USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Canterbury > History of the town of Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1727-1912, v. 1 > Part 2
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Fourth, That a proprietor's share be reserved for the first minister of the gospel that shall be there settled and ordained, and another for a parsonage, and another proprietor's share for the benefit of a school in the said town.
Provided, nevertheless that the peace with the Indians con- tinues for the space of three years, but if it shall happen that a war with the Indians do break out before the expiration of the aforesaid three years that then the said term of three years shall be allowed to the proprietors after the expiration of the war for the performance of the aforesaid conditions.
Rendering and paying therefor to us, our heirs and successors, or such officer or officers as shall be appointed to receive the same, the annual quit rent or acknowledgment of one pint of Indian Corn, in the said town on the first Friday in March yearly for- ever (if demanded) reserving also unto us, our heirs and suc- cessors, all mast trees growing on said land according to Acts of Parliament in that case made and provided.
And for the better order, rule and government of the said town we do by these presents for ourselves, our heirs and successors, grant unto the said men and inhabitants, or those that shall inhabit said town that yearly and every year upon the third Thursday in March, forever, shall meet to elect or choose, by the major part of the proprietors then present, Constables, Selectmen and other town officers, according to the laws and usages of our said Province, with all the power, privileges and authorities as other towns and town officers within our aforesaid Province have and enjoy. And for notifying and calling of the
3
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
first town meeting we do hereby appoint Paul Gerrish, Paul Wentworth and John Smith to be selectmen for the said town of Canterbury, and they to continue in said office as selectmen until the third Thursday in the month of March which shall be in the Year of Our Lord, 1728 and until other selectmen shall be chosen and appointed in their stead, in such manner as in these presents is expressed.
In testimony whereof we have caused the seal of our said Province to be hereunto affixed.
Witness John Wentworth Esq., Our Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief in and over our said Province of New Hamp- shire, the twentieth day of May in the fourteen year of Our Reign, Annoq Domini 1727.
JOHN WENTWORTH
By order of His Honor, the Lieutenant Governor with advice of the Council.
RICHARD WALDRON Cler : Con.
Admitted Associates: His Excellency and Honorable Samuel Shute Esq., and John Wentworth Esq., each of them 500 Acres and a home lot, Col. Mark Hunking, Col. Walton, George Jaffret, Richard Wibird, Archibald McPhreadris Esq's.
Canterbury Charter Certified
RICHARD WALDRON Cler: Con.
Entered and recorded according to an attested copy which having been exhibited by Josiah Miles and Thomas Clough, a committee appointed by the town of Canterbury to petition the Governor and Council to have the foregoing copy entered upon record in the Secretary's office, which petition and copy was laid before the board and it appearing to be a true copy, the original being as the Council supposed burned in the Secretary's office,- it was ordered to be recorded here, in obedience to which order it was recorded this 17th day of February, 1756 (7).
THEODORE ATKINSON Secretary.
This grant embraced all of the present towns of Canterbury, Loudon and Northfield, Loudon being set off as a separate town- ship in 1773 and Northfield in 1780.
4
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
The original proprietors, as shown by the records of the town when they drew their 40 acre or home lots, with the number of the lot drawn by each, follows:
Allen, John . 16
Davis, Joseph. 133
Ambler, John.
146
Davis, Joseph, Jr . . 88
Atkinson, Theodore
119
Downing, Capt. John 170
Adams, Samuel
86
Durgan, Francis. 33
Davis, Samuel 57
Bickford, Eliezer
22
Demmeret, Eli . 176
Bennets, Job.
153
Durgan, James . 105
Bickford, John .
64
Davis, Ephraim .
13
Burnam, John.
32
Daniels, Joseph .
43
Bussell, John.
58
Doe, Samuel .
100
Bennick, (Bennett) Abra- ham. .
1
Demmeret, John.
149
Bowers, Jonathan
85
Davis, Daniel .
5
Bussell, William.
31
Dennet, Ephraim
193
Burnam, James.
