USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Antrim > History of the town of Antrim, N.H. for a period of one century from 1744 to 1844 > Part 10
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Campbell's pond, lying at the south base of Riley's mountain, is about the size of Steele's pond, is replenished with fish, and has a dry, pleasant, grassy shore, not deformed with aquatic weeds. Its outlet, a lively brook, passes south into Contoocook river.
Little pond, half a mile south-west from the centre, has a surface of only some half dozen acres. It is bordered in part by a shaking bog; as you recede a little from the water, the bog becomes drier and firmer, and spreads into a meadow, overlaying a deep substratum of peat or swamp mud, an article of which there are tens of thousands of cords, and which is valued as an important ingredient in compost manure. This substance, with proper management and intermixture, is capable of enriching all the adjacent farms. The pond has no fish except the horn-pout, the eel, and a very few straggling trouts.
BoGs. In the north-west part of the town is a bog of perhaps 300 acres, called Cedar Swamp. Bog brook, rising near Windsor line, passes through it, southwardly, into North Branch river. The swamp was originally covered with a growth of large cedars, which were found dead by the first settlers. At a place where the high lands project toward the brook, the beavers at some remote period had built a dam, of which the traces are still visible, which created a flowage over the whole bog, killed the cedars, and changed the course of the outlet to a south-eastern direction. In process of time the dam was broken and the waters drained off. Among the dead cedars sprang up a growth of spruce, white maple, and young cedars, ap- pearing to be from one to two centuries old. This was the condition of the bog when first discovered. From these dead cedars, which seem almost to bid defiance to the tooth of time, have been manufac- tured many thousand dollars worth of shingles, clapboards, firkins, and pails. The stock is almost exhausted.
A considerable tract of bog and meadow land lies east of Caleb Clark's. Another tract extends west and north-west of Gregg's pond; to the south-west of this tract lies the Robinson meadow, on a brook near the east base of Robb's mountain. The three last named bogs or meadows, are in the west part of the town, and each of them ex- hibits the ruins of a beaver dam. That beavers were numerous here in ancient times is unquestionable. The old hunters from the lower towns, who began to resort to this region about 1715, either exter-
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minated them, or destroyed so many that the rest, taking the alarm, retired to localities distant and less accessible.
PLAIN. There is but one in town, and that of very limited extent, not much exceeding fifty acres. It lies half a mile south-west of Branch Village, and was originally covered with a thick growth of large white pines, of which scarce one remains. So little value. was attached to these trees in the early days of the town, that whoever wanted pine timber, went to the plain and cut at his pleasure. About 70 years ago, the late Dea. Carr was offered fifty acres of this timbered plain land for a pair of small three-years old steers ; think- ing he could not well spare the steers, he refused the offer. The same land in the state in which it then was, would be worth at this day six or eight thousand dollars. The Deacon, a man of cheerful temperament, not greedy of gain, never expressed chagrin at his mis- take, but used pleasantly to wind up the story with the remark " Ah, but I missed it!"
VIEWS. The best views of Antrim are taken from Cork mountain, in Deering and Bennington. Seen from this stand-point, the town appears like a spacious amphitheatre, surrounded by hills and moun- tains ; dotted with buildings ; variegated with cultivated fields, pas- tures, woodlands, and groves; exhibiting in the season of summer foliage a verdant landscape, which has often attracted the attention of strangers. Not less striking is the autumnal view, presenting to the eye the variegated hues of the decaying beauty of the year. The foliage of an American forest, as affected by autumnal frosts, creates a scene of great beauty. As the frost affects different trees, and different leaves of the same tree, in unequal degrees, there is an end- less variety of hues, many of them intense and brilliant, from green, through yellow, orange, and crimson, to a dark brown. Where ever- greens are intermingled, their deep green hues form a fine ground-work of the picture. This autumnal scenery is said to be peculiarly brilliant in northern New-Hampshire ; perhaps no portion of southern New-Hampshire affords a better specimen of it than Antrim.
