History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 2

Author: Scales, John, 1835-1928
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 988

USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens > Part 2

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Wallingford, Col. Thomas 255

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Watson, John Il. . 676

JOHN SCALES

History of Strafford County

CHAPTER I

NOTES ON ITS EARLY HISTORY

As parts of Massachusetts Bay Colony ( 1641-3 to 1679) the towns of Dover, Strawberry Bank ( Portsmouth), Hampton and Exeter were com- prised within Norfolk county, which was one of the four shires, viz. : Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk and Norfolk into which the Bay Colony was separated from "3d month, 10th day, 1643."

The name New Hampshire was first applied to these towns in 1679, as a province separate from Massachusetts Bay Colony, but it remained under the same Governor, having a Lieutenant-Governor of its own until 1742, when it was completely separated from Massachusetts, and Benning Wentworth was appointed Governor and held the office until 1767. During Governor Wentworth's rule the territory was all one, no counties; in his quarter of a century he granted a great many townships in all parts of the province and on both sides of the Connecticut river. All the courts were held at Ports- mouth during his term, so the inhabitants of these new towns had to travel long distances, over bad roads, to attend courts and transact business with the Governor and Council and the Assembly. Of course this caused them much inconvenience and no little expense.

As early as January, 1755, a proposition to divide the province of New Hampshire into counties was entertained in the Assembly. The Merrimack river was to be the dividing line and there were to be two counties-Ports- mouth and Cumberland. The Council rejected the bill because it provided for a court at Exeter, as well as Portsmouth, and they "could by no means con- sent to that." The two branches of the Assembly continued to consider this question in various forms and failed to find grounds of agreement as to details until 1769, when the government was under control of the young Governor John Wentworth, who had succeeded his uncle, Benning Wentworth, in 1767. The agreement as finally reached, April 29, 1769, established five counties, subject to the Crown's approval of the act, which was done March 19, 1771. (Laws of 1771, ch. 137, p. 204.) The five counties were named 1

HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY

Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, Cheshire and Grafton; the names were conferred in honor of the Governor's friends in England. The Earl of Strafford was the Wentworth ancestor of the Governors Wentworth, uncle and nephew, so he gave the name to Strafford county.

Rev. Dr. Jeremy Belknap, in his history for the years 1770-71, after speaking of the first commencement at Dartmouth College, in the summer of 1771, says :

"Another improvement was made about this same time, by dividing the province into counties. This had been long sought but could not be obtained. The inconvenience to which the people in the western parts of the province were subject, by reason of their distance from Portsmouth, where all the courts were held, was extremely burdensome; whilst the conveniences and emoluments of office were enjoyed by gentlemen in that vicinity. Some attempts to divide the province had been made in the former administration, but without effect. The rapid increase of inhabitants for several years made a division so necessary that it had become one of the principal subjects of debate in the Assembly, from the time of the Governor's (John Wentworth) arrival (June 13, 1767). Several sessions passed before all points could be adjusted. The number of counties and lines of division were not easily agreed to, and a punctilio of prerogation, about the erecting of courts, made some difficulty; but it was finally determined that the number of counties should be five; and the courts were established by an act of the whole Legis- lature. It was passed with a clause suspending its operation until the King's pleasure should be known. The royal approbation being obtained, it took effect in 1771. The five counties were named by the Governor after some of his friends in England, Rockingham, Strafford, Hillsborough, Cheshire and Grafton. The counties of Strafford and Grafton, being much less pop- ulous than the others, were to remain annexed to the county of Rockingham until the Governor, by advice of his council, should declare them competent to the exercise of their respective jurisdictions, which was done in 1773."

The act of the General Assembly, March 19, 1771, gives the boundary lines for Strafford county as follows :

"Beginning at the northwest corner of Canterbury, and from thence to cross the river, then down the river to Pemigewasset; then to run up Pemige- wasset river to Campton; thence round the westerly end of Campton, and by the northerly side lines of Campton, Sandwich and Tamworth; and thence easterly to the province line on the same course with the northerly side line of Eaton; thence down said province line to the line of the first county (Rockingham), hence by the same to the bounds first menioned."

