USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Candia > History of the town of Candia, Rockingham County, N.H., from its first settlement to the present time > Part 2
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275-Line 9 from the bottom, insert the word church after Free Baptist,
389-Line 10 from the top, for "his" read their.
392-Line 12 from the bottom, for "Nathaniel" read Nathan.
401-Last line, omit "Dr." before Joseph Foster.
403-Line 19 from top, supply "Mrs." before Reuben Fitts.
439-Line 12 from the bottom, for "was" read were.
400-Under date 1808, for "David Beane" read Mrs. David Beane; 1812, for "Jethro Hill, 70," read Jonathan Hills, 90.
401-Under date of 1838, for "80" read 84 as the age of Mrs. John Sargeant; 1835, for "80" read 84, as the age of Moses Buswell.
402-Under date of 1841, as the age of Mrs. Samuel Worthen, for "74" read 76 ; 1842, as the age of Mrs. Samuel Colcord, for "80" read 84 ; 1845, as the age of Mrs. Amos Knowles, for "80" read 86 ; 1848, as the age of Nathaniel Emerson, for "70" read 76.
403-Under date of 1849, as the age of Benjamin Smith, 2d, for "78" read 81 ; 1854, as the age of Mrs. Silas Cammett, for "67" read 99 years and 6 months ; as the age of Mrs. Reuben Fitts, for "76" read 85 ; 1857, as the age of Mrs. Jonathan Martin, for "70" read 79.
404-Under date of 1859, as the age of Mrs. Josiah French, for "76" read 70 ; 1862, as the age of John Dolber, for "82" read 89 ; 1867, as the age of Mrs. John Prescott, for "93" read 73 ; 1868, as the age of Mary 1)udley, for "79" read 85.
406-Under the date of 1878, as the age of John Clay, for "78" read 81; as the age of Mrs. Silden Moore, for "77" read 71 ; as the age of Benjamin Sawyer, for "71" read 77; 1881, for "Mrs. Young" read Mrs. Lucy Young.
xiv
ADDENDA.
AGED PERSONS.
The following are the names of persons who have died in the town above seventy years of age, in addition to those given in Chapter XIX :
1803, Dorothy, wife of Thomas Worthen ; 1812, Jonathan Hills, 90 ; 1816, Joshua Moore, 73 ; 1818, Dea. John Hills, 80; 1822, Mrs. Caleb Hall, 77 ; 1823, Samuel Adams, 74 ; 1828, William Wilson, 84 ; 1832, Sarah, wife of Col. Thomas Wilson, 77 ; 1833, Mrs. James Eaton, 98 ; 1834, Benjamin Hubbard, Sr., 88 ; Joseph Pillsbury, 92 ; 1835, Stephen Clay, 71; 1836, Mrs. John Cammet, 83, Dorothy Fitts, 73 ; 1841, Thomas Anderson, 2d, 79 ; 1842, Thomas Patten, 2d, 85, Mrs. Nathan Thorn 82 ; 1843, Mrs. Timothy M. Pearsons, 85 ; 1846, Mrs. Ephraim Abbott, 93 ; 1847, Edward Prescott, 77 ; 1848, Mrs. Joseph Abbott, 70 ; 1850, Samuel A. Anderson, 78 ; 1851, Elisha Huntoon, 80, Nathan Thorn, 91 ; 1852, Henry Clark, 2d., 74, Robert Patten, 76 ; 1854. Mrs. Thomas Anderson, 2d, 79 ; 1858, Mary, wife of Samuel Anderson, 71 ; 1862, Josiah French, 76 ; 1865, Mrs. Lewis Worthen, 75 ; 1867, Mrs. Eben Eaton, 72 ; 1868, Mrs. Theophilus Currier, 90, Eliza, wife of Moses Emerson, 2d, 77 ; 1869, Mrs. Jesse Eaton, 82 ; 1871, Sally Adams, 87, Mrs. Joseph Palmer, 73 ; 1872, Mrs. Asbury Buzzell, 70, Miss Nancy Brown, 81, Mrs. Jeremiah Barker, 78, Ann, wife of John C. Fifield, 88, Eliza, wife of Francis Watson, 71, Lewis Worthen, 82, Peter Neal, 79 ; 1873, Charles Smith, 79 ; 1874, Mrs. Josiah Fitts, 83, Polly, wife of Thomas Hobbs, 79 ; 1875, Mrs. Moses Critchett, 77, John P. Smith, 84 ; 1876, John Fitts, 82, Jeremiah Lane, 77, Levi Barker, 75 ; 1877, Mrs. Ephraim Davis, 70 ; 1878, John Clay, 3d, 81, Joshua Fitts, 78 ; 1879, Willis Patten, 86, Rufus Patten, 71, John Page, 75 ; 1875, William Anderson, 89, Miss Jane, daughter of Samuel Anderson, 80 ; 1880, Nathaniel B. Hall, 75.