ROADS AND BRIDGES. Some of the leading roads of the town have been described in another place. Of some of the minor roads it may not be amiss to give the dates of laying them out. The road from Miles Tuttle's to Robert Hopkins' was laid out, 1783; from the Stacey farm to Windsor, 1779; from Dea. Bell's, by Thomas Dunlap's, to Hillsboro', 1779 ; from the old Centre, by Oren and Reed Carr's, to Stoddard, 1780; from Jesse Goodell's, by John Blanchard's, to the old Centre, 1780; from Chandler Boutell's to Lemuel Curtice's, 1782 ; from the old Centre, by Clinton Village, to Hancock line, 1784 ; from Thomas Dunlap's, by John Barker's and Daniel McIlvaine's, to the old Centre, 1787; from South Village, by Giles Newton's, to Rodney Sawyer's, 1788 ; from the pound, by Daniel Holt's and Reuben Robinson's, to Capt. Worthley's, 1794; from Esq. Parmenter's to Thompson's mills, 1795; from the town- house to the pound, 1807. A portion of some of these old roads has been discontinued, and many later ones constructed. The annual
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labors of three generations have rendered our roads comparatively smooth, and easily passed over in carriages.
Over the Contoocook and North Branch rivers, and Great Brook are sixteen bridges ; none of them large.
VILLAGES AND EDIFICES. South Village, the largest in town, in the south-east part of it, stands on the summit of an easy slope, rising from the interval bordering the west bank of the Contoocook. It contains thirty-three dwelling-houses, most of them commodious ; a few are elegant with ornamental appendages ; two stores; mills ; two neat school-houses ; several factories and mechanic's shops. Two lines of daily stages come to the village, the one line passing to the Depot of the Contoocook Valley Railroad at Hillsborough Bridge ; the other to the Depot of the East Wilton Railroad, at East Wilton Village. A large edifice, originally designed to be a manufactory of woolens, but since converted to other uses, contains a hall which the Baptist society in Bennington and Antrim have recently occupied as a place for public worship.
North Branch Village, on North Branch river, two miles north of the Centre, is pleasantly situated, has twenty-five dwelling-houses, one store, a commodious school-house, a tannery, a silk factory, mills, and several mechanics' shops. A line of stages from Hillsboro' Bridge Depot to Keene, make three trips a week, giving the village a daily mail. Several of the houses are neat and commodious, and the sur- rounding scenery agreeable.
The little collection of buildings at the Centre can hardly be called a village, as it includes only the Presbyterian church, town-house, school-house, and seven dwelling-houses. Half a mile south of the Centre, is Clinton Village, on Great Brook, embracing sixteen dwell- ing-houses, and several factories and mechanics' shops. The village is of recent date, is a lively and busy place, has a considerable amount of manufacturing business, and promises to grow into importance.
The Centre and East meeting-houses are substantial and costly edi- fices, ornamented with spires, and the former furnished with a good toned bell. Of the dwelling-houses, scarce half a dozen can be set down as first class houses; of the residue, a considerable number are of brick ; of the wooden ones, many are well finished and painted. Most of the dwellings have an air of thrift and comfort. Very many of the barns and out-buildings are large and convenient.
PROGRESS OF CULTIVATION. Antrim contains a large number of good farms, and not a few excellent ones, mostly inclosed and divided by substantial stone walls. The average size of the farms, about 100 acres. Many of the swamps have been reclaimed, and converted into productive meadow. Very many of the fields, now smooth and arable, were once deformed and encumbered with stones, which patient labor has removed and deposited in walls; thus accomplishing the highest feat of manual labor, the conversion of a nuisance into a value.
VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. Forest trees of the deciduous kind, are the oak, both the red, and in small numbers the white ; the ash,
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three varieties, the white, black, and mountain ash ; the maple, both the white and sugar maple ; the beach, the white and the red ; the birch, three varieties, white, black, and yellow; the elm ; the but- ternut; the locust; the bass; moose-wood; lever-wood; horn-beam ; the white poplar ; the balm Gilead; the willow. The evergreens are the pine, and in one locality the Norway ; the hemlock, two varieties; the spruce, three kinds, white, double and bald.
We have also the wild cherry, both the black and red ; the sumach ; and the fir balsam, which is in reality a variety of the spruce.
Of shrubs and medicinal plants there are nearly all the species common to southern New-Hampshire. Blackberries and raspberries grow in profusion ; field strawberries are abundant; bilberries and low blue-berries are found, but not in great plenty ; also the wild currant, and the wild gooseberry. The low or running blackberry is regarded as a nuisance in the mowing fields ; and there is another va- riety of berries, perfectly resembling the blackberry in form, size and flavor ; in every thing but color, it being of a very pale yellow. By an odd misnomer, some call it " the white blackberry !"
