USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Canterbury > History of the town of Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1727-1912, v. 1 > Part 41
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437
HACKLEBOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT, NO. 5.
Canterbury, Galen, Sarah and Caroline returning after some years' absence.
No. 29. Buildings burned about 1896. House built by Dea. Asa Foster and later moved to this site. It has since been occupied by the following families: Jefferson Young, Ira Hun- toon, Nathan Chesley, Mrs. Alfred Chesley, Frank Seavey.
No. 30. The first known owner was John Whidden, who sold to Nathaniel Flanders January 13, 1835. The latter con- veyed to True K. Mason April 23, 1836. His son, Lowell T. Mason, is the present owner and occupant.
No. 31. Joseph Warren Nudd, father of Erastus O. Nudd, Daniel Foster, Jr., William Harrison Foster, son of Daniel, Jr. The house was moved to No. 32, which is in District No. 7, the Center.
No. 32. William Harrison Foster, John T. G. Emery, Milton B. Neal, Alphonso B. Chute, Howard S. Chute, son of Alphonso B. This location is in District No. 7, the Center.
No. 33. Dea. Benjamin Whidden, Alfred Chesley, Alvin Pick- ard, son of Joseph, George A. Pickard, son of Joseph, who moved from No. 10, William C. Tallman.
No. 34. Buildings gone. Lot No. 51, laid out to the right of Jonathan Woodman, one hundred acres, second division. It is a tradition that this proprietor settled here and that he died and was buried on the farm. The original buildings were in the field, some fifty rods from the site now at 35. Samuel Woodman was the next occupant, probably the son of Jonathan. Samuel's son, Benjamin, deeded the place to Eliphalet Brown, January 9, 1793.
No. 35. Eliphalet Brown, Joseph Brown, Charles Jones, who moved from No. 3 April 22, 1846, and built an addition to the house about 1857, Paul H. Jones, son of Charles, Charles F. Jones, brother of Paul H. as tenant, now occupied by Ernest L. Ambeau as tenant.
No. 36. Joseph, Edmund or John Greenleaf, Simeon Brack- ett Foster who moved from No. 3, Lyman B. Foster, Myron C. Foster, who moved from and back to No. 3, Joseph Ellsworth, tenant. Paul H. Jones now owns that part of the farm where the buildings stand. At present unoccupied.
No. 37. The site of a house that burned before it was finished, said to have been erected by the Greenleaf of No. 36, who built again at the latter location.
No. 38. Daniel Foster, Sr. Tradition says that the buildings were burned. This site was on lot No. 12 in the first division of one hundred acre lots laid out to the right of the first settled minister. The Rev. Abiel Foster sold to his brother, Daniel Foster, March 10, 1773, who erected a house in which he resided several years.
438
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
No. 39. The buildings were erected by Daniel Foster, Sr., after the destruction of those at No. 38. They were completed between 1780 and 1790, and here was the home of Mr. Foster until his death, January 25, 1833. An addition was made to the house about 1810 to accommodate Mr. Foster's youngest son, Jeremiah C. Foster. While this farm has continued, since it was first cleared, in the possession of Daniel Foster and his descendants, it was early divided and changed owners frequently. March 31, 1794, the father sold one half to his son, Simeon, and December 28, 1803, the other half to his son, Jeremiah C. Foster. The latter's son, Jonathan B., came into possession of this half on the death of his father in 1839. When Simeon Foster died in 1825, his son, John H. Foster, inherited the other half. The latter sold to his brother, Joseph M., in 1840 and bought the same property back in 1845. In 1872 it came into the possession of Moses Augustus Foster, who was a son of Jonathan B. Inher- iting the other half of the farm from his father in 1896, the ori- ginal lot was thus united in Moses A. Foster's ownership. In 1897, he sold to his son, Jonathan Bradley Foster, Jr., who is the present owner. Thus for a period of nearly one hundred and fifty years this farm has been in the possession of one family. Few farms in Canterbury or in New England, for that matter, can show so long a family ownership. In the fall of 1897 Moses A. Foster moved to Leominster, Mass., and resided there until the death of his wife in 1908. Since then he has reestablished his residence in Canterbury with his son, Jonathan.
No. 40. Family Cemetery. Joseph Moore and children.
No. 41. Buildings gone. Capt. Joseph Moore. Hannah Moore and sisters, daughters of Joseph.
No. 42. The site of a saw mill built by John Lyford situated on brook at Upper Falls about two thirds of a mile south of Pick- ard Bridge, so called. There are places in the rock several inches in depth to indicate where the structure rested. The building is gone.
