USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Gilsum > History of the town of Gilsum, New Hampshire, from 1752 to 1879 > Part 24
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ter for Col. Alexander, the commander of the Regiment. Soon after the assembling of Howlett's company he arrived, and demanded of Mack " if he intended to pursue his object. 'I do,' replied he, ' at the hazard of my life.' 'Then,' said the Coloncl, emphatically, 'you must prepare for eternity, for you shall not be permitted to take vengeance, in this irregular mode, on any men, even if they are Tories.' This resolute spcech cooled the ardor of many. After deliberating awhile, Mack ordered his party to face about, and led them a short distance sonthward ; and the militia then went into the meeting-house." Sceing the determination of his superior officer whose orders he was under obligations to obey, and no doubt beginning to realize that his pro- ceeding was entirely unlawful, Capt. Mack soon after led his company back silently toward home. The women along the road, came out with tin-pans and warming-pans and other utensils, with which they gave them a lively tune, interspersed with hooting and jeers.
There is no doubt that Capt. Mack, who was a bold and honored officer in the service of his country, was stirred up to the expedition by some of the zealous Whigs of Keene, who were afraid to be seen in it themselves. He felt the great importance of breaking up the Tory bands, and his action, though rash, ill-considered, and futile in its immediate results, had without doubt a salutary influence. (Appendix F.)
A cannon provided by the King before the Revolution and kept at the fort in Walpole was long a source of contention among the towns of this vicinity. The rivalry between Keene and Walpole is related in the Annals of Keene. The finale of that history is not, however, given correctly there. William Banks relates the following incidents quorum pars fuit. About eight o'clock one evening in April, 1823, a party of 17 mounted on horseback met by appointment at Lieut. Samuel Bill's. There they got a cart, two yoke of oxen, ropes and skids. The cannon was known to be hid in Daniel Day's cellar, on the road from the Peter Hayward place to Keene street. Loren Loveland who had lived at Mr. Day's conducted the company. He went ahead and made friends with the dog and got the hatchway open. The cannon was taken and put on the cart, when they hurried away as quickly and quietly as possible till they got out of hearing, when they stopped and fastened it securely for coming up the long hills. One of the party went back through Snrry and got eight pounds of powder which was fired in three charges ; the first when they got back to Mr. Bill's, and the other two in front of Dudley Smith's tavern near the meeting house. The last charge contained nearly half the powder, and the report broke both windows and bottles in Smith's tavern. The difficulty now was to keep the cannon. It was first carried back and hid in Mr. Bill's cellar. It was then moved to Berzeleel Mack's cellar ; but he got frightened, and said he wouldn't keep it, for he heard men around the house in the night. It was then buried in the path between Dea. Pease's house and the spring. But fearing lest Keene folks had got track of it, it was put under Dea. Pease's bed, where it was kept for a long time, except when brought out for usc. Keene never got it again. Gilsum let Marlow take it, the Fourth of July after their own celebration, on condition of returning it when wanted. It was afterwards carried to Westmoreland to celebrate the first steamer's arrival, and was there purposely exploded, by being filled with an enormous charge of powder jammed down with brick- bats and stone. Exit Walpole cannon.
A certain citizen who was notorious in all the region for his mean tricks, became so obnoxions, that seven of his neighbors built a wooden horse and set it up against the fence in front of his house. After much threatening, he finally gave one of them ten dollars to bring out the rest. He then had the men arrested and taken before Esq. Hill at Holbrook's old tavern in Surry. They chose a captain and marched in regular order, with horns and all kinds of hideous noises 11
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for music. Mr. Holbrook came out, invited them in and gave them a treat. They had the sympathy of all the people, nearly 200 of whom assembled to hear the trial. It was proved that the horse neither injured the fence nor obstructed the highway, and the justice decided that the man had no ground of action They then turned and demanded of him what had become of the horse, which they claimed as their private property. He owned that he had cut it up and burned it. They demanded pay, and he was actually obliged to pay them seventy-five cents apiece for the horse. Probably no other case can be found where a man paid for a wooden horse to be set at his own door.