There is not known to be a walnut, chestnut or sycamore, growing in the town. A few mulberries have been brought here from other places, and flourish well. The woods, lowlands and fields, exhibit all the variety of flowering plants common to the climate.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. Not the slightest geological examina- tion of the town has yet been made, and the writer regrets that he is too little informed on the subject to pretend to say much in rela- tion to it. Coarse-grained granite, both in ledges and boulders, abounds ; some of the latter are immensely large, weighing hundreds of tons; one, near Robb mountain, computed to exceed in weight a thousand tons, rests on a subjacent rock, on a base not exceeding in extent a common tea-table. Many of these large masses are frac- tured or split. No traces of lime-stone have been discovered. There are two beds of clay in the east part of the town, not far from Con- toocook river ; and a body of sand in the west part, on the farm of John Symonds, of which large quantities are transported to Stoddard, and used in the manufacture of black glass wares. The only mine known to exist is one of black lead on Riley's mountain ; not now wrought, being thought to be nearly exhausted. On land of Harvey Holt is a bed of some mineral substance, exhibiting a few particles bearing a metalic lustre, whether of mica or some other component part is not known.
WILD ANIMALS. The moose, the largest species of the deer kind, was once common, and furnished to some of the earliest settlers, now and then, a winter's stock of meat. The last one seen here was killed about 1790. Wolves and bears, once numerous, are now ex- terminated. The former annoyed the early inhabitants by their noc- turnal howlings, and by the destruction of their sheep ; the last in- stance of their ravages having occurred about 1825. Sometimes they attacked cattle. A Mr. Curtice, who lived on Windsor mountain, 8
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once turned out his cattle to browse in a swamp ; a pack of wolves beset them ; the cattle made a quick but well planned retreat, the cows taking the front, the small cattle the centre, while the oxen as- sumed the perilous task of guarding the rear, and beating back the wolves with their horns. The herd made good their retreat ; that the oxen killed or at least wounded some of the enemy, was inferred from the fact that their horns were bloody on their arrival at the barn. The bears sometimes killed swine, and made havoc in the corn-fields. With the exception of a single straggler, seen about 1845, not a deer has been seen here for many years. A large and ferocious lynx was killed on Bald mountain about thirty years ago ; and that one not the last visitant of his kind. Foxes, the most of them red, a few of the black and silver grey and wood grey varieties, are occasionally killed. Racoons are in considerable number; of squirrels, the striped and red are numerous ; there are a few grey ones ; and somewhat rarely a flying squirrel. The skunk, gentle and inoffensive when not disturbed ; the woodchuck ; the hedgehog; the mink; and the musquash are found, but not in great numbers ; with now and then an otter.
Happily, the dreaded rattle-snake never found his way here ; black snakes are seen very rarely ; the only serpents noxious in any degree are the common speckled adder, and a species of water-snake, by no means numerous.
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
POPULATION AND LONGEVITY. The number of inhabitants by the census of 1850 was 1143. Of dwelling-houses there are 236, and of families not less than 240.
From the commencement of 1809, through a period of forty- three years, there were 780 deaths; giving an annual average of 18 and a small fraction over ; and showing one death in a year out of each number of 71 souls. Of the above 780 persons deceased, eleven were from 90 to 974 years; sixty-three were between 80 and 90 years of age ; and seventy-nine were between 70 and 80. After the dysentery of 1800, and the spotted fever of 1812, an impression was extensively prevalent that Antrim was less salubrious than other adjacent towns. The preceding statistics demonstrate the incorrect- ness of this impression; most of the early settlers attained to a good old age; probably few towns in New-Hampshire can exhibit more numerous instances of longevity in proportion to the population. Antrim is remarkably free from stagnant water and dead swamps, sending forth pestiferous exhalations.
At the time of writing this article there are living in the Centre school district of Antrim twenty persons of various ages, from 70 to 91, whose average age would fall not far short of eighty years. Can any school district in the county exhibit a more favorable return ?
The average population of the town during the above named period of forty-three years, would vary little from 1250. From the first settlement of the place to 1852 the whole number of deaths will somewhat exceed one thousand.