So Strafford county consisted originally of the towns of Dover, Dur- ham, Lee, Madbury, Somersworth, Rochester, Barrington, Strafford, Farm- ington, Barnstead, Gilmanton, Alton, Sanbornton, Meredith, New Hampton,

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

New Durham, Milton, Brookfield, Gilford, Wolfeborough, Moultonborough, Tuftonborough, Ossiper, Effingham, Freedom, Tamworth, Eaton, Conway and Chatham. It retained this size practically for nearly 70 years, up to December 22, 1840, when the northerly towns were separated from it and made into two counties, Belknap and Carroll, since when its territory has remained as at present, and consists of Dover, Durham, Lee, Madbury, Somersworth, Rollinsford (which was set off from Somersworth in 1849), Barrington, Strafford, Farmington, New Durham, Milton and Middleton. The most northerly point is in New Durham.

The county seat was established at Dover and the inhabitants of those towns had to come here long distances to attend courts until 1797, when Gil- manton was made an additional county seat, and the courts for that part of the county were held in the new Academy building which had been com- pleted in 1796. The courts were held alternately in Dover and Gilmanton, which at that date had 200 inhabitants in the center village where the academy was located; it was then a lively place of business, and the school has been kept up in a good, working condition to the present time. In those days it was a great event in a farmer's life to serve on the grand jury.

Indian trails, kept somewhat warm by hunters and trappers, were better than a trackless wilderness but they did not meet the demands of the pioneers. In 1722 a road had been cut out to the eastern shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, a block house erected and a guard stationed there. This is the first road of which we have record. No more roads were undertaken until after the peace of 1760.

In June, 1786, the Assembly enacted that a "post set off every other Monday from Portsmouth and from thence proceed through Newmarket, Durham, Dover, Rochester, Wakefield, Ossipee, Gore and Tamworth to Moultonborough, thence through Meredith, Gilmanton, Barnstead, Barring- ton, Dover, Durham and Newmarket to Portsmouth.

The fourth State post route, established December 6, 1791, came from Portsmouth once a fortnight via same route to Dover, Rochester, Wakefield, Ossipee, Tamworth, Sandwich, Centre Holderness, Plymouth, Meredith, etc., as before. The only postoffice in Strafford county until 1800 was at Dover, and the Dover papers of that period frequently contained advertise- ments of letters for residents of Tamworth, Sandwich, Wakefield and as far north as Conway, and the White Mountain region. The post rider (on horseback) received £12 a year for service on the above route, which it required a week for him to traverse. Samuel Bragg, afterwards newspaper publisher at Dover, was one of the early post riders, beginning about 1795. Postage on letters was 4 pence under forty miles, and 6 pence for every forty miles.

Strafford county remained a part of Rockingham county from March

HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY

19, 1771, to February 5, 1773, in accordance with the act of the Assembly which says: "That the said counties of Strafford and Grafton shall be for the present (March, 1771) annexed to and deemed and taken as parts and members of the county of Rockingham and subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the courts, magistrates and officers of the said county of Rock- ingham to all intents and purposes and shall remain so annexed, deemed and taken and subject until the Governor by and with advice and consent of the Council shall declare them respectively sufficient for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions and no longer."

At the beginning of 1773 Governor Wentworth and his Council reached conclusion that these counties had reached the point where they were "suffi- cient for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions,' and the Assembly February 5, 1773, passed the following law :

"An Act for fixing the times and places for holding the courts in the county of Strafford and Grafton.

"WHEREAS, by the act for dividing of this province into counties, Strafford and Grafton were to be counted and taken as parts and members of the county of Rockingham until the Governor and Council should declare them respectively sufficient for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions ;

"AND WHEREAS, the Governor by and with advice and consent of His Majesty's Council of this province, has declared the said counties sufficient for the exercise of said jurisdiction ; therefore,

"Be it enacted by the Governor, Council and Assembly, that the several courts in the county of Strafford shall be held as follows, viz .: A Court of General Sessions of the Peace on the second Tuesday of January, July and October at Dover annually; and an Inferior Court of Common Pleas on the first Thursday next following the second Tuesdays of January, July and October at the same place, annually. And one Court of General Sesssions of the Peace on the second Tuesday of April, shall be held at Durham, in said county, annually ; and one Inferior Court of Common Pleas on the first Tuesday next following the second Tuesday of April at said Durham annu- ally, and that a Superior Court of Jurisdiction be held at Dover, aforesaid, on the last Tuesday of May annually. This regulation shall continue for the term of seven years and after that time the said Superior Court to be held at Dover and Wolfeborough alternately; and the said Courts of General Ses- sions of the Peace and the said Inferior Courts of July and October to be held at Wolfeborough."

