USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > Sanbornton > History of Sanbornton, New Hampshire, Vol. I - Annals > Part 18
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and dochus particular beads or topics, in separate chapters. These Lahe's Memo- raudulu con- tinued. notices shall be supplemented (second) by the yearly records of things interesting and peculiar, which are mostly drawn from Master Lane's Memorandum, till 1829. After each of these latter items " (Lane Mem. )" will appear; after each of the former. "(Town Records) ." 1
1801. The process of warning the annual town meeting was this : The selectinen, in the name of the State, address the constable and require him to warn all the legal voters, with fifteen days' notice, to meet at time and place, stating the * purposes " of the meeting. This Warrant for is called the " warrant," pursuant to which the constable lowh meetings, " notities and warns," as above, signing his name ; and on laul. the day of the meeting certifies that he has done it, again signing his name.
Mr Bradbury Morrison remembered of this year - then living as a boy with Mr. Ede Taylor on the present Daniel B. Sanborn place - that ". April first the snow bad all gone, and it was good travelling ; the cattle were getting their living most of the time, and people were breaking up their fields."
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ANNALS OF THE TOWN, - 1801-1881.
Jie 7, " great frost; corn cut off." Yet "plentiful harvest." (Lane Mem.)
1802 " Very rainy " after June. "Great freshet " in September. "Tolerable good crops of corn and potatoes. Little cider made. Measles prevalent in town, attended in some cases with dysentery." (Lane Mem.)
1803, March 14. "Voted that the Select men purchase a standard of weights and measures." (Town Records.)
March and April. " Hay plenty, and cheap ! cheap ! 5 dollars per ton." July and August. " Very sickly time, with dysentery : many died, chiefly children," yet " abated, and healthy time again," Septem- ber and October. (Lane Mem.)
1804, March 13. " Refused to Dr. Samuel Gerrish the privilege of erecting a building for the purpose of innoculating persons for the small-pox." (Town Records.)
February. "Suow four feet on a level." Oct. 9, " a storm, one of the most violent and extensive ever known ; thunder, rain, and snow ;
Great storm orchards and forest trees much damaged ; many vessels
of 1504. believed to be lost at sea." December. "Hay very searce ;
$10 per ton : corn and rye $1.00 per bushel." (Lane Mem.) 1805, March 12. " Polling the house in town meeting for the first time mentioned, on the question whether ballots for all three of the Select men should be brought in on one piece of paper. Carried." (Town Records.)
February. "ITay 18 to 20 dollars per ton ; corn, 6/; rye, 9/ ; wheat, 12/ ($2.00) ; all very scarce." (Lane Mem.)
1806, "Jan. 1." " I now begin to keep my accounts in dollars and cents " (page heading). (Always before, till the close Father Crock- ell's account- of 1805, in pounds, shillings, and pence.) At this date, book in 1800. making a man's shoes, fifty cents; making a woman's shoes, fifty-nine cents ; an eight and one half pound turkey, fifty cents. Soon after, a boy's work, two days' ploughing, fifty cents ; a man, two days' mowing, $1.00. (Rev. J. Crockett's account-book. )
Feb. 22. Annual meeting for the first time called by the simple notification and warning of the selectmen, without the interposition of one of the constables, as before March 11. Two persons to represent the town in the " General Court" for the first time proposed, but town did not accept the privilege, and voted to send but one as formerly. Adjourned till "to-morrow," instead of " next week." Selectmen again chosen one at a time. March 12. Voted, that any person bringing crows' Bounty on heads to either of the selectmen shall receive twenty cents crown' heade. each, at the town's expense. (Next year ten cents for young crows added. Same vote renewed March 12, 1811, but repealed 1817.) (Town Records.)
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HISTORY OF SANBORNTON.
1808, February. "Hay plenty. All kinds of produce plenty and low ; money scarce. Healthy." June 9. " Pleasnut. Mr. Bodwell's house raised." ( Lane Mem. )
Aug. 29 (special meeting). "Voted that a committee of five, with the selectmen, be chosen to petition the President of the United
Fanhornion
and the em- States to repeal the Embargo Act . iu whole or hut part; petition barKU, 1808. to be similar to the one from Newburyport, so far as It will apply to Sanbornton."
Dr. Samuel Gerrish, Bradstreet Moody, Esq., Andrew Lovejoy, Dea. Samnel Lane, and Lieut. Jeremiah Sanborn were put upon that committee. Yet it was finally " left discretionary with the committee whether they shall send the petition to the President" !
1809, March 14. Chose two representatives to General Court for the first time, and proceeded no further than to eleet these, with moderator, clerk, and State and county offleers, the first day. Then "adjourned till the next Saturday." Usually before this, for one or two weeks. (Town Records.)