EMIGRATION FROM TOWN. It is believed by the writer that more than four hundred families, who have resided here for a longer or shorter period, have removed to other locations. Adding to the present population the numbers who have died or emigrated, and we have a probable total of between four and five thousand persons, who have at some period found in this place the attractions clustering round that little word, HOME. Especially since 1825 has the spirit of emigration been rife. In almost all of the thirty-one States, in- cluding even Texas and California; in Canada ; in Mexico; in the island of Cuba; in India, Ceylon, and China, you may find either
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survivors who went from Antrim, or the graves of those who cher- ished it as the spot of their nativity. Who ever forgets the natal soil, or ceases to recur with fond attachment to the scenes of early life ?
PHYSICIANS. In the time of the revolutionary war, the nearest physician was Doct. Young, of Peterboro'. Doct. Little, one of his pupils, established himself in practice at Hillsboro', 1782, and fre- quently attended patients in this town. A Doctor Frye came to Antrim about 1788, but found the prospect of business not suffi- ciently inviting to induce him to stay more than a year or two. Next came a Doct. Wm. Ward, who was here in 1791, but left town, pro- bably, the next year. Doct. Nathan W. Cleaves, from Mont-Vernon, who studied his profession with Doct. Jones, of Lyndeboro', com- menced medical practice in Antrim about 1793, had a respectable share of professional business, and died 1807, much regretted. Soon after his death, Doct. Jeremiah Stickney, from Pelham, established himself at Branch Village, and had a good share of practice till 1849, when he relinquished his business to Doct. D. W. Hazleton, from Hebron, N. H. Contemporaneously with Doct. Stickney, Doct. Charles Adams established himself at the Centre, soon removed to South Village, and thence, 1816, to Oakham, Ms. He was succeeded in the practice at South Village by Doct. Israel Burnham, from Greenfield, who came here soon after Doct. Adams left town, and continued in practice till the failure of his health. He relinquished his business to Doct. G. H. Hubbard, in 1848, and died in 1849. Doct. Hubbard remained in the place less than two years, and re- moved to East Washington; Doct. Hazleton being now the only physician in town. Doct. Burnham was a useful and respected citi- zen; left to the Presbyterian church, of which he was a member, a legacy of $100, and several hundred dollars to other religious charities.
ATTORNEYS. The only attorney who opened an office here prior to 1844, was the Hon. Luke Woodbury, a native of the town. He commenced the practice of law in Hancock, but soon removed his office to Antrim South Village, about 1826. He was representative, and often was elected moderator of town meetings ; possessing, as he did, a happy talent at preserving order and expediting business. At the time of his death, 1851, he was, and had been for about thirteen years Judge of Probate for the county of Hillsboro', and was in nomination for the office of Governor, with a high probability of election, had his life been continued. John McNeil, Esq., from Hillsboro', has commenced the practice of law, this present year, 1852, in South Village.
COLLEGE GRADUATES AND PROFESSIONAL MEN. The following persons, natives of the town, have graduated from some one or other of the New-England colleges : John Nichols, missionary at Bombay, deceased; Daniel M. Christie, attorney at law, Dover ; George W. Nesmith, attorney at law, Franklin; Luke Woodbury, attorney at
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law and Judge of Probate ; Thomas W. Duncan, minister of the gospel, Vermont; Sylvester Cochran, minister of the gospel in Michigan ; Hiram Bell, pastor of a Congregational church, Killing- worth, Connecticut; Seneca Cummings, missionary to China; Isaac Baldwin, Jun., student at law.
John McFarland was admitted to the bar, 1815, practiced law in Hillsboro' till his death, 1819. Doct. Bertram, of Townshend, Ms., deceased, had been brought up, if not born in town ; Doctors James A. Gregg, now in California, Samuel Vose of Maine, and Dexter Baldwin of Marlboro', Ms., were natives of Antrim, and studied their profession, in part, in town.
POST OFFICES. The first in town was established, it is believed in 1812, at South Village, and James Campbell was the first postmaster. His successors were George Duncan, Luke Wodbury, George Dun- can, Jun., James Breed, and James W. Bradford. This office was for many years supplied with a mail by a route from Concord, through Deering, South Antrim, Hancock and Nelson, to Keene. This old route has been discontinued, and other ones established. In 1827, another office was established at the Centre, and supplied from the same route, but was discontinued about 1833. The successive post- masters were Robert Reid, M. L. Chandler, and Charles Gates. A post-office was established at the Branch Village about 1835, soon after the completion of the Keene road, where Hiram Griffin, Wm. P. Little, and Hiram Griffin a second time, have successively been appointed postmasters. Until the commencement of the present century there was no post-office nearer than Amherst.
