USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Andover > History of the town of Andover, New Hampshire, 1751-1906, Part I > Part 18
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16
14
52°
30
16
62°
70
44
49°
92
28°
45
to a stake and stones marked ii;
50°
10
to a stake and stones marked iii;
to a White Oak Staddle marked iiii;
South 88º
94
to a stake and stones about two rods south of Mr. Mitchell's house; to a pine stump marked vi;
=
North 78°
54
85°
226
to a stake and stones marked vii;
14
71°
20
to the end of Herriman's Job to a stake and stones marked 8;
22°
355
56°
34
40°
17
to a hemlock stump marked xvii; to a beech staddle marked xviii; to the cross road near the bridge last built by Capt. Harriman; to a stake and stones marked i;
69°
122
to a stake and stones marked xi; to a pine tree marked xii; to a hemlock tree on the bank of Blackwater river marked xiii;
40°
216
HISTORY OF ANDOVER.
thence North 59° West 100 rods to a stake and stones marked 9, about 4 rods westerly from Landlord Thompson's house in Andover;
66
South 70°
86
66
to a stake and stones marked 11;
66
North 70°
to S. W. corner of Walter Waldo's barn;
66
66
58°
66
27
to a spruce stump marked 13;
54°
66
74
66
to a hemlock stump marked 14;
71°
66
37
66
to a stake and stones marked 15;
66
33°
66
28
66
to a pine stump marked 16;
66
60°
66
57
to a stake and stones marked 18;
South 87º
66
66
to the northerly corner of Harri- man's bridge;
66
" ( ?) 75°
66
to a hemlock stub marked 20;
North 84°
66
119
to a great rock with stones on it;
66
73°
57
to a hemlock stump marked 22;
South 88°
40
to a hemlock stump marked 23;
North 50°
32°
66
22
66
to a rock with stones on the top;
6.
66
635
34
to a beech stump and stones marked 26;
66
57
46
to a great rock with stones on the top.
"Which road is four rods wide southwesterly from the afore- said bounds." The "cross road near the bridge last built by Captain Harriman" ran from a point a few rods west of Horse- shoe Pond, across the river near the present Fifield bridge and on south up Beech Hill.
The "Walter Waldo" place was a tavern at Potter Place.
The "Harriman bridge" still stands at West Andover, ten rods or more below where Fifield's mills once stood. It is prob- able that Bonney's mill, the first in the westerly part of the town, stood on or near the site of Fifield's mills.
The Andover section of the turnpike was built by Capt. Stephen Harriman of Vermont. He built a light, but strong, frame house, about thirty feet long, resting on solid wooden trueks for convenience in moving from point to point as the work progressed. Two smart, capable daughters did the eook- ing for a gang of more than twenty workmen, who lodged in tents. Eight yoke of oxen used on the road were able to move the building along as required, and a span of horses brought up the rear of the procession on "moving day," drawing a large
87º
29
66
to a pine stump marked 10;
33
66
66
54°
160
to a pine stump marked 17;
66
27 35
66
82
to a stake and stones marked 24;
217
ROADS AND TURNPIKES.
iron-hooped brick oven built on a solid platform supported on wheels.
The schedule of tolls on the turnpike was provided in a section of the charter as given below :
SECT. 6. And be it further enacted that it shall and may be lawful for said corporation to appoint such and so many toll gatherers, as they shall think proper, to collect and receive of and from all & every person or persons using said road the tolls and rates hereinafter mentioned; and to prevent any person riding, leading or driving any horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, sulkey, chair, chaise, phaeton, coach, chariot, cart, wagon sley, sled or other carriage of burthen or pleasure from passing through the said gates or turn pikes until they shall have respectively paid the same, that. is to say, for every mile of said road and so in proportion for a greater or less distance, or greater or smaller number of sheep, hogs or cattle; viz. for every fifteen sheep or hogs, one cent; for every fifteen cattle or horses, two cents; for every horse and his rider or led horse, three fourths of one cent; for every sulkey, chair or chaise with one horse or two wheels, one and an half cents; for every chariot, coach or stage wagon, phaeton or chaise with two horses and four wheels, three cents; for either of the carriages last mentioned with four horses, four cents ; for every other carriage, the like sums, according to the number of wheels and horses drawing the same; for each cart or other carriage of burthen with wheels drawn by one beast, one cent; for each cart or other carriage of burthen drawn by two beasts, one and an half cents ; if by more than two beasts, one cent for each additional yoke of oxen or horse; for each sley drawn by one horse, three fourths of one cent; if drawn by two horses, one and an half cent, and if by more than two horses half a cent for every additional horse; for each sled drawn by one horse, half of one cent: for each sled drawn by two horses or a yoke of oxen, one cent ; and if by more than two horses or one yoke of oxen one cent for each additional pair of horses or yoke of oxen; and at all times when the toll gatherer shall not attend his duty the gates shall be left open, and if any person shall with his carriage, team, cattle or horses turn out of said road to pass the said turnpike gates on ground adjacent thereto, said ground not being a public highway, with intent to avoid the payment of the toll due. by virtue of this act snel person shall forfeit and pay three times so much as the legal toll would have been, to be recovered by the treasurer of the said Corporation, to the use thereof in an action of debt or on the case; provided that noth- ing in this act shall extend to entitle the corporation to demand toll of any person who shall be passing with his horse or carriage to or from public worship, or with his horse. team or cattle, or on foot, to or from any mill or on their common or ordinary business of family concerns within the town where such person belongs.
