USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Canterbury > History of the town of Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1727-1912, v. 1 > Part 18
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At the next annual meeting in 1797 there was evidently a movement to buy land in Hackleborough for a burying yard. The reason no action was taken is indicated by the record which reads, "Voted to postpone article in warrant for purchase of one acre of land near the North Meeting House, as owner of land is not in a capacity to convey." The next year, however, the town bought one half of an acre of land for a burying yard of Samuel Jackson for $12.50 per acre. The condition of the sale was "that the town will build all the fence between said Jackson and the burying yard." This cemetery was enlarged, as already stated in this chapter, by taking in land upon which the North Meeting House stood after that building blew down. With the exception of the cemetery at the Center, there is not a burying yard in town so well filled as this at Hackleborough.
A cemetery was laid out and used near the Baptist meeting house prior to 1831, for an article in the warrant for town meeting that year to have it fenced at the expense of the public was referred to the selectmen. In 1852, the town was asked to buy land in that locality for burial purposes. The subject was re- ferred to the selectmen with instructions to report at the next annual meeting.
1 Half a century later the present enclosing wall was built.
2 The cemetery was enlarged in 1852 by "enclosing the common between it and the highway."
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HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
William Hazeltine was appointed in October, 1779, to serve as grand juror at the next Court of General Sessions to be held at Portsmouth. In July, 1780, Gideon Bartlett was appointed a petit juror for "the inferior court to be held at Exeter." This is the earliest record of the selection of jurors from Canterbury.
At the annual meeting in 1777, the town voted "that all rams be confined from the middle of August until the first of November under penalty of forfeiture of the rams if found at large." Ten years later it was voted "that no boars shall run at large, upwards 5 months old, penalty, forfeiture of the boars."
The depreciation of the currency is shown in 1780 in the vote at the annual meeting appropriating $6,000 for highways to be worked out at the rate of $36 a day per man.
In 1785, Leavitt Clough was voted $6 for killing a wolf in Canterbury two years before and John Moore was voted the same sum for killing one in 1783.
Bouton in his "History of Concord," writing of the period fol- lowing the Revolutionary War says that "When a large building was to be raised, it was customary to send an invitation to the strong and stout men of neighboring towns, such as the Heads and Knoxes of Pembroke, the Chamberlains of Loudon, Lyfords and Cloughs of Canterbury, and Jackmans and Flanders of Boscawen." 1
The town voted in 1793 "not to finish a house for the inocula- tion of small pox in town." Probably this refers to the erection of a pest house for the care of victims of this dread disease which was of frequent recurrence in the eighteenth century.
1 Bouton's History of Concord, page 569.
CHAPTER VIII.
EARLY POSTAL FACILITIES. INDUSTRIES AND BUSINESS. THE BLACKSMITH SHOPS, SAW AND GRIST MILLS, TAVERNS AND STORES. LIQUOR LICENSES AND LEGISLATION. LIBRARIES. HIGHWAY DISTRICTS. WAR OF 1812.
During the closing years of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, the settlement of the town was completed. Until the Revolutionary War, the entire north- eastern part of Canterbury, embracing Shaker Village and Hill's Corner school district, remained substantially an unbroken wilderness. There were trails which led from other parts of the town to this section and beyond to Gilmanton, probably made by scouting parties during the Indian wars. These were followed by pioneers in looking out new locations. Some of the early settlements in this part of the town were made along these trails, which, when highways were laid out, left the habitations of a few of the settlers a distance from the traveled thoroughfares, but in the main the roads were built by the houses of those who had taken up the land for farms, passing over the steep hills which are as common in this part of the town as in other sections. The growth of the Hill's Corner school district was rapid; for it was not subject to the interruptions that retarded settlements elsewhere in town.1
It was during this period of new settlements in Canterbury that the state government turned its attention to the wants of the people, providing postal facilities and enacting laws for the improvement of their condition. Taverns multiplied for the accommodation of the traveling public. Greater attention was given to education,2 and before the close of the century a library had been incorporated for the benefit of the people of the town. Toll bridges followed soon after to take the place of the ferries across the Merrimack River.
