USA > New Hampshire > Carroll County > Wolfeborough > History of Wolfeborough (New Hampshire) > Part 13
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A town-meeting was held at the house of Thomas Piper at the "Mills" on the seventh day of September to consider the matter. At this meeting Lieut. Ebenezer Horne, Capt. John Sinkler, and Joseph Lary were appointed a committee to purchase the beef. According to the committee's account, beef was purchased as follows : one yoke of oxen of Ebenezer Horne, for seven thou- sand five hundred dollars; one yoke of Robert Estes, for seven
162
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
thousand dollars ; one yoke of Andrew Lucas, for about three thousand five hundred dollars. Money had become greatly de- preciated in value, and the prices paid for the cattle determines only their comparative value. Those purchased of Horne and Estes were probably quite large. They were evidently not raised in Wolfeborough, as neither of the men came into the town until about 1779. November II, 1782, the town paid James Lucas thirty-seven dollars for a beef ox and Benjamin Evans eighteen dollars for a beef steer. These cattle were delivered in 1781, and were a part of the town's allotment for the state's supply of beef for that year. Lucas and Evans received their pay in silver money.
The depreciation of the value of the currency during the Revolu- tionary War was a source of great perplexity and loss both to in- dividuals and communities. After congress had recognized the troops at Boston as a continental army in 1775, it became neces- sary to provide money for its support. Sufficient specie could not be obtained, and bills of credit were issued. As more money was needed, new emissions of these followed; and as congress was unable to redeem them with specie, they began to depreciate. At the close of 1780, when the last emmission was made, they had become almost worthless, and finally became wholly so. This was the money in which the soldiers of the Revolution were paid, and this was the principal reason assigned for subsequently grant- ing them pensions.
The value of one hundred dollars in specie was equal at dif- ferent periods to the value represented in the following table in currency :-
1777
1778
I779
1780
1781
In January
$105
325
742
2934
7400
" February
107
350
868
3322
7500
" March
109
375
1000
3736
" April
II2
400
II04
4000
" May
II5
400
1215
4600
1
163
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
1777
1778
1779
1780
1781
In June .
I20
400
I342
6400
" July
125
425
1477
6900
" August
150
450
1630
7000
" September
175
475
1800
7100
" October
275
500
2030
7200
" November
300
545
2308
7300
" December
310
634
2593
7400
On the twenty-sixth of February, 1781, the selectmen of Wolfe- borough issued a very urgent call for a town-meeting to be held on the first day of March for the purpose of determining "upon some proper method for procuring the town's quota of the con- tinental army, which, by an act of the state, appears to be five, in- cluding those already in the service." The meeting was held and organized, and after a discussion of the matter which it was called to consider, adjourned to the fifteenth day of the month.
At the adjourned meeting it was decided to choose a committee of three to endeavor to hire men to fill the required quota. Lieut. Jonathan Lary, Mr. Ebenezer Meader, and Ensign Reuben Lib- bey were selected for the committee. They were instructed "to hire four men for a three years' service on the best possible terms, and report their doings at the annual town-meeting which was to be held on the 27th day of the same month." At that meeting the action of the special town meeting was endorsed, and the com- mittee for hiring soldiers continued. Some disturbing matters coming up, the annual meeting was adjourned to April 3. At the adjourned annual meeting James Conner, Andrew Wiggin, and James Lucas were chosen instead of the former committee to hire soldiers, and the meeting was then adjourned to the tenth day of April. At that adjournment the ordinary town business was transacted. There is no evidence that either of the commit- tees chosen to hire soldiers secured any ; it is probable they did not.
164
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
On the twenty-seventh day of July of the same year, a town- meeting was held for the purpose of adopting some plan to hire two soldiers for three months in obedience to a call from the gov- ernment. The action of the town is thus recorded : "After spend- ing much time in the business specified in the warrant, and find- ing that the soldiers could not be procured by any means, the meeting was thereupon dissolved."
In July, 1781, Col. Bradbury Richardson, of Moultonborough, sent the following communication to the militia company of Wolfeborough :-
"To the company of Militia contained within the Train Band, so called within the town of Wolfborough :
Whereas by an act of the legislature of the state the regiment commanded by the late Col. Badger has been divided, and you now belong to the nineteenth regiment, a new appointment of officers is necessary.
You are therefore hereby notified and warned to meet at the house of James Conner innholder in Wolfeborough on Tuesday, the 7th day of August next, at One O'clock P. M. on said day to elect one captain, two lieutenants, and one ensign to command said company. At which time and place one of the field officers will attend to act as moderator, and deliver the commissions to the persons that shall be legally chosen to the several offices.