No. 43. Ichabod Whidden, Parsons Whidden, John Whidden, Zebadiah Sargent, Jonathan and Aaron Sargent, sons of Zeba- diah, Jonathan Sargent as sole owner, Luther Sargent, son of Jonathan, Mrs. Luther Sargent and George J., son of Luther, Henry Deos. Zebadiah Sargent moved his family consisting of his wife and six children from Northfield to this farm in 1800. He resided here until his death in 1828, leaving the property to his two sons. When Aaron Sargent married, a house was built for him a little distance from the home of his father. He died in 1836. Jonathan purchased from the widow his brother's half of the place and remained the owner until his death in 1864. The farm was then inherited by Luther Sargent and continued in his possession until 1900, the date of his death. The widow and son of Luther retained their interest until 1906 when the place
439
HACKLEBOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT, NO. 5.
was sold to Henry Deos. Thus for over one hundred years this farm was owned by the Sargent family.
It will be noted that the highway opposite No. 43 on the map takes a turn in a northwesterly direction. This is because of the difficulties which would have attended the building of a road along the original range plan. If the range had been fol- lowed, the road would have continued almost directly north over a high hill and thence over the easterly end of the Foster meadow at No. 39 to another high hill, and would have termi- nated a few rods east of the school house at No. 12. The road, as built, was less expensive to construct and it also rendered traveling easier. The road leading from No. 22 to No. 15 on the map and commonly known as the "Barnett Road" was closed by a vote of the town about 1855. This was one of the early highways and from its location was undoubtedly the main thoroughfare from the Center to Hill's Corner.
From No. 15 the original range highway extended north for some distance, but just how far is not known. There was at least one house built here, No. 27, and it was situated in what is known as Ordway's pasture.
CHAPTER XXV.
HILL'S CORNER SCHOOL DISTRICT, NO. 6. THE OLD TRAIL. EARLY SETTLERS. LOCATION OF HOMESTEADS. SCHOOL HOUSES. DIS-
TINGUISHED NATIVES AND RESIDENTS. INDUSTRIES. TAVERNS AND STORES. EAST CANTERBURY BAND. MUSTERS.
The boundaries of this district as it was laid out in 1814 were as follows:
"Beginning at the northeast corner of Canterbury then running southwestwardly by the Shakers' land to Joseph Ham's, then south on the road to the southeast corner of Arch's Moore's land, then west to the west end of said Moore's land, then north by said Moore's to Oliver Jones' land, then east to the Range Road, then north to Thomas Dearborn's land, then west to Winthrop Young's farm, then north by Elijah Mathes' land, then west round John Ham's Academy lot to Northfield line, then northeast to Gilmanton line, then eastwardly on Gilman- ton line to the first mentioned bound."
Hill's Corner derived its name from Dudley Hill, who for many years kept the tavern where the stages to and from Boston stopped for change of horses and for "the entertainment of man and beast," and also from the fact that it is located in the northeast corner of the town, the highways centering there from the four points of the compass. Coming in from the south is the old turnpike stage road from Concord, originally passing over the steep hill where Frank O. Pickard now resides. Later this hill was avoided by the cutting of a new road around it. Running north from Hill's Corner is the road to Tilton. To the east is the old highway to Gilmanton, a hilly road but little used at the present time. In a northeasterly direction is a highway leading to Belmont. About a mile from Hill's Corner is a cross road, running northwesterly and southeasterly, which connects the Gilmanton road with the Belmont road and continues northerly until it joins the Tilton road from Hill's Corner near the old Curry place in Northfield. To the west from Hill's Corner
441 -
HILL'S CORNER SCHOOL DISTRICT, NO. 6.
is a highway which soon divides into two roads, one leading southwesterly to Hackleborough and the other in a northerly direction to Bean Hill in Northfield. The roads running north and south through Hill's Corner do not approach those running east and west at right angles, and the four corners made by such intersection are not apparent, but the roads from all directions. center at Hill's Tavern.
This part of the town was not settled until the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Therefore, the location of the early settlers is not so difficult to determine. There was a path or trail leading from the older settlements in the west part of the town to Hill's Corner and beyond, perhaps to Gilmanton, which Levi Badger Chase thus describes: "Going westward from the Corner, the path ran from nearly opposite the residence of the late Thomas Smith, a little diagonally across what used to be Abiel Cogswell's land, through the 'middle field,' thence through a valley south of a large knoll to where formerly stood a cluster of large maple trees. Marks of the trail were formerly plainly visible where these trees grew. It passed over the ridge of William Muzzey's field where the land slopes southward. The remains of a bridge once indicated where it crossed the brook into the Mathes farm, in the 'gate field.' It left the ‘gate field' by the southwest corner, passing through the pasture near the great boulder where little Polly Mathes saw the bear and on by the Otis Young place. To the east of Hill's Corner the path probably followed the general course of the old road to Gilmanton. It antedated the town's layout of highways in this locality. Perhaps it was used by Capt. Jeremiah Clough's scouting parties in the Indian wars. It may have been origin- ally an Indian trail. Some of the early settlers in this school district built their houses along this path."