The necessity of better means of communication between
1 See chapter on Hill's Corner.
2 See chapter on schools.
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HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
towns led to the establishment of post offices, first by the state and later by the general government. In 1786 the president and council were given full authority to appoint a postmaster gen- eral of New Hampshire and to direct him where to establish post offices. They could employ or give the postmaster gen- eral authority "to employ a proper number of riders so that newspapers, letters and mail may be transported in the most easy, safe and expeditious manner to the various parts of the state." 1 One of the routes laid out at this time provided for a rider to leave Portsmouth on Monday and proceed through Exeter, Nottingham, Concord and Plymouth to Haverhill and then return through Orford, Hanover, Boscawen, Northfield, Canterbury, Epsom and Newmarket to Portsmouth. The round trip probably took a week, the post rider having relays of horses, as did the stages later. As early, therefore, as 1786, Canterbury had regular mail facilities.
In a very comprehensive chapter on "Canals, Stage Lines and Taverns" in the "History of Concord" (1903), Henry McFarland gives some interesting data in regard to the post riders and stage lines of New Hampshire.2 It there appears that the post rider is mentioned as early as 1780 in the diary of the Rev. Timothy Walker of Concord. In 1781, John Balch of Keene, under au- thority of the Committee of Safety, rode fortnightly from Ports- mouth by way of Concord and Plymouth to Haverhill, thence down the Connecticut Valley to Charlestown and Keene and across country to Portsmouth. Timothy Balch performed like service as late at least as 1785. It is not impossible that the route of the Balches took them by the old Moore and McCrillis tavern in Canterbury. It is more than probable that the route established in 1786, which on the return trip from Haverhill passed through Canterbury, went by this hostelry. It was at the taverns that the post riders changed horses and there the people assembled to greet the mail carrier and learn the news of the outside world.
Among the early post riders mentioned by Mr. McFarland is Ezekiel Moore of Canterbury. In 1807 Samuel Tallant of the same town was on the route to Haverhill, while in 1809 James Tallant, also of Canterbury, rode a circuit through Bow, Dun-
1 N. H. State Papers, Vol. XX, page 543.
History of Concord (1903), page 842.
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EARLY POSTAL FACILITIES.
barton, Pembroke, Chester, Candia, Deerfield and Allenstown, and at another period to Amherst. Samuel Tallant took up post riding on account of his health, having a tendency to con- sumption, of which malady a large number of his family died. He, however, lived to a ripe old age and ascribed his longevity to his active outdoor employment, first as post rider and after- wards as a stage driver.
Jeremiah Emery was a rider on a route from Concord to Hop- kinton, Boscawen, Salisbury, Andover and Canterbury. Peter Smart was a post rider in 1814.
It is not clear when stages superseded the post rider in this section of the state. Mr. McFarland quotes from the "New Hampshire Statesman" of April 30, 1859, a communication from Governor David L. Morrill in which the writer says that he rode from Reed's Ferry to Concord in August, 1805, "in a crazy old thing called a coach driven by Joseph Wheat, and, staying at Con- cord over night, went on to Hanover by the same conveyance." 1
From about 1807 notices appear in the newspapers of stage lines to the north of Concord. In 1820 Samuel Tallant of Can- terbury started a semi-weekly line to Plymouth via Canterbury and New Hampton. Two years later "the expeditious mail stage from Boston to Stanstead" was driven three round trips a week with Peter Smart as driver between Boston and Plymouth, leaving Boston at 3 a. m. and arriving at Plymouth (102 miles) at 9 p. m. The labor performed by Smart at this time would have broken down three common men, namely, driving a stage from Plymouth to Boston and back again day after day and night after night.2 After his stage driving days were over, Mr. Smart settled in Canterbury on a farm situated upon the highway from the Center to the Depot.
The first provisions of the federal government for the Post Office Department were of a temporary character renewed from year to year by Congress. In 1792, however, an act was passed "to establish the Post Offices and Post Roads within the United States." The only post road mentioned in New Hampshire was one from Portsmouth, by Exeter and Concord, to Hanover.3 The rates of postage fixed by this act may be of interest to people of the present time.
1 History of Concord (1903), page 845.
2 N. H. Statesman, January 3, 1857.
: Act of February 20, 1792.
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HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
For each single letter conveyed by land
not exceeding over
30
miles six cents
30 and not exceeding
60 eight
60
66
150 twelve and a half cts.
66
200
66
66
66
250 seventeen cents.
66
250
350 twenty cents.
66
350
66
66
and more than 450 miles
450 twenty two cents. twenty five cents.