41
Demmeret, William
44
Bickford, Joseph
192
Davis, James, Jr
89
Bassford, James .
42
Davis, David.
75
Blanchard, Richard
124
Burnam, Robert.
148
Dearborn, Joseph. 28
Blagdon, John.
35
Bamford, Robert
121
Brock, William
186
Brown, William
72
Chesley, Ichabod. 37
Coffin, Tristram.
161
Carle, Samuel
160
Chesley, Jonathan 165
Chesley, Samuel.
173
Conner, Hugh.
120
Frost, Charles. 167
Carter, John. 169
Follet, Ichabod. 154
Chesley, George
30
Fellows, William. 61
Clark, Eli
103
Chesley, Joseph. 51
Chesley, Philip 106
Conner, James . 69
Critchet, Elias .
10
Clemmens, Job
52
Glines, William, Jr 84
Davis, Jabez.
56
Giles, John. 162
Davis, James 3d.
180
Glines, John. 9
Doe, John.
115
Gerrish, Paul. 113
Davis, Col. James
199
Gilman, Capt. John . 187
Davis, Thomas 7
Evans, Benjamin 131
Emerson, Samuel 70
Evans, Joseph. 126
Evans, Edward. 156
Emerson, Micah. 127
Ellis, Joseph . 179
Eustis, Joseph. 110
Footman, John, Jr 144
Frost, Capt. John. 23
Gibson, James 14
Gray, John. 49
Gilman, John, Esq. 53
145
Drew, Thomas
5
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
Gooding, or Goodwin,
James. 137
Hill, Samuel 47
Hill, Nathaniel
82
Hicks, Joseph
182
Hays, John.
80
Huggins, James .
189
Hanson, James
164
Mason, Benjamin. 91
Matthews, Francis. 152
1 Odiorn, Capt. Jotham. . 8
Odiorn, John, Jr. 60
Huggins, John.
99
Hill, Valentine. 68
Hussey, Joseph.
159
Jeffrey, James.
Jones, Joseph, Jr.
83
Jeffrey, George, Jr 125
Jeffrey, Cyprian. 195
Jones, Joseph . 147
Jennings, Richard. 65
thaniel . 168
Jenkins, Joseph, Jr.
21
Jeffrey, George, Esq.
76
Rynes, William 172
Jones, Stephen .
117
Rynes, Thomas 200
Jones, Benjamin. 134
Rawlings, John. 196
Jenkins, John .
94
Runnells, John. 108
Jones, Stephen, Jr.
36
Russell, Eleazer . 184
Jenkins, Joseph, Jr
96
Reed, John, Atty 3
Jenkins, Joseph.
102
Roe, John. 17
Kent, Robert.
114
Sias, Samuel . 139
Knight, John
45
Shepherd, Samuel 78
Kennestone, James
194
Sias, John . 39
School . 11
Leathers, Ezekiel .
18
Stevens, Hubbard. 118
Lummaks, Nathaniel.
95
Smith, Benjamin. 140
Leathers, William 185
Stevens, Ebenezer 142
Stimson, Thomas. 25
Moor, John.
177
Smith, Samuel, Jr 63
Morrill, Nathaniel
112
Smith, Samuel . 109
Minister.
12
Sanborn, John. 77
Mason, Joseph
48
Smith, John 3d 181
Marstine, ( Marston) James 116
McMath, John. 104
Mason, Peter. 135
McPhreadris, Archibold . 171
Matthews, Abraham. . .
74
Matthews, Francis, Jr .. . 107
Mattoone, Richard . 93
Huggins, Robert. . 123
Hunking, Col. Mark 92
Hodgsdon, Israel . 50
Hodgsdon, Israel, Jr 174
Pitman, John . 155
2 Parsonage .
Perkins, Joseph 188
Pearl, John. . 38
Plaistead, John 54
Rand, John . 19
Rendell, (Randall) Na-
151
Jenkins, William
Rendell, (Randall) Samuel 166
Also assigned lot 191 of forty-acre division.
