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 7
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
On the last Thursday of May, 1802, the parish voted to petition the General Court to incorporate them into a town, with the same boundaries as those first established between the First and Second parishes : also, that a strip of land half a mile wide, lying in the easterly part of Lyndeborough, extending the entire length of this parish, and adjoining it, be asked for as a part of the new town.
Nathan Jones, Eli Wilkins, James Smith, Joseph Lang- dell, and Capt. Joseph Perkins, were appointed a committee to prepare a petition for that purpose.
On the first Monday of June, 1802, chose Nathan Jones, Capt. Joseph Perkins, and Capt. Benjamin Parker, to present the petition to the General Court.
21 November, 1803, voted to accept the report of the committee of the General Court in regard to the incorpora- tion of the new town.
Voted, that the name of the contemplated town be MONT VERNON.
ACTION OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST.
2 May, 1803, at a town meeting held this day, Col. Robert Means, Samuel Wilkins, Daniel Warner, Samuel Whiting, and William Fisk, of the First parish, and William
76
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
Bradford, Joseph Perkins, Eli Wilkins, Ebenezer Odell, and Joseph Langdell, of the Second parish, were chosen to con- fer together upon a division of the town and the incorpora- tion of the Second parish into a separate town. Said com- mittee were instructed to report at this meeting.
After a session of one hour, the committee reported verbally, " not agreed."
Whereupon, the town chose Col. Daniel Warner, agent to attend the General Court in the matter of the Second parish petition. Daniel Campbell, Samuel Wilkins, and Charles H. Atherton, were appointed a committee to consult witli said agent, and give him such advice and instruction as they might think proper, free of expense to the town, before he shall attend the General Court.
An aet incorporating the town of MONT VERNON passed the Senate the eighth ; the House, the ninth ; and received the approval of Gov. John Taylor Gilman, the fifteenth day of December, 1803.
Its boundaries, as given in the act of incorporation, were as follows :
" Beginning at the north-west corner of Amherst, on New Boston south line, thence running southerly on the west line of Amherst about four miles and a half to the north-west corner of the town of Milford, thence easterly on the north line of Milford to the south-east corner of a lot of land now in possession of David Dodge and John Cochran, thence northerly to the north-west corner thereof, thence easterly to the south-west corner of a lot now in possession of Nathan Fuller and John Fuller, thence northerly to the north-west corner thereof, thence easterly on the north line of said Fuller's lot and the north line of Elisha Felton's house lot, and the same course on the line of Enos Bradford and Lambert Bradford's land to the south-west corner of land now or lately owned by Enos Bradford, thence north- erly on the east line of said land and the east line of a lot now owned by Jolin Clap to the north-east corner of said Clap's land, thence a few rods to the south-west corner of a lot now in possession of Andrew Leavitt, thence northerly on the west line of said lot in possession of said Leavitt and on the west line of a lot now owned by Col. Robert Means and others to the south-east corner of land now owned by
77
TOWN OF MONT VERNON.
IV.]
Joseph Nichols, thence northerly on the west line of said Nichols's land to the north-west corner thereof, thence easterly on the north line of said Nichols's land to a line running south from the east side of Henry Spaulding's land, thence north to the south-east corner of said Spaulding's land and on the easterly line thereof until it intersects New Boston line, thence westerly to the place of beginning."
RESIDENT TAX-PAYERS IN MONT VERNON, 1 APRIL, 1804.
Timothy Austin,
Josiah Dodge, jr.,
Jesse Averill.
Jonathan Duncklee,
John Averill,
Benjamin Durant,
John Averill, jr.,
Israel Farnum,
Eben Batchelder,
Joseph Farnum.
Israel Batchelder,
Thomas Farnum,
John Batchelder.
John Fisk,
James Bennett,
John B. Flanigan,
Ebenezer Bills,
Nathan Flint,
Jonathan Bixby,
Samuel Flint,
Enos Bradford,
Lieut. Allen Goodridge,
Lambert Bradford,
Allen Goodridge,
Widow Bradford,
Nathan Green.
