USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Chester > History of old Chester [N. H.] from 1719 to 1869 > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
HATS.
The wool for hats had first to be carded by hand and then " bowed." The bow was a catgut line fastened to a wooden bow, similar in form to an Indian's bow, which was struck by a wooden pin and snapped into the wool, which threw it into a light mass into the desired form. The bowing was quite a trade to learn. Probably " Hatter " Underhill was the earliest hatter in town, afterwards Dan- iel Greenough, Perley Ayer, Stiles, Daniel Langmaid and James French.
POPLAR AND PALMLEAF HATS.
Daniel Pressy was a wool-hatter, and resided below Ingalls' hill where Francis Chase now lives in Sandown, and had a brother-in-law by the name of Mason Lincoln, also a hatter, who worked with him, who was the inventor, or brought the art of getting out the stuff and making the hats. A gauge with several spurs at suitable intervals, from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch, was passed heavily over a piece of poplar wood about eighteen inches long, then a jointer with the iron lying very flat cut the stuff off, which was braided with seven strands and sewed into hats. Mr. Lincoln and Micajah Rogers, who lived where John Hunkins lately lived, got up a set of tools, and commenced the business of getting out the stuff. Jonathan Bond, who lived where Ezekiel Currier now lives, got sight of the tools, some said clandestinely, and did a great busi- ness in getting out the stuff. It was at first a great secret, but it soon became an open one. This was in 1806, and
435
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY.
the first hats sold for fifty cents each. It became a great business in all the region, nearly all the women and child- ren going into it, and all of the traders dealing in the hats. They were sent South and West in vast quantities. The price of common coarse hats eventually came down to four or five cents eael. They were very light, - good summer hats, and in a rain would swell so as not to leak badly. The business was however overdone as to quantity and quality. William Hazelton of Chester, and John Ordway of Hampstead, dealt largely in these hats, and happened to be in Boston together in March, 1827. A dealer who pur- chased of them had just imported some palmleaf, and got a man by the name of King, from Rhode Island, to instruct in the art of making hats. They purchased stock and hired Mr. King to come up and instruct the girls at two dollars each. Mr. Hazelton and Mr. Ordway had twelve or fourteen girls each to learn the trade. From this begin- ning it became a great business. The leaf was then split with a knife by hand, and the hats were pressed by hand. For the fine hats they then furnished stoek and paid one dollar each for making, and sold in Boston for one dollar and fifty cents. They were sent to South America and sold there for five dollars each.
These facts are communicated by Mr. Ordway. Since writing the above, I have received the following account from Mr. Jabez Boyden, of South Dedham, aged about eighty years. He says that the first he ever knew of the palmleaf-hat business was in 1823 or '4, he does not remem- ber which. He was engaged in the sennit or braided-hat manufacture, and used to peddle them in Rhode Island. One day at a tavern in Newport, some one asked him why he did not hire a man by the name of King, whom he knew in that place, who knew how to make palmleaf hats braided whole. The man King said he had been a sailor, and had been captured by the Spaniards and put in prison where he learned to braid palmleaf hats. Mr. Boyden hired Mr. King to come to South Dedham and teach the girls to make them. He says that the first hat cost him
436
HISTORY OF CHESTER.
fifty dollars. After he got everything ready he had to give five dollars for the first hat to new beginners, and one dol- lar each afterwards. The hats sold at from three to ten dollars each, according to quality. After Mr. King had worked for him three or four months, some one from New Hampshire offered him great pay to go there and teach the girls. He went and was gone a few months and returned. Mr. King was dissipated and would not work when he had money, About the time Mr. King came to South Dedham, a woman at Dedham Centre took an old hat to pieces and learned to make them, made one for her husband and claimed to be the first to invent the art of making them, and threatened to sue Mr. Boyden for infringing upon her rights. He got his first leaf from South Carolina, but it was not strong, so they chartered a schooner from Salem to go to Cuba and get a cargo. The first lot of hats he sent to New York was sold wholesale at two dollars and fifty cents cach.
POTASH.