The toll gate in Andover was at West Andover, opposite the big elm in front of the Babbitt place. The next to the east and
218
HISTORY OF ANDOVER.
sonth was north of the Webster place, in Salisbury, and just south of the point where the road branches to go to East An- dover.
The turnpike was finished and accepted by the corporation in the autumn of 1804. From Clark's tavern at West Andover to the Dearborn tavern, where the road now forks just east of Nathan Woodbury's, it was three miles and 232 rods.
The first record of appointment of toll gatherers was on Feb- ruary 7, 1809.
The toll gatherers were sworn and gave bonds for $500 for faithful discharge of their duties.
It was provided in the charter that the road should be eom- pleted in six years from the date of incorporation, and also that at any time after the expiration of forty years from the date of incorporation the state might take possession of the road on pay- ment of expenditures and twelve per cent. annual profit, less the tolls actually received, ete.
So far as now known, no one outside of the corporation ever knew how valuable the road was to its owners.
The following paper. purporting to be a copy of a report of the directors, has come to the hand of the writer, but its accuracy is not known :
REPORT OF DIRECTOR OF TIIE FOURTH N. II. TURNPIKE 1836.
The expenditures on said Road in making and Keeping it in repair and paying Toll Gatherers up to Mar 2, 1836 is 159124 dolls 92 1-2 cts.
And the profits arising from Tolls taken at the Gates is 123562 dolls and 1-2 cent.
JOSEPH WOOD, NATHAN STICKNEY, JOSEPH AMES,
Directors of the Ith Turn. Road in New Hampshire.
WAREHAM MORSE, Treasurer. THOMAS WATERMAN, Clerk.
Lebanon, May 24, 1836.
Roads with toll gates are seldom popular with the people along the route, and the fourth New Hampshire turnpike was no exception to the general law. At first the advantages of a better road were generally appreciated, but as the population increased
219
ROADS AND TURNPIKES.
and the quality of adjacent roads was improved, the tolls, as taxes on transportation. were soon considered in the aggregate as a burden. A large amount of freight for Salisbury, Andover and the towns toward the Connecticut River was carried over this route, and the frequent tolls were no small addition to the ex- penses of the merchants along the line. As the time approached when, under certain conditions, the state would have the right to take possession of the road. petitions to the Legislature urging the state to exercise its privilege began to appear from the towns between Andover and Lebanon.
Finally, in 1840, a court committee, consisting of Simeon Colby, Moses Norris, Jr., and Nathaniel S. Berry, after due investigation, made the turnpike from West Andover to the Boscawen end a free road, and Andover was ordered to pay $566 as its proportion for the benefit of the stockholders of the turnpike.
With the abolition of tolls business increased apace. Freights to the western towns of New Hampshire and to the eastern towns of Vermont were increasingly attracted to this route, and soon the daily procession of freight teams over the Salisbury hills, along the banks of the Blackwater River in Andover, and west- ward over the rugged way through Wilmot and Springfield developed and fostered a sympathetic interest among the dwell- ers along that route that never flagged until 1847 when the well- known eight-horse teams of Baleh and the one-horse team of the up country farmer vanished at the blast of the steam whistle as the iron rails won and held their way through rock and glen and over bog and bridge toward White River Junction.
But the vision of that unfailing line of teams is still a charm- ing memory to those who can recall the scenes of sixty years ago. Balch's teams of eight well-groomed white horses, one team driven by a stalwart negro, a striking figure in those days; six- horse and four-horse teams to handle the heavier freight; three- horse or spike teams: two-horse or pod teams, and one-horse teams, or pungs, in the winter, trailed along the way to and from Boston, Salem, Gloucester and Portsmouth, doing that freighting for the manufacturer, grocer and farmer which now flies shrieking through our villages in the darkness, the mechan- ical, materialized ghost of the old way with the human element and "man's best friend" left out.