William Bradford,
John Harwood,
William Bradford, jr.,
John Harwood, jr.,
Mark Burnam,
Charles Cambridge,
Lieut. Josiah Herrick,
John Carlton,
Peter flerrick,
Mrs. Emma Carlton,
Mrs. JJudith Hill,
Nathan Cleaves,
Timothy Ilill,
Josiah Coburn,
Ebenezer Holt,
Thomas Cloutman,
Ezekiel Holt,
Henry Codman,
James Hopkins,
Joseph Coggin,
James Hopkins, jr.,
William Coggin,
Robert Hosea,
Jonathan Conant.
Nathan Jones,
Jonathan Conant, jr ..
Peter Jones,
Lot Conant, Nathan Cross,
Daniel Kendall,
Jacob Kendall,
Jacob Curtis, Jacob Curtis, jr., Allen Dodge,
John Kendall,
Lieut. Thaddeus Kendall,
William L. Kidder,
Joseph Dodge, Josiah Dodge,
Josiah Kittredge,
Solomon Kittredge,
William Hastings,
78
HISTORY OF AMHERST. [Chap.
Dr. Zephaniah Kittredge,
David Smith,
Jesse Lamson,
Eben Smith,
Jonathan Lamson, jr.,
Isaac Smith,
Mrs. Mary Lamson,
Isaac Smith, jr.,
Joseph Langdell,
Jacob Smith,
Jonathan Low,
James Smith,
Isaac Manning,
Jeremiah Smith,
John Manning,
Nathan Smith,
David Marshall,
Timothy Smith,
Ebenezer Mills,
Abijah Spofford,
Samnel Mitchell,
Benjamin Starnes,
Lient. Ebenezer Odall,
Cyrus Styles,
Ebenezer Odall, jr.,
Josiah Swinnerton,
Capt. Benjamin Parker,
Robert Taggart,
Robert Parker, jr.,
Henry Treavitt,
Aaron Peabody,
Allen Towne,
John Peabody,
John Trow,
Moses Peabody,
Joseph Trow,
Samuel Peabody,
Joseph Trow, jr.,
Capt. Joseph Perkins,
Enos Upton,
Joseph Perkins, jr.,
Dea. Ezekiel Upton,
Samuel Phelps,
Lient. Ezekiel Upton,
Ens. Benjamin Pike,
Nehemiah Upton,
Ephraim Pike,
Isaac Weston,
James Ray,
John Weston,
James Ray, jr.,
Thomas Weston,
Levi Ray,
Abial Wilkins,
Mrs. Phebe Raymond,
Abijah Wilkins,
John Roby,
Eli Wilkins,
John Roby, jr.,
Jonathan Wilkins,
John Rollins,
Peter Wilkins,
Daniel Secombe,
William Wilkins,
Dea. Daniel Smith,
James Woodbury.
Daniel Smith, jr.,
THE THIRD PARISH.
The inhabitants of the north-west part of the town having been incorporated as a separate parish, the following petition, from residents in the south-west part of the town, was presented to the legislature at its session in March, 1782 :
79
THIRD PARISH.
V.]
" To the Honorable the Council, and the Gentlemen of the House of Representatives in General Court Convened, at Concord, in and for the State of New Hampshire, on Wednesday, the 13th day of March, A. D. 1782.
The Petition of the subscribers Humbly shews :
That your Petitioners are Inhabitants of the extensive Town of Amherst, and the most of your Petitioners live in the South-Westerly part of said Town. That their local situation renders it impracti- cable for some of your Petitioners and many of their Children to give a general attendance at the stated place of publick worship in Amherst. That your petitioners conceive that it is of great importance that youth, as well as the aged, should be instructed in Morality and piety.
That the settlement of the present Minister in Amherst was disa- greeable to many of your Petitioners, and that some of your Peti- tioners, previous to his Ordination, did sign a Memorial and Remon- strance, setting forth their sentiments of the matter, and that he was not a man of their choice.
