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 20
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Charles S. Bagley, who came from Goffstown, erected a clothing mill about sixty rods beiow the highway which ex- tends through the village. In 1821, Freeman Parker came from Bedford to Candia and bought Mr. Ordway's mill, to put in a new carding machine and machinery for dressing cloth for men's and women's wear. He also put in ma- chinery for rolling sole leather. In 1846, Mr. Parker sold the mill to Jason Godfrey, when it was changed to a saw mill. Mr. Godfrey operated the mill a considerable time, and then sold it to a man by the name of William Wall. In a year or two Mr. Wall sold the property to George E. Eaton and Charles H French, who are the present owners,
MILLS AT THE ISLAND.
In 1757, Samuel Eastman and Samuel Eastman, jr., who came from Kingston, bought part of Lot No. 78, 3d. Divis- ion, which is situated in the east part of the town near the Raymond line, and built a saw mill and dwelling house. In 1759, the property was destroyed by fire, and a new mill and dwelling house were erected about forty rods further up the stream.
After a few years David Beane, who came to Candia from Epping, bought the place and operated the mill a consid- able time, when it was destroyed by a fire which was running in the woods near by. Mr. Beane erected another mill on the same site. The property descended to his son, Abraham Beane, and in 1812 the latter built a new dam about sixty rods above the old mill and erected a saw mill and grist mill.
The stream which flowed from the mills and another stream which came through the raceway united at a point nearly a quarter af a mile below and formed an island. It was from this circumstance that the neighborhood is called "The Island. "
Deacon Beane operated the mills many years with suc- cess. He died, Oct. 29th, 1833.
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Joseph Beane, son of Deacon Abraham Beane, was the next owner of the property. After his death there were va- rious owners, until finally it was sold to Joseph A John- son, who came from Derry in 1863. He is the owner at the present time.
MILLS IN THE NEW BOSTON NEIGHBORHOOD.
The first mill in this section of the town was erected by Ensign Clay, Benjamin Lang and others on the stream which flows from the west part of the town to the vil- lage and the Island more than eighty years ago. A saw mill was first built at this place, and a few years later a grist mill was erected at the same dam. A man by the name of Judkins was one of the owners. Abel Love- joy had charge of both of the mills from about 1824 to 1836.
About the year 1846, Franklin Clay built a steam mill on a spot on the New Boston road near the residence of Isaiah Lang. He put in machinery of various kinds and employed a considerable number of hands in making ta- bles, bedsteads and various kinds of furniture. The en- terprize required considerable capital, and was not a de- cided success. The mill was burned about the year 1849. Several years afterwards he built a new and expensive dam and erect a new saw mill at the site upon the river in the New Boston neighborhood where his grandfather, Ensign Clay, owned and operated a saw mill many years previously. He carried on the business of manufactur- ing lumber of various kinds for several years, after which John E. Fitts, a resident of the village, had charge of the works. In 1874, the mill was totally destroyed by fire.
THE SAW MILL ON THE NORTH ROAD.
Obededom Hall, the first settler on the North Road, built a saw mill upon the same stream as the Clay mill about a mile and a half above the latter, as early as 1770. This mill has been remodeled and improved at various times. Among its owners were Nathan Brown, Abra-
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ham, Nathan and Jesse Fitts,, Sargent Hall, Obededom Hall, jr., Daniel and Samuel Fitts, Captain Abraham Fitts, Jon- athan Hobbs and John Rowe.
In 1824, the mill was rebuilt and about the year 1840 a shingle mill was built just below. A large amount of bus- iness has been done at this mill during the winters and springs for many years.
About eighty-five years ago, Benjamin Hall, son of the first Obededom Hall, built a grist mill on the mill stream a few rods above the cross road which extends from High Street to Deerfield. After a few years he sold out to Abra- ham Fitts, who operated the mill many years. Mr. Fitts was succeeded in the ownership of the mill by Joshua C. Hall, Mr. Randlett and others, until about twenty years ago Samuel C. Davis bought the property. He changed the grist mill to a saw mill and erected a shingle mill.
THE GENESEE MILL.
More than ninety years ago a saw mill was erected on the stream which flows from Kinnicum Pond through Moose Meadow and across the turnpike above the resi- dence of Dearborn French and empties into the Tower Hill Pond. Among the original owners were Benjamin Hub- bard, John Cammett, Stephen Fifield, Jonathan Brown, Dea, Samuel Cass and David Brown, A profitable busi- ness was done at this mill for many years. It was demol- isheb abont forty years ago,
MAPLE FALLS MILL.