2 No drawing was made of a parsonage lot in the forty-acre division.
6
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
Smith, Joseph. 6
Wiggin, Andrew . 111
Westbrook, Col. Thomas 190
Smith, John, Jr. 97
Wentworth, Gershon .... 24
Shepheard, John. 143
Wibird, Richard, Jr. ..
90
Shute, Samuel, Esq. 150
Woodman, Jonathan . .
122
Wingate, John . 132
Tibbets, Benjamin. 59
Weare, Peter, Esq.
163
Tibbets, Edward .
158
Waldron, John.
197
Thompson, John, Jr
2
Weare, Ebenezer .
157
Thompson, Robert
138
Wibird, Richard, Esq.
27
Tibbets, Thomas
198
Willee, John . 20
Woodman, John. 66
1 Tibbets, Henry
178
Woodman, Jonathan, Jr.
67
Tibbets, Timothy
46
Waldron, Richard, Jr. ..
101
Thompson, John.
73
Williams, Samuel.
26
Tilley, Samuel 98
Waldron, Richard, Esq . . 34
Tibbets, Henry, son of Nath'l.
175
Watson, Col. Shadrick . .
87
Thompson, Jonathan. ..
29
Wentworth, Benjamin ... 128
Wentworth, John, Esq .. . 141
York, Benjamin 4
York, John . 62
Wentworth, Paul
15
Young, Thomas 81
136
Tibbets, Samuel
55
Watson, Isaac .. 79
Tibbets, Joseph, son of Joseph
129
Tibbets, Joseph . 71
40
Willee, Thomas. 183
Willee, John, Jr.
The proprietors were called together by the selectmen named in the charter October 31, 1727, and organized with the choice of Samuel Smith as clerk. Their first effort was to ascertain the extent of their grant, and a committee was selected to join with committees of towns contiguous to Canterbury and granted about the same time "to settle the bounds between town and town." Nothing appears to have come of this vote, which may have been due to the delinquency of the proprietors of the neigh- boring towns. There is no record of another meeting of the Canterbury proprietors for nearly two years. October 6, 1729, they chose Jonathan Chesley, Thomas Young and William Hill a committee to lay out and bound their grant and make a return to the next meeting. As Chesley and Young were the members of the first committee, it is probable that they had difficulty in arranging joint action with the other towns. They were now authorized to act independently. At the annual meeting March 25, 1730, they were voted forty pounds for "laying out and bound- 1 Also given lot 178 in forty-acre division.
Smith, Capt. John 130
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THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
ing out said town of Canterbury," and there was also appro- priated for each of the committee twenty shillings "to pay for drink after they came home." Whether they went to Canterbury late in the fall of 1729 or after the March meeting is not shown by the record. Although their return is not recorded until March 28, 1732, it is evident that their work was performed some time before that date.
Immediately following this action to locate and bound their grant, the proprietors arranged for dividing it into lots and pro- vided for drawing the same among themselves. The first division of the town was of the home lots so called, which were of forty acres each, with a later provision that each proprietor should have an equal share of intervale land. The drawing of the home lots occurred May 27, 1731, at the meeting house of Oyster River Falls in the town of Durham, where, with one exception, all of the proprietors' gatherings were held until August 2, 1750. At the same time that the lots were drawn, a committee was chosen to arrange for building a meeting house in Canterbury, and in July, 1731, it was voted to leave the size of the building to the discretion of this committee.
How early the settlement of the town began is uncertain. The great majority of the proprietors had no intention of becoming pioneers in the clearing of a wilderness. Their grant had cost them nothing except the obligation to promote a settlement, in doing which their holdings would become more valuable. In more recent times, they would have been called land grabbers and promoters. What the charter required them to do to avoid the forfeiture of their grant they did with some show of interest, but few of them ever saw the town whose future was left so largely in their hands. Almost immediately they began to speculate in the land they had acquired, sales of lots being made in some instances even before the location or ownership was determined.1 After the home lots were bounded and drawn, the conveyances of them are of frequent occurrence, but, while the record of deeds shows numerous transactions, there are few direct sales from the original proprietors to actual settlers.