Governor John Wentworth had established a grand country seat for him- self at Wolfeborough, on Lake Wentworth, a branch of Lake Winnipe- saukee, soon after he came into office. He had erected a mansion house there of the old English style of grandeur, and at great expense had con- structed a road to it. He had grand plans in view to develop the country

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around there and in the towns north of it. Hence in the act of the Assembly just quoted he had provision made that the higher courts should be held there after 1780. Had Governor Wentworth been permitted to carry out his grand plans the conditions in Wolfeborough, Strafford county and New Hampshire in general would have been far different from what they were from 1773 to 1800. But the Revolution began two years later and in three years Governor Wentworth was a fugitive, out of power, and the mighty con- flict of eight years was in full swing. Governor Wentworth's grand estate at Wolfeborough was confiscated; his mansion house became the abode of com- moners, and Lake Wentworth was converted into the plebeian "Smith's Pond," which title it bore for more than a century, but the ancient and proper name has been restored in these later years. So it came to pass that Wolfeborough did not become a county seat; no courts were held there. And the courts were held at Dover and Durham, until Gilmanton was honored in 1797 and courts were held there until Strafford county was divided in 1840.

The "act to constitute the counties of Belknap and Carroll," approved December 22, 1840, contained these provisions :

"Belknap shall contain all the land included within the following towns and places which now constitute a part of the county of Strafford, to wit: Alton, Barnstead, Centre Harbor, Gilford, Gilmanton, Meredith, New Hampton and Sanbornton.

"Carroll county shall contain all the land and waters included within the following towns and places which now constitute a part of said county of Strafford, to-wit: Albany, Brookfield, Chatham, Conway, Eaton, Effingham, Freedom, Moultonborough, Sandwich, Tamworth, Tuftonborough, Ossipee. Wakefield and Wolfeborough."

This act reduced old Strafford county to the towns already mentioned as its present limits. The original county contained what is now one of the most popular summer resorts in New England, or in the whole country for that matter. Governor Wentworth foresaw all this when he was the last Colonial Governor, but it has been developed in a way entirely different from what he had planned. It is interesting to speculate what he would have done had he been permitted to remain in control a third of a century.

STRAFFORD COUNTY COURTS

The first court organized in Strafford county under the act of February 5, 1773, was the Probate Court. It was held in the office of the register of probate, John Wentworth, Jr., Esq., which was on the ground floor of his residence. The building is now standing, on the west side of Central avenue and next south of the Belknap church. The first session of the court was held April 5, 1773, when the will of Deliverance Hanson, widow of

HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY

Joseph Hanson, was probated in due form. The judge was Colonel John Gage. That was the only court at which Judge Gage presided.

The record of events, births, marriages and deaths kept by Joseph Tate, the schoolmaster of Somersworth, and known as "Master Tate," contains the following: "Collo Jno Gage of Dover Taken sick Wednesday night June 23d, Dy'd on Friday, June 25 & Buried on Sunday June 27, 1773." So it appears he held the office only three or four months.

In passing it seems proper to make a further mention of "Master Tate." He was a schoolmaster in Somersworth (that part now Rollersford), N. H. He was said to have been an Englishman. He lived to be ninety years old. While he was a schoolmaster he kept a manuscript volume headed, "Names of Families, Children's Names and Time of Birth in the Town of Somers- worth, Mar. Ye 26, 1767." It gives prior dates of births of children in the families then resident there and continues until 1778. The volume also contains, "Memorandums of Sundry Things, viz., Deaths, Marriages, Dis- asters, etc." It is a very curious and valuable book.

Colonel John Gage was born in Beverly, Mass., April 7, 1802. He was son of Moses and Sarah Gage. Moses was grandson of John Gage, who came to New England with John Winthrop, Jr., in 1633, and was one of the original settlers of Ipswich, Mass. His family was descended from the De Guage or Gage who was one of the Norman soldiers who came over to England with William the Conqueror in 1066.

John Gage came to Dover in 1725. He married Elizabeth Roberts, great- granddaughter of Governor Thomas Roberts, one of the first settlers of Dover. They had several children, and their descendants are among the noted families of the town. John Gage was one of the leading business men of Dover for a half century. He held various town offices, and was captain of a company in the French and Indian wars. Captain Gage was elected Representative from Dover in the Provincial Assembly in 1742 and many times after that. At the time of his death he was a member of the Assembly and was in attendance as late as May 18, 1773. He was appointed colonel of the Second Regiment by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1756 and held that office until his death. He was appointed judge of probate by Governor John Wentworth in February, 1773. Colonel Gage was a close friend of both of the Governors, and popular with his fellow citizens. At the time of his sudden death he was the possessor of three important offices, colonel judge and Representative.

