USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens > Part 22
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Whereas the Parish of Summersworth have sometime since Petitioned the General Assembly of this Province by their agents in order to be made a Town separate from ye Town of Dover & vested with all Town Privileges, and whereas said General Assembly has granted ye Prayer of said Petition appointing us ye subscribers to call a Town Meeting-
These are therefore to give Notice to ye Freeholders & other Inhabitants of ye Town of Summersworth by law qualified to vote in Public Town-meet- ing that there will be a meeting held at ye meeting-house in Summersworth aforesaid on Tuesday the fourteenth day of this Instant May at one of ye clock in ye afternoon To Choose all Town officers for ye ensuing year as ye Law Directs. All persons concerned are desired to give their attendance promptly at ye Time above mentioned.
Dated at Summersworth Ist May 1754.
Per order ye General Assembly.
THOMAS WALLINGFORD. JOHN WENTWORTH, MOSES STEVENS.
By order of ye Selectmen, Moses Carr, Parish Cler.
The record of the first town-meeting is here given and shows who were the men prominent in town affairs.
"At a Town-meeting held at ye meeting-house in Somersworth on Tues- day, ye 14th day of May, 1751, Pursuant to warrant by virtue of an act of General Assembly.
"Capt. John Wentworth was chosen Moderator of 2d Meeting, Doctr. Moses Carr, Town Clerk; Col. Thomas Wallingford first selectman, Capt. James Hobbs, second selectman, Capt. John Wentworth, 3d Selectman. Mr. Charles Baker & Capt. William Wentworth assessors. Mr. Richard Philpot. Mr. Francis Roberts Mr. Samuel Austin Commissioners. Mr. Amos How- ard Constable. Mr. Daniel Goodwin & Ensign Benj. Twombly, Tythingmen. Capt. Archd. Smith, Mr. Eliphlet Cromwell, Mr. Moses Stevens, Mr. Samuel Jones & Ensign Icabod Rawlings, surveyor of highways. Mr. Eliphlet Cron- well, Mr. Ebenezer Wentworth & Mr. Thomas Whitehouse, Field Drivers. Thomas Whitehouse, Abraham Mimmee, Richd. Downs & Samuel Horn. Hogreeves, Moses Stevens, Pound-keeper. Lt. Benja. Wentworth & Mr. Benja. Weymouth, fence viewers. Dea. Gershom Wentworth & Mr. Philip Stackpole, overseer of Ye Poor. Mr. Elisha Andrews, Surveyor of lumber. Mr. Moses Tibbetts, Leather Sealer.
"At ye above meeting Col. Thos. Wallingford declared yt. he freely gave
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to ye Town of Somersworth ye charge of mending ye meeting-house Bell, upon which ye Town voted thanks.
"A true entry By Moses Carr, Town Cler."
The complete record of the last meeting of the Parish of Summersworth is as follows:
To the Freeholders & other Inhabitants belonging to ye Parish of Sum- mersworth. These are to give notice of a meeting to be held at ye Meeting- house in Summersworth on Monday ye fourth Day of March Next ensuing ye Date hereof at one of ye clock, afternoon. Then and there to choose all Parish officers for ye ensuing year as ye Law Directs and also to consider and do what may be thought proper Respecting ye Rev. Mr. Pike's Salary. All persons concerned are desired to give their attendance at time and place.
Dated at Summersworth ye 20th of Feby. 1754.
By order of ye Selectemen, Moses Carr, Parish Cler.
At a Parish meeting held at ye meeting-house Pursuent to ye preceding warrant on Monday ye Fourth Day of March 1754, Capt. John Wentworth was chosen moderator of sd meeting, Drctr Moses Carr Parish Clerk. The following gentlemen were chosen Selectmen for ye Present Year, viz. Capt. John Wenworth, Capt. James Hobbs & Dea. Gershom Wentworth. Voted Mr. Samuel Austin, Mr. Reichard Philpot & Mr. Francis Roberts Commis- sioners. Mr. Philip Stackpole choose to take an Inventory thro ye Parish & voted twenty shillings for the service.
Voted Mr. Samuel Austin Twelve Pounds ten Shillings for keeping Rich- ard Hammock ye Present year.
Voted Dr. Thomas Nock Twelve Pounds ten shillings for keeping Hugh Connor ye Present year.
Voted Mr. Moses Stevens fifty shillings for Ringing ye Bell, sweeping & taking care of the Meeting-house the present year.
Voted ye Revd. Mr. James Pike's salary one hundred & sixty pounds this year.
