USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Canterbury > History of the town of Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1727-1912, v. 1 > Part 3
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The Proprietors' Records show Ezekiel Morrill appointed on a committee to examine the selectmen's accounts in 1744. He gave the parsonage lot to the town in 1756 and became prominent in its affairs.
Samuel Ames came to Canterbury in 1749, and his brothers Daniel and Simon followed within a year. He bought home lots 85, 86 and 137. The second he sold to Simon and the third to Daniel. On these lots the brothers settled.
The Proprietors' Records show John Gibson elected hogreeve in 1744 and Benjamin Blanchard as his successor in 1745. Wil -. liam Glines was chosen a tithing man and William Gault and
14
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
Simon Rumril hogreeves in 1750. This Benjamin Blanchard was probably a son of Richard Blanchard. There is no record, how- ever, of his being a land owner in the present limits of Canter- bury. William Glines may have been a brother of John Glines.1
Simon Rumril appears to have been an Indian scout employed in several commands from 1746 to 1748.
The names of Henry Elkins and James Shepard appear on a petition to the provincial government asking for "wages and billeting in keeping garrison at Canterbury"2 in 1747. Both are on tax lists at a later date.
James Shepard, John Bamford, Benjamin Blanchard, James Gibson, Solomon Copp, John Gibbons, Samuel Shepard, Jr., and Joseph Elis appear on a petition for the remission of their tax in Canterbury3 for the year 1754. Samuel Shepard, Jr., probably came with his father. He owned home lot 64 in 1756 and resided there until he sold to Samuel Moore in 1764.
The following plan indicates where the early settlements were made. The roads radiating from the center are drawn along present lines, except that the highway south from the fort follows the lines it is said to have taken past Jeremiah Cogswell's over the steep hill below his house. This part has since been discontin- ued. The sites of the locations may have been in some instances on the opposite side of the road from where they are placed. A number of these settlers changed their location after dwelling in town for a time. The sites, however, are intended to mark their first permanent habitations. This and subsequent plans of highways are not drawn to any scale. They merely show in a general way the homesteads of inhabitants.
The foregoing settlers came to Canterbury between 1733 and 1750. Probably most of them were inhabitants of the town prior to the dates here given. If there were not thirty families in town in 1742, as set forth in the petition of the proprietors to the pro- vincial government, there was that number three or four years later. The population at this time was probably between one hundred and one hundred and twenty-five. The two wars with their menace of Indian raids which occurred between 1744 and 1763 interfered with the rapid settlement of Canterbury. Yet,
· 1See Glines Genealogy.
· N. H. Town Papers, Vol. IX, page 90.
' Idem, page 91.
15
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
C FORREST POND
NORTHFIELD.
1
2
MORRILL POND.
30
4
3
6
5
A
7
D
B
26
c
29
10
27
25
9
11
28
23
24
13
22
21
14%
15
16
IT
18
CONCORD
LOCATIONS OF FIRST SETTLERS.
1. John Forrest. 11. Richard Blanchard.
2. Joseph Symonds.
3. James Lindsey.
4. Nathaniel Perkins. 14. Samuel Moore.
5. Fort.
6. John Dolloff.
7. Lieut. William Miles.
8. Josiah Miles.
9. Samuel Shepard ..
10. Jeremiah Clough, Sr.
20. Ensign John Moore.
21. Log Meeting House.
12. Samuel Shepard, Jr. 22. Old Cemetery.
13. John Glines. 23. Ephraim Hackett.
24. Daniel Ames.
25. Meeting House prior to 1800. 26. Samuel Ames.
27. James Scales.
28. Simon Ames.
29. Ezekiel Morrill.
30. Laban Morrill.
A. Location of present railroad station.
B. First school house.
C. Center.
15. William Forrest, Jr.
16. Archelaus Moore.
17. William Moore.
18. William Curry.
19. James Head.
D. James Scales probably moved here in 1753. He sold to John Gibson in 1757 who sold to Rev. Abiel Foster in 1770. The latter resided here until his death.
E. Residence of Rev. Robert Cutler during his stay in Canterbury. The dotted lines indicate roads once used but since discontinued.
ACK RIVER.
8
BOSCAWEN. MARRIMAC
LOUDON.
16
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
in 1767, when the first census was taken by the selectmen, the population numbered five hundred and three.