This mill was situated on the stream which runs from Sawyer's and Sargent's ponds in Hooksett. It was built on the reserve between the fifth and sixth ranges of lots in the third division, Among the original owners of this mill were Aaron Brown, Benjamin Cass, Samuel Morrill, Theophilus Clough, Benjamin Hubbard, David Brown and Samuel Cass.
BROWN'S MILL,
Aaron Brown, jr,, about fifty years ago built a saw mill
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on the north fork of the stream which flows from the west part of the town through the New Boston neighborhood to the Village. A large amount of business has been done at this mill. The present owner is George C. Brown, son of the first owner.
THE KNOWLES OR CASS MILL.
Ezekiel Knowles, who was the first settler on Lot No. 110, 3d. Division, in 1777, built a grist mill on the stream which is formed by small rivulets flowing from the height of land situated near the southwest part of the town and Brown's meadow. The mill was rebuilt by the Knowles family, in 1805, In 1825, the Knowles' place and the mill was sold to Col. Samuel Cass, who made important improvements in 1830. At the death of Col. Cass, in 1854, the mill came into the possession of his son, J. Quincy Cass. He died in 1878 and the mill was soon afterwards demolished.
EMERSON'S MILL.
Sometime before the war of the Revolution Col. Nathan- iel Emerson and several ciher persons, built a saw mill on the stream which operated the old Knowles' mill. The Emerson mill was located a few rods south of the rail- road station at the Depot village. In the year 1805. the mill was torn down and another erected about twelve rods far- ther down the stream, When the new road from the De- pot Village was built, in 1852, a mill was erected still far- ther down the stream. A circular saw was put in at that time by Abraham Emerson and Coffin Moore the proprie- tors. Lewis Simons of Manchester owned the mill several years. The present proprietor is David Brown.
THE PATTEN MILL.
A saw mill was built many years ago upon the stream which operated the Knowles mill and the Emerson mill at a point near the Concord and Portsmouth railroad, about half a mile west of East Candia depot. Of the first owners were J. Wason, M. Patten and Mr, Whittier; more recently
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were J. Osgood Wason, Col. Rufus Patten, George Brown, John Abbott, George Patten, Charles Emerson and David Gile. During the past six years but little business has been done at this mill.
FARMING.
In the early part of the present century the business of farming in our town had reached a good degree of prosper- ity. A large proportion of the land had been cleared of its forests and vast quantities of boulders of various sizes, that had been lying upon or near the surface, were piled up in great heaps on some barren place. Many of the fields and pastures had been walled in at a vast expendi- ture of labor; the soil had not become exhausted of its fer- tilizing qualities; and the farmers of those days, unlike those of a more modern date, were not embarrassed by the difficulty of procuring assistance in cultivating their lands. Many of the people of those times had very large families of children, often ten or a dozen. Children were not then regarded as an incumbrance and a misfortune, but as a blessing and a positive benefit to their parents. They were not indulged in every whim and caprice or allowed to over- rule their parents, as is too often the case in these days; but they were taught and compelled to obey their parents and show respect to their elders. Moreover, they were taught to largely depend upon themselves, and when the boys were eight or ten years of age, they made themselves use- ful upon the farm, and when they had entered upon their teens they could dextrously handle the ax, the hoe, the shovel and the scythe, to perform more than half as much labor as an average hired hand. The girls also gave val- uable assistance to their mothers in managing the affairs of the household,
There were no great manufacturing towns in those days where young men and women could earn great wages, so many of them were content to stay at home and help to carry on the farm, until they were old enough to get married and set up for themselves. The thrifty farmers of those days could easily procure all the labor they might
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need from among that class who had no farms of their own at moderate compensation.
In winter the labors of the farmers were light and easy as compared to those of the most of the other seasons of the year. The cattle and other stock were cared for, fires were tended, the snow was shoveled from the doors, and paths opened to the barn and the highway. Bags of corn, rye and wheat were taken at intervals to the grist mill for grind- ing. The year's supply of wood had to be cut in the for- est and hauled to the great door yard. A few pine and hem- lock logs had to cut and taken to the mill and sawed into boards for fencing or repairs upon the buildings.