The boiling of potash was quite a business in early times. The early inhabitants burnt good hard, green wood, in an open fire, and made good ashes and an abundance of them, and nearly every trader took in ashes in pay for goods. I think that Col. Webster was a manufacturer. I find in merchant Blasdell's ledger, date 1770, an account of what his potash cost. The " potash Citals " were three hundred and twenty pounds .; bringing " the Citals from Haverhill," twelve pounds. The whole expense was six hundred and six pounds, equal to one hundred and one dollars. Robert Calfe made potash, and paid ninepence per bushel for ashes. In 1790 Samuel Shirley had a potash manufactory near the pond and paid eight pence per bushel for ashes. After- wards George Bell, son of William, had a store on the cast side of the road, opposite the pond, and made potash where Mr. Shirley had done. For a long period after John Bell came to Chester he had a manufactory, which I think was the last in Chester.
437
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY.
CLOCKS.
The early inhabitants had few clocks. The people were poor, and clocks were scarce and dear. As a substitute, sun-dials were used. The dials were made of pewter with a triangular piece called the " gnomon " placed on the me- ridian to cast a shadow, and the circumference was grad- uated to show the hours. The English school-books then used gave rules for dialing. But dials were useless in the night and in cloudy weather.
The earliest clocks were of English manufacture, and some had only an hour hand and struck but once at each hour. One, apparently very ancient, was owned by Dea. Richard Haselton, and afterwards by his son Thomas. I am informed by the Rev. T. H. Miller that there were clocks made in Portsmouth about one hundred and fifty years ago, and that there was a clock-maker there by the name of Fitz, who flourished about one hundred years ago and later. There was a David Blasdell of Amesbury, born in 1712, who was a clock-maker. I have seen several of his clocks, one with the date 1741 on it. His son Isaac came to Chester in 1762 and carried on the clock-making business until his death in 1791.
The clocks were of brass, rather heavily made, and to run one day. The line was of linen, passing over grooved wheels armed with points to prevent slipping. One line and one weight carried both time and striking. Chester people and others were supplied with these clocks as far as they were able to purchase. My grandfather, Wells Chase, made a great effort, and in 1788 purchased one, for which he paid twenty dollars for the movement, and had the case made. He paid a part of the purchase in wood at eight shillings per cord, drawn to Chester, where John West now lives. Col. Stephen Dearborn had one about the same time with the name of Mr. Blasdell's son Richard on it. My grandfather's is yet good, and I have it running. Mr. Blasdell made a few cight-day clocks near the close of his
438
HISTORY OF CHESTER.
life. There was a Simon Willard, of Roxbury, Mass., who was a celebrated clock-maker, but I believe none of his clocks came to Chester. Timothy Chandler, of Concord, born April 25, 1762, first learned the trade of card-making, (wool cards) and at the expiration of his apprenticeship traveled on foot from Pomfret, Conn., about 1784. He did not go into card-making, but hired a man by the name of Cummings, who was an apprentice to Mr. Willard, and set up clock-making in Concord, and did a large business. He made eight-day clocks of a lighter and better finish than the Blasdell clocks. Several of these clocks came to Chester.
It may not be improper to give here a short description of the manner in which clock work was once done, which I have from Abiel Chandler, son and successor to Maj. Tim- othy Chandler. The wheels were cast blank and the teeth were ent on a gear engine which was turned with one hand and the tool held down with the other. The teeth were rounded up with a file. The pinions were imported cut, but the lever had to be rounded with a file. Mr. Chan- dler, however, thinks that on the earlier pinions the teeth were sawed out by hand. The pivots were turned in a lathe composed of a spring pole overhead with a line pass- ing from it and around the piece to be turned, to a treadle operated by the foot, so that when the treadle was borne down the piece turned towards the operator and his tool would cut, the spring of the pole carried it back again. Sometimes, in such light work as clock-making, a bow sim- ilar to a fiddle bow was used, the string passing round the piece to be turned, and operated by one hand and a file held on by the other. I think the spring pole and treadle was the only lathe then in use by chair makers and cabinet makers. Tobias Cartland, of Lee, born 1765, did quite a business at chair making, and got out and carried a great deal of stuff to Portsmouth on horseback, and his lathe was standing two or three years ago. Mr. Chandler says that when Low & Damon set up chair making in Concord, in 1806, and for several years after, they used such a lathe. Levi and Abel Hutchins, of Concord, learned their trade of
439
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY.
