USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Bristol > History of the town of Bristol, Grafton County, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 13
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104
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
whereof the parties to these presence have hereunto Interchangeable Set their hand, and Seal this twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.
Signed Sealed and delivered in
presence of us John Scribner Phineas Beede
Obediah Bean
Levi Bean
Samuel Smith
ONE CENT REWARD
Run away from the subscriber on the night of the 16th inst. an indented boy by the name of Samuel Putney, aged seventeen years. Whoever will return said boy shall be entitled to the above reward. All persons are hereby forbid harboring, trusting, or employing said boy as I shall pay no debts of his contracting and shall demand pay for his ser- vices if any he does. Peter Sanborn.
Bridgewater, Jan. 20, 1826.
RUN AWAY
Run away from the subscriber, a girl named Mary Ann Mooney Telyne. This is to forbid any person trusting her on my account, as I shall pay no debts of her contracting after this date, and I also forbid any person trusting her on account of the selectmen of Northwood, as I have given them bonds to take care of said girl till she arrives at the age of eighteen years. George Cross.
Bridgewater, Oct. 12, 1826.
CHAPTER X
FORDS, FERRIES, AND TOLL-BRIDGES
He rode through the silent clearings, He came to the ferry wide, And thrice he called to the boatman, Asleep on the other side.
-- Whittier.
The first bridge erected over the Pemigewasset river within the limits of the old town of New Chester was Union bridge at Hill village. Its first charter was granted in 1801 ; but the in- corporators were slow to act, and, in 1803, the time in which to construct the bridge was extended. The bridge was com- pleted, as nearly as can be learned, as early as 1808. This was the era of building toll-bridges and turnpikes in New Hamp- shire, and furnished modes of speculation of the day ; but like many speculations of a later period, very little profit was realized by the shareholders. The stock of this bridge was of very doubtful value; assessments were made from time to time, and each time the sale of a part of the stock was necessary because of non-payment of the amounts assessed. In 1821, a meeting of the stockholders was held to see if the entire plant should not be sold. The great freshet of 1824 carried off the bridge ; and an ice dam, in 1860, or about that time, lifted its successor from its foundations and carried it down stream. By act of the legis- lature, Dec. 20, 1842, the name of this bridge was changed to Belknap.
Previous to the construction of Union bridge, Tilton Ben- nett had a ferry just below the site of the bridge. In November, 1798, forty-five of the inhabitants of Sanbornton sent a petition to the General Court asking that Tilton Bennett be granted a ferry at this point. In this paper they state that "Tilton Ben- nett of Sanbornton has attended a ferry over Pemigewasset River between Sanbornton and New Chester for four years last past and he has been at great expense to provide suitable Boats for said ferry." This statement would fix the date of the establish- ment of the ferry as 1794. A grant was made to Mr. Bennett as requested, and the ferry was continued till the bridge was constructed.
The rates of toll on the ferry were as follows: Each foot passenger, two cents ; horse, three cents ; chaise by two horses, ten cents ; riding sleigh with one horse, six cents ; coach, chaise,
106
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
or chariot, for passengers with more than one horse, 20 cents ; chariot, twelve cents; cart and two horses. ten cents; addi- tional horse, three cents ; neat creature, two cents ; sheep, swine, each, one-half cent.
Farther up the Pemigewasset was what is now known as Blake's ferry. At this point on the west bank was the home of Captain Cutting Favor. At an early date Capt. Favor had a private ferry by which to cross the river to his extensive lands and to the home of a son on the east bank. At seasons of low water there was also a ford at this point- from the west bank to the island and from the northern bank of the island to the New Hampton bank. The road from the ford, up the steep bank on the New Hampton side, can still be seen, just south of the old two-story house that still stands there.
At the June session of the legislature in 1797, Captain Favor and his son-in-law, Ebenezer Wells, asked for a charter to build at this point a bridge to be known as the Favor bridge, and the charter was granted.' An effort was also made to con- struct a road from New Holderness to the eastern end of the bridge. Neither project materialized, however, and the ford and ferry continued to be used.
In March, 1802, Rev. David Fisk came from Boscawen and located on the New Hampton side of the Pemigewasset on what is still known as the Fisk farm. Soon afterwards he established a ferry near the mouth of Smith's river. At the foot of Bristol falls, nearly opposite the present engine-house of the Boston & Maine railroad, there was a ferry owned and operated by Peter Sleeper. These two ferries, being connected by a road on the east bank of the river, took a part of the travel between Hill and Bristol. Just north of the engine-house site there was a ford ; but owing to the swiftness of the river it was not generally used. Daniel Kelley, of New Hampton, was drowned here in 1813, while attempting to ford the stream. He was returning home from a muster in New Chester, when his horse misstepped into deep water.