Somewhere about 1790, three yoke of oxen were stolen out of Samuel Corey's barnyard in the night. They were found in the pine woods near Swanzey factory the next day. As they were all yoked up right, it was thought some one who was acquainted, must have been engaged in it. Besides, the thieves could find only two yokes, and one pair had a neighbor's yoke on. This neighbor came to Mr. Corey next morning inquiring after his yoke. Nothing, however, could be proved against him. The chain with which the oxen were fastened together, when they were driven away, was 16 feet long and was used at the moving of Whitney's clothing shop, and bore the strain of the whole draft more than half the way, when for some reason a change was made and the chain which was substituted broke. This chain was sold at auction in 1873, to Jolin W. Hubbard of Sullivan for $1.55.
Few boys " raised " in Gilsum but have been admonished of fickleness of purpose by the story of John. When a boy, he was taken by his father, to Squire Hill's in Surry, to learn the tanners' trade. They went over afoot. The father left him, and then went to McCurdy's tavern and spent the night. When he came home the next morning, he found John had got back first. " Why, John, how came you here ?" said the father. " I'm sorry I larn't the trade," whimpered John, " I never wanted to see Zenc so in all my life."
Every community, not to say every family, has its superstitions, which no amount of reason- ing can wholly eradicate. No doubt a whole chapter might be filled with anecdotes of such things firmly believed by many persons in Gilsum. Only a few can here be given.
On the last Sabbath that Rev. Mr. Fish preached, a partridge flew into the meeting house, during service. It was caught and killed. Many thought it should have been set free, and that the killing of it, was an omen of Mr. Fish's death, which occurred a few weeks after.
Though the horrors of witch-hanging seem to have been mainly confined to the eastern part of Massachusetts, yet the belief in witchcraft reached almost every household. An old Mrs. Rice, who lived in the south part of the town, was reputed to be a witch. Many were afraid of her power. Respectable citizens said they saw hier pass along over the light snow and leave 110 tracks. It is related as an undeniable fact, that Dr. Munroe of Surry was called to attend a sick woman, and was much surprised to find his medicines had no effect. The neighbors said Mrs. Ricc had bewitched her. The doctor bled his patient and threw the blood in the fire. Immediately the woman began to improve, and medicine had its usual effect, while Mrs. Rice was found to have her hands terribly burned just at that time. John Mark took a common-sense view of the matter, saying he didn't believe she was a witch, for lie turned her out of his house once, and if she had the power, she would liave bewitched him.
The history of all ages shows that fanaticism commits its greatest excesses under the guise of religion. Great truths are many-sided; and minds of much sincerity but little judgment, seizing only upon one aspect thereof, are often led by their zeal for truth itself, to the extremes
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of absurdity and folly. Gilsum has furnished a few such examples. Somc, in cases of danger- ous sickness, have refused to call a physician, trusting to "gifts of healing " supposed to reside in the " elders of the church." Two persons even attempted to " raise the dead." Onc man placed stones in his heated oven, vainly hoping that by the power of faith, they would become bread. Another, in relating his religious experience, told of a terrible fight with the devil, and that he conquered at last by shooting him with a " fo'pence ha'penny." No doubt many others might have slain the devil of avariciousness in their souls by giving their silver pieces to the Lord.
Everybody rode horseback till some years after the present century came in. The women had their side-saddles to ride by themselves, or oftentimes the pillion on which to sit behind the saddle, and hold on with arm around husband, father, brother, or lover. Every dooryard had its horse-block from which more easily to mount. A fine specimen of this article may be seen just south of the first parsonage. It was doubtless placed there at the building of the house in 1794. Mrs. Hathhorn says the first wheeled carriage that ever came into town was Dr. Adams's of Keene, about 1810, and the first owned in town was old Mr. Hammond's, two or three years later. Dea. Blish got one about the same time. People ridiculed them, and thought it was very bad for the horses. It was a common remark that it was " like drawing a cat by the tail."
The first bell brought into town was put on Brigham's Factory in 1831. This was the heav- iest and finest toned bell ever used in Gilsum. It was broken by constant and violent ringing, July 4, 1834. Another smaller bell was put on the Factory in March, 1835. This was destroyed in the fire of 1846.
The first bell on the Congregational Meeting House was a very good one, though not equal to the first factory bell. It weighed 734 pounds. This was cracked in 1858, and the present bell weighing 505 pounds, was raised the next year.
In 1847, the Silsbys put a new bell, much smaller than the old one, on their new Factory. The bell at Collins's Factory is the same first raised by Gerould and Wetherby, October, 1844, and weighs 164 pounds.