Mr. Willard and set up the business there about 1788, per- haps a little later than Maj. Chandler. The first, or one of the first clocks made by Abel Hutchins, is now owned by his grandson, and is running. The dial or face was made of an old brass kettle. Quite a number of their clocks came to Chester and sold for from fifty to sixty dollars each. They were well made and in well finished cases, and some of them at the top of the face showed the phases of the moon: Levi Hutchins, in his autobiography, says that probably he and his brother Abel made the first brass clocks that were made in New Hampshire, but Isaac Blasdell made clocks in Chester twenty-five years before they did in Concord.
James Critchet, of Candia, was a man of great mechani- cal genius. When a young man he saw a clock which had a cuckoo that crowed instead of striking, which excited his curiosity, and he made quite a number of wooden clocks which ran twenty-four hours ; one he made for Dea. Abra- ham Bean, and altered it to an eight-day clock. Making wooden clocks was not much of a business previous to 1820. From 1820 to 1830 the Connecticut clocks were hawked about the country by peddlers, and the movement sold for about twenty dollars, and many of them were put up in a corner of the room and run for many years without a. case, and did good service.
UMRRELLAS.
It is said that there were a few umbrellas used in France and England early in the eighteenth century, but were not common there until about 1775, and a few were imported, but were not common previous to the year 1800. I think the first owned in the Long Meadows was bought by my mother, in 1804, and is yet in existence. The first in Chester is said to have been bought by Josiah Morse, Jr., the precise date not known, but probably a little earlier. The first owned in Sandown is said to have been purchased by a daughter of Deacon Nathaniel French, soon after the death of her father, which occurred April 30, 1803, for which she paid five dollars.
440
HISTORY OF CHESTER.
VARIOUS ACCOUNTS.
In order to show how our ancestors lived, in what they trafficked, and the prices of articles, I make extracts from various old accounts :
Exeter, Nov. 14, 1754.
Recd of Mr. James Wilson, two thousand and a half of red oak hogsª staves, at sixteen pounds old tenor, per thousd.
JOIN GILMAN, Jr.
That would be five dollars and thirty-three cents per thousand, drawn to Exeter.
The next is from a ledger of " Merchant" Blasdell, who traded at Chester Street and did an extensive business, commencing in 1759. The money was old tenor, of which it would take six pounds to make a dollar. He charges Jesse Johnson with
& s.
.200 board nails, .
2 4
A pound of Coffee,
1 6
A gallon of Molasses,
3 0
A pound of alum,
0 12
A thousand of boards,
24 00
He gives credit for " 30 primers, at £6 cach ; 67 pair of buckles, large ones, at £1: 10 ; small ones, at £1: 5."
This seems to have been with a dealer, as it is all on one page :
£ s.
2 doz. and three buttons,
1 16
34 yds of serg,
22 15
Į yd buckram,
9
4& yds black shaloon,
12
7
3 yd cotton cloth,
1
Wife making a coat,
4 10
2 gallons N. E. rum,
8 00
2 qts. W. I. rum,
3 00
4 lbs. sugar, 2 8
32 00
1 paper of pins, .
15
A inng,
1 00
1 lb. powder,
27
9 00
Bed blanket, jacket and breeches,
15 00
4 thonsand shingles,
441
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY.
Pewter bason, .
3 10
An ounce of indigo,
18
14 yard of broadcloth,
18 00
13 lbs. cotton wool,
2 17
1 gallon of molasses,
3 00
2 bread pans,
1 4
1 pair of cards and a slate,
6 18
2 bushels of corn,
6 00
1 gill of rum,
1 10
He charges James Croset with articles " when you broke your leg."
From Wells Chase's account-book, 1771, Caleb Hall is charged " for self and oxen to Suncook, 12s." This was to the Catamount hill, in Allenstown, after mill-stones.
1791, Samuel Shirley is charged with " ashes at 8 pence per bushel." He is credited with " rum, at 1s. 4 per quart, and tobacco at 2 pence per yard." They had tobacco for chewing, called " pig-tail," which was twisted into a cord about five-sixteenths of an inch thick, and rolled into bun- dles and sold by the yard.