The warrant for the proprietors' meeting March 20, 1734,
1 Deed of John Glines of Dover to John Woodman of Dover October 18, 1730. N. H. Prov. Deeds, Vol. XVIII, page 472. Deed of John Plaisted of Portsmouth to Tobias Langdon of Portsmouth July 18, 1731. Idem, Vol. XVIII, page 66.
.
8
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
recites that "A sufficient number of inhabitants of Canterbury have requested by petition under their hand to have a minister the ensuing summer and to have a mill built for their benefit." The next year the proprietors "voted that the inhabitants of the town of Canterbury have a minister four Sabbaths on the town's charge between this1 and the month of March next ensuing."
An assessment was laid upon the proprietors at this meeting for clearing "a passable way" from Durham to Canterbury, and it was voted "to grant to some proper person or persons a privi- lege and land for building a saw mill."
A year later, June 30, 1736, the proprietors "voted £50 for the support of the ministry at Canterbury, that is to pay for the charge the inhabitants have been at already in hiring a min- ister and to support the charge of the minister until the next annual meeting in March."
By petition2 dated February 25, 1741-42, to His Excellency Benning Wentworth, governor, and the council and house of representatives in general court convened, Thomas Young of Newmarket, innholder, and Samuel Adams of Durham, physi- cian, as agents and in behalf of the proprietors of Canterbury and in behalf of the inhabitants of that town set forth that "The said proprietors have for several years last past applied themselves more closely than at first to the pursuit of proper measures for settling of said township and among other things thought proper for that end have built a meeting house and from time to time hired a minister to preach to the inhabitants which has encouraged the settlement so that there are about thirty families now upon the spot.
"That said proprietors have with considerable expense cut a way from Durham up into the country upwards of twenty miles towards said township of Canterbury which, if cut through, will be of great advantage not only to that place but to the Province in general and which they are not able to affect and (which) must fall through for want of proper laws to compel such proprietors as neglect to pay their proportion of the charge and of such necessary taxes as have from time to time been laid upon them."
Wherefore they "ask that an act be passed to enable the said proprietors by their selectmen and other officers to compel such
1 June 30, 1735.
Bouton's Town Papers, Vol. IX, page 87.
9
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
proprietors as have not paid their proportion to pay forth- with."1
It appears from the foregoing that thirty families had settled in Canterbury before the date of this petition in 1742. The averments of the petition, however, must be taken with some allowance for exaggeration of what had been accomplished. The proprietors were in default of the terms of their charter, which required them to build seventy dwelling houses and settle a family in each house within three years, provided peace continued with the Indians. More than double that time elapsed after the granting of the charter before there was cause for apprehension of Indian raids. Then again, the petition sets forth that a meet- ing house had been built. Yet, at a proprietors' meeting two years later, 1744, it was voted to use the money appropriated for building a meeting house towards erecting a fort and to postpone the former enterprise until the next year. The statement that there were "about thirty families now upon the spot," in 1742, must be construed as meaning less than thirty families rather than exactly that number. That there were more than thirty families in Canterbury before 1750, when the proprietors prac- tically turned over the control of the internal affairs of the town to the inhabitants, is shown by the conveyances recorded in the Province Registry of Deeds, the proprietors' and the provincial records. Who were these early settlers?
Some of them were founders of families long identified with Canterbury or those parts of the town that were set off in 1773 and 1780 as Loudon and Northfield. Of this class were Jeremiah and Thomas Clough, John Moore and his sons, Samuel Ames, John Glines, Ezekiel Morrill, William and Josiah Miles, John and William Forrest, Jr., James and Samuel Shepard, Benjamin Blanchard and John Curry. The descendants of others are found as tax payers for a generation or two, and then, to improve their fortunes, they moved elsewhere. One branch of the Hackett family migrated to Gilmanton. Solomon Copp and Josiah Miles, Jr., took up new land in Sanbornton. John Dolloff probably went to Conway. James Scales, the first spiritual adviser of the settlers received a call to Hopkinton.