The next crossing up the river, before the construction of Central bridge, was at a ford nearly opposite the present resi- dence of Solon Dolloff. This ford was called the Worthen ford, from the fact that Samuel Worthen owned the land on the eastern side, since known as the Robinson farm. The road to the ford left the Plymouth road near the Danforth house, east of Danforth's brook, and followed the low land until the river was reached, and can be plainly seen to this day. This ford was the principal crossing place for the settlers on both sides of the river for several miles, and was used for more than fifty years after the first settlements were made in this vicinity.
' State Papers, Vol. 12, p. 230.
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FORDS, FERRIES, AND TOLL-BRIDGES
The next crossing place was at a ford near the Heath bury- ing-ground. Still farther up the river another crossing place was at the point where the Pemigewasset bridge now stands, and where in the early days of the town the only means of crossing was by boats, horses being made to swim across. In 1795, a charter was given to "William Harper, Daniel McCrillis, Josiah Brown, George C. Ward, Benjamin Calley, Wm. D. Kelley, and others," to construct a bridge to be known as the "Bridgewater and New Hampton bridge, within one mile of Pine hill in Bridgewater." The charter was to become null and void if the bridge was not constructed within four years.
In 1799, Daniel Burley sent the following petition to the legislature, asking for the privilege of maintaining a ferry at this point :
To the Hon'ble the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Convened June 5th 1779
Humbly Shews Daniel Burley of Bridgewater in the County of Graf- ton that he and the publick labor under Great Inconveniences by Reason of not having any Bridge or Ferry over Pemagawassett River between the Towns of Bridgewater and New Hampton and the local situation of said Towns render it almost impossible to Cross said River with horses unles they are Swimed by side of Conoes,-
Therefore your petitioner humbly prays your Honrs to grant him the privilege of keeping a Ferry a Cross said River near pine hill in Bridgewater. This place in sd River being within a Grant of a Bridge Called Bridgewater and New Hampton Bridge your Petitioner further prays that he may have the grant of a Ferry only till such time as said Bridge is built and in no way to Infringe the Grant of said Bridge for which Favor Granted as in duty Bound shall ever pray
Daniel Burley.
The following statement accompanied the petition :
This certifies that we the subscribers are proprietors of a Grant of a Bridge Calld Bridgewater and New Hampton Bridge, and that we are Intirely willing that Daniel Burley of Bridgewater should have a grant of a ferry within the Grant of the Bridge till there is a Bridge Built so as not to infringe the Grant of the Bridge.
all concerned
Daniel Kelley Benja Colby
The petition was granted December 11, 1799, and the ferry established.
The rate of toll which Daniel Burley was authorized to charge was as follows : "Foot passenger, one cent; horse and cart, six cents; cart with more than one horse, ten cents; cart and pair of oxen, eight cents ; by more than one pair, twelve cents ; every horse not rode, or neat creature, one cent; sheep and swine, each, one-half cent."
108
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
The erection of the bridge was delayed because of the inability of the incorporators to dispose of a sufficient amount of stock, and the charter lapsed. Thus matters rested until 1806, when Robert Moore, Daniel Smith, and James Robertson sent a petition to the General Court for a charter to construct a bridge at this point. The charter was granted, the bridge to be known as the Pemigewasset bridge and to be constructed within three years from the approval of the act, June 18, 1806. The bridge was completed within the specified time and opened for travel. It was located just above the site of the present bridge. It was a cheap, open structure in two sections, the first extend- ing from the western bank to the island and the other from the island to the eastern bank. The island then consisted of two acres of land and contained a good maple orchard. The freshet of 1824 carried the bridge down stream, and one or two of its successors were similarly destroyed. The present bridge was erected about 1834. At first it spanned the river from shore to shore without a pier, but it soon commenced to sag, and a pier was placed in the middle of the stream to support it. The pier was a huge crib, built of logs on the ice and sunk in its place and filled with stones. The present stone pier was built about 1864. The story is told that at the building of the abut- ments it was necessary for work to be done under water, and Dr. Enos Brown was equal to the occasion. Swinging a chain over his shoulder, he would dive to the bottom of the stream, fasten the chain about a rock, and return to the surface. This bridge was also known as the Smith bridge, because Daniel Smith, of New Hampton, was a large owner of the stock. It is said that on one occasion as he stood on the bank of the stream and saw the bridge carried away, he exclaimed : "There goes more of my property to h-," when a bystander sought to comfort him with the remark, "Well, you will recover it all when you get there, Mr. Smith."
