where the parsonage of the first parish now is, furnished board and a place of meet- , ing for the Committee of Safety in the earlier part of the war.

John Ward Gilman, who lived in the old honse on the north side of Water Street near string bridge, now owned by Mr. Alva Wood, manufactured for the newly-formed State a seal, the impression of which, no doubt, is found upon the commissions of the

period. The device was certainly more appropriate , plussed than when a party of Indians were consigned than the ship on the stocks, which for some unknown reason was subsequently adopted, and is retained on the present seal. It consisted of the fasces, the em- blem of authority, on one side of which was a pine- tree and on the other a fish, in allusion to two of the chief sources of the early prosperity of the colony. An appropriate inscription surrounded the whole.

Thomas Odiorne was a representative in the Legis- lature during a portion of 1776, and was afterwards a member of the Committee of Safety. He furnished a considerable amount of clothing for the soldiers, and was intrusted with the purchase of equipments for the field, among other things "colors for Col. Cilley's regiment."

Theodore Carlton, who appears to have opened a tavern during the war, had some of Col. Poor's sol- diers quartered there for a time. Men enlisted for the army in a time of actual hostilities are proverb- ially not the quietest of lodgers, and it is not strange that Mr. Carlton found that his premises sustained We cannot better close these too meagre and desul- some damage. A committee reported thereon that tory notices of our town and its people at the heroic there were " 42 squares of glass broke, 2 stairs broke, 6 doors gone, several others broke, and plaistering broke down in several rooms."

Capt. Eliphalet Ladd, the father of William Ladd, the " apostle of peace," had occasional business with the committee and the Legislature. He was a man of untiring energy, and did not suffer the war to check his enterprise. He was engaged in trade on a considerable scale, and built ships and planned voy- ages in spite of the enemy's cruisers. He met with heavy losses, but on the whole was thought to have increased his property during the Revolution.

Constable Joseph Lamson's official aid was occa- sionally called into requisition by the Committee of Safety when sitting in a judicial capacity. He snm- moned the witnesses, and perhaps waited on the prisoners to and from the jail. For the town be acted as a general disbursing agent and factotum. Among his multifarious charges in 1776 was one "for warning four families out of town." This was not, as might be imagined, an act of inhospitality or a reflection on the morals of the families alluded to. It simply implied that they had little visible means i country.

of support, and were considered liable to become paupers. A town was then responsible for the sup- port of all its inhabitants falling into pauperism, who had resided therein for a certain period without being formally notified to depart. It was the practice, therefore, of the prudent town authorities to serve the "warning" process upon every family that seemed in danger of coming to want. The proceeding was probably thought to be rather a harsh reminder of impending poverty, and another generation wiped it from the statute-book.

Many as were the embarrassing questions with which the Committee of Safety were called on to wrestle, it is doubtful if they were ever more non-

to their hospitality. To what tribe these sons of the forest belonged we have no record. The few facts known indicate that, being friendly to the American cause, they visited the headquarters of the army out of curiosity and for the purpose of expressing their good wishes. The commanding general, probably at a loss to know what to do with them, relieved himself of the dilemma by forwarding them to the New Hamp- shire capital. They arrived in Exeter in the early part of 1776, but did not make a long stay. The Commit- tee of Safety no doubt regarded them as an elephant- ine prize. Our streets were for a few days enlivened by the spectacle, familiar enough a century before, of the red men in their barbaric costume ; then the dis- tinguished visitors, sickened by overmuch good cheer perhaps, came into the doctor's hands, and at length were forwarded at the public charge to Suncook, igno- miniously, in a storm. About a dozen pounds paid the expenses of the visitation.

period when our independence was achieved than by an outline of the most impressive occurrence that Exeter witnessed during the eventful year of 1776.

When the dispute with Britain was begun, it was with no general expectation that it would result in a severance between the colonies and the mother- country. The provincials professed perfect loyalty, and assumed self-government only during "the pres- ent unhappy and unnatural contest with Great Brit- ain." But as the struggle went on the popular ideas became modified, and the public came at length to comprehend that it was idle to expect to rennite ties which the sword had sundered.

A few sagacious minds had foreseen this from the outset. It is due to the able leaders of the popular movement in New Hampshire that it should be gen- erally known that they contemplated the assumption of independence, and suggested it in an eloquent offi- cial letter from their Convention of Delegates to the Continental Congress as early as the 23d of May, 1775. This is the first allusion to the subject in any known communication from an organized body in the

260

HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

As the sentiment of the whole people became gradually ripe for the final step of separation from Britain, movements were made in the Colonial Legis- latures looking to that result. In New Hampshire a committee of both Houses reported on the 15th of | have never since been paralleled. June, 1776, instructions to "our Delegates in the Continental Congress to join with the other colonies in declaring the Thirteen United Colonies a FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATE, solemnly pledging our faith and honor that we will, on our parts, support the measure with our Lives and Fortunes."

From this time forward there was impatience in the breast of every true friend of liberty to blot out the very memory of subjection, to make way for the new and glorious career that was opening for the in- fant nation. The action of Congress was waited for anxiously, longingly, eagerly.

At length the wished-for moment arrived. An ex- press dashed into the village of Exeter bearing a letter addressed to the Convention of New Hamp- shire, and authenticated by the manly signature of John Hancock. The Legislature had adjourned, but the president was here, perhaps waiting for the im- portant missive. It was determined that the coutents of the letter, coutaining the glad tidings of the Dec- laration of Independence, should be forthwith pub- licty read.