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Towards the last of February the hens and roosters be- gin to cackle, the turkeys gobble and a few of the pullets commence to lay. Later on, a few lambs and calves make their appearance. How delighted are the children to jump over into the pens in the barn and take up the tender lambs and fondle them in their arms, or hug the calves around their necks and look into their great, soft and won- dering eyes. Sometimes a lamb is disowned by its mother and the poor thing is taken into the house, to be placed in a basket upon a warm blanket and kindly nursed in the hope of saving it for future usefulness. But the experi- ment often failed and the poor lamb, after a few hours of struggles and sufferings, gives up the ghost, How pitiful are its moans through the long, dreary night and how sin- cerely is it mourned by the children. The bodies of the dead lambs were often hung upon the limbs of apple trees out of the reach of dogs, for the purpose of preventing the latter from acquiring a habit of attacking and devouring sheep as they roamed in the pastures.
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By the first of March, as the winter term of the district school closed, the bigger boys were required to assist in chopping the fire-wood. With the thick, clumsy axes of that period this was no easy task, and sometimes it re- quired two or three hours for a boy a dozen years old to chop a great rock maple log in four sections half through ready for turning. The hands of some of the boys became cracked and sore, inside and out, by the jar made in chop- ping in the wind, and very queer remedies were prescribed.
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Very early in the spring arrangements are made for the manufacturing of maple sugar. The wooden buckets and spouts are put in order, the trees are tapped and the sap is brought to the house and boiled down in pots and kettles over the kitchen fire. In case the maple trees are standing at a considerale distance from the house, a camp with all needful conveniences is constructed, and the sap is boiled down in great iron kettles. When the time for sugaring off arrives, the boys and girls of the neighborhood have a jolly time at the camp or in the kitchen.
Sometimes, after _ very warm day, the weather suddenly becomes very cold during the night and all the sap remain- ing in the buckets is frozen and all the saccharine matter is concentrated into the richest kind of syrup. Informer days many of the farmers made nearly enough sugar and syrup for the year's supply; but at this date there are compara- tively few maple trees in town and only little sugar is made.
Towards the end of March the blue birds, the robins, the sparrows and the pewees have arrived, and a few days la- ter flocks of wild geese, in harrow-shaped columns, are flying at intervals high up in the air under the leadership of an old and trusted gander, headed for the bays and islets of Labrador. Sometimes these birds of passage alighted in Tower Hill pond or Lake Massabesic to rest their tired wings. Now and then a great loon or crane. might have been seen far up in the heavens at early evening twilight slowly flopping its great wings as it journeyed towards the northern regions.
As the days grow longer and warmer the frogs are peep- ing in the swamps and the rank, green stalks and leaves of the Indian Poke or Skunk Cabbage are shooting up in the meadows. The boys are set to work picking the rocks or small boulders on the fields, that were laid down to grass the previous year. Board fences are constructed and old ones are repaired. While the workmen are driving the chestnut stakes into the ground or twist about them the withes of green birch boughs to support the three or four tiers of boards one above another, they were very liable to come spank upon a big black snake and his mate, lying near the hole which had been their winter habitation.
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GEORGE HALL.
Sketch, page 518.
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And now it is time to set up the great mash tub near the outside kitchen door and fill it with ashes, to make the year's supply of soft soap. No hard or bar soap was known in the town in those days, except the small cakes of cast steel soap used for shaving. "The women folks" poured the hot water upon the ashes in the tub and soon the dark lye was drawn off through a hole in the bottom of the tub, and boiled with the grease that had accumulated during the year.
And now the spring rye, wheat, oats and flax must be sown; apple trees must be pruned and grafted, and young apple and pear trees must be set out. Until within a few years, great crops of luscious peaches or rare-ripes, as they were called, were raised; but now, for some reason, the at- tempt to raise this kind of fruit is generally a failure.
About the first of April, great broods. of chickens are hatched and the old goose comes from the pen with a dozen or so of pale-green, velvety goslings. The martins and swallows have arrived and are skimming swiftly over the fields and meadows. On rainy days, some of the boys must go to the dark, damp cellar and sit for hours by the · light of a tallow candle and sprout potatoes; or mount to the garret and shell corn upon the long handle of an old- fashioned frying pan.
