USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Amherst > History of the town of Amherst, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire (first known as Narraganset township number three, and subsequently as Souhegan West) > Part 26
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 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
345
COURTS.
XV.]
missed of much pleasure, as well as wine, I should have enjoyed at his house.
Ile endeavored to get all his brethren drunk, and, it not being a very difficult undertaking, he succeeded very well, with respect to them, and himself too.
About half past three in came the whole fraternity, with Judge D. at their head, who was the soberest man among them (what think you of the other ?), ready to give the fraternal hug even to old K., himself. D. goggled to the Court. A. and S. were silent, for the best of reasons,-they could not speak. C. and W. quarreled, and threat- ened to fight. Gordon laughed at every thing and every body. B. and S. D., jr., argued a case to the great satisfaction-of them- selves. Claggett fell asleep, and Ben Champney made poetry. N. G. stole a few writs, and Thompson made up his large bills of costs.
Old K. (the sheriff) broke all his deputy sheriffs, and took care of the jury himself to save the fees."
Judge Smith, on his return from Congress the preceding summer, had been met at the hall of Dr. Curtis by the gentlemen of the bar, the honorable judges of the court of common pleas, and a number of respectable citizens of Amherst and the adjoining towns, who presented a formal address to him, thanking him for his labors in Congress, and congratulating him on his safe return.
Smith bore the infliction patiently, made an appropriate reply, and on the whole acted his part well ; but the whole affair disgusted him, and he afterward wrote to a friend that could he have found a window to jump out of he believed he should have ventured to do it. The affair ended in a dinner, the result of which was probably not very different from Gordon's dinner to the bar.
APPOINTMENT OF A SHERIFF OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, DURING THE " ERA OF GOOD FEELING."
Sheriff Benjamin Pierce, of Hillsborough county, hav- ing been elected governor, a majority of his council, at a session held 23 June, 1827, nominated Edmund Parker, of Amherst, as his successor ; but the governor refused to sanction the appointment. John Wallace, jr., of Milford, a member of the Council, was then proposed by a majority of
346
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
the Council, but rejected by the Governor. 28 June, Henry Fields, of Merrimack, was nominated by the Governor, but rejected by the Council. The nomination of William Whittemore, of Greenfield, made by the Governor, was rejected by the Council. Jesse Bowers, of Dunstable, was then nominated by the Governor, but rejected by the Council. 3 July, Timothy Danforth, of Amherst, was nom- inated by the Governor, and confirmed by the Council ; but the next day both Governor and Council annulled the appointment. 5 July, Jacob Tuttle, of Antrim, was proposed by the Governor, but rejected by the Council. David L. Morril, of Goffstown, was then proposed by the Council, but rejected by the Governor. Finally, Jacob Whittemore, of Antrim, was proposed by the Governor, and, the nomi- nation being approved by the Council, he became Gov. Pierce's successor in the office of sheriff of Hillsborough county.
The jail has not been a very secure place for the confine- ment of criminals, who frequently found means to escape. They were generally recaptured and held to answer to the complaints made against them. In one instance one of the escaped prisoners, who had got as far as Lake Cham- plain, was there drowned. In another instance the culprit was found snugly ensconced in a flour barrel at Man- chester.
Perhaps the most noted jail delivery was made by sheriff Pierce, 20 Nov., 1818, shortly after his re-appointment as sheriff of the county.
At that time Capt. Moses Brown, Isaac Lawrence, and George Laney, were confined in jail for debt, and their case having excited some sympathy in the county, means had been taken to effeet their discharge, but without success.
On assuming the office, sheriff Pierce took the respon- sibility of paying the debts and costs for which they were confined, opened the jail doors and set them at
347
COURTS.
XV.]
liberty, at the same time making them an appropriate address, which was published and widely circulated.
The case of Capt. Brewer was a hard one. He was a native of Nova Scotia, came to this country before the Revolution, entered the army at the commencement of the war, and commanded a company in the Sixteenth Massa- chusetts regiment in that contest. He came to Amherst in 1811, and was, at his own request, assisted by the overseers of the poor several times during the season of 1814. In December of that year he was committed to jail on an action for debt, originally amounting to about eight dollars, which, at the time of his release-including board- bills, costs, etc .- amounted to about $300.
MICHAEL KEIFF.
The late James Roby, Esq., is stated to have said that Keiff kindled the fire by which Charlestown was consumed on the 17th day of June, 1775. As Mr. Roby was well acquainted with the place, and was employed as a sort of spy upon the movements of the British at that time, we may assume that he knew whereof he affirmed.