B. Richardson, Col."
The company met agreeably to appointment, and the following officers were chosen : Joseph Lary, captain ; William Lucas, first lieutenant ; Aaron Frost, second lieutenant ; and Enoch Thomas, ensign.
The following call was soon made on Captain Lary :-
"Moultonborough, Sept. 1, 1781.
Sir :- Pursuant to orders received from Brigadier General Bad- ger, you are hereby Required to raise and equip three able bodied
165
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
men out of the company under your Command, which is your proportion of twenty-one men to be raised in my regiment, and forward to Colonel David Page of Conway, to pass muster im- mediately, without one minute's delay. Said men are to be im- proved as a Scout in Defense of the Northern Frontiers, and are to Serve three Months unless sooner discharged. They are to receive Three Pounds Bounty, and forty shillings per month equal to that Sum in Lawful Money in the year 1774, and are to be paid by the Town. The Court have voted that the Same shall be Allowed out of the present or next year's Tax Bill. It is the opinion of all the Field Officers, and General Badger, that those men are instead of the Three Months Men sent for to join the Continental Army. You'll Raise and forward the Men, and make return of your doings as soon as may be to
Your Servant,
Bradbury Richardson."
The town secured the enlistment of David Piper, John Piper, and Jeremiah Sinclair, agreeing to pay them ten silver dollars a month for the time they were in the service. They were absent about two months.
Here is a copy of Capt. Jacob Smith's order to David Piper :- "To Sargeant David Piper :-
You are to take charge of the party of men whose names are herein enclosed, and march them to Dart- mouth, as soon as may be, and, when there to be under the direc- tion of a division of the militia in that place till further orders, ex- cept John Piper who is to return immediately with intelligence of the movement in that quarter.
You are further required to take particular care that the men do not waste their ammunition.
Per Jacob Smith, Captain.
Conway, Sept. 15, 1781."
166
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
List of men-David Piper, Sargeant, Jonathan Crosby, Joseph Crosby, Nathaniel Cilley, Sargeant Kimball, Jonathan Hilyard, Joseph Eaton, Keniston, Eliphalet Sias, William Weeks, John Piper, and Jeremiah Sinclair."
The policy of congress to obtain its supplies for the army from those states producing the articles wanted, led to designating New Hampshire as a state to furnish rum in 1781. This article, though not a product of its soil, was one of its trade and manu- facture. Portsmouth dealt largely in fish and lumber, particu- larly shook, with the West Indies, receiving in exchange rum and molasses. Much of the latter article was distilled, and the town became an important distributing port for other maritime localities. The large sale of rum was perhaps a pecuniary benefit to the wealthy merchants of Portsmouth, but the money tax was burdensome to other towns. Wolfeborough made an assessment of thirty dollars to meet the requisition.
April 24, 1782, there was a town-meeting called to ascertain what could be done towards procuring the town's quota of sol- diers. After a protracted deliberation it was voted that Ensign Reuben Libbey and Lieut. Jonathan Lary be a committee to hire the soldiers "as cheap as they can." There is no probability that they secured any, as another town-meeting was held on the twelveth day of the following June, when it was voted to pay a bounty of two hundred and fifty dollars to any person who would enlist as a soldier. No one enlisted so far as any record shows.
Until the latter part of 1781 Wolfeborough had met the re- quirements of the government as to furnishing soldiers quite satisfactorily. It could do so no longer. It had neither the men for soldiers nor the means to hire them. Without either money or credit it could only yield to the inevitable, and in common with some other newly settled interior towns suffer the penalties of failure.
The following letter from Sheriff Dame will, in a measure, ex- plain the condition of affairs :-
167
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
"Dover, Dec. 12, 1782.
Gentlemen :- Lest you should not have seen the action of the Court for lengthening the time of filling the quotas of men for the continental battalions, I will say that the time is extended to the first day of January next. The delinquent towns are earnestly requested to have their men raised and mustered im- mediately ; or to satisfy the executions against them respectively, for, if the soldiers are not supplied by towns, the money will be needed to hire others.
Your most Humble Servant, Theophilus Dame, Sheriff.
To the selectmen of Wolfborough."
The extension of time was too short to be of any avail to Wolfe- borough, and the town probably made no further efforts to en- list soldiers. The state of New Hampshire filled its quotas, and Wolfeborough was forced to settle the bill, which it eventually did.