DEATHS BY CASUALTY. The first in town was that of Asa Merril, killed by a fall in Aiken's mill ; the second, that of James Dinsmoor, killed in 1786 by a fall from a staging of the first meeting-house. Since that period, five have been killed by the fall of trees or limbs ; nine have been drowned; two have been found frozen to death, and two others have died in consequence of exposure to cold ; one was accidentally shot, and mortally wounded ; four have been found dead either in the road, field, or woods ; one found dead in bed; eight have committed suicide within the limits of the town, of whom one belonged to Francestown, and one to Stoddard. One of the cases of suicide was by opium, taken with design to destroy life.
A few years ago, more than twenty persons in and near the South Village were poisoned by eating of a western cheese, which had been purchased in Boston and retailed in small quantities to different fam- ilies. A few of the sufferers were affected so severely that life was endangered ; but by timely medical aid all recovered. Whether the poisonous quality was derived from the feed of the cows, or from col- oring matter used by the dairyman, or from some substance mali- ciously infused, remains unknown.
SCHOOLS ; their former state. Until 1794, or about that period, there was but one school-house, and that a log one, in town ; stand-
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ing a little east of Mr. Raymond's. For eight or ten preceding years, however, schools had been occasionally taught in private houses at the Centre, the Branch, and in the High Range. Master Butler was frequently employed as a teacher ; females sometimes taught in summer, in private dwellings ; among them was a woman, her name not recollected, who resided in town some time, and was the widow of the captain of a vessel, who had been lost at sea. Not far from 1794, the eastern section of the town was divided into two districts ; a school-house was built a little north of N. W. C. Jameson's, and another near the corner of roads, a short distance north of Dea. Bell's. About the same time was erected the first school-house in Branch Village ; another was built in the High Range, 1795. Until this time, the children in the Branch and in the Range had generally attended the same school, kept in the two sections alternately. The first school-house at the Centre was built in 1801 or 1802, standing 40 or 50 rods north of the town-house. This house was burnt, 1811. Other school districts were afterwards organized as the increase of population required.
SCHOOLS; their present condition. In the thirteen school districts of the town, about 400 children and youth annually attend, for a longer or shorter period. More than half the districts have schools both in summer and winter. Several of the school-houses are well arranged, neat, and commodious ; the rest, with one exception, are decent and comfortable. In point of literary attainment, the schools have been for years gradually progressive, and frequently exhibit, on examination, favorable specimens of improvement. The chief defects are, in some instances, laxity of discipline; too much inattention to the manners and habits of the pupils ; and a deficiency of moral and religious instruction. How to educate, in one and the same school, the children both of Protestants and Catholics ; of those who rever- ence and those who discard the Bible; of parents connected with different denominations, holding views not harmonious ;- without exciting on the one hand jealousies of sectarian influence, or on the other turning religion out of doors ;- is a problem of no easy solu- tion. If our system of popular education should ever become a Godless system, what must be its influence on the state of society ?
EARLY DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. In all the latter part of last century, most of the clothing of each family was manufactured by its female members. The material was by them carded, spun, woven, colored, and in many instances made up into garments. There was also a manufacture by females, to some extent, of fine linen cloth and thread, much of which was bought by traveling pedlars, and sold at a distance. The amount cannot be stated, but it was not inconsiderable. To furnish the material, many of the farmers grew flax. Since the commencement of the present century, this branch of female industry has been declining, and for many years has been known only as " among the things that were." Other forms and departments of in- dustry have taken its place.
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EARLY NAMES IN ANTRIM, NOW EXTINCT. Previously to 1780, the inhabitants with only two or three exceptions, were of Scottish descent. After that year, settlers of English derivation came in nu- merously. Many of the early Scottish names, as Aiken, McFarland, Alexander, Templeton, Dickey, McClary, Moor, Gordon, Warren, Lynch, Miltimore, Gilmore, McDole, are not found in town. Nichols is both English and Scottish ; we have now English families of the name ; but of the Scottish families bearing the name, once numerous here, there are no remains. The Scottish names remaining are those of Boyd, Nesmith, Hopkins, Cochran, Thompson, Christie, Bell, Duncan, Steele, McCoy, Jameson, Campbell, McIlvaine, Dunlap, Gregg, Wallace, Carr, McClure, Allds, Dinsmoor ; perhaps a few others.
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