The honor of pronouncing for the first time in New ' of paper money, which many believed was the pan- Hampshire the impressive periods of that unequaled production was appropriately devolved upon John Taylor Gilman. No firing of cannon or ringing of bells was needed to give éclat to the occasion ; the general joy was too sincere and heartfelt to find ex- pression in noisy demonstrations. Meshech Weare, president of the State, Matthew Thornton, who was himself soon to set his hand to the instrument, Geu. Folsom, and Col. Pierse Long and Ebenezer Thomp- son, all members of the Committee of Safety, and tried and true patriots, were present. The news had spread with the speed of lightning through the town. The farmer dropped his scythe in the swath, the me- chanie left his saw in the kerf, and even the good wife forsook her spinning-wheel, while all gathered to hear the words which they felt were to give them freedom and a country. But perhaps there was no one of the andience whose heart was thrilled more deeply by the Between two and three o'clock in the afternoon the expected assemblage made its appearance, coming down Front Street. It had been formed into the semblance of a military array at Kingston, and con- sisted of about two hundred persons or a little more, about one-half of them on foot and provided with fire- arms or swords, and the residue following in the rear on horseback and carrying clubs and whips. immortal Declaration than Col. Nicholas Gilman, the father of him who read it. He had put his whole life and energy into the cause of his country ; he foresaw that nothing but formal separation from the parent State would prevent his dearest hopes from going down in darkness; he welcomed the words which rent the brightest jewel from Britain's crown with oy and thankfulness unutterable. The reader, from filial as well as patriotic sensibility, shared his emo- tion, and there were pauses when the rush of feeling o'ermastered speech.

Exeter has witnessed many returns of the anniver- sary of our national birthday, and has listened to the

utterances of lips touched with the living coal of elo- quence ; but the first reading of the Declaration of Independence, on the 18th of July, 1776, enchained the attention with a significance and power which

CHAPTER XXXVI.

EXETER .- ( Continued.)

ANTINOMIAN INCIDENTS.

The Outbreak of 1786-Arrival of the Mob-Firmness of Sullivan-En- rollment of Company to Suppress the Insurgents-Nicholas Gilman, Captain-Raid on the Insurgents-Their Flight, Pursuit, and Capture -Release of the Indian Murderers. Bowen and Morrill-Arrival of George Whitefield-His last Sermon preached here, Sept. 29, 1770-ITis Death the following Day-First Reading of the Declaration of Inde- pendence in Exeter, by Jolin Taylor Gilman-Washington's Visit- The Hoax of 1798-Annexation to Massachusetts.

FOR some years after the close of the Revolutionary war the people were hardly reconciled to the situation. The times were hard, money was scarce, and the ac- quisition of independence had not freed them, as many fancied it would do, from the restraints of law. Complaints were rife among the people because the Legislature of the State would not authorize the issue acea for their fiscal troubles. At length the discontent became so intensified that it took an organized form among the people of several interior towns in Rock- ingham County, and on the morning of Sept. 20, 1786, the rumor reached Exeter that a body of men were about to enter the town to obtain in one way or an- other "a redress of grievances." During the fore- noon a great number of persons, attracted by the re- port, came into town from the neighboring places, not for the purpose of joining in any illegal demonstra- tion, but to witness what was about to take place. The Legislature was in session in the meeting-house, which stood nearly on the site of the present lower church, while the Supreme Court was sitting in the court-house, which was on the opposite side of the street, occupying about the centre of what is now the entrance to Court Street.

They halted near the residence of the late Nathaniel Gilman, on Front Street, and asked civilly for water. They then marched down the street, and passing over the great bridge turned and came back as far as the court-house, which they surrounded, under the mis- taken belief that the Legislature was in session there.

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EXETER.

Judge Samuel Livermore, who was upon the bench, sternly ordered that the business should proceed with- out pause, and forbade any one to look from the win- dows.

The mob in a few minutes became aware of their mistake, and attempted to surround the meeting-house. The spectators who were packed somewhat densely in and about the yard of the church yielded only inch by inch, and it was an hour or more before the riotous assemblage reached the building. They then placed guards at the doors and windows, and announced in substance that they meant to keep the members of the General Court in durance until they passed a law for the emission of paper money, which should be a legal tender for debts and taxes. One member only is reported to have escaped from the building, and he got out of a window.

John Sullivan, the president of the State, was pres- ent in the meeting-house,-a man of resolution and a soldier. He made his appearance before the excited crowd, and said to them that they " need not expect to frighten him, for he had smelt powder before." In allusion to the demand which some of them had made for justice he said, " You ask for justice, and justice you shall have."

It was noticeable that he did not advise the crowd to disperse, however; he undoubtedly felt that it was better to crush the insurrection in the bud. It pres- ently grew towards evening, and the good citizens of Exeter began to think it was time that a little press- ure should be applied to the insurgents. Agreeably to a suggestion of Col. Nathaniel Gilman, a drum was beaten a little way off as if a body of soldiers were approaching, while he himself with his stentorian voice cried out something about "Hackett's artillery." The mob waited for nothing further, but incontinently took to their heels, and did not pause till they had reached the outskirts of the village. They passed the night near where the passenger depot of the railroad formerly stood.

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History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 62

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