That your Petitioners conceive that where there is a disaffection in some, and an impossibility of attendance of others, the great and important designs of publick instructions in Morality and piety are frustrated.
That your Petitioners being of the Opinion that Amherst might well spare them, there being three hundred rateable Polls that are now Taxed to their present Minister, and where a sufficient number to support a Minister desire to be sett off from so large a number as there are in Amherst, no reasonable objection can be offered against their request being granted, provided they leave as large a number to support a minister in the former Parish, especially if the Petitioners have lately assisted in erecting an elegant house for Publick Worship in the Parish they desire to leave, and have paid their proportion-by constraint-toward the settling of a minister there.
Your Petitioners did, sometime in the month of March, A. D. 1781, Petition the Honorable the general Court to be severed from the society that attended the Publick Worship in Amherst meeting- house, to be set off as a distinct parish, and the Honorable Court granted us a day of hearing, but through inattention the Town of Amherst was not served with a copy of the Petition and order of Court thereon, and of course we could not have a hearing. Therefore, your Petitioners pray your Honours to take our case under your wise consideration, that we, your Petitioners, may have leave to bring in a Bill severing us from the Society that attend the Publick Worship in the present Meeting-house in Amherst, and discharging us from any
80
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
future taxes for the erecting or repairing a meeting-house in that Parish, or for the support of their present or future minister, & erect- ing us into a Distinct Pole Parish, with power to levy, assess, and collect taxes for the Building a house for the Publick Worship of GOD, for the settlement and support of a minister of the Gospel, and granting to us all other Parochial powers, privileges, and immunities proper for Pole Parishes. And also directing that the present inhabit- ants of Amherst that are, or may be, desirous of Joining in Publick Worship with us within the term one year from our incorporation shall enter their names and such desire with the Clark of the said Parish, and shall also produce to the town-clerk a certificate thereof, and enter the same with him. Those that shall hereafter inhabit said Town, that shall within the term of one year after they become inhabitants shall enter their names and their desire of joining with us in Publick Worship to the Clerk of the Parish, and shall produce to the town-clerk a certificate thereof, and enter the same with him ; and also all those that are, or may be minors, that shall, within the term of one year after they shall come of age, residing in said Amherst, enter their names and their desire of joining with us in Public Worship with the Parish Clerk, producing a certificate thereof to the town- clerk, and enter the same with him, shall be deemed and taken to belong to the pole Parish incorporated by this Act, and rated there to all Parochial charges accordingly, and be exempted from any other Parochial charges whatsoever, during their residence in said Amherst. Or to grant us relief in such other way as your Honors shall think proper. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.
AMHERST, Feb'y ye 25th, 1782."
Signed by Isaac Abbot and fifty-six others.
9 September, 1782, the town of Amherst appointed Maj. Joseph Blanchard, Mr. Samuel Dana, and Samuel Wilkins, Esq., a committee to show cause why the prayers of the petition of a number of the inhabitants of the south-westerly part of this town to be set off as a poll parish should not be granted ; however, their efforts availed but little, for, by an act of the legislature, passed 23 November, 1782,
Darius Abbot, Isaac Abbot,
Ebenezer Averill, Elijah Averill,
Moses Averill, Andrew Bradford, John Bradford, Augustus Blanchard,
THIRD PARISH. 81
V.] David Burnham,
Thaddeus Grimes,
Israel Burnham,
William Grimes,
Joshua Burnham,
Benjamin Hopkins, jr.,
Stephen Burnham,
Benjamin Hopkins, 3d,
George Burns,
Ebenezer Hopkins,
John Burns,
Samuel How,
Thomas Burns,
Abner Hutchinson,
Henry Codman,
Bartholomew Hutchinson,
Benjamin Conant,
Benjamin Hutchinson,
Josiah Crosby,
Elisha Hutchinson,
Josiah Crosby, jr.,
Jonathan Hutchinson,
Sampson Crosby,
Nathan Hutchinson,
Stephen Crosby,
Nathan Hutchinson, jr.,
William Crosby,
William Melendy,
Samuel Dodge,
William Peabody,
James Gilman,
Bartholomew Towne,
Arthur Graham,
Jonathan Towne,
Samuel Graham,
John Wallace, and
John Grimes,
William Wallace,
Jonathan Grimes,
were constituted the Third, or South-west, parish of Am- herst, " for transacting ministerial affairs only."