In writing of the pioneer days of Canterbury, there is difficulty owing to the incompleteness of the early Proprietors' Records. The first clerk, Samuel Smith, who held the office from 1727 to 1749 inclusive, was not only a poor penman but also an indifferent clerk. Apparently the records were not made up at the time the meetings were held, for some are not in chronological order while others are sadly defective.1 In 1756, the inhabitants of Canter- bury were put to the expense of sending a committee to Mr. Smith to recover the records from his possession. In some instances the colonial records supply information which should have appeared in the records of the proprietors or they help to confirm the conclusions reached after a careful study of the latter.
The privations, hardships and dangers endured by the first settlers of Canterbury were those incident to the people of all frontier towns. They were a long distance from the settlements near the coast and they had to blaze their way through the almost unbroken wilderness to reach their destination. Going first without their families, they probably returned to their homes between seed time and harvest while their first crops were grow- ing. Ensign John Moore made several trips to Durham after he sold his homestead there before establishing a permanent resi- dence in Canterbury. Capt. Jeremiah Clough, who appears to have been a representative of the proprietors, must have taken business journeys at least once a year. Others may have gone back at certain seasons to earn at their trades the money necessary for stocking their farms. Their locations in Canterbury were scattered, for they came as individual pioneers rather than as a collective company. A few were neighbors near the site of the old fort, but most of them passed solitary lives while clearing the forest and preparing the ground for cultivation. The log hut with its meager furnishings was their earliest shelter, and to it they brought their wives and children when they felt that they could maintain the family from the products of their new posses- sions. Even then they were separated by the wilderness from other communities. Of the neighboring towns of Concord, Bow, Chichester, Boscawen, Gilmanton and Sanbornton, none except
1 Some of the minutes of the proprietor's clerk were not recorded until thirty years after they were made. N. H. State Papers, Vol. IX, page 95.
17
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
Concord was settled as early as Canterbury. Their market and their source of supplies continued for many years to be Durham and Dover, from which locality they largely came.
Therefore, the first concern of the proprietors was the cutting of a road from Durham to Canterbury. In 1735 a committee was appointed to obtain the consent of the town of Chichester, through which the road was to pass, and an assessment of the proprietors was made to defray the expenses of building it. The work of constructing this highway proceeded slowly, for, in 1741 and 1742, committees were appointed to prosecute the under- taking, the vote in 1742 expressing literally its arduous character in the instruction to the committee "to plow the way through from Durham to Canterbury." The petition of Thomas Young and Samuel Adams to the general court in 1742, before referred to, shows that only twenty miles of the distance had then been built, and two years later a committee of the proprietors pre- sented a petition to the colonial legislature asking that "a bridge be built over the Suncook River on the road cleared by them from Durham to Canterbury at the expense of the proprietors." To this petition the provincial government responded in a resolution as follows:
"Provided the proprietors of the town of Canterbury build a bridge this year sufficient for carts and carriages to pass and repass over Suncook River where the way is now cut for travel from Durham to Canterbury and will warrant to main- tain the same bridge for ten years, that there be paid to the said proprietors the sum of £50 Bills of Credit out of the interest arising on the £25,000 loan, out of that part of said interest appropriated for building roads." 1
Lack of funds in the provincial treasury delayed the building of this bridge for several years. May 9, 1746, the subject was again before the provincial legislature.2 The importance of the undertaking to the defense of the frontier was emphasized in the vote passed to provide means for completing it.3
Of equal importance to the settlers of Canterbury to having a highway leading to civilization was the erection of a saw mill in town. In 1735 a grant of land was voted to some proper person who would build such a mill and a committee was appointed "to
1 Bouton's Town Papers, Vol. IX, pages 88, 89.
¿ Idem, Vol. V, page 412.
3 Idem, Vol. IX, pages 88, 89.
3
18
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
agree upon the price of boards and how long the mill should be kept in repair." Nothing came of this vote. Three years later the proprietors elected another committee "to lay out a saw mill to be built in Canterbury at the charge of the proprietors." As there is no further reference in the early records to a saw mill, it is probable that such a mill was in operation within a year. It is said to have been located on the brook or stream near the present residence of Albert B. and Mary E. Clough. This was the home of Thomas Clough, one of the first settlers. There are traces of two former dams on this brook and also of a canal leading from the mill pond above. The location was favorable for power and possibly as central as any for the early inhabitants.