So far as it appears by the records no person who has died n town had reached the age of one hundred years.
XV
XV
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
ADDITIONAL NAMES OF REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS.
In summing up the names of the Revolutionary soldiers of Candia on pages 95, 96 and 97 the following were accidentally omitted.
Moses Norris, Jonathan Clifford, Jonathan Ring, John Sargeant, Stephen Palmer, Daniel Whittier, Ichabod Robie, Benjamin Smith, James Libbey, Joseph Pillsbury, Amos Knowles and Benjamin Wadleigh.
OTHER STORES.
John Moore, Esq., and Daniel Taylor, his brother-in-law, established a store at the village about the year 1822, in the east end of the Dudley tenement block near the saw mill. In 1824, they were succeeded by William Turner, who traded about three years there.
In 1825, Samuel Dudley establishes a store in connection with his shoe business in a building on the spot where his son, Woodbury J., has traded many years.
In 1844, Nehemiah Colby opened a store in a building which stood on the east side of the main street near the residence of the late Benjamin Taylor.
In 1856, a union store was started by a number of citizens in the building on the west side of the street and recently owned and occupied by the late J. Rowland Batchelder, and which is. now utilized as a shoe shop by Nelson Plumer. The stock of the union store was finally bought by W. Sanborn, who had been its agent, and who traded on his own account until 1857, when he commenced to trade in the building on the east side now owned by George E. Kimball. He traded there for ten years, and then sold out to A. A. Whittredge. In 1885, Geo. E. Mitchell bought the stock and traded until 1889, when he sold to Mr. Kimball who opened a meat market.
In 1879, Cyrus T. Lane opened a grocery store in the build- ing which stands near the corner of Main street and the road which leads to the lower saw mill.
Nearly twenty years ago J. Meader Young opened a watch and jewelry store in the building near the bridge on the east side of the main street. Mr. Young left town in 1886.
VÝ
ALL YOUR
VIEW FROM HIGH STREET LOOKING NORTHEAST. GREAT BOULDER.
Sketch, page 38.
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
CHAPTER I.
SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS discovered the island of San Salva- dor, one of the Bahama group, October 12, 1492; but he did not come within sight of the American continent until 1498. during his third voyage from Spain.
John Cabot, of England, and his son, Sebastian Cabot, discovered the American continent at Labrador, June 24, 1497, fourteen months before Columbus reached the main land. *
In 1605, more than one hundred years after the first Eu- ropean adventurers visited the new world, Martin Pring, an Englishman, sailed up the Piscataqua river and landed at Odiorne's Point in Rye and was thus the first white man to tread the soil of New Hampshire.
In 1620, King James I., of England, granted to an associ_ ation composed of dukes, earls and other prominent gen- tlemen of England all the territory in North America lying between the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees of north lati- tude. This association was called "The Council at Ply- mouth for planting and governing New England in America." Fernando Gorges was President and Captain John Mason was Secretary.
In 1620, Captain Mason obtained from the Plymouth Council a grant of all the land from the river Naumkeag near Salem, Mass., to the Merrimack river and up the heads of each of those rivers, then to cross over from the head of
*It has been claimed by the historians of Iceland that in about the year 1000 and later, vessels were fitted out on that island and voy- ages were made to the American continent by a company of Northmen, originally from Norway. under the command of Leif Erikson; that a landing was made at some point on the coast of what is now New England where a settlement called Vinland was established; that the colony was re-einforced from time to time by other immigrants from
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HISTORY OF CANDIA.
one to the head of the other. This grant which was called Marianna was made in the belief that the Naumkeag river was a large stream; whereas it is only about twelve miles in length and the territory granted was not so large as Rockingham County.
In 1622, Mason and Fernando Gorges obtained from the Plymouth Council a grant of land lying between the Merri- mack river and the Kennebec in Maine and extending back · to the great lakes and rivers in Canada. This grant was called Laconia.
In 1623, David Thompson, of Plymouth, England, with his wife and four men, arrived at the mouth of the Piscata- qua river. Thompson, who was the first white settler in New Hampshire, established himself at Odiorne's Point, sometimes called Little Harbor. He built a cabin, planted a few acres, set up salt works and made preparations to en- gage in the fur trade. At about the same time Edward and William Hilton, brothers, who came from England, ob- tained a grant of land from the Plymouth Council and formed a settlement at Dover Point.