A true entry MOSES CARR, Parislı Cler.
Following is a list of the parish clerks. Dr. Thomas Miller was elected January 7, 1730, and served till December 6, 1732. Nathaniel Perkins, De- cember 6, 1732, to December 15, 1735. Thomas Miller, from December 15, 1735, to December 16, 1736. Benjamin Twombly, from December 6, 1736, to March 1, 1747. Dr. Moses Carr, from March 1, 1747, to March 14, 1754, the date of the first town-meeting.
As soon as the new town got into full swing the spirit of improvements enthused the people and it manifested itself in various ways. The town needed new roads and began at once preparations for their construction. Following are samples of the most important of the highways: May 28, 1754, the selectmen laid out a road from the bridge at Salmon Falls to the road to the "upper mill." May 23, 1755, they laid out the first road con- structed at Great Falls. It extended from where now is the Great Falls Bank
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over Prospect Hill, down Horn's Hill by the John Roberts' place, to Forest Glade Cemetery, where it connected with the "Road yt. leads through the Pitch pine Plains to Cochecho." For more than sixty years that was the only highway to Great Falls. In 1764 they laid out the Rocky Hill road to Rochester line. In 1770 an attempt was made to have the town build a bridge between Great Falls and Berwick, but it was voted down in town meeting.
In 1772 the public institutions of Somersworth consisted of a meeting house, a schoolhouse, a grave yard, a training field and a pound, all of which were located at the center of the town, where now is Rollinsford Junction. That year the inhabitants decided to build a new meeting house. It was built and in 1773 it was "voted that the committee pull down the old meeting house the new so far finished as to be comfortable & decent to attend worship in, and that they apply such of the old house to furnishing the new one as may answer well, and sell the rest at Public Vendue for the benefit of the Town." This house stood near where the old cemetery is at Rollinsford Junction.
April 22, 1782, the town "voted to join with Berwick in building a Bridge over the Mill Pond at Quamphego," and it was built that year.
In 1783 a bridge was built between Berwick and Great Falls, Berwick to keep one-half in repair and Somersworth the other half. According to tra- dition, this first bridge at Great Falls was located nearly in the same place where the present bridge is; and the city of Somersworth and the town of Berwick "go halves" on keeping it in repair.
At some period before 1807 a bridge was built across the river where now is the village of Salmon Falls, and March 10, of that year, the town voted to accept it and keep it in repair. This was the third bridge across the river in that town.
In 1823 a new road was built to connect Great Falls village with Dover. It extended from the foot of Prospect street (the old road) to the old road south of the Carr place, so known. That road is the present High street of the city. The electric railway between Dover and Somersworth was located on this route in 1889, and Budgett Park was laid out which now is known as Central Park. Another new road to Dover was laid out in 1837 by way of Green street.
The first annual town meeting in Great Falls was held in the vestry under the Congregational meeting house, March 8, 1842; the annual meeting for March, 1843, was held in the old meeting house, but the contest was on be- tween the old center of business and the village of Great Falls, which had become the more powerful. Special meetings were held, sometimes at the Falls, at other times at the old meeting house. At a special meeting January
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15, 1845, it was voted to build a town house at Great Falls at a cost not exceeding $4,000. An attempt was made at the following annual meeting in March to reconsider this vote, but this was defeated by vote of 271 in favor and 344 opposed. The town house was built, and the annual meeting was held in it March 12, 1846.
The dwellers in the neighborhood of the old parish meeting house were greatly dissatisfied and began to devise ways and means to divide the town. Salmon Falls, though a manufacturing village, was smaller than Great Falls, while the farmers in the Salmon Falls section were wealthy and occupied some of the best farms in the state. They and their ancestors had ruled the town and the parish for more than a century. It was humiliating for them to forsake the old meeting house at the center and come up to the out- skirts to town meeting. They would not stand that sort of treatment. So at the annual town meeting in March, 1849, one article in the warrant was as follows :
"To see if the town will vote for a division of Somersworth by a line commencing on Salmon Falls river at or near Pray's brook, so called, and running westerly to the line of the town of Dover, near the house of Benja- min Hussy." This was defeated by a vote of 263 in favor and 364 against division.
Although the minority were beaten in town meeting, their "mad" was up and their courage powerful. They took the question to the General Court in the following June and their petition for division was granted. They gave it the name of Rollinsford for the reason that the Rollins family was quite numerous and were influential and powerful in support of the petition.