To encourage settlements in Canterbury, it was necessary for the proprietors to provide a minister for the inhabitants and build a meeting house. In 1735 provision was made for a minister for four Sabbaths from June 30 to the annual meeting in March, 1736. In the latter year, the proprietors voted £50 "for the support of the ministry in Canterbury," and again in 1738 an assessment of 10s. in money was laid upon each proprietor for this same purpose. In 1743 and 1744, the ministry is one of the subjects referred to in the calls for the annual meetings of the proprietors, but there is no record of any action taken. There is no further reference to this subject until 1750, when it was "Voted that there be constant preaching in Canterbury till a minister be settled there."
Who the ministers were that preached in Canterbury from 1735 to 1742 and where they came from are facts that cannot be ascer- tained. In 1742, the Rev. James Scales was licensed to preach 1 and became an inhabitant of the town that same year. There is every reason to believe that for part of the time, if not all, during the next twelve years Mr. Scales ministered to the spiritual wants of the inhabitants. The first notice of him in the Proprietors' Records as a preacher is not until 1752, when, at the annual meet- ing, it was "Voted that Mr. James Scales have £20 old tenor and 34 days work for preaching the year past to the last annual meet- ing, and likewise, 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."
1 History of Concord, Vol. II, page 1206.
19
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
At the annual meeting in 1753 it was "Voted that James Scales have £3 old tenor per Sabbath for the year past with what he has received. William Forrest and William Moore entered their dissent against this vote."
Thus early were the inhabitants divided in the support of the ministry, a division which was frequently manifested so long as the town and the church acted together in the settlement of the clergy and the inhabitants were taxed for their support. At first dissat- isfaction was with the individual, later with the doctrine that he preached. For forty years, from 1753 to 1791, when the Rev. Frederick Parker began his ministry, the inhabitants appear to have had almost constant difficulty in settling ministers and almost equal trouble in keeping them.
In 1754, at the regular March meeting, it was "Voted that Mr. Scales be paid 40s. old tenor per Sabbath for his preaching the last year. William Forrest, William Curry and John Moore entered their dissent against this vote."
Mr. Scales' 1 services as minister at Canterbury ceased about this time, although he continued to reside in town until 1757. He was a native of Boxford, Mass., and graduated from Harvard College in 1733. An early settler of Concord, he was the first teacher whose name is found in the Proprietors' Records of that town. A diligent student, he employed his leisure hours in the study of theology, giving some attention also to the acquirement of a knowledge of law and medicine. Removing to Canterbury in 1742, he was there licensed to preach. In 1757 Mr. Scales went to Hopkinton, where he was settled as pastor of the Congre- gational Society. He continued in the ministry until about 1770, after which he practiced law in a small way until about the time of his death, July 31, 1776.
While at Canterbury, Mr. Scales was twice elected town clerk and he was the first justice of the peace commissioned in town. He was employed as a surveyor, practiced medicine 2 some and probably followed his first occupation as a teacher in connection with his ministerial duties. Several letters of his in behalf of the settlement at Canterbury appear in the Provincial Papers, and
1 History of Concord, Vol. II, page 1206.
2 July 23, 1746, the house of representatives "voted that Doc. James Scales Esq. be allowed 6 shillings, 3 pence in full for physick &c administered Nath'l Ladd while sick at Canterbury in his Majesty's service." Prov. Papers, Vol. V, page 434.
20
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
he enlisted in a company to go in pursuit of hostile Indians in 1746. He seems to have been a most estimable and useful citizen.
The warrant for the annual meeting in 1755 contained an article "To see if the proprietors will choose a man to see that. Canterbury is supplied with preaching for the year ensuing." The proprietors at this time were evidently weary of assessing themselves to support preaching and concluded to do at once. what would relieve them of further importunity from the settlers. So at a meeting held in Canterbury May 20, 1756, at which John Wentworth, one of the proprietors, presided as moderator, they
"Voted that the proprietors will settle a minister in Canter- bury.
"Voted and granted one thousand acres of the common and undivided land in Canterbury aforesaid for the use of the inhabitants for the support of the gospel ministry in said Canter- bury,-which grant shall exempt all of the nonresident proprie- tors considered as such forever from all and any charges towards. supporting the gospel ministry in said Canterbury.
"The said granted track of land is to begin by the river called Merrimack River at the north westerly corner of the hundred acre lot No. 9 and extending up the said river as the common. land lies till the whole track is completed."
This grant of land was divided into ten lots of 100 acres each They are called the "Gospel Lots" 1 in the History of Northfield .. They were sold to the following parties:
£ s.
