USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > Sanbornton > History of Sanbornton, New Hampshire, Vol. I - Annals > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
25
INDIAN RELICS AND ANTIQUITIES.
Indians, the original of which is not mentioned, and perhaps was not known by any of our historians ; nor can the. oklest man among the Mohawks at this day give any account of it." It is certain, more- over, that during this carlier war (1676-77) they were indneed by their English neighbors to prosecute their ancient quarrel with the Eastern Indians ; also that in this war, as well as in the next, or King William's war (1688-89), the two tribes of Penacook and Peqnawket formed a mutual confederation. All these cirenmstances, together with that of the large oaks - " oak-trees of large size."
Probably of according to Dr. Weston - found " standing within it> cartier Jate
than 1073. walls when first discovered," point to the earliest times,
prior to 1675, and nearly one hundred years before the first settlement of Sanbornton, when this Indian fort was probably erected. It would seem, in fact, to have been one of a whole system of defences, of which that at Ossipee ponds, above mentioned, was another, by which the confederated tribes of what is now Northern New England sought to ward off the incursions of the " fierce Mohawk," before their hostilities had ever been instigated against the white settlers of the lower towns.
That the Mohawks were as far cast as Sanbornton, in some atti- tude, is proved by the familiar name of "Mohawk Point," which; though not of Sanbornton soil, has ever been near, and intimately associated with it. Two traditions accounting for the 'I'wo traditions name are given. One is the more modern and less prob-
of the battle at Mohawk Point. able, that the Mohawks themselves were " on the war path " against the New England settlements, perhaps in Lovewell's war, of 1725-30 ; first directing their course to Epping, where they plundered the settlers, burning and carrying off their effects, and then coming north through Alton, along the side of the lake and down the Winnipiseogee, to elnde their pursuers ; that they encamped on the point, now much higher above the water than at present, and that the whites, learning their situation, secretly ch- camped there too, nearer the main-land ; and that in the morning they were taken by surprise, those that could not get to the water killed, and those that did shot in the water, " so that not one," say's Welch, the narrator, "escaped."
But the far more probable account is that which also aseribes this name to an earlier origin, in the following words of the Sanbornton annalist of ' 41 : -
'The varlier, as between the Mohawks and l'aquaw kets, tw more
probable.
.. Tradition informes us that a large body of fudians belonging to or inhabiting this region of country were once surprised and driven upon a point of land in the Great Bay, upon the Gilman- ton shore, where they were overpowered by a superior force and completely
26
HISTORY OF SANBORNTON.
cut to pleces. The victorious Indians on this occasion were the Mohawks, und It is said they used stridagem to deroy the Pequawkets [fetgung u retreat down the bay in their ennoes, wiele really sambushed under the banks of the point], by means of which they obtained a more cusy and complete victory. The place where this battle was fought Is known as . Mohawk Polut.'"
From the " Rambles and Reminiscences " of M. B. Goodwin, Esq., editor of the " Merrimack Journal" in 1872, we obtain additional statements of interest respecting the Indians in this vicinity, a fuller und somewhat modified sketch of the origin and history of the old fort and of the last battles there fought, and virtually a third
" Merrimack explanation of the name " Mohawk Point" ; all given ou Journal " skeletics. the authority of Potter and others. He claims that there were seren tribes along the central valleys of New Hamp- shire, of which the Penacook, located on the Concord intervales, was the most powerful ; the other six, including the Winnipiscogees, aroundl the lake, " being subservient, and finally merged with them." These were the Indians (Penacooks as above) who formed the alliance with the Pequawkets. Hence some traditions, like those already cited, call the whole united body by the latter name ; while these sketches of Mr. Goodwin call the same body by the name of Penacooks.