The first notice we have of Keiff in connection with Amherst, is that he was employed by the town toward filling its quota of six months' men required for the army in July, 1781.
After the close of the war he probably found it some- what difficult to procure subsistence for himself and family. The times were hard. He was intemperate, and doubtless joined with many others in blaming the courts and lawyers for his misfortunes. The burning of the court-house in March, 1788, a legitimate result of the popular feeling at the time, was by many attributed to him, but no proof could be obtained of his guilt.
Threatening letters were afterward found on the premises of some of the prominent citizens of the village ; but no clue was obtained, at the time, of their author. Some of these were as follows :
348
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
"Concerning the Sons of Liberty, the god of heaven has luck Down from his throne upon his people, the poor of America, and thinks they should have liberty. Now they Demand liberty. They fight for it wonce, and gat the Day by the help of the Allmighty. Now let those men that grinds the face of the poor look out sharp. A new year's gift. god is going to give people that liberty. All Sear [shire] towns in this Amarick [America] shall be visited with fire. god's poor must be free from all Raits and taxes. We will not bon [burn] the poor.
Doctor Curtiss, let this be seen in this town for fear of trouble."
Another one in regard to the location of the court-house : " to the men of Amherst :
Concerning your Court-house, we have it in our hands to bring it Down, as fast as you will put it up. up country is the place where it ought to be. if you build it any where, build it at the ould place, by Codinan or before Hopson, the tanner, on the other side of the Rode. if you bild it anny where Else in Amherst, it will Com Down, for we no them that tuck it in hand to mov it at first. if you Cause us to Com Down to Amherst another Journey, we will mak light plenty before we will Com back.
there is four or five men that tuck in hand to move it at first, and we now their names.
if we must Com Down again, there will be more bildings Com Down before we go back. Samuel Albany, do you show this to the men on the plain for fear trouble should com on you."
A similar letter was left at Ephraim Hildreth's, at the Jones place, directed, " Efrim Hildrick, Do you show this to the men on the plain, for fear trouble should Com on you."
A friendly epistle to Robert Means :
" L'ft Hopson pray carry this to means, for fear Evil should happen to you.
Robert Means, you Com to be a grate man, both in name and Ritches, by grinding the face of the poor. I have heard people say what is got over the Divil back is commonly spint under his belly, and now I think you will meet with trouble. now we should be glad if you would sine for Liberty, for the poor shall not pay Rates no more. so bless our god, for the poor has faught for liberty once, and they never had it yet, and as for Samuel Deny [Dana], he will see the Divil yet."
Directed, " To L't Hopson, in Amherst."
349
COURTS.
XV.]
After the destruction of Mr. Atherton's barns, the incen- diary was tracked across the fields to Keiff's house. An examination showed that the tracks were made by Kieff's boots. Fearing an arrest he left home, and was reported to have spent some time in the vicinity of Monad- noek mountain, whither some officers were dispatched in search of him, but their search was fruitless.
One evening, sheriff Roby, while returning home from the village, saw the figure of a man with a gun in his hand skulking about in a thicket of pines north of the place now occupied by Mr. Gilson, on the old New Boston road. Thinking the man might be the one he wanted, the sheriff dismounted, and went in pursuit. He soon came up with him, and, after a short contest, knocked the culprit down with a hickory cane he carried, and held him until assist- ance arrived, when he was secured.
Keiff was shortly after indicted and convicted of, first, publishing traitorous and seditious letters ; second, of burn- ing a barn, the property of Joshua Atherton, of Amherst.
For the first offence he was sentenced to be whipped fifteen stripes, sit on the gallows one hour with the rope about his neek, and stand committed until the sentence was performed.
For the second offence he was sentenced to be whipped thirty stripes, be imprisoned six months from the following June, pay the costs of prosecution, and stand committed until the sentence was performed.
On the morning following the day of his trial and con- vietion,-14 May, 1790,-Kieff was found dead in his cell, his jugular vein and windpipe having been severed by a knife he carried about his person. A coroner's inquest pronounced it a ease of " wilful suicide."
Tradition says the feeling against him was so strong that his remains were not allowed to be buried in the grave-yard, but were deposited in some out of the way place near by.
350
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
His family remained in town some years. Some of his children attended Master Brooks's school in "Upper Flanders," in 1801; but they went, shortly after, no one now knows whither.
His widow became poor, and was supported by the town. She died on the pauper farm, 4 September, 1841, at the great age of ninety-seven years.