No. 1 Capt. Jeremiah Clough for 197-10
No. 2 James Lindsey
505 No. 3 Jeremiah Clough, Jr.
100 No. 4 Capt. Jeremiah Clough
102-10
No. 5 Capt. Jeremiah Clough
87-10
No. 6 Thomas Clough
152-10
No. 7 John Dolloff
187-10
No. 8 Josiah Kentfield
127-10
No. 9 Samuel Moore
77-10
No. 10 Thomas Clough 66
125
1,662-10
The value of the pound was stated in the terms of the sale at:
1 They were all located in that part of the town called the North Fields .. See map, History of Northfield, page 4.
21
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
forty-five shillings per dollar. This would equal $738, probably of the value of the Spanish dollar. The funds derived from this sale were placed in the hands of a committee consisting of Thomas Clough, Samuel Ames and Samuel Moore, who were to let it out at interest, the income to be used for the purpose specified in the grant. These funds were afterwards referred to in the records as the "Town Bank."
Concurrent with the various acts of the proprietors to provide preaching for the inhabitants of Canterbury were their efforts to erect a meeting house. It will be recalled that the petition of Thomas Young and Samuel Adams to the general court in 17421 set forth that the proprietors for the encouragement of the settling of the town had among other things built a meeting house. The first reference in the proprietors' records to this subject is at a meeting May 27, 1731, when it was "Voted that there should be a committee of five men to lot out the meeting house to be built in the town of Canterbury."
The following July it was "Voted that the meeting house that was to be built in the town of Canterbury was to be left to the discretion of the aforesaid committee, the bigness of said house."
In the call for the annual meeting March 20, 1734, there is an article "To agree with proper persons to take care of and underpin the meeting house." There is no record of the proceedings of this meeting. The meeting house is not referred to again until 1743 when it is mentioned in the warrant for the annual meeting. The record of this meeting is also missing. At the March meeting in 1744, the proprietors voted to use part of the money that had been voted to build a meeting house in the erection of a fort and that the building of the meeting house be postponed to the follow- ing year, and they further voted "That the remainder of the money voted for the meeting house be disposed of for the use of the ministry and other charges."
It becomes necessary to pass to the record of 1750 to learn what was done in 1743. The meeting of the proprietors August 2, 1750, was held at the house of Capt. Jeremiah Clough in Canterbury. In the warrant for this meeting is an article, "To see if the said proprietors will comply with and confirm a vote which was passed by the said proprietors at a meeting held in said Canterbury September 21, 1743, about building a meeting house for the pub- 1 Bouton's Town Papers, Vol. IX, page 87.
22
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
lic worship of God in said Canterbury, the prosecution of which was hindered by the late war." 1
The votes on this article in the warrant were as follows:
"Voted that a vote September 21, 1743, concerning building a meeting house for the public worship of God in Canterbury aforesaid respecting the dimensions of said house be confirmed.
"Voted that the meeting house be raised, the outside finished, the windows made and glazed and a lower floor laid at or before the last day of September in the year 1751.
"Voted that Archelaus Moor, Josiah Miles and Thomas Clough be a committee to determine on what part of the lot No. 116 the said meeting house shall be set.
"Voted that Ezekiel Morrill, Capt. Jeremiah Clough and Josiah Miles be a committee to prosecute the affair of building the said meeting house.
"Voted that the committee chosen to prosecute the affair of building the meeting house be empowered to sell so much of the proprietors' undivided land as shall be necessary to defray the charges of the business proposed and voted at this meeting."
This is the only reference in the Proprietors' Records of a meet- ing held in Canterbury prior to 1750. The fact of its being held in Canterbury and that it was not the regular annual meeting may be the reason why no account of the proceedings was recorded by Samuel Smith, the proprietors' clerk. He probably did not attend and, if any minutes were made at the meeting, he failed to get them or neglected to record them.
One hundred acres of the common and undivided land of the proprietors was sold in 1752 at public auction to James Lindsey "for £320 in passable Bills of Credit of the old tenor" for the purpose of defraying the charges of building a meeting house in said town.2 At the next annual meeting in March, 1753, Ensign John Moore, Samuel Shepherd and Ephraim Hacket were ap- pointed a committee to call to account the committee authorized to build the meeting house and "see what they have done with the money."
At a meeting August 9, 1756, James Lindsey, Thomas Clough and John Gibson were appointed a committee "to receive the meeting house as far as it is done, viz., the outside finished and the under floor doubly laid."