There were settlers in Hackleborough prior to the purchase of land in the Hill's Corner School District. John Lyford, who was the ancestor of one branch of the Lyford family, identified with this district, was at Hackleborough as early as 1773, when he bought of Rev. Abiel Foster the one hundred acre lot laid out to. the right of the first settled minister, No. 64, in the first division of hundred acre lots. In 1776, he signed the Association Test from Canterbury. He had a son, James G., who signed as a resident of Loudon and whose name is on the tax list of that
442
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
town in 1774.1 The latter continued a resident of Loudon until after January 1, 1782, when he was deeded one hundred acres of land in Canterbury, lot No. 151, laid out in the first hundred acre division to the right of Robert Burnam. This is located on the old Gilmanton road, or along the path described by Mr. Chase, and embraced what was later the successive homesteads of James G. Lyford and Elijah Huntoon.2 Mr. Lyford within a few years bought other land in this immediate neighborhood.
There is a tradition that he cleared some of his land in Can- terbury before he settled, and that he and his sons built for temporary use a camp on the meadow near the Joseph K. Han- cock place, bringing with them from either Loudon, or his father's home in Hackleborough, a cow that fed near the camp and supplied them with milk while they were felling trees on the up- land. They erected a barn before building a house. At the end of the season this was well filled with rye. One day in the absence of the father, the sons set fire to some brush in the clear- ing near the barn. A high wind prevailing, the flames commu- nicated with the barn, totally destroying it and all the contents. The Lyford family had but one bushel of rye left for seed the next season. This they sowed on the hill west of the meadow and the yield was seventy-five bushels.3
James G. Lyford became a permanent settler in Canterbury sometime between 1782, when lot No. 151 was deeded to him, and 1785, when he was appointed a highway surveyor.4 Lot No. 151 is divided by the highway from Hill's Corner to Gilmanton. There were locations north and south of this highway within this lot; that south was known for many years as the McClary place. It was on the McClary place that James G. Lyford undoubtedly settled. Mr. Lyford helped to locate his sons, James, Dudley and Zebulon, in this neighborhood. James was probably first on the Nathan Clark farm, just over the North-
1 History of Merrimack County, page 487.
2 Deeds of Moses Pillsbury to J mes G. Lyford, January 1, 1783, and of James G. Lyford to John Lyford, October 10. 1798. Will of John Lyford, 1800, giving lot to his brother James. Deed of James Lyford to Stephen Sutton, March 6, 1801; deed of Stephen Sutton to Elijah Huntoon, January 3, 1805. 8 Recollections of Joseph K. Hancock.
. In the list of town officers, 1785, the name appears as "James Lyford," without the middle letter, but it could not have been his son James, who was not born until 1765, and would have been only twenty years of age. See "Francis Lyford and Some of his Descendants," by William Lewis Welch. Printed for Essex Institute, Salem, Mass.
443
HILL'S CORNER SCHOOL DISTRICT, NO. 6.
field line, in the corner of lot No. 45 from 1794 to 1799, and from 1799 to 1803 in the field back of the Capt. Thomas Lyford homestead in lot No. 42. Dudley was the owner of the farm now in the possession of John H. Lyford of Belmont. Zebulon had his homestead on the west end of lot No. 152, near the Hancock place.
From 1803 to 1806 Samuel Huckins, the blacksmith, resided at the corner of the Huntoon field on a half acre at the junction of the Gilmanton and Tilton roads. The foundation of the house is still visible from the highway just outside of the inclosing wall of the field.1
When Stephen Sutton sold lot No. 151 to Elijah Huntoon in 1805, he excepted from his deed of this lot the half acre he had. previously sold to Samuel Huckins in 1803 and "one-fourth acre of land lying south of the orchard on the westerly side of the road leading to Gilmanton where there are some already buried for the use of a burial ground, provided the neighbors in that vicinity will fence the same with a good and sufficient stone wall."