A committee appointed by the General Court, consisting of George W. Nesmith, Thomas E. Sawyer and Josiah H. Hobbs, divided the property owned by both towns in common as follows: The town house, the woodlot, the town pound, the fire engine and salamander safe should be the property of Somersworth, and the "poor farm" and stock and other personal property thereon should be the property of Rollinsford. There were seven inmates at the farm; the committee decided that Somersworth should take care of four of them, and Rollinsford three. Thus Rollinsford began its separate existence, and for sixty-four years has an honorable history of its own.
Somersworth continued to advance in improvements, and in an increase of its population. It established the Forest Glade Cemetery ; it put sewers in its streets; it lighted its streets and stores and residences with gas; it put in electric light after 1889; it provided good schools and was a tidy, up-to-date town, and the citizens concluded they wanted to make it a city. They pe- titioned the Legislature and at the January session, 1893, an act was passed
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to establish the city of Somersworth, by virtue of which the town of Somers- worth became a city, February 24, 1893. The first city election was held on the second Tuesday of March, 1893; the candidates for mayor were Franklin N. Chase, Democrat, and Christopher H. Wells, Republican. The vote in the wards was as follows: Ward one, Wells 155; Chase 147. Ward two, Wells 157; Chase 112. Ward three, Wells 144; Chase 138. Ward four, Wells 58; Chase 147. Ward five, Wells 68; Chase 86. And Mr. Chase was elected by 52 majority. The first city clerk was Fred L. Shapleigh.
For seventy years the place where the compact part of the city of Som- ersworth is, was called and generally known as Great Falls; nobody ever said they were going to Somersworth. No, they were going to Great Falls; but when it came to changing from town to city government there was a revolt against calling it "City of Great Falls." The old historic name was restored, and we have city of Somersworth. It was astonishing how quickly the name Great Falls was dropped; it has never been used since 1893. Before that date, probably, half of the inhabitants did not know they lived in Somersworth. It was a happy change; historic names should be preserved.
CHAPTER XXII
HISTORY OF SOMERSWORTH (IV)
SCHOOL.S AND SCHOOLMASTERS
The first provision for a school in the new parish was made by the fol- lowing vote at a parish meeting, December II, 1733:
"Voted that the Selectmen have power to raise one hundred and ninety- four pounds money, to pay Mr. Pike his salary, his firewood, the School, the Selectmen, Clerk & Collector."
This money was probably raised, for July 2, 1734, the parish "voted that Hercules Mooney be the schoolmaster here for one month (viz.) from July 4th to August 4th, 1734, next ensuing, at three pounds fifteen shillings per month. Voted that Capt. Thomas Wallingford and Mr. Philip Stackpole be the men that join with the Selectmen at the month's end, above, to agree with said Mooney, or any other suitable person to keep school in this Parish for the Residue of the summer and autumn."
This was the first school committee of Somersworth, so far as the records show.
At a parish meeting in 1735 it was "voted that Mr. Jno. Schrugham be schoolmaster for one month in this Parish at the Discretion of the Selectmen," also "voted that there be thirty pounds raised to defray the charge of a school this summer and autumn."
COLONEL HERCULES MOONEY
Nothing definite is known concerning John Schrugham, but the first schoolmaster, Hercules Mooney, has a record worth mentioning in this his- tory. He was a citizen of Durham for many years, but the last fifteen years of his life was spent in Holderness, where he died in April, 1800, and his grave is marked by a rough slab of granite. He was colonel of a battalion of New Hampshire militia in the Revolutionary war.
Colonel Mooney was born in Ireland about 1710. He was of good family and well educated. He is said to have been tutor in a nobleman's family
23
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in that country. He came to Dover in 1733, and the next year, July 4, 1734, he commenced teaching school in the parish of Summersworth in Dover, and was engaged there about a year. About 1737 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Evans, and resided near "Barbadoes'" pond, on the "Littleworth" road, localities familiar to Dover people. He resided there about ten years, during which time his children, Obadiah, Benjamin, Jona- than and Elizabeth, were born. During the time he also did more or less school teaching at "Cocheco" in Dover, and spent the rest of his time in vari- ous occupations which provided bread and butter. About 1750 he removed to Durham and engaged in teaching there. Previous to that date his wife died, and soon after he settled in Durham he married Mary Jones, widow of Lieut. Joseph Jones of that town, and resided on the Jones farm, which later was the residence of Gorham W. Hoitt, Sheriff of Strafford county for several years, and which remained in possession of his family until the death of his daughter, Miss Mary A. Hoitt, in 1912. The part of Durham in which this farm is located was separated from that town in 1766 and made the parish of Lee. Colonel Mooney resided on that farm until his removal to Holderness in 1785, of which town he was one of the grantees in 1761.