220
HISTORY OF ANDOVER.
The writer recalls with vivid distinctness the view of the Common east of Moulton's tavern, on more than one pleasant winter evening. Nearly all the space was covered with the parked sleighs and sleds of many varieties, from the huge van drawn by eight horses to the little one-horse box pung, filled with the butter, cheese, poultry, etc., of the New Hampshire or Vermont farmer, seeking a market "down below." Each stall in the roomy barns of the tavern was filled and, when business was unusual, horses were accommodated in the barns of Esq. Peter Fifield and other neighboring farmers.
Not the least interesting by any means was an occasional pung or pod going westward loaded with fresh frozen cod or haddock, weighing from ten to forty pounds each, and fre- quently piled up on the sled like cordwood. These fish were sometimes sold to people along the route, and the chowders and steaks from the larger fish were a welcome break in the monot- onous routine of salt pork and beef in the winter menu of sixty years ago.
The regular teamsters were well known to most of the residents along the route, and among themselves their mutual acquaint- ance stimulated respect and good comradeship. Out of their ranks came many of the successful men in the varied phases of business that developed along new lines when the old methods of transportation were overturned.
Still another class of men were beneficiaries of the old system. Many farmers felt that there might be some advantage in seek- ing their own market, and a winter pilgrimage to the markets on Massachusetts bay became for them an annual outing. With their pungs and pods filled with the best of the surplus from their farms, they found their way singly or in twos or threes to the big road. and took up the route for "down below" and a market.
Frequently half a dozen teams would form a group and keep together for the trip, sleeping in the taverns, and on the down trips eating the food they had taken from home, sometimes sup- plemented by generous mugs of the landlord's flip. At the end of their journey they met in person the merchants with whom they traded; there was time for discussion, for interchange of information, high quality of wares was duly appreciated, mutual
221
ROADS AND TURNPIKES.
respect and confidence were developed; sometimes friendships resulted, and the travellers started on their homeward trips with teams well laden with family stores and with pockets and minds well plenished for the work of the coming year.
Repeated trips improved the friendships with their fellows and widened their horizons as good citizens.
Has the middleman improved the character of either merchant or farmer, who now never meet ?
GRAFTON TURNPIKE.
This turnpike was incorporated June 21, 1804, to run from Orford bridge on the Connecticut River to Harriman's bridge at West Andover. Four years were allowed for the completion of the road. In 1808 this time was extended by the Legislature three years more. On application by the proprietors, the charter was repealed by the Legislature on January 3, 1829. This road ran from West Andover to South Danbury, on to Danbury and through Grafton, etc., about as the main road is now travelled.
THE NORTHERN RAILROAD.
The demand for speed in freight and passenger transportation towards the growing west soon relegated the six- and eight-horse freight teams to the lighter express business or to the more pro- saic work of tilling the hillside farms of New Hampshire, and condemned the Concord stage coaches to the scrap heap or to the musuems for curiosities or antiques.
The first meeting of the incorporators of the Northern Rail- road Company was holden at Lebanon, January 31, 1845, and in 1847 the section of the Fourth New Hampshire Turnpike lying in the town of Andover was practically free from the stage coach and freight teams that for many years had made it a busy thoroughfare.
By joint action of the railroad company and the county com- missioners, the damages for land taken by the railroad company in Andover was fixed at $6,547.70. This. however, was not the entire sum paid by the company, for the several settlements in and outside the courts of claims by disaffected landowners changed the aggregate considerably. The life and activities of the Northern Railroad, so far as they touch the interests of this town, are so interwoven with the daily life of almost every
222
HISTORY OF ANDOVER.
family that an attempt at further historical description or analysis would be as unnecessary, not to say futile, as to elab- orate our daily experience with storm and sunshine or the suc- cession of the days.
PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
The Andover Social Library was incorporated by act of the Legislature, approved June 22, 1814. Jonathan Weare, Rev. Josiah Badeock and Dr. Silas Merrill and their associates were named as incorporators. The following officers were elected : Jonathan Weare, president; Robert Barber, Samuel Graves, di- rectors; Josiah Badcock, librarian.
By the rules and regulations it was provided that "the said Social Library shall be kept alternately east and west, within one and one half miles from the center square in said Andover."
"The annual assessment on each share shall be twenty cents."
"The library shall be open every Saturday during the two hours preceding sunset."
"Five volumes may be taken at one time by a shareholder."
