USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Antrim > History of the town of Antrim, New Hampshire, from its earliest settlement to June 27, 1877, with a brief genealogical record of all the Antrim families > Part 7
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30
OPPRESSION OF ENGLAND.
· very hopeful for this new settlement. All summer long the for- ests echoed the stroke of the woodman's ax, and the falling crash of old trees, monarchs of the wood. Clearings became larger and more numerous. Paths were cut out here and there. Walls began to appear. The grounds about the dwellings began to look like fields. Others desiring to make settlements visited the place, and promised to purchase and return the next year ; and there was a prospect of the rapid increase of this small community.
But, in the spring of 1775, events occurred which tended very much to check and alarm the frontier towns. For at least a dozen years previous there had been a growing coolness between the British government and the American colonies. For a much longer period many of the more thoughtful men this side the water had felt that the colonies had been treated by the king with great selfishness, as shown by the fact that if anything could be made out of the Americans he was ready to receive it, or confer it upon some of his favorites, while in wars with the French and Indians which his own folly had kindled he left these same loyal subjects to look out for themselves. Such as were accustomed to look ahead and think of the future, asked, not infrequently, what shall the end of these things be ? In 1760 George III. ascended the British throne, finding a difficulty with France on hand; and soon after war with Spain was de- clared, and a long struggle ensued costing many lives and a vast sum of money. England, deeply in debt before, was now pressed for means, and began to think of taxing the struggling people in America to help pay their war debt. Under the most false and absurd plea that " the war had been waged chiefly on account of the colonies " and therefore they should share its burdens, they proceeded in a mild way to enact measures which would draw money from America. As this was a very pleasant idea to them, it soon took a more positive form in the Stamp Act in 1765. Other acts of " taxation without representation " soon followed ; taxes were put upon almost every thing brought to America; a heavy duty was laid upon tea ; and when a storm of indigna- tion arose here, men-of-war heavily armed were sent into our ports by way of intimidation, and garrisons of soldiers from abroad were sent into our principal cities. But seeing they had gone too far, the British abandoned all their taxes except that upon tea, and on this the king determined "to try the question
31
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.
with America." Consequently, in 1773, shiploads of tea were sent to the chief American ports. In some ports it was landed, but they didn't dare to attempt the sale of it. From other ports it was sent immediately back to England. In Boston it was de- stroyed by the " Boston Tea Party," Dec. 16, 1773. In retaliation · the British government passed the " Boston Port Bill," taking effect June 1, 1774, forbidding all commerce with that city by water, so that not even a "stick of wood or a barrel of flour could be brought in a row-boat from Cambridge." But this only made the resistance of the colonies greater still. Contributions poured in from all parts of the country to feed the people of Boston. In some places people made that day (June 1, 1774) a day of mourning and public prayer. Excitement grew fearful all over the country. Men began to talk of war. Military sup- plies began to be collected and put in places of concealment. A congress was called as early as October, 1765, - and these assem- blies grew more bold and frequent, and tended to unite the several colonies ; and it was agreed that Freedom in America should be confided to " the watchfulness of a united continent." It having been determined in this condition of affairs that Massa- chusetts, and particularly Boston, should suffer, large bodies of foreign troops were soon added to the garrison of that town. Barely was a collision avoided in that place for several months. But the people talked resistance and prepared for war. " Min- ute-men " - men pledged to start for the scene of conflict at a minute's notice - were drilled in little companies, all over New England, the old soldiers of the French war. performing this service. Arrangements were made by signals, fleet riders, firing guns, and so on, to convey immediate intelligence of an outbreak wherever it might occur. Early in April, 1775, Gen. Gage, the British commander in Boston, determined secretly to seize the military stores the patriots had collected in Concord, Mass. Consequently, on the evening of April 18, 1775, just after dark, eight hundred men under Major Pitcairn started for Concord. But the signals of the patriots were given promptly by the gleam of the lantern in the steeple of the old church, and otherwise ; the " minute-men " were started in every direction ; the military stores were for the most part saved by removal ; and this brave expedition terminated in utter defeat. Pitcairn reached Lex- - ington about daylight in the morning of April 19, 1775, and there found a company of "minute-men " confronting him, and
1
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32
PATRIOTISM OF ANTRIM.
they hung upon the British in their advance and their retreat, until the fugitive red-coats fairly run for life, and would have been all shot down but for a re-enforcement by Lord Percy of more than a thousand men. When Percy met his comrades flying for life, it is said "their tongues were hanging out of their mouths, like dogs after a chase." By sunset of April 19, they got back into Boston, tired, ashamed, mad, and utterly defeated by the rude farmers, having lost two hundred and sev- enty-three men, left dead or wounded in the road.