Hercules Mooney was not only a good schoolmaster, but also a valiant soldier. In 1757 he received a captain's commission in Colonel Meserves' regiment, and took part in the expedition to Crown Point, his son, Benjamin, serving as ensign in his company. In 1758 this son Benjamin was first lieu- tenant in Capt. Thomas Tash's company at Crown Point. This son has a fine record, as also other sons of Colonel Mooney.
The town records of Durham show that Col. Mooney held various town offices, besides being schoolmaster. He was assessor in 1762; selectman in 1765; and that year headed the petition with ninety-nine other inhabitants of Durham to have the town divided into two parishes. In response to this petition, and favorable action by the town of Durham, the Provincial Government set off a part of Durham and incorporated it as the parish of Lee, January 6, 1766, with town privileges. Captain Mooney's farm being mostly on the Lee side of the division line, he taught school at Lee Hill village until the Revolution, and again after the war until his removal to Holderness. His sons Obadiah and John were also school teachers. Colonel Mooney served as one of the selectmen of Lee from 1769 until he joined the Revolutionary army. He represented Lee in the Fifth Provincial Con- gress at Exeter December 21, 1775, and his record in that Congress shows than he was more conservative than most of the delegates. From that time until 1783 he was the Representative from Lee in the Provincial Assemblies, except one year, 1777.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND RECTORY, SALMON FALLS, N. H.
TOWN HALL AND CONGREGATIONAL PAR. SONAGE, SALMON FALLS, N. H.
L _. SALMON FALLS MANUFACTURING CO.'S PLANT
T
ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH, SALMON FALLS, N. H.
FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL, SALMON FALLS, N. H.
BRIDGE AND EAST SIDE OF MILLS, SALMON FALLS, N. H.
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March 14, 1776, Hercules Mooney was appointed major in the regiment of Col. David Gilman, and stationed at Newcastle and vicinity. September 25, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Continental battalion, then being raised in New Hampshire, which was placed under Pierce Long and stationed at Newcastle, until ordered by General Ward to march to Ticon- deroga in February, 1777. Upon the approach of the British army under General Burgoyne, Ticonderoga was evacuated July 6, 1777, and the New Hampshire troops were ordered to help cover the retreat, during which a few were killed and about one hundred men wounded. From May 23, 1778. to August 12, 1778, he was member of the Committee of Safety; and again from December 23, 1778 to March 16, 1779. June 23, 1779, he was ap- pointed colonel of a regiment ordered for continental service in Rhode Island. The regiment was raised in June and remained in service until January, 1780.
After the war Colonel Mooney resumed teaching at Lee Hill; served as justice of the peace for Strafford county from July, 1776, until his removal to Holderness in 1785, and was afterwards justice of the peace in Grafton county until his death. He was one of the selectmen of Holderness and was its Representative in the State Legislature, 1786-1787 and 1789-1790. This closes a brief sketch of the carcer of the first schoolmaster in the parish of Summersworth.
MASTER JOHN SULLIVAN
Judge Wm. D. Knapp, in his excellent but brief history of Somersworth, says: "In 1737 the parish voted sixty pounds for a schoolmaster; voted that Mr. John Sullivan be the schoolmaster for the ensuing year; vote that John Sullivan sweep and take care of ye meeting-house & to have thirty shillings."
Judge Knapp then adds: "John Sullivan came from Limerick, Ireland, in 1723; landed at York, Me .; was a teacher in Berwick; married Margery Brown in 1735, and soon after purchased 70 acres of land in Berwick, where he resided more than sixty years. He died in May, 1796, in his 105th year."
Judge Knapp's statement is erroneous in some points, viz .: John Sullivan married Margery Brown, who came over in the same ship with him and landed at York in the winter of 1723: he was a man of thirty-two years: she was a girl of nine years; he paid the captain of the ship for her passage across the Atlantic; she "served her time" as a house maid from 1723 to 1735 in one of the best families in Old York; they were married in 1735, when he was forty-four years old and she was twenty-one, just "out of her time"; they commenced housekeeping at Summersworth soon after they were mar-
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ried, as we know by legal documents he drew up for others and signed his name "John Sullivan of Summersworth." And next, in 1737, the parish of Summersworth hired him as its schoolmaster; he continued such until April, 1752, a period of fifteen years, when, at a meeting of the parish April 6, "voted Mr. Joseph Tate twenty-three pounds old tenor, to keep Parish School one month." A notice of Master Tate will be given later.