At least thirty persons who served as soldiers in the Revolu- tionary War were accredited to Wolfeborough. Their terms of service varied from two months to three years or more. Some of them enlisted in several campaigns. There names were Benjamin Blake, Thomas Bridges, Zachariah Bunker, Garrott Byron, Archi- bald Campbell, John Fullerton, Jeremiah Gould, James Fuller- ton, Moses Ham, Jonathan Lary, Joseph Leavitt, Reuben Lib- bey, James Lucas, 3rd, John Lucas, Thomas Lucas, William Lucas, Samuel Mellows, David Piper, John Piper, William Rogers, John Sinkler, Jeremiah Sinkler, Thomas Sproule, Enoch Thomas, William Twombly, Ichabod Tebbetts, Moses Tebbetts, Andrew Wiggin, James Wiggin, Nathan Watson.
John and James Fullerton were brothers ; so also were David and John Piper. John and Jeremiah Sinkler were father and son. James, John, Thomas, and William Lucas were relatives ; so probably were Moses and Ichabod Tebbetts. Thomas Bridges,
I68
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
John Fullerton, Samuel Mellows, David Piper, John Piper, Enoch Thomas, Ichabod Tebbetts, Moses Tebbetts, and Nathan Watson were evidently three years soldiers. It is probable that some oth- ers were.
The following soldiers were in the service at the times and un- der the officers here indicated: June 13, 1775, Jeremiah Gould, James Lucas, 3rd, Ichabod Tebbetts, and Moses Tebbetts were in Captain Benjamin Pitman's company in Col. Enoch Poor's regiment ; Dec. 23, 1776, Joseph Leavitt and John Fullerton were mustered into Capt. John Moody's company at Exeter; Colonel Badger reports June 17, 1777, that Thomas Sproule is in Capt. Beal's company, Enoch Thomas, David Piper, and John Piper in Capt. Gray's company, and John Lary, Nathan Watson, Richard Sinkler, and Thomas Taylor in Capt. Nathaniel Ambrose's com- pany, Col. Welch's regiment. Taylor and Lary both lived in Wolfeborough at the beginning of the war, and were probably enlisted in the army as soldiers of the town, but there is no cer- tain evidence of it. They were both in the army, and Lary spent the remainder of his life in Wolfeborough. Reuben Libbey was in Col. Hercules Mooney's regiment, July 7, 1777.
So far as is known, few casualties happened to the men who went from Wolfeborough into the army. Thomas Lucas never returned. He might have died or wandered into some other part part of the country. Thomas Bridges, Zachariah Bunker, Garrott Byron, Archibald Campbell, and William Twombly were transient persons, and did not make Wolfeborough their future home. Consequently, little is known of their history after entering the army. Nearly all those persons who were members of resident families returned to the town unharmed so far as is now known. David Piper was severely ill with smallpox, and it is very probable that others suffered from disease or the various ills incident to army life, but record and tradition are alike silent about the mat- ter.
One reason why men from Wolfeborough and others similarly
169
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
circumstanced suffered less from camp-life than those more ten- derly reared was that it varied little from the life of a pioneer settler, coarse food, exposure, and toil being inseparable from either. Besides, many of the campaigns were short, being only from three to six months' duration. After the capture of Bur- goyne's army the seat of war was removed farther south. Active warfare is not usual in cold weather, and the forces in the camps and forts in the northern part of the country were generally re- duced. It was not advisable to feed an idle army ; it was better that the soldier, when practicable, should recuperate at his own home, not at the expense of the government.
It was also the policy of the American officers, from their great commander to the lowest subaltern, to preserve life rather than to destroy it. The English government purposed a speedy sub- jugation of the colonies, and therefore sent into the country large armies at great expense. In the matter of military strength the poorly equipped provincial militia-men were at a disadvantage when they met the well disciplined, well armed veterans of the British army. Had the American soldiers been rushed into bloody strife as were some of the armies of the Rebellion the country would have become exhausted of men, and the states would not at that time have secured their independence. The struggle must be prolonged ; crafty delays were victories to the Americans, a protracted war was their only hope of independence and a stable government ; the cost of continuing it was dishearten- ing to the English government, and induced it to offer terms of peace.
The close of the war found Wolfeborough very much impov- erished. No record of its finances is extant, and its condition can only be inferred from certain desultory accounts of legal ac- tions. It was largely indebted to the state of New Hampshire, particularly for deficiency in raising soldiers in 1781 and 1782.
As an evidence of the pecuniary straits of the town, here is in- serted a copy of a warrant for town-meeting in 1787.
170
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
"State of New Hamp.
Strafford ss.