Over this event the wonder and rage in England were very great, but in America a fearful wave of excitement swept from town to town and bound to bound. The tidings flew with incon- ceivable rapidity. The remotest corners of the frontier seemed to catch the word, as though it were borne by the lightnings or the wind. The scattered inhabitants of Society Land caught the tidings, and hurriedly met for departure to meet the foe. The men met at Dea. Aiken's, together with those of Deering, incorporated Jan. 17 of the previous year, at the shortest possible notice. As they came from Hancock, Greenfield, Bennington, Antrim, and Deering, with the difficulties of communication and travel then, it is surprising to see with what promptness they acted. They elected Isaac Butterfield of Greenfield to be their captain, and marched immediately for Lexington, not even stop- ping to go to their homes to arrange for leaving. Every man in the town of Antrim old enough to carry a gun marched off on this sudden call to meet the foe, except two, - John Gordon, who had fought for the king, and who soon after enlisted and fought against the king till the close of the war, and William Smith, sixty years old, who followed with provisions the next morning. All night after the company marched, the women of Antrim sat up and worked, preparing articles needed to use, especially provisions, and promptly met in the morning with what they had prepared ; and this little company of wives and mothers, bowing in tears and supplication to God, were led in prayer by the " pious " William Smith, after which he set out with his horseload of supplies to overtake the men, while the women returned bravely and sadly to their homes. Only the man John Gordon was left in townl. What an everlasting honor to this town ! More will be said of this under the mili- tary history of Antrim on another page, but this most remarka- ble event seemed to demand mention here, and is worthy of
33
POPULATION.
being told over and over. For a shorter or longer period every man in Antrim capable of bearing arms was in the service ! Seventeen men from fourteen families went at the first call, so that there must have been some that were only boys among them.
Of course, as said before, the breaking-out of the war tended to alarm the people and hinder all new projects. Nobody could calculate what would be in the near future. Indians from Canada and northern New Hampshire and Maine might again fall on the exposed towns. This was the frontier. It would be very discouraging for any to commence here at that time. And yet in 1775 some additional settlers came here, - probably such as had purchased their land and were determined to run the hazard of a beginning rather than forfeit their claims. Alex- ander Jameson from Dunbarton certainly began the Temple place this year, though he may not have moved his family here till the following year. Matthew Templeton came from Wind- ham and began the Dea. Isaac Cochran place in 1775. Being an eccentric man, he soon after purchased a second lot in Peter- borough, and ultimately moved to that town. He brought three children with him, and two were born in this town. Richard McAllister also moved his family here from Bedford in 1775. He had worked on his land somewhat in previous summers. He was the first beginner on Meeting-House Hill, locating on the place first north of the fork of roads, afterwards the Abra- ham Smith farm. McAllister was on the first board of select- men. He left town about 1795, and but little is known of him. Also Thomas Stuart came here in 1775, settling where John G. Flint now lives, at the Branch. He brought no children, his first being born in 1777. John McClary, having done something in previous years on his land, moved here in 1775, his three grown-up children coming with him. The place he began has long been known as the Madison Tuttle farm. It is certain that these five men, and perhaps more, came here the spring the war broke out. In the fall of 1775 there were, therefore, at least twenty families in this town. The last five families numbered at the very lowest thirteen persons, making seventy-five persons here in the fall of 1775. This is on the supposition that there had been no births in town during the year previous, and that there were no transient persons here. Seventy-five is probably, therefore, somewhat under the actual number then resident here.
3
34
FIRST SAW-MILL.
A census was taken in 1775 which made the population of Lon- donderry, second town in the State, 2,590; Bedford, 495 ; New Boston, 569; Hillsborough, about 150; while Society Land (Antrim, Hancock, Bennington, and the western and larger part of Greenfield) contained 177 inhabitants, - Hancock, Benning- ton, and western Greenfield having altogether not over 102 persons. Francestown had 200, and Stoddard 224.