For every blot of tallow or ink, the fine was fixed at ten cents. This was in the day of dipped candles and the running and spluttering lights, dim at their best, were the ready means for defacing the books of that period. The drowsy, nodding head and the relaxing hand that held the candle were the frequent signals that roused the family to save the pages in the tired farmer's hands from the unsightly drop of tallow.
In 1817 the catalogue of books and the names of the share- holders were printed at Concord. At that time there were ninety-two volumes in the departments of theology, history, biography, philosophy, geography, natural history, politics, poetry, and fiction. For a small collection, the selection was fairly well made for that epoch. For thirty years this library was not seriously depleted. The remains of the collection are now scattered in various parts of the town among the descend- ants of the original shareholders.
The shareholders in 1817 were:
Bachelder, Reuben
Blake. Hezekiah
Brown, Jonathan
Badcock, Josiah Bailey, John
Brown, Moses
Barber, Robert
Brown, Moses, Jr.
223
PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
Cilley, Jonathan, Jr.
Ladd, Joseph
Cilley, Joseph
Langley, Isaiah
Cilley, Philip
Marston, Jeremiah
Clough, Moses, Jr.
Merrill, Silas
Connor, Simeon, Jr.
Philbrick, James
Dudley, Hubbard
Philbrick, Joseph, Jr.
Dudley, John
Philbrick, Samuel
Durgin. Clark
Roberts, Sally
Eastman, Jacob
Robie, Edward
Elkins, Josiah
Rowe, Jacob
Emery, Anthony
Rowe, Peter
Emery, Henry
Sandborn, Josiah
Emery, Willard
Sawyer, John
Fellows. Joseph, Jr.
Scribner, Parker
Graves, Jacob
Simonds, John
Graves, Jesse
Sweatt, Peter
Graves, Samuel
Thompson, Benjamin
Graves, Samuel, Jr.
Tirrell, John
Green. Stephen, Jr.
Tucker, James
Hilliard, Weare
Tucker, James, Jr.
Hilton, Charles
Tucker, William
Hilton, Elijah
Weare, Jonathan
Hilton, Henry D.
Weare, Joshua I ..
Huntoon, Daniel
Weare, Mesheck
Kimball, Micah
Woodbury. John
The Sewing Society Library was established about 1846, at Andover Centre, and a good collection of books was put in cir- culation. Mrs. Samuel Butterfield was librarian. A few of these books finally found their way into the Proctor Academy library.
The East Andover Social Library was organized in 1849, with Clark Durgin as librarian. The collection contained about 200 volumes, fairly well selected for a country library. The books were finally scattered among the original proprietors.
The libraries of the various Sabbath schools contain, in the aggregate, about 400 volumes of the usual indifferent quality.
THE TOWN LIBRARY.
In 1891 the Legislature passed an act creating a board of library commissioners for the state.
On application from any town not having a public library, said commissioners were permitted to expend a sum not exceed-
224
HISTORY OF ANDOVER.
ing $100 toward the establishment of a public or town library in said town. On March 8, 1892. this town voted to accept the offer embodied in the act, and took the steps necessary to secure the benefits of a town library. By the terms of this act any town accepting its provisions "shall annually appropriate not less than $50, if its last assessed valuation was $1,000,000, or upward; $25 if the valuation was less than $1,000,000, and not less than $250,000, and $15 if the valuation was less than $250,- 000." The members of the school board were chosen as library trustees and $100 was appropriated.
In 1895 the Legislature provided for the support of town libraries, that "The selectmen in each town shall assess an- nually upon the polls and ratable estate taxable therein a sum to be computed at the rate of thirty dollars for every dollar of the public taxes apportioned to such town, and so for a greater or less sum." This law assured a certain amount of financial support to each town library, independent of the uncertainties of town meeting appropriations.
For several years the town library was housed in the lower room of the west wing of the academy. at the Centre. and the librarian took charge also of the books belonging to the academy library.
A branch library was established at East Andover, according to a system providing for a frequent exchange of books, in bulk, between the branch and the main library.
In the fire which destroyed the academy building, on Jan- uary 13. 1901, nearly all the books of the town library were burned.
This serious loss seemed to inspire the citizens throughout the town with a determination to have a new library without delay. Individual subscriptions to that end were soon received. and small social gatherings were held to help the cause.
The ladies from all sections of the town united in a plan for holding a bazaar in May. 1901, to raise money for the purchase of books. The affair was well patronized. not only by present and former residents of the town. but by natives of the town who had made their homes elsewhere, and the results exceeded the expectations of the most sanguine. In all there was ob- tained :
225
PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
From individual subscriptions,
$9.00
young peoples' box party.