TRIAL, CONVICTION, AND EXECUTION, OF FARMER.
At a session of the superior court held at Hopkinton, 21 April, 1821, Daniel Davis Farmer, of Goffstown, was arraigned for the murder of Widow Anna Ayer, of Goffs- town, on the sixth day of the same month.
Under the circumstances of the case, the trial was post- poned to the term of the court to be held in Amherst in October following, to which place he was conveyed and committed to jail the following Wednesday.
At the next session of the court he was tried before a jury composed of the following persons :
William Ames, foreman, Moody D. Lovewell,
Nathaniel Hutchinson, James Martin,
Amos Elliott,
John Brooks,
Nathan Fuller,
John Goodspeed,
William Patten, Daniel Ingalls,
Eli Sawtell,
Josiah French.
10 October, 1821, he was convicted, the jury rendering their verdict at a few minutes past eleven o'clock, P. M. The next day, sentence was pronounced by Justice Wood- bury, and the third day of December following was assigned for its execution. A reprieve of one month was granted by Gov. Bell, and the execution took place Thursday, 3 Jan- uary, 1822, between the hours of two and three o'clock, P. M. The gallows was erected on the spot now occupied by the house of Dea. B. B. David. Although the weather was intensely cold, it was estimated that 10,000 people were in attendance.
351
COURTS.
XV.]
Leaving the jail at two o'clock, Farmer was conveyed to the place of execution. He was accompanied, in the sleigh in which he rode, by Messrs. Lord and Chapin, and two civil officers. A sleigh conveying his coffin followed, the whole being surrounded by deputy sheriffs on horseback, headed by the sheriff of the county. On arriving at the gallows, he ascended the stage on which the platform was erected without assistance. The death-warrant was read, and prayer was offered by Mr. Lord, in which the prisoner joined. He then ascended the platform, and the noose was adjusted. At that time, as he seemed to be suffering severely from excessive agitation and the effects of the cold, Mr. Lord stepped forward, and taking his cloak from his shoulders placed it over him. A handkerchief was given him with directions to drop it when he was ready, and the signal being given the drop fell, and, after a few convulsive movements, all was over.
After hanging a short time, Farmer was pronounced by the surgeons present to be dead. His remains were then taken down and delivered to his brother, who conveyed them to Manchester, where they were buried on the follow- ing Sunday.
The duty sheriff Pierce was called upon to perform was to him a hateful one. A person who was present said he was " as pale as the culprit, and when he put out his hand to touch the fatal spring, it shook like a leaf."
The gallows on which Farmer paid the penalty of his crime was stored in the attic of the jail, where it was burned on the morning of the fourteenth day of June, 1850.
24 April, 1849, Letitia S. Blaisdell, of Goffstown, plead guilty to an indictment for poisoning Benjamin E. Blaisdell, also of Goffstown, and was thereupon sentenced by Judge Eastman to be hung, on the thirtieth day of August follow- ing ; but the sentence was changed to imprisonment for life, by the Governor and Council, and she was conveyed to the state prison in July.
352
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
A trial which attracted considerable attention in the county took place at the October term of the court in 1830, and resulted in the conviction of Nathan Carr on three indictments : for having in his possession materials for counterfeiting bank-notes ; for having in his possession counterfeit bills, with intent to pass them ; and for passing a counterfeit bank bill; on which he was sentenced in the whole to thirty days of solitary confinement, and to twelve years of confinement at hard labor in the state prison.
The trial of Carr was attended with a heavy expense to the county, and his conviction gave general satisfaction to the citizens.
PUNISHMENT FOR THEFT IN THE " OLDEN " TIME.
One Jolin Totman was brought before justice Samuel Wilkins charged with stealing a felt hat and surtout, valued at twenty-seven shillings. Pleading guilty to the charge, he was sentenced to be whipped thirteen stripes on the naked back, and to pay the owner of the stolen property five pounds, seventeen shillings, that being three times its value. The flogging was administered by Joseph Boutell.
Saturday night, 10 December, 1803, the store of Nathan Kendall, Esq., was broken into and robbed of a variety of English goods and some money. The thief was pursued and overtaken in Chelmsford the next morning. A part of the goods had been disposed of on the way. The remainder were found with him. He was brought back, and, on exam- ination, pleading guilty, was committed to jail.
At the term of the court in May following he was tried on two indictments for stealing, convicted, and sentenced to receive fifty lashes and be sold for costs and damages.