This graveyard is enclosed by a stone wall and at the entrance is an iron gate.2 The marble headstones of Elijah Huntoon and Hannah, his wife, are among the few with inscriptions in the yard. Nearly all the other headstones are rude slabs of granite, from which the lettering has been effaced by the ele- ments, if they originally bore any inscriptions. Here members of the Stephen Sutton family were buried, also Dudley Lyford and his two wives, and some of his descendants. James G. Lyford and his sons James, Zebulon and Jeremiah removed to Stanstead, Province of Quebec, Canada, soon after 1800.3
Another settler on the old trail was Nathaniel Colcord, whose dwelling stood on the Gilmanton road, near the site of the old red school house. He was taxed in 1780 and appointed a highway surveyor in 1781. It is not known that he was a resi- dent in any other part of the town. Others who located along the path were Elijah Mathes, Elder Winthrop Young, Ebenezer
1 Deed of Samuel Huckins to Elijah Huntoon, May 1, 1806.
? It is probably this cemetery that is referred to in the records of the town, November, 1858, when it was "voted to fence the burying yard near Benjamin McClary's" and the wall may have been built at that time.
¿ "Francis Lyford and Some of his Descendants," by William L. Welch. Printed for the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., 1902. Deed of James G. Lyford to James Lyford, June 6, 1800.
444
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
Cogswell, Thomas Dearborn and Edward Chase. The latter came from the western part of Canterbury, where he had first settled and where his son was born in 1782. He located a quar- ter of a mile west of what was known as the "Elder Winthrop Young place." He sold this farm to Mr. Young and bought of Ebenezer Cogswell, in 1790, the farm which the latter had cleared, not quite a mile eastward on the old path.1 When a highway was laid out in 1791 to take the place of the trail, it is described in the records as starting at the Gilmanton line and passing the. houses of James Lyford, Nathaniel Colcord and Thomas Dear- born. This would include the Gilmanton road to Hill's Corner and the road from there to Hackleborough as far as the farm re- cently owned by Jeremiah Smith. The following persons acknowl- edged themselves satisfied for damages sustained "by going over their land": Daniel Foster, Jr., Ephraim Clough, James G. Lyford, Nathaniel Colcord, Edward Chase, Elijah Mathes and Thomas Dearborn.
Elijah Mathes came from the town of Lee. As he had a child born in Canterbury January 30, 1783, it is probable he was. in town a year earlier. Ebenezer Cogswell was a near neigh- bor of Mathes and settled in Canterbury about the same time. Elder Young came in 1787 and Thomas Dearborn equally early. The site of Thomas Dearborn's settlement was afterwards bought. by Solomon Young.
Contemporaneous with these settlements along the trail were the location of several pioneers in other parts of this school district. Lieut. Moses Cogswell, who was a native of Haver- hill, arrived in 1781, the year of his marriage or earlier, and bought. what is now the farm of Edwin M. Lyford on the road leading from Hill's Corner to Shaker Village, a quarter of a mile south of Hill's Tavern. He married the daughter of Rev. Abiel Foster. It was, perhaps, his acquaintance with the Foster family which drew him to Canterbury. There is a tradition in the Cogswell family that he was the first settler in this part of the town. If this is true, his coming antedated 1781.
Lieutenant Cogswell's military title came from a commission he held in the naval service during the Revolution, having served on a privateer for nearly the whole period of the war. Captured by the British, he was held as a prisoner for some time at Halifax.
1 Ebenezer Cogswell moved to Landaff, about 1793.
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HILL'S CORNER SCHOOL DISTRICT, NO. 6.
Lieutenant Cogswell was one of eight brothers, sons of Nathan- iel Cogswell of Atkinson, all of whom served with distinction during the Revolutionary War. The aggregate service of these eight brothers was more than thirty-eight years, which is said to have been the longest of any family in the country. They were all men of large stature, their combined height being about fifty feet. All survived the war and became prominent in professional and civil life. Lieutenant Cogswell was frequently honored by his fellow-citizens with elections to various town offices and he was a very influential man in the community.
His brothers, Ebenezer, of whom mention has already been made, and John, followed him to Canterbury within a year or two, the latter settling on a farm adjoining that of Moses Cogs- well on the south, which later he sold to William Moody.
Joseph Ham settled on the farm now owned by Frank O. Pickard on the old road leading from Hill's Corner to the Shakers, very near the height of land. The date of his settlement must have been earlier than 1785, for he is on the tax list that year. John Ham, his brother, who is found in the census of 1790, located on what was afterwards known as the Dea. Samuel Gilman place on the road leading from Hill's Corner to Bean Hill in Northfield. His farm embraced what was called the "Academy Lot" which he bought a number of years after his original pur- chase. Why this lot was called the "Academy Lot" is not known. It is referred to in the town records, but there is nothing in the grant of the town or in the Proprietors' or town records that shows it was laid out for educational purposes.