In the next year, 1776, but little addition was made to the population of Antrim. Three of the Nichols brothers, Thomas, Daniel, and Adam, certainly lived in 1776 in the east part of the town. Thomas Nichols had been here several years most of the time, and seems to have picked out his farm (Dea, Shattuck place) and worked on it when a mere boy. Daniel Nichols on the Turner place, and Adam next south of him (McCoy place), either moved here in 1776, or, what is almost certain, had begun earlier. But probably all these three brothers were single men in 1776, so that at the close of that year there were not more than eighty-five persons within the present limits of Antrim, and not less than eighty. James Dickey and George Bemaine, citi- zens of this town, lost their lives at the battle of White Plains, Oct. 28, 1776. This was, on the whole, much more discouraging than the previous year, to the people of this place." Three of their small number had already lost their lives in the war. Dickey was one of their smartest and most popular men. The public cause looked dark. But through it all these brave men and women worked on undismayed. More and more the forest faded before them, and the wilderness turned into tlie fruitful field. The women shared every hardship with marvelous strength and zeal. The amount of work done in farming, clear- ing, and fencing, was almost incredible.
And at this time they began to talk over the project of being incorporated as a town. It was in this year, early in the season (1776), that John Warren put up the first saw-mill in town: It was the first mill of any kind ever run within our borders. It was a very modest and limited affair at first. It stood 'at the Branch, a few rods below the Wallace mills, now Parkhurst's, and was a very great convenience to the settlers. In the fall of the same year, James Aiken and Joseph Boyd together put up a saw-mill on the spot now occupied by Goodell's saw-mill in South Village. It was not of very permanent character, and after a few years was removed to give place to a more substan-
35
ASSOCIATION TEST.
tial structure, but it answered an excellent purpose at the time. With these two little mills began the lumber business in Antrim in the winter of 1776-77, which has gone on briskly for a century, till there is but little of the old forest left. About twenty thousand acres have thus been chopped over, many. of . which are now covered with timber of subsequent growth.
During this year (1776) the American colonies declared themselves independent of the mother country, and while the few sons of Antrim were battling with the forest and with the poverties and hardships of a new settlement, the great struggle for independence or death was going on without. But months before the declaration of independence (March 14, 1776) Con- gress had recommended to the several colonies to disarm all persons " disaffected to the cause of America" within their bounds. In accordance with this request, the colony of New Hampshire "in Committee of Safety" (April 12, 1776) drew up for signature the following paper : -
1185605
We the Subscribers, do hereby solemnly engage, and promise, that we will, to the utmost of our Power, at the Risque of our Lives and Fortunes, with Arms, oppose the Hostile Proceedings of the British Fleets and Armies against the United American Colonies.
This was called the " Association Test," and was sent out into every town and corner of our State for signature and return. All males above twenty-one years of age "except Lunatics, idiots, and negroes " were asked "to sign to the Declaration on this paper." In the whole State eight thousand one hundred and ninety-nine persons subscribed to this, and seven hundred and seventy-three refused to sign. Of these last, quite a portion were Friends, who were loyal, but opposed to bearing arms ; some were too timid to sign ; and some were aged and sick, so as to feel that if they signed they could not carry out their pledge. Probably, therefore, not one-third of the seven hundred and seventy-three were actually Tories. And really it was a pretty sweeping test to sign. It meant death and confiscation of property, to every man, if the cause failed ! It was treason against the most powerful government in the world. It places little New Hampshire three months ahead of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
36
THE SIGNERS.
The " signers in Society Land now Antrim " were as follows :
John McClary.
William Smith.
Thomas Stuart.
James Aiken.
Nathan Taylor.
Isaac Butterfield.
John Green.
Robert Rogers.
John Warren.
James Gregg.
Samuel Moores.
Alexander Parker.
James Moores.
James Hopkins.
Philip Raley.
Tristram Cheney.
James Duncan. Matthew Templeton.
John Cheney.
Morish Lynch.
Joseph Boyd.
John Duncan.
Daniel Miltimor.
Robert Duncan.
Alexander Jemeson.