7.00
Ladies' Industrial Society.
10.00
the Ladies' Bazaar, net results,
248.18
book table at the bazaar, money and books,
26.00
$300.18
From insurance on books burned,
200.00
special appropriation by town.
250.00
Total for new library.
$750.18
The new books, with the few saved from the fire, were tem- porarily installed in the boarding hall of the academy until the new academy was completed, when they were transferred to a pleasant, commodious and well-finished room on the second floor of that building. The new library is a great improvement on the old.
THE PROCTOR ACADEMY LIBRARY.
This library was established by the Unitarian Educational Society in 1889.
The nueleus of the library was a few books which had be- longed to the school when under the control of the Christian denomination. Generous donations of books and money were obtained by Mr. T. W. White, principal of the school, in 1889- '90. In 1900 there were 1.480 volumes. In the following year the most of these were destroyed in the academy fire. There are now (1904) 617 volumes. The use of the library is free to the people of the village and vicinity.
POUNDS.
The first pound in town, for the confinement of stray domestic animals or those found trespassing on land not belonging to the owners of the stock, was built by vote of the town on Taunton Hill, near and northeast of the present residence of ex-Gov. N. J. Bachelder.
In 1816 a pound was built by Henry D. Hilton, for $25, be- tween the house of Joseph Ladd, now the Lizzie Marston place. and the house of James Tucker, Jr., now Mrs. E. G. Emery's plaee. and nearly opposite the west distriet schoolhouse.
About 1821 this pound was abandoned and a new one built in the rear of the North meeting-house.
15
226
HISTORY OF ANDOVER.
At the annual meeting on March 8, 1831. it was voted to build a pound with walls of stone. The location and the dimensions of the pound were to be fixed by the selectmen, the time for building not to exceed one year.
Voted that Joseph C. Thompson's barn yard be a pound till the pound is built and that Mr. Thompson be the pound keeper.
March 13, 1832, voted "that Jonathan Kimball's barnyard be a pound till one is made."
There is no record of the action of the selectmen, but the pound near the Pettingill place was built before March 10. 1835, for on that day Frank Pettingill was chosen poundkeeper.
At first these pounds were useful in protecting and restraining stock belonging to careless owners, but, if traditions are trust- worthy, the opportunity to get even with one's neighbor by im- pounding his stock in accordance with the letter of the law, was the source of much ill-feeling. frequently curdling the milk of human kindness in a whole neighborhood.
The poundkeepers elected by the town were :
1816 Capt. H. Hilton 1817 66
1818
1820
66
1821 Henry D. Hilton 1823
1824 Henry D. Ililton 1825 Henry D. Hilton
1826 Edward Robie
1827 Benjamin Cass
1828 Benjamin Cass
1829 Henry D. Hilton
1835 Frank Pettingill
PAUPERS.
Prolonged illness. accidents and other misfortunes, together with chronic laziness. incapacity and intemperance. combined to produce a small class of people in the pioneer communities whose individual existence depended upon the good-will of their rela- tives and neighbors.
When these failed the burden fell upon the charitable, but it was finally shifted from the individual to the town.
At the close of the eighteenth century organized charity had not been developed in the sparsely settled New Hampshire towns. and each case was generally considered separately in the town meetings. At first each case in Andover was assumed to be a
227
PAUPERS.
town charge, and the town hired some citizen to furnish food and clothing to the dependent person for a fixed period. This was soon accepted as the proper method, and the custodian and the price paid were generally determined by vendue at the annual town meeting. It was always stipulated that the per- sons taking charge of the paupers should see that they had proper care, and if sick, good nursing; should furnish them with reasonably good food and clothing, and that their clothing should be as good at the end of the period as at the beginning. The paupers were to do as much work as they were able to per- form safely.
The first record of a case settled at town meeting was that of Widow Elkins, who was set up March 20, 1797, and her care, with board and clothing was bid off by Gershom Durgin for the first quarter of the year at 2s. 6d .; for the second quarter to Jacob Dudley at 1s. 11d .; the third quarter to Elisha Cilley at 2s. 3d., and for the last quarter to Benjamin Cilley at 2s. 5d. per week. This method of supporting and caring for paupers was carried on for a score of years with little variation. It was soon found that in a few cases the labor of the panpers was more than an equivalent for their board and care, and the an- nual auctions or vendues were sometimes held to find the highest bidder for the labor of each dependant. Food, clothing, care and nursing were required as before; the cost of medical attend- ance was defrayed by the town.
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