In August, 1753, John Sullivan bought his farm in Berwick of Mr. Samuel Lord; he built a house on it, on the hill, and removed his family from the Summersworth village to it in 1754; he resided there until his death in June, 1796, in the 105th year of his age. So he lived in Berwick forty-two years only, instead of "more than sixty years," as Judge Knapp states. There is no record that Master Sullivan ever bought land at any other town or place. His remarkably brilliant family of children were all born in the parish of Summersworth, viz .: Benjamin, in 1736; Daniel, in 1738; (Gen.) John, in 1740; (Gov.) James, in 1744; Mary, 1752; Ebe- neder, 1753. These are the facts, and yet the cyclopedias and biographical dictionaries keep right on repeating the old error, that his children were born in Berwick, Me. The error, probably, originally started by some writer who knew that he lived in Berwick many of the last years of his life and therefore took it for granted all of his married life was passed there, hence that his children were born there. It seems this is the proper time and place to correct this error of many years' endurance, and establish for the parish of Summersworth the illustrious honor which belongs to that little village, now known as Rollinsford Junction. No more illustrious family was ever born in New Hampshire; and no greater schoolmaster has ever lived in the province or state than was Master John Sullivan.
The parish of Summersworth in Dover, as has been stated, hired Master Sullivan to keep school in 1737; but that was not the first school he kept in the town. He arrived at York, Me., from Limerick, Ireland, in the winter of 1723. His first work was on the McIntire farm in that town to earn money to pay for his passage. The reader will better understand this part of his career by letting him tell his own story. In his old age, when he and his wife were calling at a neighbor's house, they got to talking about his younger days, and he told the following story, which was recorded by the person who heard it. Master Sullivan said in the presence of his wife:
"I sailed from Limerick, Ireland, for New England in 1723; owing to stress of weather the vessel was obliged to land at York, Me. (it had intended to land at Newburyport, Mass.). On the voyage my attention was called to a pretty girl of nine or ten years, Margery Brown, who afterwards became my wife. As my mother had absolutely refused to furnish me with the means
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for paying transportation, and I had not means otherwise, I was obliged to enter into an agreement with the captain to earn the money for my passage.
"After I landed at York, for a while I lived on the McIntire farm in Scot- land Parish. Unaccustomed to farm labor, and growing weary of manual occupation, I applied to Rev. Dr. Moody, pastor of the parish, for assistance. I made my letter written in seven languages, so that he might see I was a scholar. He became interested in my behalf, and being conversant with my ability to teach he loaned me the money with which to pay the captain the amount I owed for my passage. Thus set free from the McIntires, I was assisted to open a school and earn money to repay Dr. Moody."
You will notice he does not say where he opened his school; but there is evidence concerning this point in his career. It was in the winter of 1723 that he worked on the McIntire farm. Winter on a farm then was cutting lumber in the forest; cutting firewood in the dooryard; and feeding and caring for the stock in the barn. That was what the son of aristocratic Irish parents was set to do, and from which Dr. Moody freed him. The minister of the First Church in Dover, at Cochecho, was the Rev. Jonathan Cushing; Mr. Cushing and Dr. Moody were close friends. Mr. Cushing was influential in school affairs, as well as in many other ways in Dover ; so it is not difficult to see why the following appears in the Dover town records :
At a meeting of the Selectmen in Dover the 20th of May, 1723, ordered that two schoolmasters be Procured for the Town of Dover for the year en- suing, and that their sallery exceed not £30 Payment a piece and to attend the Directtions of the Selectmen for the servis of the town in eque'll Proportion.
Test. THOMAS TEBETS, Towne Clerk.
At the same time Mr. Sullifund exseps to sarve the Town above sd as Scoolemaster three months sertin and begins his servis ye 21st Day of May 1723, and also ye sd Sullefund Promised the Selectmen that if he left them soonner he would give them a month notis to Provide themselves with another, and the Selectmen was also to give him a month notis if they Disliked him.
Test. THOMAS TEBETS, Towne Clerk.
The above also shows where John Sullivan began keeping school. There were to be two teachers, "for the serivs of the Towne in Equi'll Proportion." That means one schoolmaster was for Dover Neck, at the meeting house; the other at Cochecho, where the Rev. Mr. Cushing lived, and the presump- tion is fair that Master Sullivan was located near Pine Hill where the meet- ing house was and Parson Cushing lived. There is no record in regard to the matter, but I have no doubt he kept on teaching here in Dover until he got married and had a call to become schoolmaster in the parish of Summers-
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