This was probably the first frame meeting house in Canterbury,
1 No record of this meeting.
2 Abner Clough was vendue master.
23
THE CHARTER AND THE PROPRIETORS.
and it is the building now used by the citizens as a town house. The records show that it was not accepted until 1756. Yet it must have been under its roof that the people gathered at their annual meeting in 1753 which was held at the meeting house. If they met in any other building used for church services, why were the annual meetings of 1750, 1751 and 1752 held at private houses?
That there was an earlier building where church services were held is the statement of the Rev. William Patrick.1 He says that the people met for worship in a log structure situated about half a mile south of the Center. It was located on the hill beyond John P. Kimball's residence. This may have been the building referred to in the petition of Thomas Young and Samuel Adams to the General Court wherein they asserted that the proprietors had built a meeting house in Canterbury.2
At the same time that the meeting house was accepted by the town, Capt. Jeremiah Clough, Lieut. Josiah Miles and Ensign Archelaus Moore were appointed a committee to lay out the "pew ground" and sell it at "publick vendue." It was provided that there be "eighteen pews in said meeting house and that each pew have its due proportions." The sale took place at the house of Samuel Moore, "innholder in said Canterbury," August 9, 1756. The conditions of the sale were "one third part of the purchase money on demand, another third at or on the ninth of August, 1757, and the remaining third part at or upon the ninth of August, 1758, and give good security to the committee chosen for said sale, and such purchaser to build his pew within two years in a handsome, workmanlike manner on forfeiture of said pew ground. No person shall bid under twenty shillings old tenor. The Committee to give such purchaser on the conditions aforesaid a good title to them, their heirs and assigns in the said pew ground."
The following is a copy of the conveyance made to the pur- chasers, which gives their names and the location of the pew ground acquired by each :
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS
That we Jeremiah Clough, Josiah Miles and Archelaus Moor
1 Historical Sermon October 27, 1833.
? Bouton's Town Papers, Vol. IX, page 87.
24
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
of Canterbury in the Province of New Hampshire, Gentlemen, being legally chosen a committee for selling the Pew Ground within the Meeting House erected for the public worship of God in said Canterbury for and towards raising money to defray the charges of building and erecting a pulpit, parsonage pew, and other work and materials toward finishing the inside of the same, we the said committee for and in consideration of the several sums of money of the old tenor paid to us or secured to be paid at or before the ensealing and delivery of these presents from the persons hereafter mentioned severally :
Have granted, bargained and sold, and in and by these pres- ents do hereby grant, bargain, sell and confirm for the consid- eration of Forty Pounds of the old tenor aforesaid the Pew Ground marked No. One on the right hand of the front door on the east side to Thomas Clough, Yeoman. The Pew Ground No. Second on the left hand of said front door on the west side for Thirty-six Pounds like money unto Lieut. Wm. Miles. The Pew Ground next adjoining to the left westward No. Seven for Thirty-three Pounds of like money unto Sam'l Moor, Yeoman. The Pew Ground next adjoining westward partly under the west gallery stairs No. Eighteen for Twenty-seven Pounds like money unto Capt. Jeremiah Clough. The Second Pew Ground on the east side of the front door No. Six for the sum of Thirty-three pounds like money of old tenor unto Ens'n Archelaus Moor. The Third Pew Ground on the east side of the front door partly under the east gallery stairs No. Seven- teen for the sum of Twenty-eight Pounds of like money unto Thomas Clough, Yeoman, aforesaid. The Pew Ground on the east side of the front door above the alley leading to the east gal- lery stairs No. Four for the sum of Thirty-four Pounds of like money unto Capt. Jeremiah Clough. The next Pew Ground ad- joining on the east side thereof No. Ten for the sum of Thirty-one Pounds of like money of the old tenor unto Josiah Miles, Gentle- man. The Pew Ground above the alley leading to the west gallery stairs No. Five for the sum of Thirty-seven Pounds of like money of the old tenor unto James Gibson, Yeoman. The next Pew Ground on the west side thereof adjoining No. Eleven for the sum of Twenty-nine Pounds of like money unto Nathan- iel Moor, yeoman. The Pew Ground on the south side of the east door of said Meeting House No. Thirteen for the consid- eration of the sum of Thirty-two Pounds of like money of the old tenor to Wm. Moor, Yeoman. The Pew Ground on the north side of the east door No. Nine for the consideration of the sum of Forty Pounds of like money unto James Shepheard, Yeoman. The next Pew Ground on the north side of the east door being in the northeast corner of said Meeting House No. Sixteen for the sum of Twenty-nine Pounds of like money unto Ezekiel Morrill. The Pew Ground on the east side next adjoining to
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