I will next give some items from a ledger of Lt. Josiah Underhill, commencing in 1797. The money is lawful, six shillings to the dollar. Although Mr. Underhill began very small at first (probably not far from 1780), his business was now large, extending to Daniel Davis and Jedediah Kimball, at White Hall in Hooksett, to John Clarke, Bricket and Murray, and to Dea. John Hills and Simon French, in Candia.
John Clarke is charged "for a mill-saw, £2: 8: 0; for breasting a saw, 1s., 4." Their saws were iron, and when worn hollow, were heated, and the back struck on the an- vil and straightened. "Mending a mill-saw."
In 1799, Alexander and James Shirley were charged with "paying for a German mill-saw 13 dollars." This was probably one of the earliest steel saws. The Shirleys owned the Oswego mill. They are at the same time credited with "1000 boards at the mill, $5.00." There are several saws charged which he made, and quite often breasted. Scythes are quite frequently charged, usually at
442
HISTORY OF CHESTER.
7s. 6d., or 8s. cach ; narrow axes, at 8s .; new stecling, 4s. to 5s ; new hoes, 5s., new steeling, 2s. 6d. ; shocing oxen, 7s. 6d. ; horse, 5s. 4d. James and Silas Hunter are charged "to making an instrument to haul teeth, 2s. 6." So it seems that he made surgical instruments. Stephen Chase is charged with "a pair of corks for his boys, 1s. 4; shoe- ing a shovel, 2s. 6 ; for a gripe for the shay." Paul Adams is charged for " a hook and buckles for a sleigh harness and bits, 4s. 6." The hooks were attached to the leading lines to hitch to the bits. He is also charged with " mak- ing a loggerhead, 9d." They had a drink called flip, for cold weather, composed of rum and beer. The loggerhead was heated red hot, and immersed in the liquor to warm it and make it foam. There is work charged to the Folsoms, for " making and repairing their nail machinery." There are several charges for flax-comb teeth ; mending and making cranks for linen wheels ; spindles for woolen wheels, &c. He took much of his pay in barter. Heading was about four shillings per hundred, and staves about the same price. They were counted six score, or one hundred and twenty, to the hundred. They were then drawn to Haver- hill at about four dollars per thousand. He took coals at six cents per bushel. There are frequent credits for loads of pine (pitch wood for lights).
From the account-book of Richard Dearborn the follow- ing prices are learned :
1811, rum, 70 cts. ; molasses 60 cts. ; scythe, $1.00 ; salt, $1.00; souchong toa, $1.00. 1812, mowing 67 cts. per day ; bark at Hampstead, $6.00 per cord ; cotton, 23 cts. ; sugar, 17 cts. ; dry pine wood, $2.00 per cord at Chester ; calico, 34 cts. ; glass, 9 cts. per light. 1815, war prices, N. E. rum, $1.33 ; nails, 12 1-2 cts. ; scythe, $1.00. 1816, N. E. rum, 67 cts. 1817, rye was two dollars, in consequence of the cold season of 1816. James French is credited for a "napt hat," $4.00; a wool one, $1.75. 1815, James Wason is credited with a " four-wheel carriage to Deer- field." This was the first gig-wagon at the Long Meadows.
From B. P. Chase's book : 1804, Polly Blasdel is cred-
443
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY.
ited with twenty-one weeks' work - housework and nursing -$10.50, and with an umbrella (the first in the Long Meadows and yet in a condition to be used), $3.00. She is charged with "a yard and a half of baize, 75 cts. ; Pair of calf skin shoes, 1.12; Six yards of calico and a fan, 2.06 ; Five"yds. drugget, 2 1-4, checked, 3.50."
1803 to 1806, another girl, who worked for fifty cents per week, is charged : "Horse and side-saddle to Bow, 16 miles, 83 cts. ; Sheeting, 50 cents, & India cotton, 42 cts .; [This India cotton was a very coarse and thin cloth, not so good as the lowest priced shirting of the present day] 1 1-2 yds. striped linen for a loose gown, 50; 8 yards of calico, at 3s. 8, and a pair of mitts, 5.65 ; 4 yds. of woolen cloth for a great coat, & making, 4.83 ; one pair silk gloves, 1.08, 1 pr. calf.skin shoes, 1.04,- 2.12; 6 yds. cotton and linen cloth, 3.00 ; Yellow baize, 42 cts. per yard."