The rates of toll over this bridge and over Union bridge in Hill were practically the same as those over Central bridge, given on page III.
Pemigewasset bridge was laid out as a public highway, March 12, 1866, the corporation being awarded damages to the amount of $1,000. Of this amount Bristol paid one-half, the center of the bridge being the dividing line between the two towns.
CENTRAL BRIDGE
The first charter for the erection of Central bridge at Bristol village was granted by the legislature, Dec. 17, 1812, to Timo- thy Tilton, Ichabod C. Bartlett, David Smiley, their associates, and successors. The charter gave them the right to erect a
109
FORDS, FERRIES, AND TOLL-BRIDGES
toll-bridge at any point "between the southerly line of the grant for Pemigewasset bridge and the northerly line of the grant for New Chester Union bridge." One condition of the grant was that the town of New Hampton should not be put to expense in building a road to the eastern end of the bridge for the accommodation of the public. The stock of the company was to be divided into one hundred shares and the proprietors were authorized to hold real estate not to exceed five acres. The charter further provided that, if the bridge should not be constructed within five years of the date of the passage of the act, it would become null and void. The five years passed; no bridge was built, and the charter lapsed.
June 22, 1820, the act granting the charter was reenacted, with Ichabod C. Bartlett, Onesiphorus Page, John Ayer, and David Smiley as incorporators. Even then no enthusiasm was manifested over the proposed bridge, and more than a year and a half passed before the new incorporators effected an organi- zation. Then others joined the movement, and at a meet- ing held at the inn of Isaac Dodge, April 29, 1822, the incorporators organized with the election of Joseph Flanders, moderator; Onesiphorus Page, clerk; I. C. Bartlett, treasurer. John Ayer, Dudley Kelley, and N. S. Berry were elected directors; and Moses H. Bradley, Onesiphorus Page, and Dud- ley Kelley were chosen a committee to draft by-laws. Levi Carter, Richard H. Sawyer, and Aaron Favor were made a committee to procure subscriptions to the stock of the company, which was fixed at $1,500, divided into one hundred shares of $15 each. Amasa Cowles, Dudley Kelley, and Peter Sleeper were made a committee to draft a plan of the bridge.
Occasional meetings of the incorporators were held during the following year. At a meeting held June 14, 1823, the directors presented a full report of all that had been done towards the erection of the bridge. The report stated that they had made contracts covering the entire cost; that Moses Ben- nett was to furnish the bridge timber for $275 ; Moses W. Sleeper and Robert Smith were to build the eastern pier for $350; Onesiphorus Page, the western pier for $300, and the western abutment for $120; John Ayer, the eastern abutment for $170; John Pattee was to furnish four thousand five hundred feet of three-inch plank, sixteen feet long, for $54; and John Ayer was to do the timber work for $235, making a total of $1,504. This report also stated that subscriptions for stock at that date amounted to $1,055, and that the following donations had been pledged :
I. C. Bartlett $60 Wm. Simonds $15
Moses Favor
50
James Minot 50
Webster & Cavis 30
Daniel Cheney I5
--
IIO
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
Ezra Parker $15
Charles Emerson $15
Joseph Brown I5 Isaiah Emerson I5
John Willoughby 15 Lewis Davis
15
Onesiphorus Page I5
Peter Hazelton
30
The stock sold and donations amounted to $1,410, thus leaving only $94 to be provided for. The report further stated that John Ayer, Nathaniel S. Berry, and John McClary were the principal undertakers in building the bridge and stood ready to execute their contracts.
All the stock was finally disposed of, and was issued to the following named persons, the figures at the right indicating the number of shares taken by each :
Theophilus Sanborn I
Ezekiel S. Worthen I
Daniel Sanborn I Isaac Ladd, Jr. I
Berry & McClary 5
Levi Carter 2
Richard H. Sawyer 3 Obediah C. Smith
3
Isaac Dodge I
William Wallace
I
John Ayer 8
Erskine Quimby
I
Timothy Eastman 4
Erastus Cowles
I
Amasa Cowles
2
John Tolford, Jr.