On Sunday, Dec. 8, 1844, there were five preaching services in the village at the same hour, - Congregationalist, Methodist, Christian, Universalist, and Mormon.
About 1812, Mrs. Justus Chapin sold land in Connecticut and took a dozen clocks in pay_ ment. Her son, Joseph M. Chapin, has one of them ; Israel Loveland bought one ; and the others were sold to various families.
Orlando Mack relates that Squire Whitney came to his father's in the winter of 1806-7, (?) on horseback ; put up his horse, and went across the river on foot, the snow being " boot top deep," to perform the marriage ceremony for some anxious couple. When he got back, he exhibited " a pair of nice birch peeled brooms," which he had received for his services, "and seemed as well pleased as ministers now do with a ten."
The " cold season " of 1816, is often spoken of by the older people. Frost and snow appeared every month in the year but August. No corn was raised except "pig corn," and most of it got " slimy and moldy " before it could be husked and dried. People were very much straitened for food to eat. Pigeons were unusually plenty and furnished most of their meat. One man speaking of the season says, " We lived poor I can tell ye !" Fodder was so scarce many were obliged to turn out the cattle as early as January, 1817, to live by browsing trees cut down for the purpose.
In the Spring of 1843, many farmers were obliged to do the same thing, as the preceding
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hay-crop was light, and the snow was very deep, so that on the first day of May, the drifts were over the fences in many places.
In March, 1844, the best hay was only $8.00 a ton. The same is true of 1879.
Aug. 4, 1835, there was frost in low ground. June 11, 1842, there was snow so that Monadnock was white. The next morning there was a very severe frost. Ice formed half an inch thick. Vegetation was almost entirely killed.
From the Annals of 1843, (page 134,) is taken the following record : -
April 25, 1843. A few of the citizens in the Factory Village spent most of the day transplanting trees for ornament & shade, 12 Maples were sett & one Elm about 8 inches through at the butt was sett in front of the Meeting house on the Street.
This elm was taken from the bank near Chas. W. Bingham's shop. April, 1879, it meas- ured eight feet in circumference, at four inches from the ground. It is very properly called the Tisdale Elm, as it was owing to the constant care of Rev. James Tisdale, who watered it with his own hands every day through the summer, that it was kept alive.
A part of the maples mentioned are still standing near the brick house, and north of New- man's store and barn. Most of the maples on the street are somewhat younger. Those in front of Dea. Kingsbury's were set probably one year later. The elm in front of Fanny Mark's is of spontaneous growth. In 1846, it was less than two inches through.
The elm at the head of Main Street was set by K. D. Webster and N. O. Hayward, as a Centennial tree in 1876. A large number of citizens aided in planting another, in the square at the head of Sullivan Street. The attempt was renewed the next year, but both trees failed.
Two Centennial elms were set at the Lower Village by the citizens there, - one between the roads north of the Stone Bridge, - the other in the square in front of the old Store.
Several trees near C. W. Bingham's were set by him the same year. The elms near Col- lins's Factory were also set at that time by John S. Collins. There are other Centennial trees in different parts of the town, but these are all of which I have any definite information.
The coon is sometimes reported to "play possum " by feigning itself dead. When Silvanus Hayward was clearing a spot for his house, where the center of the village now is, he caught a coon one forenoon and laid it away in the shade for dead. When night came, he took it up by the hind legs and started for home. Soon, however, the coon bit him severely. He finally recap- tured and killed him.
In the Annals of 1842, (page 134,) is found the following record : -
October, 1842. A fight took place on the Banks of the Ashuelot between 1 man & woman on one side & 2 men & 1 woman on the other side - the 2 women commenced the Battle - it was on account of drinking rum - no lives lost.
Suggestions which startle us in elaborate works of philosophers are sometimes more startling on the lips of childhood. A small boy in Gilsum went with his mother to visit a poor family, where one of the children was " a fool." When they came away, he said to his mother, with great earnestness, " Why don't they kill him ?"
How much Ashuelot water, and soap, or other worse ingredients have been sold for rum, in Gilsum, no man living can tell. One man remembers, when a boy, happening to be sent to the store rather early in the morning where he found the merchant in his back room briskly stirring up a hogshead of rum with a broom handle. Another dealer was awakened early Monday morn- ing by one of his best customers, who brought back a bottle of rum he had bought there Satur- day night, demanding his money back, because, as he said, " It aint pally-ate-able."