The cowslips are blooming in the valleys; the fields are spangled all over with the yellow dandelions and every- body can enjoy the coveted mess of boiled greens. By the twentieth of May, the bob-o-links, the thrushes and the gold robins have come; the apple trees are in full bloom, and the corn, potatoes and the beans must be planted. There were no corn planters in those times, and each hill had to be dug out and covered with the hoe. The boys and girls are delighted to be detailed to drop the corn and other seeds, and are scrupulously careful to drop just five kernels of corn in each hill and one pumpkin seed [in each alternate hill in every other row.
When the corn is planted something must be done to de- ter the crows from trespassing on the grounds. Some- times long lines of twine are stretched across the fields, to
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make the foolish crows believe that a deadly trap is set for them; and sometimes a dead crow is hung to a stake as a solemn warning; but the images of men and women in va- rious postures were the chief reliance. The figures of the old women with old straw bonnets and in gowns dangling about the stakes, and those of the men with outstretched . arms and pantaloons highly ornamented in certain places with great patches, made an interesting exhibition for the people who passed along the roads near by.
Then the corn and potatoes must be hoed. A furrow is first plowed between the rows by horse power. The plow was often stopped by a deeply seated boulder when, as a consequence, the small boy that rode and guided the horse was suddenly pitched forward over the head of the animal to the ground. The boy generally picked himself up with- out a murmur and resumed his place as if nothing had hap- pened.
When the cattle had been turned out to pasture, how the children love to climb to the scaffolds and the high beams in the barn and jump down into the bay upon a ton or two of hay, while the chattering swallows under the ridge pole are chasing each other from one end of the barn to the oth- er; and how delighted they are to roam over the fields and pastures, to gather the sweet, ripe strawberries! Early in June, the fields of rye and wheat are waving majestically in the gentle summer gales; the sweet grass in the pastures is abundant; the cows come home at evening with their richest treasures and serenely chew their cuds in a mood of perfect satisfaction and contentment.
The cows in the town seventy-five years ago were the descendants of those sent over from England and Holland to the early colonists of New Hampshire and Massachusetts two hundred and fifty years ago and many of them, when they were well cared for, were fully as valuable for all pur- poses as are the average breeds of modern days, and the same may be said of many of the oxen that drew the plows and hauled the loaded carts at that period.
Many of the children of the farmers at that time were initiated into the mysteries pertaining to the art of milking when they were eight or ten years old and at their first at-
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tempts in this line it frequently happened that the old cow placed one of her feet squarely down into a twelve quart pail of milk or kicked it over altogether.
On some warm and pleasant day after the planting has been completed, the sheep must be washed. This was generally done in some swiftly-running stream below a saw or grist mill. The boys were allowed to wash the lambs and their struggles with the frightened creatures in the water afforded some fun to the lookers-on. The sheep of those days often caused their owners much trouble by jumping over the walls and fences into the cultivated fields under the lead of an old ram or bell wether. In such cases fettering the legs of the sheep was considered the only remedy.
The reference to sheep recalls a passage in Thomas Car- lyle's great essay upon the life of Dr. Samuel Johnson. After quoting the statement of the German philosopher, Jean Paul, that a whole flock of sheep will jump over an imaginary pole after the real pole over which the bell weth- er has jumped has been removed, Carlyle declares that the great masses of mankind are utterally incapable of guiding themselves and, like stupid sheep, they too must have their bell wethers and jump over nothing, blindly following those who undertake to lead them, whether in the matter of fashion, politics or religion, without knowing or caring to know why they are led this way, that or the other.
Haying begins soon after the 4th of July. A few patches of grass around the house are first mowed, and soon after the red-top and clover fields are attacked. Before mowing machines came into use haying was very hard work. The farmers often went to the fields soon after sunrise and mow- ed until seven o'clock when breakfast was served. In the course of the forenoon the workmen in the hot sun often uncovered a big bumble bees' nest. After the bees had been put to rout the victors enjoyed the taste of the delicious honey that had been secured.
At noon the old me eting house bell or a tin trumpet sum- mons the hungry laborers to dinner. The afternoon is de- voted to raking and getting in the hay. Five o'clock is the hour for supper, and the work is often continued until after
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sunset. And as the coming twilight is fading away the whip-poor-wills are singing in the woods and thickets; the night hawks are swooping down perpendicularly from the sky; the lightning bugs have come upon the scene and the air is filled with glittering sparks of fire.