2
David Sanborn 3
O. C. Smith
3
Ichabod C. Bartlett 6 Ebenezer Kendall
I
Jonathan Powers
2
Jesse Sanborn
I
Moses Worthen
5 Daniel Cheney
I
John Pattee I
James Chase
I
Dudley Kelley 2
Caleb Sawyer
I
Josiah Robinson
2
N. G. Upham John Greely
I
William McClary
I
Moses Favor
3
John Kelley
I
Abbott Lovejoy
2
James Hight
I Philip Webster
I
John L. Gordon
1
Solomon Cavis
I
Aaron Favor
4 Joseph Brown
I
John S. Ayer
3
M. H. Bradley
2
William Crawford
I
Lewis Davis
I
Samuel Smith
2
Peter Hazelton
3
James Minot
I
The bridge was constructed in the summer and fall of 1823. It was an open structure, with two piers, and stood nearer the water by several feet than the present covered bridge. At a meeting of the incorporators October II, 1823, it was voted that the bridge be free until the annual meeting of the company in June, 1824.
One-half of the bridge was first taxed in Bristol in April,
3
Joseph Flanders
I
III
FORDS, FERRIES, AND TOLL-BRIDGES
1827, at a valuation of $50, and the money tax was 55 cents. In 1840, the assessed valuation was $500.
In the summer of 1824, the toll-gate house, which still stands near the bridge, on the southern side of the highway, was erected. Obadiah C. Smith dug the cellar and laid the walls and foundation for the chimney for $25.50; James Chase was given $to in money and a share of bridge stock for erecting the frame; while the other parts of the building were built by Moses W. Sleeper for $150. The next summer Amasa Cowles built the barn for "two notes signed by William Keezer and David Sleeper, for $15 each, the saddle which the corporation received from Joseph Fowler, and $20 in money."
In front of the house there was a gate - a long pole which swung across the road when no one was passing -and on one side of the road was erected a large, square sign, on which were painted the following rates for crossing the bridge :
Each foot passenger I cent 6 cents
Each horse and rider
Each additional rider I cent
Each chaise, chair, sulky, or other pleasure
carriage on wheels, drawn by one horse 12 I-2 cents
Each riding sleigh, drawn by one horse
6 cents
Each riding sleigh for passengers, drawn by two horses Io cents
Each additional horse
2 cents
Each coach, chariot, phaeton, or other four- wheeled carriage for passengers, drawn by two horses 25 cents 5 cents
Each additional horse
Each curricle 15 cents
Each cart, wagon, sleigh, sled, or other car- riage of burden, drawn by two beasts
Io cents
Each additional beast 2 cents
Each sleigh, or sled, or other carriage of burden, drawn by one horse 6 1-4 cents
Each sheep or swine I-4 cent
Each horse or neat creature, exclusive of those rode on or in carriages I I-2 cents
Special monthly and yearly rates were given for all pur- poses except the passing of wood and lumber. Elijah Buttrick was the first toll-gatherer, and he was succeeded, in 1833, by Kinsley Mason; Leander Badger was toll-gatherer for many years, until the bridge was made free.
The bridge did not prove a paying investment, and during the first ten years the dividends amounted to only $1.35 per
II2
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
share. It had been standing less than thirteen years when it was considered unsafe, and the company voted, June 30, 1836, to rebuild. Work was commenced in the fall of that year, and the present covered structure was completed during the follow- ing winter. The two piers were discarded, and the present stone pier was built near the middle of the stream. To cover the expense of this new bridge, three assessments of five dollars each per share were made.
The new bridge did a larger business than the first, and dividends from one dollar to one dollar and fifty cents per share were now paid each year.
In 1854, an assessment of three dollars on each share was voted to pay debts that had accumulated. The shares at this time were considered of so little value that the assessment was paid on only five shares. All the rest, ninety-five in all, were sold at auction for non-payment of the assessment. These were purchased by Levi Bartlett, Gustavus Bartlett, Solomon S. Sleeper, David Tilton, and Abbott Lovejoy at an average price of $3.08 -just enough to pay the assessments and costs.
No meetings of the incorporators were held after the annual meeting of May 14, 1856, and the directors elected at this time, David Tilton, Gustavus Bartlett, and William C. Lovejoy, were the last chosen. Levi Bartlett, as clerk and treasurer, trans- acted most of the business from this time till the bridge became the property of Bristol and New Hampton.
The following not before mentioned served at various times on the board of directors : Aaron Favor, Timothy Eastman, Nathaniel G. Upham, Obadiah C. Smith, Levi Carter, John Little, Solomon Cavis, Moses Worthen, Bracket L. Greenough, Levi Bartlett,' Abbott Lovejoy, John Kelley, Wm. L. Chase, David Sanborn, Leander Badger, Francis H. Kidder, and John Ayer.