The first parish meeting under this act was held at the house of Thaddeus Grimes, 9 January, 1783. At this meeting Capt. Nathan Hutchinson was chosen moderator ; Augustus Blanchard, clerk ; and Augustus Blanchard, Lieut. Thomas Burns, and Capt. John Bradford, assessors.
" Voted, to build a meeting-house of the same size and bigness the north-west parish hath built, except the porches."
" Voted, a committee to consist of three men : viz., Lient. Darins Abbot, Capt. Josiah Crosby, and Capt. Andrew Bradford, to provide timber, boards, and shingles, for the same, and to let the same ont at public vendue to the lowest bidder."
4 March, 1783. " Voted, to raise £95, to be laid out in purchasing timber, boards, shingles, slit work, and other materials for building a meeting-house."
6
82
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
Voted to hire fifteen pounds to pay for preaching the current year. Capt. Nathan Hutchinson, Lieut. Thomas Burns, and Capt. John Bradford, were appointed a com- mittee to procure preaching.
Later in the same year it was voted that the meeting- honse should stand on a rise of ground about twenty rods south of Shepard's bridge ; and at another meeting, held the same year, Capt. Nathan Hutchinson, John Wallace, and John Burns, were chosen a committee to procure stone for underpinning the house ; and Joshua Burnham was authorized to purchase a " parish book."
2 March, 1784, it was voted to proceed with the meeting- house, and to begin to frame it the first Monday in June, and raise it as soon as possible. Capt. Nathan Hutchinson, Capt. Josiah Crosby, and Capt. Andrew Bradford, were appointed a committee to see that the meeting-house was framed, underpinned, and raised.
Voted to raise twenty-five pounds to pay for preaching, and thirty pounds toward the expense of the meeting- house ; that three shillings per day be allowed to each man for work on the meeting-house, the laborer to board him- self, and that any person who may hereafter join the parish shall be exempt from any tax assessed to raise, board, and finish the meeting-house.
15 June, 1784, the proposed location of the house not proving satisfactory, it was voted that the house should be set on a spot about ten rods north-west from the former place, between two pitch-pine stumps; and Augustus Blan- chard, Lient. Thomas Burns, Joshua Burnham, Capt. John Bradford, and Lieut. Benjamin Hutchinson, were appointed a committee to carry on the work, and make provision for the raising, for which they were authorized to procure one barrel of rum, two barrels of cider, and one quarter of sugar.
The frame of the meeting-house was probably raised in the summer of 1784, for, 2 September, 1784, at a meeting
83
THIRD PARISH.
V.]
of the parish, it was voted to board it with square-edged boards, and shingle it, and that the boarding and shingling be let out to the lowest bidder. The sum of £40 was voted to defray the expense of further finishing the house, and a committee was appointed to wait upon Gov. Hopkins and get the nails he had offered to give. In November of the same year it was voted to provide clapboards, doorsteps, boards for the lower floor, sashes, suitable stuff for window- frames, and glass ; and Capt. Nathan Hutchinson, Capt. William Peabody, and Capt. Josiah Crosby, were chosen a committee to provide them, and see that they were delivered at the house.
1 March, 1785. Voted to raise fifty pounds to be laid ont on the meeting-house.
7 March, 1785. Voted to build porches to the meeting- house, and appointed a committee to see that the work was done as soon as the other outside work on the house was completed.