Mr. Dimmock lived on the top of the hill near the Cannon place in Sullivan. At one time,
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becoming vexed with his farm and his neighbors, hc declared he wouldn't live in Sullivan, or anywhere else, but would move to Keene.
John Chappell was an Irishman, and very poor. One Spring he went to Capt. Fuller's and asked for some hay for his cow. Capt. Fuller told him he would give him as much as he could carry home on his back. Anxious to get as much as possible, he ticd up so large a bundle, that when he tried to go with it, he found he could hardly stagger under its weight. Throwing it down he said, " I don't feel very well to-day, and I can't carry as much as I can," and asked leave to take it at two loads, which was granted. He lived on the hill back of where Collins's Factory now stands, and often complained that the hill was so steep that it hit him in the face, when he went home at night.
Many a forlorn, love-sick swain has wondered whether the materia medica contained a cure for his pangs. The following discovery, not patented, may be of use in such cases : A young man, who afterwards became a citizen of this town, was deeply in love with a girl who treated him rather coldly, as he thought. It was the early part of Winter, and a barrel of apples, which had been badly frozen, stood in the large, open chamber where he slept. One night after he had gone to bed, he was overheard talking to himself, and uttering bitter complaints about the scornful fair one. After a while he said, " Now, I'll eat some of them frozen apples, and that'll give me the belly ache, so I shall forget all about it."
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Joseph M. Chapi SamuelDet sham Jesse Duurt
Chat N Bingham 1
PART II.
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
"Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure ; Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor.
Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learned to stray ; Along the cool, sequestered vale of life They kept the even tenor of their way."
EXPLANATIONS.
Numbers in Part II. refer to the maps.
In Chapter 30, the names in small capitals are found on the back of the charter ; those in italics are found in the "ranging table," but not in the charter.
In Chapters 32 to 38 names in small capitals are supposed to be the first settlers on the places mentioned.
MAP EXPLANATIONS.
Old building spots are marked with a circle, o
Houses now standing, with a rectangle, .
Roads in present use, with double lines, Old roads, with one dark line,
Old roads and paths not surveyed out for this map, with dotted lines,
A single date, or the earliest date beside a road shows the year it was opened; a date with the letter T, the year it was thrown up ; with the letter G, when made subject to gates and bars. Names indicate residents in 1879.
School Houses, S. H. Blacksmith's Shops, B. S. Meeting Houses, M. H. See also the Preface.
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CHAPTER XXIX.
FIRST SETTLER.
THE Kilburns have always claimed to have been the first settlers in Gilsum. So far as I know, every Gazetteer or similar work names Josiah Kilburn as the first settler. A counter tradition has been met in looking up materials for this history. It is believed the following record gives a full and fair statement of the case.
Josiah Kilburn was in company with a Mr. Ford, (grandfather of Jemima,) in a large Tan- mery and Shoe manufactory in Glastonbury, Conn. They were prosperous in business, and had accumulated considerable wealth for those times. Mr. Kilburn having the old English idea that real estate was the only property to give a man position, was very anxious to buy land. Hearing of this township for sale, he sent up men to look over the ground. When they got here, they were taken in hand by agents of Col. Bellows, who first bewildered them by wandering in the woods, and then kept them traveling three days in Surry meadows. Thinking they had gone over a large tract of country, they returned and reported that it was a very level town " without a stone large enough to throw at a bird." Encouraged by this report, Mr. Kilburn joined with Samuel Gilbert and others (page 18) in the purchase of 18,000 acres, May 1, 1761. In a deed given by him the same year, he calls himself of Hebron, Conn. In November, 1762, he writes himself Josiah Kilbourn of Keene. Before finding this deed, I had met the tradition that he supposed the log cabin that he first built was in Keene. It was within a few rods of the town line, on the spot marked 1 on the map. This deed fixes the time of his coming from Connect- icut, in the Fall of 1762. His son Ebenezer came with him. They spent the Winter and the Summer following, in clearing the land, building a barn, and preparing their cabin to receive their families. They then returned to Connecticut, and in the Spring of 1764, brought up their families, with a large herd of cattle and sheep and several horses.