The subject of freeing the bridge began to be agitated pre- vious to 1860, and as the towns of Bristol and New Hampton showed much reluctance in laying out a road over a bridge that would cost a large sum to keep in repair, John B. Gordon and others petitioned the court to lay out the road. The question came up for the action of the town of Bristol at a meeting held April 17, 1860, when a motion to leave the matter to the select- men was lost ; and the town voted to dismiss the article without action. No better result was reached at a meeting held in the following November ; but at the annual meeting in March, 1861, a vote was passed instructing the selectmen to lay out a road over Central bridge. The voters evidently saw the hand-writing on the wall. But the action of the town was too late ; for July II, 1861, the commissioners of Grafton and Belknap counties laid out a road from the dwelling-house of Parker Perry in New Hampton to the toll-gate house in Bristol, and awarded the Cen-
RAILROAD STATION
PEMIGEWASSET RIVER; FRESHET OF APR., 1895
CENTRAL BRIDGE
II3
FORDS, FERRIES AND TOLL-BRIDGES
tral bridge corporation, as damages, $300. Thus one-half of the bridge became the property of the town of Bristol.
The bridge has been an expensive one to maintain, and large sums have been expended on it from time to time. About 1854, the eastern abutment was swept away by a flood of water, turned in that direction by a log-jam at the pier ; while the bridge, itself, has several times narrowly escaped destruction by freshets. In 1870, Bristol rebuilt the western abutment and raised the western end of the bridge a few feet, at a cost of $1,355.
At the session of the legislature in 1870, a charter was granted Nathaniel F. Keyes, David M. Webster, Stephen C. Baker, Joseph P. Ladd, John A. Dana, John Brown, Nathaniel Batchelder, their associates, and successors as the Pemigewasset Bridge Co., to build and maintain a toll-bridge over the Pemige- wasset river between New Hampton and Bridgewater, at or near Squam Falls. The bridge was constructed soon after and was known as the Ashland bridge. It was a great convenience to Bridgewater in lessening the distance to the Ashland markets. It was not, however, a paying investment, and James A. West purchased most of the stock at low figures. In October, 1883, a petition was circulated through this section by Mr. West, D. M. Webster, and others, praying that the courts of Grafton and Belknap counties lay out a highway over this bridge. This petition received over three hundred signatures. A large array of legal talent was engaged for the petitioners and the case came to a hearing by the commissioners, Oct. 13, 1884. Many of the petitioners withdrew their names before the hearing com- menced, and the leaders withdrew the case soon after. But a day of reckoning came and the petitioners paid the costs. The bridge was swept down stream in the great freshet of 1896, and has not been rebuilt.
8
CHAPTER XI
HIGHWAYS
Roll back the years a century And ride with me the Mayhew pike. For far and near no road it's like; Through pathless woods for miles and miles, Through tangled swamps and deep defiles It ran, a pulsing artery
Between the forest and the sea.
-- Pattee.
The action of the proprietors of New Chester in opening a road through the "home lots," as an encouragement for the set- tlement of the town, has been narrated in the chapter entitled "The Proprietary History." The amount of money thus ex- pended was not sufficient to made a good road through the prime- val forests for nineteen miles, from the Franklin to the Ply- mouth line, and construct suitable bridges, but it was sufficient to make such a road as would allow the passing of men and women on horseback, or even the slow passage of an ox team.
The road opened by these workmen commenced at the Franklin line, and followed up the Pemigewasset valley very nearly as the road now runs till it reached a point just south of Smith's river, where is now the Peaslee burying-ground. Here it made a sharp turn to the west, and followed the south bank of Smith's river till it reached the head of the falls, at which point it crossed the river, and from there ascended the steep, south side of New Chester mountain to the height of the land between the two summits; thence passed the present resi- dence of Mrs. J. W. Sanborn, down the north side of the moun- tain to the bridge at Central square. From this village it con- tinued toward New Hampton very much as it does now, till Danforth's brook was passed, when it commenced to bear to the north and passed just above the present residence of Solon Dolloff ; thence it continued east, crossing the present road near where a schoolhouse now stands, and continued down the hill to the meadow near the bank of the river ; thence it made its way up a ravine to the log cabin of Abner Fellows, where Horace N. Emmons now resides, and then continued on the present route till it reached the point where Benjamin Emmons settled, now known as the John M. R. Emmons farm. From this point it continued very nearly due east till the river bank was again reached, nearly opposite the Heath burying-ground, from which .
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