Of the remainder little is known beyond the fact that their names appeared in various records for several years. A few were
1 Act approved March 19, 1741-42, Vol. II, Manuscript Acts 1741-1765, page 20.
10
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
scouts sent by the provincial government to protect the inhab- itants from the Indians, and they remained in town for a brief period after their military service ended. Others may have had no descendants. The probable time of the arrival of the first settlers of Canterbury is shown by the data that follows, but some of them may have come even earlier.
July 28, 1733, Samuel Ingalls of Chester conveyed to Richard Blanchard of Canterbury home lot No. 35, and the Province Registry of Deeds shows no grantor or grantee as an earlier inhab- itant of the town. This, however, is not conclusive evidence that he was the first settler. The early pioneers may have explored the territory with the privilege of purchasing later if conditions were found to be satisfactory. The actual conveyances of these lots in Canterbury were made at Durham, Dover or some other settlement in the southern part of the state where there was a justice of the peace before whom the deed could be executed.1 Hence, there may have been inhabitants who did not secure title to their property until they had an opportunity to return to civilization, which may have been several years after settlement. Then, it was quite as natural to describe the grantee in a deed as the inhabitant of a town from which he emigrated as of Canter- bury, a community that was not accorded town privileges until 1741. The warrant for the proprietors' meeting March 20, 1734, which recites as one reason for calling it that "a sufficient num- ber of inhabitants of Canterbury have requested by petition under their hand to have a minister the ensuing summer and a mill built for their benefit," confirms this view. Richard Blanchard was probably one of the proprietors of Canterbury. One of that name drew home lot 124, but sold it soon after.
There is evidence that John Glines, the proprietor who drew home lot 9, was a settler. He may have immediately prospected, and not finding his lot satisfactory, disposed of it. In May, 1733, John Glines of Durham bought home lot 29, which five years later he exchanged with James Lindsey for home lot 63. Upon the latter lot he finally made his home. In 1736 he is described in a deed as of Canterbury. His coming to town was between 1733 and 1736.
James Lindsey is first described as a citizen of Canterbury in a
1 James Scales was the first resident of Canterbury to hold a commission as justice of the peace. The earliest acknowledgment taken before him that has been found bears date of 1744.
11
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
deed bearing date of 1736, when he bought home lot 17. Two years later, he purchased home lots 29, 30 and 31. One half of these he conveyed in 1749 to his daughter Elizabeth, who mar- ried Nathaniel Perkins. The latter reconveyed to her father in 1752. In 1767, Lindsey deeded the easterly half of these lots to Jeremiah Clough, Jr., "together with the buildings and orchard on said land." Three years later, he deeded the remainder to Clough. Lindsey bought and sold other lots in this section of the town adjacent to the fort and undoubtedly resided in this locality until his death.1
James Head is given in the Province Registry of Deeds as a resident of Canterbury in 1733. He bought one half of home lot 94 and the whole of home lot 30. The latter he sold to James Lindsey in 1738 and the former to Archelaus Moore in 1749. He purchased home lot 104 in 1749, and here he made his home until 1761, when he sold it and lot 105 to Samuel Moore, describing it as his home place.2
Lieut. William Miles, who came from Dover, was an early purchaser of land in Canterbury. In 1732 he bought home lot 32 and in 1737 he acquired home lot 19. These were contiguous lots east and west. In the deed of lot 19, he is described as an inhabitant of the town. His coming, therefore, dates between 1732 and 1737.
Josiah Miles was a son of William Miles. He was born in 1719 and undoubtedly accompanied his father to Canterbury when still a minor. He is first found as a land owner in 1740, when he bought home lot 18.
Capt. Jeremiah Clough is not described in any deed as a resi- dent of the town before 1738, although tradition calls him the first settler. He was chosen a selectman by the proprietors that year, and, as he was the first inhabitant to be elected to office, he was probably the pioneer of the settlement. His first purchases included home lots 68 and 69 near the fort. His son, Jeremiah Clough, Jr., whose birth was in 1736, is said to have been the first white male child born in Canterbury.