January. "Produce of all kinds dull in markets and cheap. Salt, &e., high. Oh ! the Embargo!" February. "Seareely one thawy day for more than ten weeks."
1810, January. "Very moderate till the 'cold Friday' (19th) ; then a sudden alteration to extremely cold and windy. Blew down large quantities of timber ; damaged a number of buildings ; several people frozen." Yet, February following, " a very moderate month : ground bare, no sledding, business mostly done with wheels "; and April 1, " more snow on the ground than at any time the last winter," while the " robins sing " on the 5th ! ( Lane Mem.)
The cold
We elsewhere learn that on the day before the " cold Friday " (see "Casualties," and Vol. II. p. 266 [24]) it was so warm
Friday, 1810. that water ran off the eaves of houses, and that Dr. San- born had ridden up to Mr. George's without an overcoat. At nine or ten o'clock in the evening the weather suddenly changed, and the roaring of the approaching tempest was heard at a distance.
March 17. A slight ripple in the election of assessors at town meeting. Voted " a committee to nominate " ; then " not to accept report of committee." Afterwards elected, as usual, three of the live recommended by the committee being left out !
1811, March 12. At annual meeting, Joshua Lane was deprived of
* This was an order of government recommended by President Jefferson and laid by Congress, in December, 1807, upon all vessels, prohibiting their sailing or carrying goods from any of our ports ; virtually a shutting up of the harbors. It was designed " to retaliate on both England and France, and also to put the United States in a better state of defence by retaining their vessels and seamen at home."
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ANNALS OF THE TOWN, - 1801-1881.
the clerkship for one year, an influence in the southwest part of the town (now East Franklin ) having set against him, probably on account of his decision in a " land case," as lot layer. Ile was more just than popular! July 10, at special meeting, to take the sense of the town relative to a letter from the selectinen of Newburyport, Mass., " expressing their loss and suffering experienced of late by fire."
Relief for Auf. Voted a committee of sixteen, Que for each school dis- ferers by tre at triet, to take subscriptions for the relief of the sufferers, Newburyport. making returns to the seleetmen as soon as collected. The humauity and sympathy of our Sanbornton fathers are thus shown in a favorable light.
" The sixteen Conunittee were Thomas Klinbal, Joshua Lane, Capt. Eben- ezer Sunborn, Lient. Nathaniel Grant, John Doe, Christopher Suuboru, Capt. William Taylor, Capt. John Lane, Jr., James Wadleigh, Jr., Willium Weeks, Esq., Stephen Prescott, James Osgood, Bradbury Morrison, Dearborn Sau- born, Capt. Joseph Smith, and Lieut. Jeremiah Sanborn."
1812, March 10. At annual meeting, "Voted to have prayers before proceeding to further business," Rev. Mr. Bodwell being called to otllciate. We infer that this was not the custom before.
1813, March 9. Meeting adjourned till the " next day" (Wednes- day). (Town Records.)
March. " The spotted fever prevails, and is very mortal in many
ยท The spotted neighboring towns." May 8. " Cold storm. Doet. Web- fever. ster died."
1815, February. "Very steady cold this month ; no thaw since Dec. first. Good sleighing the whole winter. Health ! Plenty ! Peace !" (The news of peace had been received on the 15th. ) April 13. " Fast and Thanksgiving Day." Sept. 19 and 20. " An Elephant to be seeu as a show in this town." Sept. 23. The greut Sep- " A furious gale or hurricane, and very raiuy. Buildings tember gale.
and Timber destroyed." (Lane Mem.)
The next two years, having a remarkable and painful connection, shall be cited more fully and together.
. 1816, January and February. " Very little snow and moderate weather." March. " Backward. Very sickly ; some cases of spot- ted fever." April. "Cold, backward, dry weather ; healthy. Hay scarce, $10; corn, 7/." May. "Still cold, and very backward." June 6th to 11th. "Very cold winds ; large frost : ice one fourth of an inch thick ; gronnd frozen. Vegetation far behind. Corn, 7/ to 9/. Yet healthy." July 9. " White frost again killed the corn. Very dry, cold, and healthy." August. " But little more than half the usual The distress- crop of hay" ; but " grain very good, what little there is. ing your, Isto, 1817. Healthy here." September. " Most severe drought ever
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HISTORY OF SANBORNTON.
kuown. But little corn will be raised. Healthy, in general." Octo- ber. " Wet and warm ; but few apples."