The following acknowledgment of a theft was found among the papers left by Daniel Campbell, Esq. :
" This certifies that I, the subscriber, did, on the night of the twen- ty-ninth of June last, feloniously take and carry away from D. C., of Amherst, a syth with the sneath and other appurtenances thereto
XV.]
COURTS. 353
belonging, for which I am heartily sorry, humbly ask forgiveness of GOD and the world, and promise to endeavour to conduct better for the future.
Signed : B. C.
AMHERST, July 3, 1784.
Test : NAHUM BALDWIN, NATHAN KENDALL.
From the time of the organization of the State govern- ment under the temporary Constitution, in January, 1776, until the close of the century, but few members of the legal profession served as judges in the State courts. The popu- lar feeling against lawyers in those times doubtless in many cases influenced the appointing power in the selection of judges, and the inadequacy of the salaries, which were much less than the ordinary income of a successful lawyer, would forbid the acceptance of the office if tendered to him. Instead of lawyers-physicians, clergymen and mer- chants, upright, fearless men, occupied the judges' seats, and dispensed justice with more regard to equity than law, and Arthur Livermore is reported as having once said that, "Justice was never better administered in New Hampshire than when the judges knew very little of what we lawyers call law."
23
354
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
CHAPTER XVI. MILITARY HISTORY.
1745-1763.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS .- GRANT OF AMMUNITION TO THE SETTLERS .- PETITION OF MR. WILKINS TO THE AUTHORITIES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE .- SCOUTS FURNISHED FOR THE PROTEC- TION OF THE SETTLERS .- ANOTHER PETITION FOR ASSISTANCE, WITH THE NAMES OF THE SIGNERS .- DEA. HOBBS'S " SABBA- DAY" FIGHT .- LIEUT. PRINCE'S ESCAPE .- NAMES OF THE INHABITANTS OF SOUHEGAN WEST WHO SERVED IN THE WAR. -TORTURE AND DEATH OF MCKEAN .- CAPT. HOBBS'S FIGHT WITH SACKETT.
At a meeting held in the meeting-house, 30 January, 1744-45, the proprietors
" Voted, that they will allow the Inhabitants a stock of Ammuni- tion to defend themselves in case there should be occasion."
This vote is the only one recorded which tells us of any action taken by the proprietors for the defense of the settlers against the attacks of the savages.
Tradition tells us that about this time seven garrison houses were erected in different parts of the town, to which the inhabitants resorted in times of danger. Beside these, a block-house, or fort, is said to have been built for the protection of the settlers.
After the breaking out of the war, the inhabitants met at the house of Rev. Mr. Wilkins, and authorized him in their name and behalf to
355
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS.
XVI.]
" Represent to the Governor and Council of New Hampshire our distressed circumstances on account of our being exposed to the French and Indian enemy and our Low Condition and Inability to subsist here unless a suitable guard may be had to defend us when about our work, and that he make suitable application that these things may Immediately be obtained."
Mr. Wilkins shortly after repaired to Portsmouth, and in behalf of the settlers presented the following petition :
" To his Excelency, Benning Wentworth, Esq'r, Capt .- General and General-in-Chief in and over his Majesty's Province of New Hamp- shire in New England, the HIonorable the Council, and House of Rep- resentatives, in General Court convened :
The Memorial or Petition of Daniel Wilkins, in the name and behalf of the Inhabitants of the Township or Plantation called Souhegan West, No. 3, in said Province,-
Humbly sheweth, the said Town has been settled by his Majesty's subjects about nine years, and a Gospel Minister ordained almost three years ; that the settlers had an Eye at enlarging his Majesties Dominions by going into the Wilderness, as well as their own Interest ; that some thousand of pounds has been spent in clearing and culti- vating the Land there, and vast sums in building llouses, Barns, & fences, beside much time and expence in building fortifications by his Excellency the Governor's order.
That the Breaking up of this Settlement will not only ruin the Memorialists, but greatly disserve his Majesties Interest by encourag- ing his Enemies to Encroach on his deserted Settlements, and be also hurtful to the Province by Contracting its borders and drawing the war nearer the Capital.
That it was by a long and importunate Intercession of this Province (and not of the Memorialist's seeking) that they are cast under the immediate care of this Government, which they conceive give them so much the better Right to its protection.