William Curry was in Canterbury in 1733, for, as a resident of the town, he purchased home lot 103 that year. Later he bought home lots 33, 99 and 100. Upon the two last he made his home.
1 See Prov. Registry of Deeds.
2 Idem, Vol. LXXV, page 55.
12
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
John Dolloff, who was a son-in-law of William Miles, came to Canterbury as early as 1740. That year William Curry deeded to him half of home lot 33. In this deed he is given as a resident of the town. He resided on home lot 32, which was given to his wife by her father.1
Although Ensign John Moore is not named as of Canterbury in any recorded deed until 1741, the proprietors" records show his election as highway surveyor the year before. As early as 1733, he sold his homestead in Durham to Samuel Smith of that town and bought of the latter his right to home lot 106 in Canterbury, the covenant containing these significant words, "provided he settle."2 Here he made his home, buying other land after his settlement. He should be regarded as one of the earliest settlers.
William Forrest, Jr., bought home lot 93 in 1733. He was then a resident of Newmarket, but he was in Canterbury before 1750, when as a resident of that town he bought home lot 58 of Samuel Moore.
Samuel Shepard came to Canterbury as early as 1741, for that. year James Lindsey deeded to him half of home lot 17.
James Scales of Rumford (Concord) bought land in Canterbury in 1739. He did not move to town until 1742, and he was soon after licensed to preach.3 That year he purchased home lots 66 and 67, and in 1753 he acquired contiguous land, the whole of home lot 83 and part of 84. Until 1753, his home must have been on the former lots, for, at the annual meeting in 1752, the town voted that, "When Mr. Scales has got his barn frame fit to raise, then the proprietors and inhabitants are to raise said barn without any cost to the said Mr. Scales." From 1753 to 1757, he may have built on either lot 83 or 84.
Thomas Clough's first purchase in Canterbury was in 1740, when, as a resident of Salisbury, Mass., he bought home lot 73. His next acquisition was home lot 79 in 1743, and the deed of this lot gives him as an inhabitant of Canterbury. It was in this section of the town that he resided.
Ephraim Hackett came to the new settlement as early as 1743, as his purchase that year of a home lot was as an inhabitant of Canterbury. Later deeds describe him of Salisbury, Mass., and
1 Prov. Registry of Deeds, Vol. XXXII, page 71.
2 Genealogy of the Moore Family, by Howard P. Moore of Albany, New York.
8 History of Concord (1903), Vol. II, page 1206.
13
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
he may have migrated between the two places for several years. In 1757 he bought home lots 110, 113, and 114. On the last two he established his permanent residence.
Joseph Symonds bought home lot 22 in 1743, but that same year he conveyed it to James Lindsey. Some of these early deeds were probably mortgages given to secure loans. Occasion- ally the records show a discharge of an obligation where the con- veyance is in the form of a deed. Symonds' deed to Lindsey may have been of this character.
John Forrest appears in a deed as of Canterbury in 1743. In 1746 he is a purchaser of home lot 183 and in 1750 James Lindsey gives Forrest's wife home lot 23. Mrs. Forrest was Eleanor Gibson, the daughter of Mrs. Lindsey by her first husband. As Lindsey resided in this locality, it is probable that John Forrest established his home on lot 23.
Archelaus Moore and other sons of Ensign John Moore followed their father to Canterbury. Archelaus appears first as a land owner in 1743. Two years later he bought home lots 56 and 57, where he settled. He later acquired other land in this neighbor- hood.
William Moore, the eldest son of Ensign John Moore, was elected a field driver in 1744, but he does not appear in any deed until 1748, when he buys home lots 55 and 95, contiguous lots. It was in this locality that he established his residence.
Samuel Moore, another son of Ensign John Moore, had deeded to him home lot 61 in 1748. Among his later acquisitions was home lot 62. Here he built his house, which became the first tavern in town.
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