Colonel Gage's successor as judge of probate was Colonel Henry Rust, who held his first court August II, 1773. He was appointed by Governor John Wentworth in July, 1773, and held the office until January, 1776, when the Provincial officers were displaced by the Revolutionary Assembly.

Colonel Rust was one of the notable men of his time. He was born

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at Stratham, N. H., January 22, 1726; he died at Wolfeborough March 17, 1807. He was son of Rev. Henry Rust, a graduate of Harvard College and the first settled minister at Stratham, in April, 1718, which charge he held thirty-seven years. Colonel Rust was a sailor and shipmaster twenty-five years, and in that way won his title as captain. He resided at Portsmouth until about 1768, when he removed to Wolfeborough, of which town he was one of the original proprietors, having 600 acres of the best land in the town, near Rust's Pond. He was a close friend of Governor John Wentworth, who established his country residence in that town about the same time Captain Rust settled there. Governor Wentworth appointed him colonel of one of the New Hampshire regiments about that time. At the death of Judge Gage he appointed Colonel Rust to that office. When Colonel Rust took that office Governor Wentworth administered the "oath of allegiance" to King George III, and Judge Rust would not yield up allegiance to royal authority and never acknowledged the new republican form of government and would never accept an office under it. He believed that as he had once taken the oath of allegiance to the Crown, he could never consistently recall it. But he was one of the best citizens of the town and of the county, and was loyal in every way except in the matter of holding public office of any kind. His sons and grandsons and later descendants, however, held im- portant offices in town, county and state, with honor to themselves and profit to the common weal. The Rust family is one of the most noted of Wolfe- borough.

As Judge Rust would not take the oath to support the Revolutionary Government he could not retain the office of judge of probate, or colonel of the militia. The Journal of the Assembly, Friday, January 17, 1776, reads as follows :

"Voted that the persons hereafter named be and hereby are appointed to the respective offices following, viz. :

FOR THE COUNTY OF STRAFFORD

Justices of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas : George Frost, Otis Baker, John Plummer and Moses Carr.

Judge of Probate, Ichabod Rollins, Esq.

County Treasurer, Thomas Westbrook Waldron.

Justice of the Peace of the Quorum, Joseph Badger, Esq.

Justices of the Peace, Ichabod Rollins, Ebenezer Smith, Daniel Beede, Joseph Senter, Thomas Parsons, Joseph Sias, Solomon Emerson, Simeon Dearborn, Miles Rendall, Paul Hayes, John Wentworth, Jr., Esq.

HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY

Coroners, John Gage, Ebenezer Tibbetts, John Horn, John Cate, Jacob Brown and Edward Gilman.

JUDGES OF PROBATE

Colonel John Gage, February. 1773. to June 25, 1773. He died very suddenly, being sick only three days. Henry Rust, June, 1773, to January, 1776; Ichabod Rollins, January 17, 1776, to December 25, 1784; Joseph Badger, December 25, 1784, to May 20, 1797; Ebenezer Smith, May 20, 1897, to February 2, 1805; John Mooney front February 2. 1805, to De- cember 20, 1824; Daniel C. Atkinson, from December 20, 1824, to July 6, 1839; Warren Lovell from July 6, 1839, to January 4, 1841; Benning W. Jenness from January 4, 1841, to January 3, 1846; Charles W. Woodman from January 3, 1846, to January 1, 1853: Hiram R. Roberts from January 1, 1853, to June 30, 1857; Daniel G. Rollins from June 30, 1857, to Sep- tember 18, 1866; James H. Edgerly from September 18, 1866, to July 7, 1872; Hiram R. Roberts from July 7, 1874, to July 18, 1874; Moses C. Rus- sell from July 18, 1874, to July 25, 1876; Jacob D. Young from July 25, 1876, to June, 1893; Robert G. Pike, 1893 to 1895; Charles B. Gafney, 1895 to 1898; Christopher H. Wells from 1898, now in office, 1913.