The following tradition of a still earlier settlement is from George Hammond, Esq., of Bennett's Corners, N. Y., who received it from his Aunt Rachel (Bill) Baxter, a niece of Dea. Kilburn's wife, and "an extremely particular and accurate person."
In that first winter of 1762-3, the Kilburns not having raised any crops the Summer before, eame near starvation. " Guided only by the marked trees of the beaver hunter, they went through the heavy forest near where Ebenezer Isham settled, to a spot the beavers had cleared in the lowland known as the old Hammond Meadow, where they cut some swale grass for their oxen. Hearing afterwards that a settler in the northwest part had raised some rye, Mr. Kil- burn started on snow shoes to visit his neighbor and purchase a bag of rye. He followed the Indian trail to near where Calvin May once lived, and then struck for the high land and tried to discern the smoke of the settler's cabin, but could see none, and became nearly discouraged. He finally halloed at the top of his voice, and great was his joy to hear an answer, and in a short time, hungry and fatigued, he found the cabin, got a bushel of rye, and after rest and food returned to his home."
This cabin was that of Jonathan Bliss, on the farm now owned by Dennis Keefe, supposed to be on the spot numbered 135. From this tradition the claim is made that Jonathan Bliss was the first settler in Gilsum. Careful examination involving much time, has been made to verify this statement. The name of Jonathan Bliss does not appear on the charter of cither Boyle or
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Gilsmm, nor is it found throughout the records of the Proprietors. The land he afterwards owned was " drawn " by Joshna and Nathaniel Dart, and their brother-in-law, Joseph Spenecr. His name is not found among the Gilsmn men of 1768. February, 1769, in a deed to Samuel Church, he calls himself of Bolton, Conn. In a deed of October, 1769, he calls himself of Gilsum. The deeds in which he is grantee have not been found. It has been suggested that " there were numerous settlers in Surry before Mr. Kilburn settled in Gilsum, and Jonathan Bliss was an extension up the river from the Surry settlement." All the deeds and Proprietors' reeords show, however, that there were no settlements north of " Westmoreland Leg " prior to 1762. Probably several families had settled in Surry before the Kilburns brought their families in 1764. But the first settlements along Surry meadows were not before 1762, when the Kil- burns came to Gilsum. J. Homer Bliss, Esq., of Norwich, Conn., writes that he has items con- cerning the Bliss family, collected by Rev. Sylvester Bliss, in which Jonathan Bliss is said to have removed from Tolland, Conn., to Gilsum in 1752. Possibly he left Tolland at that time, and it being known that his life was mainly spent in Gilsum, it was inferred that he came immediately here. That it could not have been obtained from contemporary records is evident from the fact that the name Gilsum had no existence till more than ten years later. It seems more probable that it is a slip of the pen for 1762. All tradition and documentary evidence concur in making Peter Hayward in 1752-3 the first settler north of Keene. During ten years of the Indian troubles it would have been impossible for Mr. Bliss to have escaped their attacks. From five miles further north, he could not well have fled to the fort, as did Mr. Hayward. Situated within a short distance of the old Indian trail, he could not have escaped their notice, and must have been scalped or captured. The fact that no evidence, or trace of evidence, exists of his fleeing or being molested, is conclusive that he could not have been there at that time.
The conclusion I have reached, (of the substantial accuracy of which I have no doubt,) is the following. Mr. Bliss came early enough to get a crop of rye in 1762, while Mr. Kilburn came the Fall after. Jonathan Bliss was therefore the first settler by a few months ; but re- turned to Connecticut, remaining there several years, and permanently located in Gilsum in 1769.
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Helpy
RESIDENCE OF AGEISHA W. GUNN. (ht Kilburn Place. )
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PROPRIETORS.
CHAPTER XXX.
PROPRIETORS.
OF a large part of the original proprietors of Gilsum very little is now known. The follow- ing names are those which are given on the back of the Charter, (page 21,) with such as after- wards appear in the proprietors' records.
Nothing has been learned respecting Elijah Owen, Jonathan Dart, William Dart, Ichabod Warner, Jonathan Burge, James Spencer, or Joseph Beakit. Noah Beebc, Jared Nolton, Nathanill Warner and Joseph Ransun, found in the " Ranging Table," (pages 24, 25,) are also unknown.
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