There were none here that refused to sign. Some few were too young, and some were temporarily absent. Of the above names, Nathan Taylor and Daniel Miltimore had not yet brought families here, though no doubt here at work on their land. Tristram Cheney and his son John, not hitherto noticed, lived near the town line west of the Judge Whittemore place, where now there is neither road nor house, and their stay in Antrim was very brief, - not more than a half-dozen years. John Green, Isaac Butterfield, Robert Rogers, James Gregg, Alexan- der Parker, James Hopkins, and Robert Duncan lived in other parts of Society Land. In Londonderry, three hundred and sev- enty-five signed and fifteen refused ; in Bedford, eighty-seven signed and one refused ; in Deering, thirty-three signed.
Having talked over the project of incorporation for several months in the early part of this year (1776), the conclusion was almost entire on the part of this little people, that they would seek town privileges. This shows how courageous and hopeful they were even in the face of poverty and war, and what great plans they had for the future. About the middle of the summer - of 1776 they held a meeting, and chose Maurice Lynch, John Duncan, and Samuel Moore a committee to draw up a petition and present the same to the legislature. No record of this meeting can be found, nor is it known in whose house it was held. But the petition, signed by this committee, was drawn up and duly presented. It is now on file in the office of our state secretary, in the bold, clear, old-fashioned, handsome handwrit- ing of Maurice Lynch. It seems to have been sent in by hand of Capt. Joseph Simonds of Hillsborough, who then represented
37
PETITION FOR INCORPORATION.
Henniker, Hillsborough, Deering, and Society Land in the legis- lature. It was presented at the session which commenced at Exeter, Sept. 4, 1776. It was labeled by the clerk of the assem- bly, " A petition from the Society," and is given below with cap- itals, spelling, etc., unchanged : -
To the Honorable Council and House of Representatives in the Colony of New Hampshire at Exeter Assembled
The Humble petition of us the Subscribers, being a committee Chosen by the Inhabitants of a part of the Society land (So called) in the County of Hillsborough -
Humbly Sheweth -
That your honours petitioners has been these two years past waiting for a Reconciliation between Great Britain, Rather than to assume the boldness to trouble any person or persons Invested with power or authority, to Grant our Request in Such Troublesome times, we your honours petitioners being Ready and willing, to pay our proportion of all the Reats Collected within this Colony these three years past; yet being Destitute of the privileges laws or Customs Granted to other Towns by their Charters.
Now as your honours hath wisely plan'ed a form of Government agreeable to any Good Meaning person or persons, we your petitioners do Request an Incorporation from your honours of a Township In Said Society, the bounds of which being as follows (viz.) Beginning at the North-East Corner of Said Township, which is the Northwest Corner of Diring and Running Southerly According to the course of Contacook river which River is the west line of Said Diring, so as to make five Miles 'pon a strait line, Thence westerly on the north line of No. three in the original plan of Said Society to the East line of pecker's-field thence Northerly on said pecker's field and Stodard to Camel's-gore Thence Easterly on Camel's-gore and Hillsborough to the bounds first Mentioned we your honours petitioners being destitute of the privileges before Mentioned Can't oblige a man to work one hour upon the High- ways which is a Great Damage to our-selfs and to the publick, therefore do Desire, your honours Serious Consideration on the Contents of this petition and we will as in Duty bound for ever pray -
MAURICE LYNCH JOHN DUNCAN SAM' MOORE
Committee.
By hand of Capt. Simonds they also sent the following letter :
Whereas we the Subscribers have been chosen as a committee to prefer a petition to your honours for an Incorporation of a District of Land in the Society (so called) Butted and bounded as in Said petition, which bounds is less than what is Granted to other Towns, and have Left more unincorporated land than what we have petitioned for, which we can make appear, and whereas your honours have been Delegated to Redress our grievances, and we have just Reason to Complain of it as a
38
ACTION ON PETITION.
Grievance, that we have Been Taxed to Support government and called upon for our quota of men to Defend our privileges, and yet Destitute of the privileges granted to other Towns by their Charters, therefore if the Request of this petition is not Granted, that we will take it very hard to pay any more Taxes till we have the same privileges of other Towns, but yet is Ready and willing to Defend the privileges Expecting to Injoy them in the whole hereafter.
MAURICE LYNCH JOHN DUNCAN SAMUEL MOORE
Society Aug. 30th 1776.