"The people who erected and garrisoned these old works [referring to the fort just described] are unknown to the present generation; yet there is little doubt that it was the work of the Penacooks, who tied to this spot and built themselves a stronghold after a disastrous battle with the Mohawks on the Concord intervales. There was no historian to transmit to us a description of those scenes that opened in and around this old fortress ; yet seenes there were which would have presented grand and soul-stirring sketches, and might even have inspired the pen of a Homer. Here the war-dance was celebrated in wild and savage grandeur. The council-fire blazed, and dark, fantastic forms listened with rapt attention to the harangues of grave and sombre-visaged chieftains, as they urged on their noble braves to deeds of heroic valor. Here sat aged mothers and timid maidens, listening to the wild shouts of bands of painted warriors returning from successful expeditions against their foes. llere the loud alarm was sounded to prepare the garrison for the inroad of the man-eating Mohawk, and here the battle was set that termi- uated the existence of their tribes.
"Tradition has left but a meagre sketch of this last battle in and around the old fort. The Mohawks, whose thirst for blood was not Last balltes ut the fort. satiated by the slaughter on the Concord intervales, learning of the whereabouts of the remmant of the Penacooks, followed in considerable numbers to their stronghold at the head of Little Bay. The first attack was made on the north side of the fort. While the battle was here raging, the weak and feeble of the Penacooks were sent to the canoes which were moored on the south side. The whole garrison followed them, and were soon beyond the reach of pursuit, safely landed on Tour's Island [another name for Atkinson Island, after one Thomas Bowen, an early owner]. The Mohawks, thus foiled, retired, but were afterwards joined by a war Party
27
INDIANN RELICS AND ANTIQUITIES.
of allies from Canada, and returned to the fort. This time a powerful attack was made of the south side. The canoes were secured, the fort entered, the garrison overpowered and massacred, except a few who ted up the river and bay a short distance, when, in attempting to cross to a point of land running from the Belmont shore nearly across the stream, they were overtaken and slain. This point has since been known as ' Mohawk Poiut.' Thus ends the tradition of this relic of antiquity."
In another " Reminiscence," Mr. Goodwin mentions the " scattered bands of the Penacooks," who in after years " continued to sail up and down the rivers and ou the Great Pond, and in their journey's to pitch their wigwains at the Crotch, as tradition says, and as the relies turued up by the ploughshare on the land formerly owned by IIon. George W. Nesmith, and now by Warren F. Daniell, fully show." Ile also speaks of nine Indians who, in 1743, through James Scales of Canterbury, petitioned Gov. Wentworth for a " truck house," " at a place which we call the ' carrying place,"'
The Tudian
being just above the junetion of the two streams. .. The
" carrying place." truck house they did not have ; but of the currying place, as often as they came to the long series of falls on both rivers, the squaws, with canoes on their heads, pappooses swung to their backs, and their lords marching ou before, had a most weighty impression."
CHAPTER V.
SANBORNTON AND THE MASSACHUSETTS CLAIM.
" To arched walks of twilight groves, Aud shadows brown, that Sylvan loves,
Of pine, or monumental oak, Where the rude axe, with heaved stroke, Was never heard the nymphs to daunt, Or fright them from their hallowed hauut." - MILTON.
Lirrik doubt can exist as to the two times when the feet of white men first trod the soil of Sanbornton, or the first strokes
First white of the woodman's axe resounded upon our hillsides. But
men In town,
losy and 1032. we are thus remanded to the years 1639 and 1652, a cen- tury or more anterior to the "surveys" of the present township, which are to be described in the following chapter.
During the former of these years, a committee of surveyors " to find out the north most part of Merrimack River was sent here by the authorities of Massachusetts "; and it must have been within the terri- tory of Sanbornton that this said committee "fixed upon a pine-tree three miles north of the Crotch," as the northeasterly bound of the Massachusetts Colony. The " scoring" of this tree was pre-cmi- uently the first ". stroke " above alluded to. Then, thirteen years later, Jolin Endicott, the stern Puritan governor, was bearing sway in that same Massachusetts Bay Colony. New Hampshire, as ever between Union of the 1041 and 1679, was under her jurisdiction. At the union two colonies. of the two colonies, certain rights had been " reserved to the lords and gentlemen proprietors " of the Portsmouth and Dover patents, " and to their heirs forever." Hence, the Mass :- chusetts government found it necessary in 1652, when the heirs of John Mason were reviving their claim in New Hampshire, to order a more " accurate survey of the northern bouuds of their patent" ; and " another committee of the General Court," viz., Capts. Edward Jolm- son and Simon Willard, " attended," as Belknap informs
Survey of the us, " by Jonathan Ince and John Shearman, surveyors, and Upper Merri- several Indian guides, again went up the river Merrimack mack.
to find the most northerly part thereof, which the Indians now told them was at Aquedocktan, the outlet of the Lake Wunmipi- seuget.'