In 1626, Thompson left his plantation and went to reside on Thompson's Island, in Boston Bay, which was granted to him by the Council of New England. Great hopes were entertained by the early colonists that there were rich
Iceland and that the people were engaged in lumbering, fishing and in cultivating the soil; that an extensive trade grew up between the col- ony and Iceland, the colonists receiving their necessary supplies in ex- change for their fish, valuable lumber called masar wood and other products; that the settlement equally flourished for two or three cen- turies when it began to languish and at last, about the year 1300 the country was abandoned and the survivors returned to Iceland; that in the course of years this story was almost totally forgotten and that fi- nally some records which were left by several leaders in the enterprise were discovered and published to the world.
Bancroft and various other historians have denied this story while a few others, among whom were Alexander Von Humboldt, the great German scientist and philosopher who believed that there was satisfactory evidence of its truth. In his Cosmos Humboldt refers to a letter written by Columbus in which it is stated that he visited Ice- land a short time before he set out on his first voyage of discovery from Spain.
E. N. Horsford, a distinguished Professor in Harvard University, has recently made the startling announcement that he has discovered on the banks of the Charles river in Watertown and other towns in the vicinity of Boston the site of the settlement of Vinland and the an- cient city of Norumbega and the remains of forts, canals, boom-dams, artificial ponds, amphitheatres, wharves, storehouses, dwellings, and 1
various other remains of the works of a highly civilized race of people.
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HISTORY OF CANDIA.
mines of gold and silver in the territory similar to those which were found by the Spaniards in Mexico and Peru ..
In 1627, Sir Henry Roswell in behalf of the Massachusetts Bay Company obtained from the Plymouth Council a grant of land from the mouth of Charles river and a line running from the Atlantic ocean three miles north of the Merrimack river.
In 1629, Captain Mason obtained from the Plymouth Council a grant of land from the middle of Piscataqua to its head, thence forward sixty miles and through the Mer- rimack river to its farthest head, and thence westward sixty miles, then to cross overland to the end of the sixty miles as counted from the Piscataqua river. Mason called this grant New Hampshire, after the County of Hampshire in England.
The grants to Mason and those to Roswell for the Massa- chusetts Bay Company were in direct conflict with each other and were made in complete ignorance of the geog- raphy of the country on the part of the grantors and grant- ees. It was believed that the Merrimack river ran from west to east throughout its whole course, whereas it runs from north to south from its source to Pawtucket Falls near Lowell where it makes a bend towards the east and runs in that direction to the sea,, a distance of less than thirty miles. On account of these blunders a great dispute arose which continued more than one hundred and fifty years.
In 1634, Gorges sold his right to lands in New Hampshire to Mason, and the latter then made important improve- ments upon his settlements near the mouth of the Piscata- qua river. He sent out a company of men and women with cattle, swine and stores of all kinds. More land was cleared, salt works were erected and the business of fishing was pursued with vigor.
It has been claimed that Rev. John Wheelwright, the founder of Exeter, bought of Passaconaway, an Indian chief, a large tract of land which is now included in Rockingham County. The genuineness of the deed has been disputed by some historians and accepted by others. Wheelwright never profited much by the deed and but little attention was ever paid to it. In 1719, the colony of Scotch-Irish which
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HISTORY OF CANDIA.
settled Londonderry got a deed of that township of Rev. John Wheelwright, of Wells, Maine, the grandson of the first Rev. John Wheelwright.
Mason died suddenly, in 1635, leaving his property to his grandson, Robert Tufton, then a boy, on condition that he would take the name of Mason. Mason's widow, as exec- utrix of his will, tried to manage his estate in the colony, but she utterly failed. Some of the men who had been em- ployed by Mason took possession of much of his personal property, and many of the tenants refused to pay rents or to, surrender the lands which they occupied.
Soon after Mason's death the Massachusetts Bay Compa- ny succeeded in bringing the colonists in New Hampshire under their government and, in 1641, the General Court de- creed that the northern line of the Massachusetts Bay Com- pany's territory extended to the Piscataqua river.
In 1652, a committee of the Massachusetts legislature found that the head of the Merrimack river was at the , out- let of Lake Winnepesaukee and Massachusetts then claimed that a line from a point three miles north of the head of the river to a point on the east bank of the Piscataqua river in the same latitude was the northern boundary of the grant from the Plymouth to the Massachusetts Bay Company.
In 1650, Robert Tufton Mason, on coming of age, under- took to get possession of his estates by appealing to the King; but on account of the civil wars he obtained no re- dress until 1664, when the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench decided that his title was strictly legal; whereupon Massachusetts abandoned its claim to the territory occu- pied by the colonists at the mouth of the Piscataqua river, and New Hampshire soon afterwards had a separate gov- ernment.