1817, January. " Scarcity of all kinds of produce. Hay, 820 a ton ; corn, 10/ to 12/." March. "Snow very deep. Still worse for scarcity. Hay, $25 to 880; corn, $2; wheat, 15/ to 18/ ; potatoes, 3/ ; oats, 5/ to 6/ ; but healthy "1 April. " Probably more than half the people out of hay this mouth ; feed short. Many cattle die. Great scarcity of all kinds of produce and very dear. Healthy time."
Our imaginations must fill up these pictures of distress. Yet a kindly Providence seems to smile from behind the frowning cloud in
Providential the " unusual number of pigeons dying" in April ; also relief's. iu these brief remaining entries : July and August. .. Sea- souable rains," after a very wet Juue. " Hay good ; grain very promising, and corn, where not troubled by worms." Septem- ber. " Great fall feed. No frost till the night of the 20th." Octo- ber. " Potatoes plenty. Pig shoats scarce, ten cents per pound," and finally the year winding up with Dec. 25, " Thanksgiving Day," " continued healthiness, and corn and grain plenty and cheap"! (Lane Mem.)
Recurring to the town business, few items of general interest appear in the records of the meetings for the two remarkable years just passed.
1816, March 12. Towu meeting adjourned from Tuesday to Thurs- day. Sept. 9, chose Charles J. Stuart, Joseph Woodman, and Joshua Lane a committee to petition for having the post-office removed to the centre of the town.
1817, March 11. At annual meeting three persons were chosen " to serve as acting constables for this meeting," - probably to assist in preserving order, - viz., Richard Hazelton, Caleb Kimball, and Richard Colby. Again adjourned " till to-morrow," as was after- wards the nuiform practice, the State and county officers and repre- seutatives having only on this day been elected. (Town Records.)
1818. The winter was mild until February. " Hay plenty, - no price, no buyers": but then " large snows" are reported ; "roads badly drifted ; cellars much frozen." April. "Great .
Severe win-
ter, Is18. freshets in some places ; Winnipiseogee River very high " ; " three fect of snow in one storm " having been previously noted for the opening days of the month! May 23. " Trees not leaved ont"; but " vegetation very rapid afterwards." June. "Wet and warm" ; wheat much " caten by insects, supposed to be the Ies- sian fy." (Lane Mem.)
March 11. The second day of town meeting was wholly consinned in electing the three selectmen, with an adjournment of Town meeting, half an hour after the second was chosen. Meeting held three day's. on a third consecutive day. (Town Records.)
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ANNALS OF THE TOWN, - 1801-1881.
1819, February. " No good sledding ; no journeying with sleighs below this winter." April 22. " Began to plough."
1820, January. " Large body of snow on ground." July and August. "Sharp droughts." September. "Longest (drought) ever remembered ; corn very sound ; potatoes very light." (Lane Mem.)
1821, March 13. Voted to bring in votes for representatives and State and county officers together, and put them into diferent boxes. ('Town Records.)
1822, February. After a favorable season the previous year, "coru. 4/ ; rye, +/ ; wheat, 7/6." ( Lane Mem.)
March 12. First day ; ouly elected moderator, towu clerk, and two representatives ; and received votes for State and conuty officers. (Town Records.)
1823, November. In consequence of a dry season, . Small brooks and wells of water very low, and many dry." (Lane Mem.)
1824. But by the 12th of February following, the food-gates were once more opened, and then -
"occurred [according to the New Hampshire Patriot of that week] one of the most tremendous foods ever known in this part of the country. The extreme cold of the preceding week was followed on Tuesday and Wednes- The lee freshet day [10th and 11th ] by southerly winds, which increased to a gale, of February,
1824. with the still pouring rain. The solid coat of ice which covered the ground, while by melting it added to the quantity of water, ulso prevented the earth from receiving it; and the whole rushed toward and filled the smaller streams, pushing theuce into the rivers. In a few hours the thick ive, giving way, swept bridges and everything else in its course into a mass of undistinguished ruin."
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All the bridges above Concord on the Merrimack and Pemigewasset, except three, - Boscawen, Bristol, and Campton ( Livermore's), - were carried away, including of course the "Republican Bridge " between Salisbury and Sanbornton, as well as three of the bridges then con- meeting Sanbornton and Northifiekl, viz., the " Federal " and " San- boru's," at what is now Franklin Falls, and the only one then at Tilton Village. The damage to bridges in New Hampshire from this freshet was estimated to be at least $200,000. (See also " Roads and Bridges," Chap. XVIII.)
1825, March 16. "Robins sing."