-
29
SANBORNTON AND THE MASSACHUSETTS CLAIM.
It must be remembered that Massachusetts, according to the origi- nal terms of King Charles's charter (" three miles to the northward of Merrimack River aud of any and every part thereof"), laid claim, for more than a hundred years, to all the southern Original claim of Massachu-
part of what is now New Hampshire, west of the Merri-
mack, and three miles of its left or east bank. It was largely in the interest of this claim that the above surveys were ordered on the part of Massachusetts. The so-called " Endicott Rock " is still to be seen at the outlet of the lake (Weir's Landing), inseribed Ang. 1, 1652, with the initials of the above captains, "E. J." and " S. W."; and it is admitted to be by far the
The Eudicott earliest historical record still existing of the presence of Huck. the white man in all this region of country. But we must also bear in mind that for a few days before this, or in July, 1652, that resolute party of surveyors were pulling their canoes over the rapids of Winnipiseogee River ; and no doubt they paused for rest, after rising the first rapids, at the " Ox-Bow," or just above the cele- brated " carrying place " for the Indian trail, leading northward up the Pemigewasset. (See " Roads " of town.) And when on the following day, as we may well imagine, they continued their toilsome journey, still dragging up their canoes, or carrying them around Surveyors pass- what are now the numerons " falls " of Franklin, Tilton, ing the falls of and East Tilton, - then it was, as before said, that the Fun borutou.
feet of white men for the second time at least, and perhaps for the first, traversed our borders.
It seems, however, that the Massachusetts government did not conelude to extend their claim as far as Aquedoektan, but receded to the point, within chartered distance from the junction of the two riv- ers on the soil of Sanbornton, at which the " pine-tree" Endicott's tree was originally spotted thirteen years before. This tree within the was very likely re-marked on the return trip of these same town limits. surveyors, or very soon after at farthest; and from that time forth it became, and was well known for many years as, the cele- brated " Endicott tree." We learn from Belknap's History (Vol. II. p. 13S) that in 1737, two years before the line was finally estab- lished as it now is by the Lords of Conneil in London, the agents of Massachusetts, in presenting their claim at the famous Salisbury Court," Ang. 8, insisted that their line,
Quotation trotu Belknap's
History.
"Beginning at the sea, three English miles north from the
Black Rocks, so called, at the mouth of the river Merrimack, as
* CAVALCADE TO THE SALISBURY COURT. - It was to attend an adjourned meet. ing of this court, " Ang. 10," according to Belknap, that "a cavalcade was formed from Boston to Salisbury, and the governor rode in state, attended by a troop of
30
HISTORY OF SANBORNTON.
it emptied Itself into the sea sixty years ago," should then run "parallel with the river as far northward as the crotch, or parting of the river" (the line, of course, being still three miles to the eastward), and " thence due north as far as a certain tree, commonly kamen for more than seventy years past by Ilu name of ' Endicott's tree,' standing three miles northcard of said crotch of parting of Merrimack River, + and thence due west to the South Sea."