25 April, 1786. A committee was chosen to sell the pew ground in the meeting-house at public vendue, to the highest bidder, and give proper conveyances to the pur- chasers, the money arising from the sales to be laid out in finishing the house.
5 September, 1785, the laying of the lower floor was let out at public vendue to Thomas Boynton, he proposing to do it for thirty-nine shillings.
A committee was appointed at the same time to proeure floor nails, see that the sills were underpinned, and that the floors were laid in a good, workmanlike manner.
25 December. 1785, provision was made for furnishing the sashes, window frames, doors, body seats, and stuff for the body seats, which was let out at public vendue to the lowest bidder. A committee was chosen to furnish all necessary materials, and see that the work was done in a good, workmanlike manner, and the whole was to be com- pleted by the first day of the following June.
84
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
March, 1787, the porches seem not to have been built at the time specified, as we find the parish voting to adopt the plan of the Temple meeting-house porches, and building in the same form.
September, 1787, a committee was chosen to get the glass set, and the sashes put in the window-frames. £10 was voted to pay for setting the front door-steps, clearing up, and leveling the ground before the meeting- house.
1788, William Crosby deeded to the parish the land on which the meeting-house stood, and a tract of land for a burying-ground.
In the same year further provision was made for finishing the house ; the pews were sold ; and in the month of Decem- ber the parish voted to agree with Mr. Thurston, or some other minister, to preach six months during the coming year.
March, 1789, twelve feet in the front of the gallery was appropriated for a pew for the singers, and £10 was voted to be laid out in work around the house. In October it was voted to enlarge the singers' pew, and that it be . seventeen feet long and no longer.
March, 1790, it was voted to build two pews at each end of the singers' pew, in the gallery, at the expense of the parish.
27 January, 1791. A committee was appointed to treat with the First parish to have the Third parish set off and bounded by the following lines : beginning at the north- east corner of Ebenezer Averill's land, thence sontherly, including Andrew and John Bradford's interest, William Peabody, the Widow Shepard, Jotham and Daniel Shepard, and John Shepard, Esquires' interest, until it comes to Sou- hegan river, thence by said river to Merrimack line, the Third parish to include all that part of Amherst lying south of Sonhegan river.
In June of the same year a committee, consisting of Joshua Burnham, Josiah Crosby, Augustus Blanchard, and
85
THIRD PARISH.
V.]
Porter Lummus, was appointed to petition the General Court to be set off as a parish by lines, or as a town ; and £12 was voted to pay their expenses.
In June, 1792, the South-west parish was incorporated by the legislature, and its boundaries established.
In October of the same year the parish voted to sell the remaining pews at public vendue, and apply the proceeds of the sales to the painting and further finishing of the house, and at the annual meeting in March, 1793, the funds of the parish remaining in the hands of former collectors were appropriated to the same purpose; and so at last the meet- house was substantially finished. Prior to its erection, and until it was in a condition to be occupied, the parishioners held their Sunday services in Col. Shepard's barn.
The church in the South-west parish was organized by an ecclesiastical council, which met 19 November, 1788. It was the eighteenth in order of the churches organized in Hillsborough county, the church in the North-west or Second parish being the sixteenth, and the church in the First parish the third. The council on this occasion con- sisted of Jonathan Livermore, Abel Fiske, John Bruce, Moses Putnam, Ebenezer Rockwood, Richard Ward, Daniel Mansfield, and William Bradford.
In the proceedings of the council, the following persons are named as constituting the church :
Stephen Burnham, Caleb Jones,
Thomas Burns,
Jonathan Jones,
Benjamin Conant,
William Melendy,
Benjamin Hutchinson, Jonathan Towne,
Elisha Hutchinson, John Wallace, and
Nathan Hutchinson, Joseph Wallace ;
and attached to the covenant are the following additional names :
86
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
James Wallace,
Betsy Wallace,
Hannah Bradford,
Letitia Wallace, and
Mary Burnham,
Mary Wallace.