1826. After a " dry summer," with "grass very short. pastures withered, and grasshoppers mcommonly plenty, devouring every green thing " (the ** small rains " of July effecting no im-
The drought athl frshet of' provement), the deluge of Angust came in " two great lazu. Treshets" : the larger on the 28th, " doing immense dam- age to roads, bridges, and mills " [this was the day of the Willey slide 10
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HISTORY OF SANBORNTON.
at the White Mountains] ; ". but grasshoppers all gone, supposed by the rains " [indeed, it was noticed in the eastern part of the State that some of the ponds were literally filled with their dead bodies !] ; and we have by a favoring Providence this further sequel to relate : ". Corn [soon after] promising ; grass-fields and pastures flourishing ; more grass on the ground in September than in June "; and in October, " good crops ; apples plenty, and fall feed abundant." These .. warm, wet" mouths, however, had caused the prevalence of dysentery, which was * mortal in many cases, and most severe near Sanbornton Bridge," - seventy-four being the total number of deaths in town for this event- ful year. ( Lane Mem.)
We are otherwise informed that during the drought of this year the farmers of Sanboruton were obliged to gather the boughs of trees, in large quantities, for their sheep and cattle, and that among the losses by the freshet, the clothing mill of Clark Gordon, on Sahuon Brook, at the privilege which is now Nathaniel M: Prescott's, was carried away.
1828, May 5. " Began to plant corn. Season' wet. Grass very promising and hay $5.00 a ton " at its close. " Corn Cold October forward, and ripened very early," but "intense cold in October," 15th to 18th, " apples freezing on the trees." Finally, for
1829, in April, we find the lowest quotation of " corn, at 3/6 to 3/9 per bushel," anywhere to be found in these forty years' records of Master JJoshua Lane. This excellent man and faithful chronicler was never permitted to trace, upon earth, the issue of another year's events. llis memorandum for August is but partially filled, and " He died," as the same and last page informs us, in another handwriting, " Septem- ber 1, 1829, aged 67 years and three days." (Lane Mem. )
Resmning the town meetings, -
1830. The warrant for the annual meeting (attested copies) was for the first time posted in several different places (speci- Posting tin. fying at the " taverns of Charles Lane and Samuel Tilton, warrant, 1530. and at the town, Elder Crockett's, and the Bay Meeting- houses"). Also alphabetical lists " of all inhabitants, to the best of the selectmen's knowledge," posted at the inn of Charles Lane, and left with the town clerk. (Town Records.)
1831, as Mr. Bradbury Morrison affirmed to the writer, was very 'I'In great coru record" in this town. August, especially, was cloudy but
warm, and " a great corn year, perhaps the greatest on Year, 15al.
hot, and the corn grew luxuriantly, even on the pine launds. 1836. March meeting, " Voted on the question, Is it expedient to divide the county of Strafford? " Yeas, none ; nays, two hundred and
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ANNALS OF THE TOWN, - 1801-1881.
eighty : but also voted that the selectmen prefer a petition to the next
County divis- Legislature that this town be set off from Strafford County
jon question. to Merrimack Conuty. October, again voted, two hun- dred and thirty-six to nothing, that it is " inexpedient to divide the county of Strafford on the senatorial district line"; also, " yeas, eighteen ; nays, one hundred and seventy-one," on the ques- tion of the State's granting an appropriation to build an insane hos- pital.
1838, March. Votes for " dividing the county of Strafford into three counties," nearly as at present, - for, twenty-one ; against, two lindred and ninety-two; into two counties, as per seuatorial district lines (except Wolfeborough), - for, none ; against, two hundred and ninety-two. On the question of anthorizing town clerks to record deeds, -for, two lindred and eighty-seven ; against, eight. The " hog-reeves " and " field-drivers " disappear entirely as town officers at this meeting, only three of the former and one of the latter having been chosen the previous year (1837). June 23, special meeting. Voted, for the first time, that reports of auditors of accounts and over- seers of the poor be printed. " Voted, to relinquish the town's right to the land where the old meeting-house stood [the new Old meeting- house site. Town House having been erceted, not long before this, on its present location] in view of having it wholly or in part used for enlarging the burying-gromad, provided the neigh- borhood will fence it with a good stone wall, free of expense to the town." (Town Records.)