In 1680, Robert Tufton Mason came from England and attempted to enforce his claim to the property left him by his grandfather, Captain Mason; but the colonists refused to pay back rents, to take new leases or to surrender the lands which they occupied. Mason met with so much op- position that he was obliged to return to England. In a short time afterwards he gave Edward Cranfield an impor- tant interest in his claims and secured his appointment as
,
2I
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
Lieutenant Governor of the province. Through Cranfield's influence judges, sheriffs and other public officers were ap- pointed, and many suits were brought against the tenants who occupied Mason's lands. By bribing the jury, verdicts against the defendants were returned; but the people were so indignant and united that they made it impossible for the sheriffs and other officers to compel the tenants either to pay for their lands or to surrender them to Mason.
Robert Mason died in 1691, leaving his property to his sons, Robert Tufton Mason and John Tufton Mason. These heirs soon sold their claims to Samuel Allen, who made a great effort to recover possessions of the lands but he ac- complished nothing. He died in 1705 leaving his son, Thomas Allen, and two daughters, heirs to his claims. These heirs were not able to agree, and made no attempts to recover possession of their property.
In 1746, John Tufton Mason, a son of John Tufton Mason, senior, by his second wife, made a claim to the lands in New Hampshire granted to Captain John Mason on the ground that his father and uncle Robert had no legal right to sell the property to Allen for a longer term than their own lives. This John Tufton Mason entered into some negotiations for a sale of the property to the province of New Hampshire; but the parties who were acting for the province delayed to come to a decision and Mason finally sold his claims to a company of twelve prominent citizens of Portsmouth for 1500 pounds sterling. This company, somtimes called the Lord's Proprietors, granted many new towns on liberal terms and claimed nothing from the towns which were al- ready settled and incorporated. They gave quit claim deeds to seventeen old townships east of the Merrimack river, which had been granted without consultation with the heirs of Captain Mason.
At the breaking out of the Revolutionary war about all of the land claimed by Mason had been disposed of and after the colonists had gained their independence all the un- granted land belonged to the State of New Hampshire. The state from time to time made various grants of lands for townships and also for various institutions of learning.
CHAPTER II.
THE BOUNDARIES.
FOR more than fifty years the people of New Hampshire had endeavored to bring about a settlement of the bounda- ry lines between their territory and that of Massachusetts .. During all that time Massachusetts had evaded the issue or sought for delays on all sorts of pretexts. ' The matter was brought before the king in 1747. He decided that the ques- tion should be referred to eight commissioners who be- longed to some of the other American provinces. Eight. commissioners were appointed three of whom belonged in Nova Scotia and five in Rhode Island. They met at Hamp- ton and decided the eastern boundary should begin three miles north of the mouth of the Merrimack river, thence along the coast and including one-half of the Isle of Shoals to the mouth of Piscataqua river, then up the middle of the river to its head and thence sixty miles north ten degrees west. As they were not able to agree upon the southern boundary the matter was then referred to the King. He as- sumed that when the first charters of lands were given by the Plymouth Company all parties supposed that the source of the Merrimack was in the west and he decided that the northern boundary of Massachusetts should be a curved line conforming to the course of the river three miles dis- tance from its north bank to Pawtucket Falls, in Dracut, thence due west to his majesty's other governments. In surveying the line, it is said that the surveyor purposely allowed ten degrees for the variation of the needle instead of six degrees and forty minutes as he should have done.
The King also decided that the east boundary of New Hampshire, as agreed upon by the commissioners, should extend to Canada to conform to the west boundary of Maine.
After the Lord's Proprietors had purchased the claims to the unoccupied lands belonging to the Mason heirs they made many grants of townships, and it is probable that
23
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
this investment proved to be a good speculation. The grant to Mason included only about one-sixth of the terri- tory of the State as it stands to-day.
THE NEW YORK CONTROVERSY.
Previous to the Revolution both New York and New Hampshire claimed what now constitutes the State of Ver- mont. New Hampshire's claim was based on the fact that by the charter of Massachusetts, which was given before the charter of New York was given to the duke of York, its western boundary extended within twenty miles of the Hudson river, and that the western boundary line of Connecticut also extended to that point. New York resisted the claim; but Benning Wentworth, who was then the provincial Governor of New Hampshire, insisted and granted charter for one hundred and forty townships of six miles square each. These were called the New Hampshire grants. Both parties finally appealed to King George II., and he decided that the east line of New York should be the west bank of the Connecticut river.