Double letters paid double rates, while every packet weigh- ing over one ounce paid at the rate of four single letters. The postage for newspapers was one cent for any distance not over one hundred miles and one and a half cent for a greater distance. Every printer of newspapers could send one paper to each and every other printer of newspapers in the United States free of postage. A single letter meant one written on a single sheet of paper, however large or small. Two sheets made a double letter and three sheets a triple.1
The first industries of Canterbury were the saw mills and grist mills, and these were located wherever the streams afforded a mill privilege. Some of the sites are still visible. Of others there is record only in deeds. The equipment of the saw mills was not expensive and their necessity in furnishing build- ing material for the settlers caused the erection of some which lapsed into disuse after serving an immediate purpose. There was an old mill on the Thomas Clough place, where Albert and Mary E. Clough now reside, which was among the earliest if not the first saw mill in town. At one time there was a grist mill there. The town records speak of a saw mill belonging to Capt. Jeremiah Clough, but its location is not known.
In a deed dated March 19, 1788, John Lyford gave to his sons Thomas and Joseph his farm and "interest in his saw mill stand- ing on the same." 2 This was at Hackleborough. The farm was owned and occupied later by Jeremiah Pickard and his descend- ants, and that part of the land on which the mill stood is now in the possession of Jonathan B. Foster. Amos Pickard, son of Jeremiah, and Moses Brown carried on the mill after the Lyford family had moved away.
1 McMaster Hist. People of U. S., Vol. II, page 61.
2 Exeter Register of Deeds, Vol. CXLIII, page 369.
66
100 ten 66
100
150
200 fifteen cents
66
193
EARLY INDUSTRIES.
"Master" Henry Parkinson had a grist mill and a clothing mill where he picked and carded wool on Great Brook, so called. Later, John J. Bryant bought the Parkinson farm and mill privi- lege and built a saw mill lower down on the brook near the line of the railroad. Jonathan Ayers afterwards purchased the rights of Bryant, dug a new canal and built a new dam. He used the Parkinson building for a shingle and saw mill and therein was also a carpenter's and blacksmith's shop.
Thomas Clough, the father of Philip C., operated a saw mill on Hicks' Brook near where he resided.
There was a mill privilege on the road leading from Hill's Corner to Hackleborough at the foot of the hill not a great dis- tance from the Corner. Joseph Kimball had a turning mill here and made spinning wheels, linen wheels, chairs, tables, hand rakes and other domestic and farm implements.
In 1816 the town voted to give John Peverly the improvement of the rangeway between his land and Miles Hodgdon's "five rods north and five rods south of the Great Falls, so called, as long as he will have a mill thereon provided he will build a road by (it) when called for by the town." This mill was in the Bap- tist School District near the Peverly place.
Very early the Shakers utilized the mill privilege upon their land for sawing lumber and for various manufacturing purposes.1
There was a tannery near the road leading from the Center to Tilton, about half way between the house occupied by the late Miss Mary Patrick and the little brook that crosses the road to the west of the house. At the annual meeting in 1834, the town "voted to lease to William M. Patrick," son of the minister, "the privilege of flowing a piece of the parsonage land, now occu- pied and flowed by Edmund Stevens." The latter then resided in the dwelling at the fork of the roads, which was later the home of Miss Patrick. The dam was about ten rods east of the high- way leading to Hackleborough. Under date of March 6, 1835, there was filed with the town clerk an indenture or lease from Canterbury to Upham and Patrick of "that part of the parson- age land occupied as a pond to reserve water for the use of their tannery." The water used at the tannery was conveyed to it in a wooden sluice and it was a favorite pastime for the school children at the Center to slide down this sluice. There was a 1 See chapter "The Shakers."
14
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HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
large vat in which the skins were placed. After tanning they were hung on the fences near by to dry. The tannery was used for a number of years. By the methods then in use it required a year to properly tan hides. The tanning was in part for farmers who carried away the leather to have it made up into boots and shoes for family use by the cobbler who went from house to house to do his work. Hides not required for domestic pur- poses were sold to the tanners who in time converted them into leather and shipped this product to market.
There was another tannery at Hill's Corner which did service for several years in the early days of that locality.