It is, therefore, morally certain that the tree in question, the north- east corner boundary of the Massachusetts Colony, as then claimed, stood in what has since been Saubornton : some say, - from too lit- eral an interpretation of the last-quoted remarks, -ou the banks of the Pemigewasset, three miles north ; but more probably at a point three miles north of the line's end before mentioned, or north of another point which was itself three English miles east from the june- tion of the two streams. Yet ull attempts to identify its location have proved futile. Dr. Bouton, in his " History of Concord," remarks that it "must have been near to Sanbornton Bridge"; "and there is," says Mr. Goodwin, "a vague tradition that a rock, with an in- scription showing the spot, ouce existed in that neighborhood." But of no such rock has the writer, after diligent inquiry, received assur- ance ; and to his mind the most probable point, as being Supposed loca- three miles east, according to Dr. Bouton's implied suppo- tion of the tree. sition, and then three miles north of the confluence of the rivers, has seemed to be somewhere west of the Gulf, on the southern slopes of Caler Ifill.
But as the tree was of no account for a colonial bound after the
horse. This procession," as he further tells us in a note, "occasioned the following pasquinade, in an assumed Ilibernian style." It has found its way into several town histories that have had occasion to refer to this settling of the Massachusetts State lino. The present work may claim a similar right of appropriation for the entertain- mneut of its readers : -
" Dear Paddy, you ne'er did behold such a sight, As yesterday morning was seen before night. You in all your boru day's saw, nor I didn't neither, So many tine horses and then ride together. At the licad, the lower house trotted two in a row, Then all the higher house pranced after the low; Then the governor's coach galloped on like the wind, Aud the last that came foremost were troopers behind. But I fear it means no good to your neck uor mine, For they say 't is to fix a right place for the line."
* SANBORNTON FIRST CALLED CROTCHTOWN. - It is said that during this con- troversy about the line, our town, though unsurveyed, acquired the appellation of "Crotchtown," which name is believed to be found upon the old Massachusetts records. There is also authority for asserting that the Indians had previously given it, from its position in the fork of the rivers, another designation of precisely the same meaning, - a designation now unknown, but we hope more euphonious.
31
SANBORNTON AND THE MASSACHUSETTS CLAIM.
year 1739, and quite likely, to the first occupant of the
Its signii- cance lust. soil on which it stood, its significance and perhaps its very existence were wholly unknown, it early shared the fate of other primitive trees of the forest in that wholesale destruction to which the clearing of the land consigned them. Long before the time of the first settlement of the town, whatever marks it originally bore would have become obscure ; and so " Endicott's tree," though Its tuythical character. it has a place in history as it had npon our soil, is yet like one of the dim mythis of the legendary past. No one can tell where it stood, nor of what size or appearance it was. Venerable tree ! It had its uses. It lived ; it died. " But no man knoweth of its sepulchre unto this day."
CHAPTER VI.
PROPRIETARY HISTORY.
" The first rule of history is that an historian shall not dare to advance a falsity; the next, that there is no truth but what he shall dare to tell." - CICERO, De Oratur.
"Two principles in human nature reign : Self-love to urge, and reason to restrain. Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call : Each works its end, to move or govern all." - POPE.
IN entering upon this department, we propose to let the " Propri- ctors' Records " speak for themselves ; retaining their quaint phrase- ology, and in a few cases their ancient orthography. So shall our foundations be effectually laid. Earliest date of " Oct. ye 28th, Anno Domini 1748," marks the earliest the Proprie-
turs' Records. movement for a settlement, being the date to -
"A list of the names of a number of men that are [ of] * a mind and desire their names may be entered in this paper, in order that they may have a traet of land granted to them and their heirs forever."
Theu follows the petition : -
"Gentlemen, whose right it is to grant, we, being the loyal
tion.
Original peti- and dutiful sulijects of his Maigesty King George the Second, We pray you to grant or give to us a part of the land which is to be laied out into townships in our fronteir above."
This is signed by sixty men in the following order, ters(granters) ;
the original grantees, after whose names we append the their residen- town in which each lived, the ordinal number of his final ces, and the lots drawn by " drawing," and the lots drawn in both " divisions," con- rach. stituting his " right " or " share," the last two items being anticipated as a matter of convenience. (See Appendix .1. )
* Added words in brackets.
33
PROPRIETARY HISTORY.
Nos.
Names.
Residences.
Order of
Drawing.
First Div.
1
John Sandborn
Hampton . .
Exeter .