Previous to 1820, the farmers of the town raised more than enough wheat for the use of all their families. At that time the coopers now and then brought a barrel or two of flour from Newburyport in exchange for their fish barrels. This flour had been manufactured in Genesee county, New York, then regarded as the greatest wheat producing section in the country.
After haying, the industrious and thrifty farmers take the opportunity to cut and burn the bushes, the brakes, the hard-hacks and ferns that encumber their fields and pas- tures; dig and remove the rocks and otherwise improve their lands. In the meantime, the blue-berries, the black- berries and other wild fruits have ripened and there is a plenty of green peas, new potatoes, string and shell beans, beets and other garden sauce, so the farmers and their fam- ilies can enjoy a feast fit for a king. Soon the early ap- ples, peaches and pears begin to ripen, and in the latter part of August baked sweet apples and milk are among the luxuries of the supper table.
And now the days grow shorter, the crickets begin to chirrup and the nights become cooler. Many of the flow- ers in the fields and gardens are glorious in their beauty, and the humming birds and bees are darting from one to another, sipping the sweet nectar they contain. The ear- . ly frosts generally come by the twentieth of September, the Indian summer sets in, and the forests are soon arrayed in gorgeous robes of yellow, crimson, emerald, purple and gold. Millions of birds are winging their course to the sun- ny regions of the south.
The corn in the fields is cut, brought to the house and piled in a huge heap upon the barn floor. From twenty to thirty men and boys gather around the heap, sitting in old chairs and on milking stools or on bunches of corn fodder. An old-fashioned tin lantern with one tallow candle inside is hung by a ring to the long handle of a pitchfork that is
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stuck horizontally into the side of the hay mow next to the corn to be husked; and then, by the feeble, glimmering light the company sit five or six hours busily stripping the husks from the glossy ears, and telling stories, cracking Jokes, singing songs or talking good sound sense, accord- ing as the spirit moves. Once in a while some of them go out of the barn for a short time to straighten out their be- numbed and cramped limbs, and to look up with wonder to the sparkling stars through the cool, clear atmosphere and pick out from among them the Great Bear, the North Star, the Pleiades or Cassiopeia. The owner of the corn and an assistant have as much as they can attend to in taking up great armfuls of unhusked corn and throwing them down into the laps of each member of the company, and taking the great baskets of ears as they became husk- ed to the garret.
. Seventy-five years ago and later an abundance of liquor was furnished the husking party and a junk bottle was passed to each member and all with scarcely an exception took a good dram.
When all the corn had been husked the party, men and boys, partook of a grand supper of baked lamb, baked beans, Indian pudding, pumpkin pies, doughnuts, etc.
In October, the potatoes are dug and along with the ap- ples and garden vegetables are placed in the cellar. Great cart loads of appies are taken to the mill and made into cider
Many of the farmers .of those days had great orchards of apple trees; but there was only a little grafted fruit be- fore the year 1825. The most of the apple trees were of the native varieties, the fruit of no two being alike. While the most of the native trees bore fruit totally unfit to eat there were others that produced large, fair and finely flav- ored apples, fully equal to the Baldwins of a later date.
Large loads of the inferior qualities of apples are drawn to the mill to be made into cider. The apples are placed in a hopper and crushed between two upright wheels, upon one of which long, deep grooves are cut to receive the projecting tenons cut in the other, when both are closely locked together. The mill was operated by a long, crook-
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ed horizontal lever or crane which at one end was attached to a perpendicular shaft connected with one of the wheels and at the other, to a horse, As the horse moved round and round in a circle the apples were crushed with a groan- ing or shrieking sound and the pumice fell into a great wooden trough. A boy sitting upon a plank placed across the trough and close to the machinery, with a small wood- en paddle, removed the portion of the pumice that adherred to the wheels, or "nuts" as they were then called. This operation was called "scraping the nuts." The pumice i s then taken to the press, which is fitted with great wooden screws, and placed upon nice clean oat straw layer u pon layer, until the pile, or "cheese" as it was called, was four or five feet high. The screws are then applied and soon many little rivulets of cider are flowing down into a vat made by cutting a molasses or rum hogshead in twain. Then was the time the boys and girls were on hand to suck through oat straws their fill of the sweet fluid as it came from the press.
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