In 1819 he charges another girl, who, I have good reason to know, was one of the very best, who worked for sixty-seven cents per week at house-work, including spinning, milking, and nursing an invalid woman, " 1 pair cow-hide shoes, 1.34 ; 1 pair calf-skin shoes, 1.42 ; 1 pair morocco shoes, 1.57."
THE DATE OF SOME OF THE HOUSES IN CHESTER.
Capt. Samuel Ingalls was the first settler, had the first child born, and built the first framed house abont 1732, which was taken down several years since to give place to the one where Humphrey Niles lives, on Walnut Hill. Probably the oldest house now standing is the old Fitts house. Dea. Ebenezer Dearborn deeded to his son Benja- min home lot No. 132, in 1735, and he is rated for a D ( two-story) house in 1741, and the house was probably built between those periods. Dearborn sold to Nathan Fitts, in 1767. Lt. Ebenezer Dearborn was married in 1730 or '31, and the L part of the house ( where James R. Gor- dan lives ) probably was his first house, and older than the Fitts house. He afterwards built the front part, date not known. Francis Hills says that the house where Benjamin Hills lives, built by his great grandfather, Benjamin, Sen.,
444
HISTORY OF CHESTER.
was a garrison, and that the port holes may yet be seen through the boarding, though covered on the outside with clapboards. If that be the fact it was probably built as early as 1750. Wells Chase and a fellow apprentice by the name of Moses Haskall took their tools on their backs, at Newbury, and came to Chester and built a house for Stephen Morse, in 1755, being the old part of the house where Gilman Morse now lives. The L part of the John Bell house, where William Greenough lives, was built by the Rev. Mr. Flagg ; time not known, but probably as early as 1750 or '60. It was moved back, and the front part built by John Bell, Esq., in 1806. Col John Webster built what is now Bachelder's hotel, in 1761.
Probably the oldest house in Auburn was built by Joseph Calfe, who was married in 1746, and it might have been built previous to that, or they might have lived awhile in a log house. Barnard Bricket built the house where his grandson David P. Bricket lives, in 1766. Wells Chase built a one-story house where his grandson, Pike Chase, lives, in 1771; second story added in 1828. Col. Stephen Dearborn built a house the north side of the Borough road, cast of the saw-mill, in 1761, but soon moved it on to the hill, and it is a part of the L or low part of the present house. The front, or two-story part, was built in 1776 or 1777. Samuel Murray lived in the cellar kitchen while building his house in 1781. Isaac Blasdel built the house in which John West lives ; Lt. Josiah Underhill and Jacob Chase built houses in 1785. Tappan Webster built where Mr. Orcutt lives, in 1787.
1788. William Hicks built where Woodbury Masters lives.
1791. Dr. Benjamin Page's house was burnt, April 5; a new frame raised April 30, sold to Joseph Robinson, who finished it.
1793. Alexander Eaton built the house opposite the Long Meadow meeting-house.
1794. Dr. Thomas Sargent built his house where John White lately lived. Cornet Isaac Lane built where his son Isaac lives.
445
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY.
1796. Nathaniel Woods and Joseph Linn built at the Long Meadows, and the Rev. N. Bradstreet where John W. Noyes lives.
1798. Samuel Underhill built where Geo. S. Underhill lives.
1799. Amos Kent built where Mrs. Aiken lately lived.
1800. Daniel French, Esq., built his house. Joseph Wetherspoon built where Henry Moore lives. It has been occupied by Moses Emerson, Charles Goss, John Bryant, and others.
1804. Gilbert Morse built what has been the Congrega- tional parsonage, where Sarah Robinson lives.
1807. Jacob Elliott built about this year.
1808. Thomas Anderson built where his son Samuel now lives, in Auburn. Capt. David Hall built where Hazen Davis lives, in Auburn. Joseph Mills built about this year.
1809. Benjamin Hills built at the John Powel place, where Daniel Wilson lately lived. He had not moved into it before the cold Friday, January 19, 1810, and the wind moved it on its foundation.