To Thomas Piper constable for the Town of Wolfborough for the current year,
Greeting :-
You are hereby directed in the name of the state of New Hamp- shire forthwith to notify and warn the Freeholders and others (inhabitants) of the town of Wolfborough to meet at the Dwelling House of Matthew S. Parker in said town, on Mon- day the 28th inst. at 2 o'clock P. M. then and there to act on the following business-viz-Ist to choose a Moderator toregu- late said meeting-to see what steps the town will choose to take in order to satisfy two Extents levied on the selectmen and Collector Lary for taxes due for the years 1782 & 3 which extents are to be settled at or before the 12th day of June next -also to transact any business which may then be tho't neces- sary-Given under our Hands & Seal at Wolfborough, this 24th day of May A. D. 1787.
Matthew S. Parker Eben Meader Selectmen
Pursuant to the within warrant I have warned the Inhabitants of the Town of Wolfeborough to meet at time and place therein mentioned
Thomas Piper, Constable.
Wolfborough, May 28, 1787."
January 18, 1786, Nathan Hoitt, under-sheriff, having previous- ly attached them by order of the state government, offered for sale at public vendue the farms of Capt. Reuben Libbey, William Cotton, and James Lucas, selectmen of Wolfeborough ; also those of Capt. Elias Smith, Lieut. Nathaniel Shannon, and Lieut. Smith Moulton, selectmen of Moultonborough, for deficiency in raising soldiers in 1781 and 1782.
17I
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
The state tax of Wolfeborough for 1786 was about thirty pounds. In 1789 it had not been paid, and the farm of William Rogers, collector of taxes, was attached to secure it. In 1788 there was due from Wolfeborough to the state of New Hamp- shire for deficiency of soldiers over five hundred dollars. In 1794 Reuben Libbey, as agent for the town, paid thirty-six pounds in part payment of an extent issued by order of the state treasurer on account of the same matter, and in 1797 he, then acting as deputy sheriff, acknowledges the receipt of seventy dollars for the unpaid state tax of 1789. In 1799, sixteen years after the close of the war, Henry Rust, Jr., then state representative, by direc- tion of the town, made the last payment for deficiency of soldiers.
Here follows a list of the tax-payers in Wolfeborough in 1781 arranged according to the value of the taxes assessed against each respectively. It is not claimed that such a list is a true criterion by which to determine the relative value of a person's possessions on account of varying circumstances, but it furnishes a general clew to it :----
Cabbott Farm, Lieut. Ebenezer Horne, Col. Henry Rust, Ben- jamin Evans, Matthew S. Parker, Ensign Reuben Libbey, Ben- jamin Blake, James Connor, Lieut. Andrew Lucas, Lieut. Wil- liam Lucas, Lieut. Jonathan Lary, Samuel Tebbetts, Joseph Lary, Jeremiah Gould, Robert Calder, Robert Estes, Widow Mary Ful- lerton, Andrew Wiggin, Ebenezer Meader, James Lucas, 3rd, Capt. John Sinkler, William Rogers, Jonathan Hersey, Enoch Thomas, John Fullerton, Aaron Frost, Benjamin Durgin, Thomas Piper, Lemuel Clifford, Samuel Tebbetts, Jr., Abraham Prebble, Moses Varney, James Lucas, Jr., Samuel Hide, Joseph Keniston, Joseph Leavitt, Thomas Triggs, Doct. Cutter for the "Mills," John Emerson, Benjamin Wiggin, Isaiah Horne, Edmund Teb- betts, - Shortridge, John Lucas, Joseph Estes, Ichabod Tebbetts, Henry Rust, Jr., Daniel Piper. The following named persons probably paid only a poll tax : John Piper, Richard Rust, Ebenezer Horne, Jr., Stephen Horne, James Lucas, John Hide,
172
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
Capt. John Martin, Timothy Johnson, William Gordon, William Cotton, Thomas Smith, Thomas Baker-sixty tax payers and fifty-eight polls.
The inventory of 1782 represents the town as having 63 acres of tillage land, 325 acres of mowing land, and 351 acres of pas- turage; 32 horses, 60 oxen, 100 cows, 25 three years old, 30 two years old, and 20 one year old cattle. The value of buildings was estimated at three thousand and fifteen dollars, one thousand being the state farm buildings. Here is inserted a portion of an inventory found in loose manuscript :-
Hide, wife, six children, one house.
Durgin, wife.
Calder, wife, eight children, one house, one barn.
Shortridge, wife, four children.
Frost, wife, seven children.
Samuel Tebbetts, Jr., wife, six children, one house, one barn. Joseph Keniston, wife, two children, one barn.