The blacksmith was an important factor in Canterbury from its earliest days and probably the community was never for any long period without one or more representatives of this trade. In 1752 Nathaniel Perkins is described in a deed as of this occupation, but whether he carried it on after he came to town is not known. Samuel Shepard and Samuel Shepard, Jr., are referred to as blacksmiths in a deed dated March 18, 1757. The fact that father and son were of the same trade leads to the conclusion that one or both may have had a shop in town after their set- tlement. The Revolutionary rolls show that Samuel Haines who enlisted in Capt. Jeremiah Clough's company was of this calling. David McCrillis who came to Canterbury about this time was also a blacksmith. Undoubtedly there were others. So far as the records of the town disclose any information on this subject, it is of a much later date.
John Moore, "blacksmith," was elected pound keeper at the March meeting, 1810. Abner Haines had a shop at the foot of the hill near the present residence of Charles H. Ayers. It was built by Joseph Lyford. His nephew of the same name built another shop near by. Thomas Clough, father of Philip C. Clough, is mentioned as a blacksmith in 1836 and Gordon Dwyer was given leave in 1840 to erect buildings for carrying on his trade "on land belonging to the town." Mr. Clough's location was north of his son's house at the fork of the roads leading to the Borough and to Tilton. Mr. Dwyer's full name may have been Franklin Gordon Dwyer, as a Franklin Dwyer had a shop just south of the Henry Parkinson house. If so, he probably removed to the Center in 1840.
In 1843 the town records refer to Jonathan K. Taylor as a
195
BLACKSMITH SHOPS.
blacksmith. He was in business first at Hill's Corner and then removed to the Center, where he had a shop near the school house, and he probably succeeded Gordon Dwyer.
Stephen Moore is mentioned in 1845 as the owner of a black- smith shop, but he may not have been a workman. Frederick Chase and his son, Elbridge G., carried on the business for many years at the Center, while Dea. Samuel Hill had a shop near where John P. Kimball now resides. About an eighth of a mile beyond James Frames' place, on the road from the Center to the Baptist Church, Henry Hayward did blacksmithing for several years. Charles H. Fellows had a shop for a time near the Harper homestead, while George H. Gale is the blacksmith at the Center at the present time.
Trueworthy Hill was also one of the early workers in iron who shod horses and cattle. His place of business was about half way between the Baptist Meeting House and the Leone I. Chase place. In his day the shoes and nails were made by the blacksmith from bars and rods of iron. The bars of shoe iron were four feet long, an inch wide and half of an inch thick, while the nail rods were from five to six feet in length. The wrought iron shoes for oxen lasted for two or three years. They were put on smooth for summer use and were sharpened for the win- ter. In the spring and fall they were taken off if the cattle were not in use.
There was at one time a blacksmith shop on Whitney Hill below the Leone I. Chase farm. Eliphalet Gale carried on the business of a wheelwright at the Center, but it is doubtful if his work embraced any part of the trade of a blacksmith.
At Hill's Corner there were several blacksmiths at different times. Samuel Huckins and his son of the same name had a shop near their residence. They were succeeded by Jonathan L. Dearborn. Ebenezer Currier made over the old turning mill at the foot of the hill on the highway leading to Hackle- borough and put in a trip hammer. Here he did various kinds of iron work for several years prior to the Civil War. On the Bel- mont road, a mile from Hill's Corner, at the cross roads, Timothy Frisbee had a shop early in the nineteenth century. About half way between Frisbee's shop and the Corner, George Hol- comb did blacksmithing for a brief time about 1870. At the Ebenezer Batchelder place on the highway leading from Gilman-
196
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
ton road to Loudon, Albert Ames carried on this trade for a num- ber of years. The last blacksmith in this school district was Jeremiah Smith. In early life he had worked in the railroad shops at Concord. Purchasing the Otis Young farm forty years ago, he did more or less work at the forge in addition to tilling his land, until he sold his farm a few years ago.
The Shakers have always maintained one or more blacksmith shops, and for a number of years each of the three families had one of its own. Some of the buildings are still standing. If there was no one of that trade among the members some one was employed from outside. One shop now does the work for the entire community.