The petition is not dated, but undoubtedly was presented at the same time with the letter, and in the very first days of the session, as indicated by the following extract from the Journal of the House : -
Sept. 13, 1776. Upon Reading the Petition of Sundry of the Inhab- itants of Society Land so called, Voted that the Petitioners Cause the Substance of said Petition and order thereon to be Published in the most Public places in the Society Land so called and in the New Hampshire State Gazette or Saturday Circulating Chronicle, that any Person Con- cerned may appear before the General Assembly of this State on the third day of their next Session To shew Cause if any they have why the Prayer thereof may not be Granted.
Thus matters rested till the new year 1777 came in. What was left of Society Land west of the Contoocook, between Hills- borough and Peterborough, was judged to be enough for two towns. The above committee asked for the incorporation of the northern half, and asked for less than half. To show their fair- ness in the whole transaction the following paper is copied : -
Society Jan'y 14, 1777. This may Certify the general Cort of this state of New Hampshire that the inhabitants of sd Society Living on the South part are willing the North part should be incorporated the half being Left to us which is found upon inquiry to be the Line between Number 3 and 4 mentioned in their petition
MOSES MORRISON GEORGE MCCLOURY JONATHAN BARNET JOHN MOOR THOMAS MILLER.
This whole tract of country first called Society Land, including Francestown and Deering, had long been called " Antrim " by many of the settlers, and they determined to have the name con- nected permanently with this tract. Many circumstances drew me to this conclusion, and it is confirmed by the positive evi-
7
39
ANTRIM IN IRELAND.
dence of Samuel Downing, who lived in Deering from the age of ten to fifteen, and afterwards in this town, and bore witness over and over that the whole tract was called " Antrim" when he came here. He says that "Antrim was a wooded country then," and speaks of his homesickness here, though he lived · with Thomas Aiken near Francestown line in Deering. His acquaintance with the vicinity, his clear memory, and his accu- rate and circumstantial testimony, leave no chance to doubt that " Antrim " was once the name of the whole, even if there were no other evidence.
The county of Antrim is in the northeast part of Ireland, being nearly two-thirds bounded by the northern ocean and the North channel .. On the southwest side of this county there is a lake called Lough Neagh (lok na), from which the broad and beautiful river Bann flows north into the ocean, forming the western boundary of the county. On the south the river Logan and Lough Belfast almost complete the boundary of water. Hence its ancient name " Endruim," meaning " habitation upon the waters ; " and this name, as it came to be spoken by the earliest Scotch emigrants, was soon changed and shortened into Antrim.
The old town of Antrim, a shire-town, though situated on the northeast corner of Lough Neagh, is near the center of the county of Antrim and in its best part. It is a small town but most beautifully located, sloping toward the lake about as the south part of our own Antrim slopes toward the Contoocook. A round tower, ninety-three feet high and fifty-three feet in circum- ference at the base, is of unknown origin, but attests the ancient importance of the place. A small stream from the east, called the " Six-Mile-Water," flows into the lake at this point, - a short, winding, hurrying little river, with great fall, dotted with mills of various kinds, very like our Clinton stream. The whole scene is charming. Lough Neagh is at this point a marvel of beauty. A recent traveler says : " In the immediate neighbor- hood of Antrim town it may vie with the fairest of the southern lakes, while it possesses a grandeur exclusively its own."
On the shore at this point stands the ruined castle of the " O Niels," an ancient and honorable race of kings. This castle was burned in 1816, but enough remains to show its former glory and beauty. The old turrets still remain, and the little old cannon are still mounted on its walls. In the midst of
* 40
IRISH SUPERSTITIONS.
great, venerable trees, near the water, near the great round tower, half-bounded by an ancient graveyard with slanting and crumbling stones, - the ruined, empty, falling old castle, with its secret vaults and threatening guns and romantic traditions, might well be taken for a haunted place. This was long said to be a favorite abode of the " banshee," a spirit in woman's form, in loose, white robes, plaintively wailing an admonition of mis- fortune and death. "The wail of the banshee " was said always to be heard before a death in the family, so sad, tender, musical, and sweet, as never to be mistaken. Sometimes this pleading, plaintive strain was heard at the bridal scene, turning faces of gladness pale.
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