1812. Josiah Haselton built where Lewis Kimball lives, on Walnut Hill.
1822. Thomas Coffin built where Rev. James Holmes lives.
1832. Jay T. Underhill built where Mr. Chamberlain now lives.
1833. Hon. Samuel Bell built his house.
FIRES OCCURRING, SO FAR AS ASCERTAINED.
Samuel Eastman and Samuel Eastman, Jr., house and goods, Candia, 1759; James Fullonton's house, Raymond, 1763; David Bean's mill and house burned in Candia ; Dea. Richard Hazelton had his grist-mill burned, time not known ; Jonathan Berry's house, April 15, 1786; Phillip Griffin's house, March, 1788; Nathaniel Head, two barns and six oxen, Nov. 25, 1788 ; John Crawford's house, July 10, 1789; Dr. Page's house and barn, April 5, 1791; Joseph Blanchard's clothier's shop, July 10, 1795; Capt.
446
HISTORY OF CHESTER.
Locke's saw-mill, March 27, 1796; Haselton's barn, Octo- ber, 1799; John Haselton's house, June 14, 1800; Daniel True's house, Jan. 6, 1801 ; James Stevens' blacksmith- shop, Dec. 12, 1801 ; Silas Cammet's house, May 1, 1802 ; Moses Preston's shop, Sept. 7, 1805 ; John Melvin's black- smith-shop, Dec. 11, 1807; Capt. Fitts's blacksmith-shop, Jan. 7, 1814; John Clark's house, July 15, 1818; William Coult's fulling-mill, and two carding-machines and cloth- iers' tools, 1820 ; Samuel Anderson's tavern-stand in Candia, including a large two-story house with L, a large stable and barn, and all of the contents, including twenty-three horses and eleven swine, Oct., 1821; the house of the widow of Robert Forsaith at Walnut Hill, May, 1822; the saw-mill and grist-mill of Samuel Hook and Sebastian Spofford, April, 1825 ; the grist-mill and old nail-shop at the Blanch- ard mills owned by Col. S. D. Wason, burned in the fall of 1825 ; the house of John French of Candia, April 21, 1831; Zaccheus Colby's house, May 24, 1837; Candia meeting-house, Jan. 25, 1838; Jesse J. Underhill's edge- tool shop, 1841 ; the Hall grist-mill, owned by Noah Clark, about 1845; the Knowles saw-mill, 1847 ; Ephraim Kelly's house and shop, April 25, 1850 ; William P. Underhill's barn and L to his house, Sept. 20, 1850; John Moore and John Wason's saw- and shingle-mill, 1851 ; Samuel Colby's house and barn, March 2, 1853 ; Hale True's house, formerly the house of Robert Wilson, Esq., 1853; Rich- ards and Greenough's store, and school-house No. 1, Dec. 28, 1856 ; William P. Underhill's house and barn, Dec. 20, 1857; Capt. Moses Haselton's barn by lightning, 1862; Pollard's steam saw-mill, 1864; the Perley Chase house, June, 1867.
TREES.
Paul and Sylvanus Smith came from Hampton to Chester about 1730. Soon after making an opening they brought from Hampton some apple-trees on horseback and set out, one of which bore a peek of apples in 1868. A large elm at the Templeton place, at the Long Meadows, was set out when Matthew was just large enough to steady it, probably
447
TOWN OFFICERS.
about 1745. Barnard Bricket came to Chester in 1765, and the great elm, whose top now extends eighty-five feet, and whose trunk at four feet from the ground, which is its smallest place, girts about fourteen feet, was then a small sapling, which he then pruned. It has several large branches, so that it is larger ten or twelve feet from the ground. The elm at Isaac Lane's was either a sapling growing there when Cornet John Lane came there in 1749 or set soon after. The elms in front of the French office, opposite the house, were set by H. F. French about 1829. The other trees above the old Melvin place were set by Mr. French, aided by T. J. Melvin and others, from 1831 to 1834. Those opposite the Melvin place were set by Mr. Melvin and John White in 1843. The trees on the Haver_ hill road, near where the old Baptist church stood, were set by Silas F. Learnard in 1845. The three elms nearest the house of the writer, were set by Benjamin Chase, Jr., in 1855. The other elms and maples were set a year or two later. The maples in front of the house were set in 1867.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.