Joseph Leavitt, wife, two children, one house, one barn.
Furbur, wife, three children, one house.
Prebble, seven children.
Glynn, one house, one barn.
Cabbott, one house, two barns, one stable.
John Lary, wife, two children, one house, one barn.
Triggs, wife, one child.
Durgin, wife, five children, one house, one barn.
This inventory was confined to the northeasterly part of the town, and comprised about one-third of the population of Wolfe- borough. Not including the Glynn and Cabbotts establishments, it numbered fourteen families with fifty-five children and a popu- lation of eighty-three which the laborers on the Cabbott farm would have increased to nearly one hundred. It had ten houses and ten barns. A note indicates that there were in the town thirty-three houses, thirty-seven barns, and a population of two
I73
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
hundred and seventy-four. From this invoice it may be inferred that very few families came to Wolfeborough during the war, and that the moderate increase in the number of its inhabitants may be chiefly attributed to births and the growth of children.
In 1786 a census of the town was taken by order of the state, but for some cause the selectmen failed to report a particular ac- count of it, and the aggregate only is known, which is three hun- dred and seventeen, three hundred and one residents and sixteen transients, or hired persons.
From the foregoing statements the condition of Wolfeborough at the close of the Revolutionary War may be inferred. After the departure of Governor Wentworth's attaches the population of the town consisted of persons in moderate circumstances or ex- tremely poor, generally with large and increasing families of chil- dren.
The demand of the new government for men and means to carry on the war were even at the first very urgent; but they were met with commendable alacrity, although at great sacrifice, until 1781. At that period the resources of the town in both particulars had become exhausted, and it could no longer answer its calls. In financial matters a complete collapse had occurred. In desperation it offered large bounties for soldiers, but its ability to meet its pledged obligations was discredited, and there were no enlistments. So far as furnishing aid to the state government it was helplessly bankrupt ; yet there was hope in the more or less distant future. Although comparatively few persons had come within its borders for the purpose of settlement for nearly a de- cade, its own population had been kept quite intact, and the young mind and muscle which had been developing in families during the seven years' conflict was very encouraging prospective capital. But there must be a season of waiting and pinching.
CHAPTER XIV.
ESTES FAMILY-COTTON FAMILY-ROGERS FAMILY-HERSEY FAMILY-MARTIN FAMILY-BRIEF SKETCHES OF OTHER FAMILIES.
T HE war being over, sketches of families and persons will be resumed and continued for a space. Robert Estes came to Wolfeborough about 1778, probably from New Dur- ham, where, it is said, he carried on tanning and shoe-making. He was evidently a person of considerable business capacity, as he was elected auditor, an office that comparatively few Wolfeborough citizens were then capable of filling. He sold to the town one large yoke of oxen for army beef, most likely raised on his farm in New Durham. He was born Feb. 18, 1750 and his wife, Sarah Hanson, Aug. 23, 1754. Their children were: Han- nah, born Nov. 12, 1774, married David Wentworth, of Milton; Susannah, born Oct. 8, 1776, married James Roberts, of Ossipee ; Elijah, born Jan. 13, 1779, married Martha Roberts ; Lydia, born June 18, 1781, married John Buffum, of Berwick ; Elizabeth, born April 12, 1783. After remaining in Wolfeborough a few years it is said that Estes returned to New Durham.
His son Elijah, when quite young, married Martha Roberts, and entered on the business of shoe-making. About 1805 he pur- chased the most southerly of the fifty-acre lots, that which James Lucas had given to his son Nehemiah, and built a house near that never-failing fountain of water still known as the "Estes Spring." Here he resided during his lifetime, and reared a family of chil- dren, as follows :
Sarah, born Oct. 18, 1806, married Daniel Deland; Robert, born April 20, 1808, married Betsey Shepherd; Hannah, born June 18, 1810, married Daniel Shepherd ; James, born Jan. 20,
174
175
HISTORY OF WOLFEBOROUGH.
1813, married Louisa Roberts ; John, born December 10, 1818, married Emily Marden.
He was not an affluent, but very industrious citizen, working at his trade and ordinary farm labor. He cut and cleared the road which leads past the Charles S. Paris farm-house to the Hersey Brook, a distance of nearly two miles, for four dollars. He be- queathed the farm to his son Robert, who was obligated to sup- port his widowed mother. She survived her husband many years. Mr. Estes' sons had a great passion for hunting, Robert becom- ing especially noted as a hunter. His son, Jonathan P., is a man of unusually large size, being six feet four inches in height and proportionally broad.
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