REGISTERS OF PROBATE

The following were registers of probate for Stratford county beginning with its organization, by royal permission, in February, 1773: John Went- worth, Jr., from 1773 to 1787; William King from February 12, 1788, to 1805: William King Atkinson from February 2, 1805, to 1819; James Bart- lett from January 1, 1819, to 1824: Daniel C. Atkinson from December 24, 1824, to 1836; Ira H. Eastman from June 18, 1836, to 1839; Winthrop A. Marston from 1839 to 1844; Enoch Berry from July 6, 1844, to 1849; John Hubbard White from July 6, 1849, to 1857; Asa Freeman from June 30, 1857, to 1870; William C. Woodman from July 11, 1870, to Novem- ber 19, 1870; John Riley Varney from July 19, 1870, to 1874; George E. Durgin from July 7, 1874, to 1876; John Riley Varney from July 25, 1876, to May 2, 1882, when he was killed by the falling of the brick wall of the Washington Street Free Will Baptist Church; John Tapley Welch from 1883 to 1887; Charles Sumner Clifford from July, 1887, to April 1, 1893; William W. Martin, April, 1893, is now serving his twenty-first consecutive year, the longest any one has held the office. Mr. Martin is a good penman, thorough in the knowledge of the law and careful in keeping the records.

The first register of probate was John Wentworth, Jr., who was born in Somersworth July 14, 1745; graduated from Harvard College in 1768;

GUPPY HOUSE, DOVER, N. H.

THE HAM HOUSE, AT GARRISON HILL, DOVER, N. H. BUILT ABOUT 1680.

OLD GARRISON HOUSE, DOVER, N. H.

SAWYER MEMORIAL OBSERVATORY, ON GARRISON HILL

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read law with William Parker, Esq., of Portsmouth and opened a law office in Dover in 1771. He was the first lawyer in Dover and the second one in Strafford county, the first being Gen. John Sullivan of Dunham, who opened an office there in 1765. Before that all the lawyers in New Hamp- shire lived at Portsmouth where all the courts were held. Mr. Wentworth was son of Col. John Wentworth, one of the most distinguished patriots of the Revolutionary period.

Mr. Wentworth opened his law office in Dover in 1771, in the house that now stands on Central avenue, on the west side, next south of the Belknap church. In July that year he married Margaret Frost of Newcastle; the fourth of November following he bought the house; he had his residence in the second story, over his office. When the county was organized the office of register of probate was one of the prizes sought for; Mr. Went- worth applied for it and his third cousin, Governor John Wentworth, gave it to him. He held it to the time of his death, January 10, 1787, at the age of forty-two years.

In the revolutionary movements which began to exhibit themselves overtly in 1774, he took no passive part. He was chosen one of the com- mittee of correspondence of Dover, and in 1776 to his seat in the Assembly which elected him register of probate, with the other county officers pre- viously mentioned. He served there as Representative continuously until 1781 ; then in the Council till December, 1783, and in the Senate from June, 1784, to 1786. The last ten years of his life he was chosen moderator at nearly every annual town meeting in Dover.

March 14, 1778, he was chosen delegate to the Continental Congress, and he affixed his signature to the original Articles of Confederation of the United States in August, that year. He was twice reelected to Congress, but feeble health prevented his attendance much of the time.

Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth had four sons and three daughters. His youngest son, Paul Wentworth, had a distinguished son who was one of the early settlers in Chicago. He is known by the popular name, "Long" John Wentworth, as he was a giant in stature, as well as in intellect, and as a newspaper manager and political leader.

ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

The attorneys-at-law who practiced at the Strafford county bar, during the three-quarters of a century from 1773 to 1850, were for the most part college educated men, and in their profession ranged second to those of no other county in the state. A brief mention of each during that period is given in the following pages.

General John Sullivan of Durham takes rank as the first, and, in many

HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY

ways, the ablest of the whole list; was son of John and Margery (Brown) Sullivan; born, Somersworth, February 18, 1740; practiced in Durham; died there, January 23, 1795. His father was a famous schoolmaster of liberal education, and all the boys who went to college from this section of New Hampshire and York county, Maine, received their preparatory instruc- tion from him. Master Sullivan was a wonderful man. He did not need to send his son John to college for an education; he gave him as good as a college training right at home. He read law with Samuel Livermore at Portsmouth and commenced practice soon after he was twenty-one years old, so his professional services antedate the organization of courts in Strafford county more than a decade of years. His residence was at Durham but he practiced in the courts of Portsmouth and in York county, Maine, and when the courts opened at Dover in 1773 he stood at the front of the practition- ers. He was so able and successful that he had accumulated an ample fortune at the opening of the Revolution. As has before been stated he and John Wentworth, Jr., of Dover were the only lawyers in Strafford county when it was organized.

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History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 2

Author: Scales, John, 1835-1928 Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Number of Pages: 988

Author: Scales, John, 1835-1928
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 988