25th
3
John Dearborn
. Hampton.
18th
Thomas Blake
. Ilampton .
730
5
Daniel Sanborn ..
. Hampton.
Goth
54
Daniel Sanborn, Jun.
. Jlampton.
19th
28
Thomas Rolins (Lient.)
. Stratham
34th
29th
45
17
9
Joseph Height [Hloit].
Stratham
Goth
51
10
Joseph Height, Jun.
Stratham.
74 th
33
5
11
Edward Shaw
. Hampton. ...
58th
21
34
12
Jonathan Robinson
.Exeter ...
26th
1
12
Josiah Robinson
Exeter
CStl
29
19
15
William Thompson
. Stratham
Both
32
c.
16
Paul Ladd.
. Strathmmmn.
39th
17
20
17
John Fogy
Exeter.
50th
2
21
18
John Taylor.
. Hampton .
8th
19
Jeremiah Sanborn
. Hampton.
5 Atlı
70
21
Joseph Juct [Jewett]
. Stratham ....
47th
16
50
23
Seth Fogg.
Exeter
57th
72
59
24
Joseph Smith, Jun.
. Stratham
79th
25
Benjamin Mason .
. Stratham
15th
82
26
Jonathan Longfelo
. Exeter .
56th
80
45
Daniel Keley
Hampton
76th
40
50
28
Jabez Sanborn
Hampton.
29
Abraham Sanborn
Hampton.
36th
23
47
31
Stanel Four
. Exeter
soth
70
70
Jethro P'erson
. Exeter
230
S
34
Josiah Sanborn.
Exeter
16th
85
Simon Drake
Hampton
430
41
36
John Rolins
. Exeter
78th
81
44
37
Jonathan Chase (+)
Strat lamu
11th
61
78
39
Ebenezer Sanborn
Hampton.
77th
68
62
1
John Wadlegh
. Stratham
59th
10
50
42
Nathan Lougrelo
Hampton
53d
3
44
Jonathan Rolius
Stratham
5
45
Edward Taylor
Stratham.
64th
31
47
Chase Taylor
Stratham
14th
13
49
Jonathan Sanborn
Hampton.
Both
50
Joseph Smith.
· Strat ham
51
Josiah Smith ( *).
. Stratham.
51.t
52
John Hopkinson.
Exeter
20th
1
10th
51
Jonathan Shaw .
Hampton.
25th
55
Joshua Rollins, Jun.
Stratham . .
....
33d
12
52
Thomas Chase
Stratham.
28th
14
51
Jonathan Robinson, Jun.
. Stratham
31st
7
lin
Jonathan Canley
.Exeter
55th
4
5
William Chase
Stratham.
Exeter.
9th
74
1.
14
William Sanborn .
Exeter
. Stratham.
71st
15
Joshua Rolins
. Exeter
75th
C
20
David Stevens.
Stratham
Joseph Rolins .
Exeter
15
Josiah Rolins.
1×
Francis Mason (*)
Stratham. . . . .
3
...
49
Caleb Rolins ..
. Exeter
Jonathan Fogg
Aaron Rolins .
34
HISTORY OF SANBORNTON.
Nos.
Names.
Itesidences.
Order of
Drawing.
First Div.
D'jv. Jads.
56
Josiah Fogg.
Exeter
68th
20
57
Josiah Sanborn [Jun. ? ].
. Exeter
70th
13
53
Jonathan Crosby
Chester
Masten Sanborn
Hampton
40th
Samuel Hurdle.
Strathmu
30
It thus appears that twenty-three of the grantees were from Strat- ham ; nineteen from Exeter ; seventeen from Ilumpton ; and one from Chester. Those who died before the drawing of lots are marked (*), " Deces't."