Sarah Hutchinson,
The first meeting of the church, after its organization, was held at the house of William Crosby, when Elisha Hutchinson was chosen clerk. Provision was made at this meeting for the admission of new members; but for several year's its growth was slow, only nineteen being present at the meeting in March, 1802, which gave Mr. Moore a call to the ministry.
INCORPORATION OF MILFORD.
17 August, 1793. At a parish meeting held this day, it was voted to petition the General Court to be set off as a . separate town, and Augustus Blanchard, William Peabody, Thomas Burns, Joshua Burnham, and Benjamin Hutchin- son were appointed a committee to treat with the committee from the Mile Slip, and others, respecting being set off.
17 October, 1793. "Voted to petition the General Court, in connection with the Mile Slip, Duxbury, and a part of Hollis, to be set off from the old town as a separate town;" and William Peabody, Augustus Blanchard, and Solomon Hopkins, were appointed a committee with full power to petition the General Court to be incorporated into a body politic, also to do every thing to fully complete the same, their proceedings to be ratified by the parish, which is to pay the expense of the same.
At the same meeting it was " voted to make application to the town of Amherst for their consent that we be set off as a separate town."
ACTION OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST.
An application asking the consent of the town that the South-west parish, Duxbury, the Mile Slip, and a part of
87
TOWN OF MILFORD.
V.]
Hollis, should be incorporated as a town, having been made, the selectmen called a meeting, which was held 28 October, 1793, at which the town voted that the prayer of the petitioners be granted, so far as this town is concerned, on condition that the petitioners pay their part and propor- tion of any debts now due from the town, and continue to pay their proportion of maintaining any poor to whose maintenance the town of Amherst is now subject.
The consent of the town of Amherst having been obtained, an act was passed by the General Court on the eleventh day of January, 1794, incorporating the town of MILFORD, including in the new town the South-west parish of Amherst, the Mile Slip, Duxbury school farm, and a part of Hollis, the boundaries being as follows :
Beginning at the south-west corner of the North-west parish in Amherst, on Lyndeborough line, thence running easterly to the north-east corner of Amos Green's lot, called the Mill lot, thence southerly in a straight line to the south- west corner of the lot numbered twenty, thence easterly on the range line to the north-easterly corner of William Pea- body's land, thence southerly on the range line between John Shepard, Esq.'s and William Peabody's land, until it comes to land of John Shepard, late of Amherst, deceased, thence easterly to the north-east corner of the same, joining to land of John Shepard, Esq., thence southerly by land of John Shepard, Esq., aforesaid, on the range line to Souhegan river, thence down the middle of the same till it strikes land owned by Benjamin and Stephen Kendrick. thence southerly by said Kendrick's land to the road lead- ing from David Danforth's to the town of Wilton, thence crossing the same and running a south point to Hollis line, being near David Duncklee's land, and then to the north-east corner of the land lately laid off from said Hollis by their committee appointed for the above purpose, thence running south about twelve degrees east so as to strike the north-east corner of John Starnes's land, it being the north-west
88
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
corner of Robert Colburne's land, thence on the same course until it comes to the south-east corner of said Starnes's land, thence westerly by said Starnes's land and William Hale's land, until it comes to the north- west corner of said Hale's land, thence running west- erly to the north-cast corner of Mr. Gould's land, and so on westerly by said Gould's and David Danforth's land to said Gould's north-west corner, thence turning south- westerly to the south-east corner of Robert Durrick's land, thence west fifteen degrees south until it comes to Raby east line, thence northerly on Raby east line until it comes to the south line of Amherst, thence westerly on the north line of said Raby to the south-cast corner of the Mile Slip, thence westerly to the south-west corner thereof, thence northerly on the east line of Mason and Wilton to the north-west corner of the Mile Slip, thence easterly on the south line of Lyndeborough to the bound first mentioned.
RESIDENT TAX-PAYERS IN MILFORD, 1 APRIL, 1794.
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.