That as war is already declared against France, and a Rupture with the Indians hourly expected, your Memorialists, unless they have speedy help, will soon be obliged to forsake their Town, how dis- serviceable so ever it may be to the Crown, dishonorable to the Government, hurtful to the Province, & ruinous to themselves. Wherefore,
Your Memorialists most humbly supplicate your Excelency, the honorable Council, and House of Representatives, to take the premises into your wise and mature Consideration, and to grant them such
356
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
seasonable relief as may enable them to subsist in the War, and secure against the Ravages and Devastations of a blood-thirsty and merciless Enemy, and your Memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
DANIEL WILKINS.
Dated at PORTSMOUTHI, June ye 22d, 1744."
The application was successful, and a scout for the protection of the settlers in this and the adjoining towns was furnished by the Provincial authorities. A scout was afterward furnished by the Province of Massachusetts, but finally withdrawn ; but, as the war still continued, Mr. Wilkins presented another petition for assistance :
" To Ilis Excellency, Benning Wentworth, Esq., Governor & C., the Honorable his Majesty's Council, and House of Representatives, in General Assembly convened. May 13, 1747 :
The Petition of us, the subscribers, inhabitants of the new planta- tion called Souhegan West, humbly sheweth :
That there is settled and now remains in this plantation thirty-five families, in which is about fifty-eight men upwards of sixteen years old
That when we began our Settlement, we apprehended no danger of our ever being a frontier, there being at that time so many above us begun and obligated to fulfill the obligations of the Massachusetts grants, which occasioned ns to settle scattering, only regarding the advantages of good and compact farms.
That the difficulty of war, happening so early on our Settlements, and the defenceless state they were in, has obliged them all, namely, Peterborough, Salem Canada, New Boston, and Hillsborough-so called-entirely to draw off, as well as the forts on Connecticut river.
The first year of the present war we were favored with a scout from this Province, which we thankfully acknowledge, and Salem Canada with another, which was equally serviceable to us. Since that time Salem Canada and this place have had a guard from the Massachu- setts till the winter passed, together with our inhabitants keeping a constant scout, though much impoverished thereby.
That this encouragement has occasioned our venturing here till now.
That as we are now left without scout or guard, apprehend we are in imminent danger ; yet loth to yield ourselves such an easy prey to our enemies, or suffer ruin by leaving our improvements waste, one
357
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS.
XVI.]
whereof we have no reason to think but must unavoidably be our lot, unless this government grants us protection :
Wherefore your petitioners most humbly pray that your Excellency and Honors would so far commiserate our present difficult circum- stances as to grant ns so many soldiers as your Excellency and Honors may judge necessary for our defence.
And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall pray, &c.
Andrew Bixbe,
William Peabody,
William Bradford,
Andrew Seetown,
Benjamin Cheever,
John Seetown,
Benjamin Cheever, jr ..
John Shepard,
Thomas Clark,
Caleb Stiles,
James Cofren,
Israel Towne,
John Davis,
Samuel Walton,
Ebenezer Ellinwood,
Jacob Wellman,
David Hartshorne,
Daniel Wilkins,
William Howard,
Daniel Wilkins, jr.,
Solomon Hutchinson,
Joseph Wilkins.
Ebenezer Lyon,
On hearing this petition and another of similar tenor from Monson, the House, 15 May, 1747,
" Voted, that in answer to the two annexed Petitions, namely, that of Souhegan West and that of Monson, His Excellency be desired to give orders for enlisting or impressing fifteen good, effective men to scout and guard, under proper officers, said Sonhegan West and Monson, till the twentieth of October next, if need be, and that said men be shifted once a month."
Which was assented to by the Governor and Council.
Among the scouts employed by the Province in 1748 we find the names of Daniel Wilkins and Wincol Wright, of Souhegan West, who were members of the company em- ployed to guard Souhegan, Stark's, and Monson garrisons that season.
The war came to a close in 1749, but was renewed in 1752, and continued until the cession of Canada to the English in 1763.
Fortunately, no attack was made upon the settlers at Souhegan West by the enemy, and no account has reached us that any serious damage was done by them within its
358
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
borders. A family tradition has reached us that a party of settlers, under the lead of Dea. Hobbs, had a smart fight with the Indians one Sunday morning, in which the Deacon handled his men so skillfully that no one of them was injured, while they were sure that some of the savages were killed. The Indians are reported to have said afterward : " Souhegan deacon no very good. He fight Sabba-day." On another occasion, while Lieut. Joseph Prince was going, one evening, from his clearing to the garrison-house, which stood near where Mr. B. B. Whiting's house now stands, he heard an arrow whiz past his head. On his return the following morning, he found it sticking in a tree near by the path he had followed.
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.