"Nov. ye 3d, 1748. We, whose names are above written, being met together upon the business before named, proceeded First buslices woutlug. as followeth : Chose Ensign Jonathan Longfelo [26] Mod- erator of s'd meeting ; Voted Joseph Rolins [33], Clerk ; Josiah Sanborn [34] Treasurer, to receive the money that is to be raised by this society, and that each man pay into the treasury four shillings old tenor." * Voted also that Mr. John Sanboru [1] be " an agent to lay our petition or request before certain gentlemen," (of the Musonian proprietors, among whom are named, ) " Theo- Petitlon pro- s oluted. dore Atkinson, John Moffat, Samuel More, J. Odiorne Jr., Joshua Pierce, Nathaniel Meserve, George Jaffrey Jr., and Johu Wentworth Jr."; also that "he [John Sanborn] receive one pound, lawful money, for his past service."
At an adjourned meeting, " Nov. y" 10th, Dea. Samuel Fogg [31], Joseph Rollins, Josiah Sanborn, and Jethro Pearson [32] were chosen a Committee to lay out the Town"; and it was voted that "each man pay his proportion to hire a surveyor," and that " each
Contulttee for Committee-mau receive thirty-five shillings, old tenor, for laying out the wowu. each day they are gone, till they return again." Assigned to Jolin Sanboru " forty shillings o. t. for his going to the Bank [Portsmouth, originally called " Strawberry Bank "] ye Sth day of this instant Nov."; and made another assessment of . 16s. o. t. upon each man." On the 14th of November, Jethro Pearson and Joseph Rollins were requested to "visit Mr. Sam'l Palmer, . . . to know whether the land we pitch upon be within the claim of the gentlemen claiming under Mason or not"; and " the Com., or the
* This money was the depreciated bills of credit which the General Court of Massa- chusetts had commence.l issuing as early as 1720, and which at this time were esti mated at forty-five shillings to the dollar.
35
PROPRIETARY HISTORY.
major part of them " were directed " to agree with a surveyor, to go with them to lay ont the town." Two days later, " Nov. ye 16th." it was voted, John Sanborn being moderator pro tem., that the ". Com. lay ont the town on the E. N. E. side of Pemisigwaset Location Anally River, above Winepisock river, near the crotch of said welected. rivers ; or, otherways, where they shall think best; also that this Com. have power to eall the next inceting when ready to make their return."
Thus, in a conclave of its ancestors at Exeter, the site of our town was first and finally settled. The last of that November must have been diligently improved by the enterprising committee, and a cold, cheerless Thanksgiving must they have passed in the wilds of " Crotch- town "; for so soon as " Dec. y" 6th, 1748," we find that the propri- ctors, being legally warned, met and received the committee's " re- turn," " which is as followeth " : -
"Pursuant to a vote passed Nov. 16, 1748, we whose names are underwrit- ten, being chose a Com., etc., proceeded to lay out s'd town. Beginning near the
Report of crotch of s'd rivers, and so running up Pemisegwaset river, five
colniuitlee. miles and one half, and so, forth, between Winepisock river and Pemisegwaset river, as will more fully appear by the plan."
(Signed) SAMUEL FOGG, JETHRO PERSON, JOSEPHI ROLINS, JOSIAH SANBORN,
Committee.
At this meeting Josiah Sanborn was chosen clerk, and he, with Joseph Rolins, was voted as a committee " to go to the Bank to treat with the gentlemen about the confirmation of the land we have laid out." "Twenty-four shillings " were assessed upon each " right," to defray the charge ; and it was further ordained that " he that doth not pay to the Treasurer the sums before raised, on or before the 12th day of this instant, Decem., shall forfeit his right, except he be not notified."
Meanwhile it had been ascertained that the land pitched upon did fall within the claim of the " Masonian proprietors " ; and The Masonian the next meeting, affecting materially the history of San- proprietors (gruntors). bornton, was that of the " Proprietors of lands purchased of John Tufton Mason, Esq., at the dwelling house of Widow Sarah Prust [or Prest], in Portsmouth, Dec. 31, 1748," at which a " grant" was formally made by that body to the sixty men, named above on the petition, " together with twenty other per- sons hereafter to be named by the proprietors " (grantors). The land granted was bonded precisely as in the subsequent charter of incor- poration (1770), except that the northwest line is said to have run
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