After the saw mill and grist mill came the tavern and the store, the former preceding the latter. The first tavern in town was that built by Samuel Moore, of which there is record as early as 1756, a meeting having been held "at the house of Samuel Moore innholder" August 9, that year, for the sale of the pew ground of the meeting house.1 This hostelry was for many years on the line of travel north through Canterbury and it continued as a hotel for nearly a century. After Samuel Moore's death in 1776, it was kept by his widow, Susannah Moore, until her marriage with David McCrillis, when it was known as the McCrillis Tavern until his death in 1825. Then it came into the possession of Jacob Blanchard, and he and his son, Naham, were the proprie- tors until about 1850. The original building is still standing. It was contemporaneous with the present town house, which as a meeting house was accepted by the inhabitants as a gift from the proprietors in 1756, and probably the Moore Tavern preceded it by a few years.
The next record of a hotel is nearly thirty years later, an auction for the sale of lands of non-resident proprietors for delinquent taxes being held June 19, 1782, at the house of Jeremiah Clough, Esq., "innholder."2 When Mr. Clough's house was opened to the traveling public, or how long it remained a tavern, it is impos- sible to determine.
All subsequent notices of hotels appear in the list of licenses granted by the selectmen to citizens of Canterbury to keep
1 See also N. H. State Papers, Vol. VI, page 686, for record of tavern at Canter- bury in 1758.
2 In a tax deed dated February 5, 1784, "Jeremiah Clough, Esq.," is described as "innholder."
BLANCHARD'S
197
TAVERNS AND STORES.
tavern at their dwelling houses and to have the privilege of selling liquor. The record of these licenses is not complete, for they are not in chronological order and frequently there is a lapse of sev- eral years in granting them to the same person. Evidently the selectmen were not methodical in making their return of these licenses, and sometimes it appears to have been an afterthought of the town clerk in recording them. Whether the authority granted to keep a tavern indicates the demand for hotels in Can- terbury for a period of half a century, or is partly an index of the bibulous habits of the settlers during that period, it is impossible at this time to say.
Contemporaneous with these licenses to innkeepers were the licenses granted to others to sell liquors at their stores. In some of the latter it was stipulated that the liquor was to be sold in quantity and not to be drunk on the premises. Hospitality in those days was not complete unless the cup that cheers was set before the guest, and even the minister did not feel compelled to decline an invitation of his parishioners to join them in the social glass. In fact, a round of parish calls taxed his sobriety quite as much as his digestion. Neighbors resorted to the tavern for socia- bility, while purchases of liquor at the stores were made to meet the hospitality dispensed at the fireside. The following is a list of the taverns of Canterbury as shown by the record of licenses:
Under date of May 25, 1798, the selectmen certified that Joseph Ayers is a suitable person to keep a tavern and they grant him a license.
June 22, 1804, the selectmen set forth that "Joseph Ayers and son, having made application to keep a tavern in their dwelling house and also to retail spirituous liquors therein, they have issued to them a license." There is nothing further to show how long the Ayers place was an open house to the public.
November 5, 1804, Reuben Moore received the approbation of the selectmen as an innholder to carry on the business at his dwelling house. He was again licensed in 1806 and 1808.
December 20, 1806, Nathan Currier receives a license "to retail wines and spiritous liquors at his dwelling house at the cor- ner of the Sanbornton road south of William Glines." When a license was issued to him in 1808, it was stated that it is for the purpose of keeping a tavern.
March 9, 1807, Lieut. Moses Cogswell is given authority to
198
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
keep a tavern in his dwelling house. This license is renewed in 1808 and 1809. Hannah Cogswell, his widow, has a license issued to her to become an innholder and to sell spirituous liquors in 1811, 1813 and 1814, and the same privilege is given to Amos Cogswell, their son, in 1815, with repeated renewals until and including 1838.1 This was the first tavern at Hill's Corner. The Cogswell house was on the direct line of travel from Concord and the south to Meredith, Plymouth and other towns farther north.
December 14, 1821, Thomas Butters is given a license to have a tavern at his dwelling house. This was at Hill's Corner and is the second hotel in that locality of which there is record.
March 17, 1823, David McCrillis is authorized to keep a tavern at his dwelling house and "to sell rum, brandy, gin, wines and all spirituous liquors by the small, that is less quantities than one pint." The only other record of a license to Mr. McCrillis is the year previous. Yet in notices of sale of non-resident land for delinquent taxes he is described as an "innholder" in 1778, 1788, 1790 and 1799. Undoubtedly from the time that licenses were required to be issued to innholders to enable them to sell liquor until his death, Mr. McCrillis regularly took out a license for his tavern. This is the most striking instance of the incompleteness of these records of licenses.
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