In 1776, the people of this territory, in convention, de- clared that the territory should thereafter be an independ- ent jurisdiction by the name of Vermont.
THE SECESSION MOVEMENT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
In 1781, five years after the people of Vermont had declared their independence, a majority of the people who resided in thirty-four of the towns in New Hampshire near the Connecticut voted to form a union with that State. The legislature of Vermont voted to receive the representatives of the New Hampshire townships, and the act of union was consummated. The seceding towns were formed into counties by the Vermont authorities, new courts were established, taxes were levied, and the laws of New Hampshire were set at defiance. This movement caused great excitement among the people of the Confeder- ation, who at the time were battling with Great Britain in defence of their liberties. The people of Vermont were anx- ious to come into union with the thirteen colonies, but they soon discovered that such a union was impossible unless they relinquished their hold upon New Hampshire. Gener-
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HISTORY OF CANDIA.
al Washington wrote a letter to the Governor of Vermont advising the people to give up the attempt to enlarge their boundaries by encroaching upon the rights of New Hampshire and intimated that force would be employed against them in case they refused to comply with his advice. The letter had the desired effect. The Vermont legislature resolved that the Connecticut river should thenceforth be the east boundary line of that state and the New Hampshire seces- sionists took their hats in their hands, and like certain se- cessionists of a later day returned to their homes sadder if not wiser men.
THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY.
At the close of the war of the Revolution in 1783 the treaty of peace which was agreed to by the contending pow- ers provided that the boundary line between New Hamp- shire and Canada would be from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia along the highlands dividing those rivers which empty into the St. Lawrence river and those running into the Atlantic ocean to the northwestern head of Connecticut river; thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude.
In running the line the outlet of Lake Connecticut was considered the north-western head of Connecticut river, and the boundary was established in accordance with that view. In 1823, another and a more careful survey showed that Hall's Stream, another tributary to the Connecticut river, had its source in the highlands several miles farther west than the outlet of Connecticut lake.
In 1842, when the great northeast boundary question was settled at Washington by Webster and Lord Ashburton, the boundary line was extended west to Hall's stream and New Hampshire gained territory sufficient for three good-sized townships.
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CHAPTER III.
SETTLEMENT OF CHESTER.
For many years the growth of the settlements in New Hampshire was exceedingly slow on account mainly of the great wars between the English colonists throughout New England and the Indians, which began in 1675 and raged with greater or less violence until 1698. Portsmouth, Dov- er, Hampton and Exeter, the four original plantations, con- tinued for a long time to be the centres of population and trade. Hostilities were at length suspended and colonies be- gan to go forth from the old towns and settlements were made upon the unoccupied lands in their immediate vicini- ty. Among the towns which were settled next to Ports- mouth, Dover, Hampton and Exeter, were Northampton, Southampton, Hampton Falls, Seabrook, Stratham, Kings- ton, Epping, Poplin now Freemont, Brentwood and New Market; but the western portion of Rockingham county remained an unbroken wilderness about one hundred years from the first time the settlements were made upon the banks of the Piscataqua river.
Near the close of the first quarter of the eighteenth centu- ry the settlements near the sea coast had so increased that there was a considerable demand for more territory for townships for the accommodation of people who were anxious to provide themselves with farms. At this time a large number of companies were organized in some of the oldest towns in New Hampshire and Massachusetts for the purpose of securing grants of lands in the province for set- tlement, as was alleged, but more frequently for the pur- pose of speculation on the part of those most directly con- cerned in the enterprises.
In 1719, a company was organized at Hampton for the purpose of securing a grant of territory lying between Exe- ter and the Merrimack river. The members of the compa- ny, more than one hundred in number, belonged mostly to Portsmouth and Hampton; but a few were residents of Ha-
26
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
verhill, Bradford and Newbury in Massachusetts. In 1719, the company presented a petition to His Excellency Samu- el Shute, then the Provincial Governor of New Hampshire, for a township of land ten miles square, situated between Exeter and Merrimack river. The territory was surveyed and a township was laid out by a committee of four persons appointed by the Governor. Upon May 8, 1723, Governor Shute gave the association a charter for a township, bounded on the north by Nottingham, now Deerfield and Notting- ham, east by Exeter, now Kingston and Epping, south by Londonderry and west by Merrimack river and Harrytown,. now a small part of the city of Manchester. The territory, which was of irregular shape, was fourteen miles in length. in the longest part and ten miles in its greatest width, was at first called the Chestnut country from the circumstance that chestnut trees were found in abundance upon the soil; but when it was incorporated it was named Chester after old Chester, in England. The charter provided that one proprietor's share should be reserved for a parsonage, one for the first settled minister and a third for the support of public schools.
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