We may not know the secret history of this sudden revulsion of sentiment in the minds of the citizens on the " county question." Perhaps it was caused by a sense or prospect of the increased conven- ience of the new arrangement, gaining a conquest over their inborn conservatism ! But in
1839, at the March meeting, on the final question, " Is it expedient to divide Strafford County into three conuties, as per provisions of the Act of 1838?" it was voted ; two hundred and seventy-two
F'inal vole on
the county in favor, and only twenty-four against ! (Town Records. ) division. Notwithstanding the exceptional votes of 1788 and 1836, yet Sanbornton's loyalty to the old New Hapshire colonies had previ- ously led a majority of its people to rest satisfied with their okl county connection in the southeast rather than seck a new one in the south- west, with the original Massachusetts settlements of Concord and vicinity ; and though, at this time, finally convinced that their local interests would be helped by the new county organization. yet we may rest assured that their traditional instincts and ancestral sympathies will ever lead them to favor those schemes and enterprises which shall
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HISTORY OF SANBORNTON.
bind them the more closely to our sonthenstern towns and cities, and serve to develop the material interests of New Hampshire as a whole, rather than those which tend to divert our business from the State and transfer it into the hands of Massachusetts corporations. The inthu- ence of the old " line controversy " is not altogether obliterated !
Before leaving this year 1899 we must notice another storm and ice freshet, similar to that of 1824, which occurred in January, and on Sunday, the 27th, -
" Came down upon the second strongly bullt ' Republican Bridge' in Frank- liu, blocking up the current with the lee and sweeping everything The storm and before It. The water in the Merrimack was so high as to stop We freslut of January, 1839. Peabody & Daniel's paper mill nearly a week. The bridge above the paper mill - Federal Bridge - was carried away at the saate time."- (B. M. Goodwin, Esq., In Merrimack Journal of June 14, 1872. )
18.40. It is related that eighty or a hundred yokes of oxen drew at log-cabin from the Gulf woods up to the J. Hilliard Lane
1.og-cabin of tavern for a " Harrison supper," and afterwards drew the 1640. same to Concord, probably for the great convention in JJnue.
1842, March. " Resolved, That as the Town House was built for the purpose of transacting town business in, the selectmen be requested to hold their meetings and transact their business in this house." The selectmen's room was probably finished off about this time.
1843. As well as before and after, the annual March meeting was The two days adjourned on the first day, after voting for moderator, of town meet- town clerk, selectmien, State and county officers, and rep- ing iu 1843. Presentatives. On the second day selectmen's and auditor's reports were presented, also overseer's report ou the almshouse ; and the other articles were taken up and officers chosen.
1844. The number of voters in town, as per posted list of select- men, was six hundred and sixty-six. This would make an unwieldy -and often, in times of political excitement, a turbulent - body to be assembled in one room. Many were the scenes of agitation and intense interest which, during these years, are remembered to have transpired within the walls of the old Town House, when the two great parties would be encamped against each other like two con- Turbulent acclies in the old Town llouse. tending armies, on opposite sides of the building, with occasional vociferous challenges, or the picking off of stragglers from one side to the other! Yet the town has always been blessed with men (in either party) of candor, good judg- ment, and forbearance, as well as of courage, nerve, and decision, with which to regulate these seething clements. In this connection. the vote at the annual March meeting of this year (1841) is a pleasing
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ANNALS OF THE TOWN, - 1501-1881.
oue ; viz., " that a resolution of thanks be presented to the selectien for their honest, democratic conduct." (Town Records.)
(For lists of the town officers and a digest of the town's political history, as gathered from the " state of the votes " from year to year, sce Appendix C.)
Our space would fail us should we enter upon the " annals " and events of the last fifty years (thus far) of the present century with the same minuteness as of the first thirty years. We should highly prize the " memorandum " of another Master Lane to take us through the financial crises of 1837 and 1857, the later wars of our country, or the times of such events as the great rainfall and freshet of Oet. 4, 1869. This last is acknowledged to have been the most severe of The great rain of October, any as yet in this community since 1826, doing great dam- 1505. age to the roads of Sanbornton, and occasioning permanent changes in several of them, as will elsewhere appear.
The annual town meetings in March (to close this chapter as we began) since the division of the town, in 1869, have ordinarily been continued to a single day, the business being easily accomplished, both in Sauboruton and Tilton, at one session. Since 1878 the State officers and representatives have been elected'at biennial meetings in November. In Tilton, Ilill's Hall has been the place of the meetings until this current year, 1881, when the new and elegant Town meeting iu Tiltou, Iso1. Town Hall, the gift of Hon. Charles E. Tilton, was occu-
pied for the first time ; aud in that palatial apartment, with entire exemption from clamor, tumult, and tobacco smoke, the annual town meeting, so orderly and quiet, has begun to present a most amazing contrast with the similar gatherings of former years !
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CHAPTER XV.
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
"Oh, 't is noble and glorious to fight for our all, For our country, our children, the wife of our love! Death comes uut the sooner ! No soldier shall fall, Ere his thread is spun out by the sisters above." CALLINUS. (The oldest war song in existence.)
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