Another brother, Gideon Ham, settled sometime after 1790 on what was in recent years the home of Mrs. Anita Porter (Shaw) Singer. At the time of Mr. Ham's coming, there had been erected a house with three rooms, said to have been built by John Kimball, who resided with his father on the contig- uous farm to the north. Some clearing had also been done.
Joseph Kimball of Exeter came with some of his family to Canterbury in 1788 and took up the farm now owned by Cyrus Brown, opposite Moses Cogswell. As he had lost his eyesight before leaving Exeter, he was not privileged to look upon his Canterbury possessions. His son John accompanied him and he is probably the John Kimball mentioned in the census of 1790. though his father's name is not to be found in that enumeration,
446
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
In 1800 there is a return in the town records of a highway laid out from Zebulon Lyford's to the Loudon line "through his land to accommodate Ebenezer Batchelder." This highway started on the road from Hill's Corner to Gilmanton near the Hancock place and ran to Loudon. On the left of this road as you go to Loudon is the farm that Ebenezer Batchelder cleared. He was a hardy pioneer and slept in an empty hogshead while he was building his house. Prosperity came to him rapidly, however, for he and his wife were the first married people in town to have each a horse on which to ride to church. Until then, husbands and wives mounted the same horse when making a journey. At a much later date Mr. Batchelder received the premium at a county fair for having the best tilled farm in Mer- rimack County.
Ebenezer Batchelder had a brother Richard who settled on the Gilmanton road about the year 1800 near the Hancock farm.
Nathaniel Foster settled the homestead of Olwyn W. Dow. His coming was towards the close of the eighteenth century. His farm was rented in 1803 to George Arvin and soon after sold to Dea. David Kent.1
Joseph Kimball, who settled opposite Moses Cogswell, had a daughter Sarah who married William Moody of Newbury, Old Town, Mass. They came to Canterbury on horseback, arriv- ing February 10, 1794, and located on the farm that had been cleared by John Cogswell.2
The census of 1790 mentions an Edmund Kezer of North- field. His farm was included in this school district, his children attending at Hill's Corner. He resided first on the road leading from Worthen's Corner to Tilton, having been deeded the hun- dred-acre lot No. 36 "in the parish of Northfield" February 26, 1784. He bought January 22, 1795, lot No. 37 "with buildings thereon which same lot adjoins the land on which the said Kezer now lives." A quarter of a century ago an old cellar was plainly visible on the right of this highway about half a mile north of Worthen's Corner. At a later date Mr. Kezer, or a son of the same name, removed to the Nathan Clark place, succeeding Asa Heath. It was probably the son who resided on the Nathan Clark place, as the Edmund Kezer who lived there was a con-
1 Recollections of Levi Badger Chase.
2 The Joseph Kimball Family, by John Kimball, 1885.
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HILL'S CORNER SCHOOL DISTRICT, NO. 6.
temporary of Capt. Thomas Lyford who was not a settler in Canterbury until a quarter of a century after Edmund Kezer located on lot No. 36 in Northfield.
Lot No. 42, right of Joseph Dearborn, situated in the northeast corner of Canterbury and extending into Northfield, was divided into two farms. The northerly half was settled by Nathaniel Whidden, whose sister married Nathaniel Colcord. Whidden's deed bears date of 1782. The southerly half of the lot came into the possession of Jacob Foss of Canterbury, who sold it in 1796 to Asa Heath of Sandwich. The latter deeded it to James Lyford, son of James G., in 1799, who sold it to George Lewis Haines of Epping, later of Northfield, in 1803. This farm became the homestead of Capt. Thomas Lyford in 1810. In the field back of the dwelling that Captain Lyford built in 1812 was a log house in which one or two of the latter's children were born. It is probable that this was built by Asa Heath and occupied by the successive owners, for Mr. Heath the same year that he sold to James Lyford bought of the latter 130 acres in lot No. 45. They undoubtedly "swapped" farms.
There were two families of Lyfords who settled in this school district, the descendants of John Lyford who settled in Hacklebor- ough and Capt. Thomas Lyford's family. Two of the latter's sisters married Dudley Lyford, grandson of John, and a third sister married James, another grandson. Capt. Thomas Lyford's great-grandfather was a brother of the John Lyford of Hackle- borough, so that the relationship of these Lyfords who inter- married was somewhat remote. Undoubtedly it was the mar- riage and settlement of his sisters in this part of Canterbury that induced Captain Lyford to come here.
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