USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Hampton Falls > History of the town of Hampton Falls, New Hampshire : from the time of the first settlement within its borders, 1640 until 1900 > Part 39
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1797, Caleb Tilton.
1801, 1807, 1811, Peter Tilton.
1809, 1814, Joseph Perkins.
1813, 1815, 1816, Aaron Merrill.
1817, 1819, 1821, 1822, Jeremiah Blake.
1820, 1828, William Brown.
1824, 1825, Thomas Leavitt.
1826, 1827, Levi Lane.
1829, 1831, David Chase.
1832, 1833, Josiah Brown.
1834, Moses Batchelder.
1836, 1838, John Weare.
1837, Nehemiah P. Cram.
1839, 1840, George H. Dodge.
1841, 1842, Thayer S. Sanborn.
1844, Otis Wing. 1846, 1847, John W. Dodge. 1848, 1849, Jeremiah Godfrey. 1850, 1851, Simon Winslow. 1852, 1853, Wells W. Healey.
1854, 1855, Charles H. Sanborn. 1856, 1857, John Batchelder. 1858, 1859, Thomas L. Sanborn. 1860, 1861, Charles A. Nason. 1862, 1863, Jefferson Janvrin. 1864, 1865, Dean R. Tilton. 1866, 1867, Levi E. Lane.
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HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS.
1868, 1869, Emery Batchelder.
1810, 1871, Peter G. Tilton.
1872, 1873, Charles T. Brown. 1874, 1875, George B. Sanborn. 1876, 1877, John F. Jones.
1878, Joseph T. Sanborn.
1879, 1880, John C. Sanborn.
1881, 1882, Henry H. Knight.
1883, 1884, Edwin Janvrin.
1885, 1886, John N. Sanborn.
1887, 1888, Warren Brown.
1889, 1890, George C. Healey. 1891, 1892, Frank S. Greene.
1893, 1894, Daniel E. Peryear.
1895, 1896, George J. Curtis.
1897, 1898, Warren J. Prescott.
1899, 1900, Henry E. Tilton.
DELEGATES TO CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
1791, Nathaniel Hubbard Dodge.
1850, George H. Dodge.
1876, Nehemiah P. Cram.
1889, Emmons B. Towle.
At the first convention held at Exeter July 21, 1774, Meshech Weare was a delegate from Hampton Falls.
At the second convention at Exeter January 25, 1775, Meshech Weare, Jonathan Burnham, Paine Wingate, and Caleb Sanborn were delegates from Hampton Falls.
Henry Robie and Benjamin Leavitt were delegates from Seabrook. Both lived in Hampton Falls, but had polled into Seabrook under the provisions of the charter granted that town.
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CHARLES T. BROWN. For twenty-five years Town Treasurer. See page 558.
NORFOLK COUNTY.
THE county of Norfolk, constituted in 1643, was composed of the towns of Exeter, Hampton, Dover, and Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, and Salisbury and Haverhill in Massachusetts. The shire town was Salisbury, although the courts were holden alter- nately at Salisbury and Hampton. Before the formation of Nor- folk county the New Hampshire towns were under the jurisdiction of the court at Ipswich. The county was named Norfolk, because many of its inhabitants came from Norfolk county in England.
Dover and Portsmouth had a separate jurisdiction, and a court of one or more magistrates chosen by the General Court, from the principal persons of the towns. This court was held once or twice each year. Its jurisdiction extended to causes which did not exceed twenty pounds. The decisions were rendered and regulated by the laws of Massachusetts. This was called the Court of Associates. An inferior court, consisting of three persons, was constituted in each town, with jurisdiction over all cases of twenty shillings value- or under.
Robert Page of Hampton was at one time marshal of Norfolk county. Abraham Drake of Hampton was marshal of Norfolk county for ten years, resigning in 1673. Henry Dow of Hampton: was then appointed, and continued marshal as long as the county had an existence. In 1650, Maj. Robert Pike was appointed one of the three commissioners of Norfolk county. In 1665, he was ap- pointed a magistrate of the county.
In 1670, jealousy and disorder had spread among the officers of the militia in the county. Major Pike was appointed "sergeant- major, under whose command they might be drawn together and exercised in regimental service as the law directeth."
Thomas Bradbury, son-in-law of Rev. John Wheelwright, was for a number of years register of deeds for Norfolk county. It was before the Norfolk county courts that Goody Cole was tried for witchcraft in 1656. She was convicted and suffered imprisonment.
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HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS.
for a number of years in Boston. From the county records we learn that John Carleton of Haverhill was fined three pounds for striking Robert Swan several blows, and Robert Swan was fined thirty shillings for striking John Carleton several blows. From this it would seem that an attempt was made to do equal justice to both parties.
Woods
Oyster River DOVER
Piscataqua River
GREAT
Piscassig River
BAY
Sandy zoin'
PORTSMOUTH
EXETER
Woods
Lillle Rivet
-
Great Pond
HAMPTON
Atlantic
Countr Pond - .
ve
Ocean.
SAINSBURY
Woods -.
ittle
Newbury
HAVERHILL
Rowley
Andover
Scale : 10 miles = finch.
MAP OF OLD NORFOLK COUNTY, 1643.
A law was passed in November, 1654, prohibiting all persons except those specially licensed from selling any Indians either wine or strong liquors of any sort, under a penalty of twenty shillings per pint, and in that proportion for all quantities more
wany fosswent
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NORFOLK COUNTY.
or less. Henry Palmer of Haverhill and Roger Shaw of Hampton were all the persons licensed for this purpose in the county of Nor- folk.
The court records of Norfolk county are in existence, and consist of three volumes, one of which is kept in Salem, Mass. The other two have been kept at Exeter until recently. By act of the legisla- ture of 1897, they were removed from Exeter to Concord, and are now deposited in the library building there. Many of the Norfolk county deeds are recorded with the early Rockingham deeds, and can be seen at the register of deeds' office in Exeter.
By an edict accepted and confirmed by the king and council in 1677, the towns of Dover, Exeter, Hampton, and Portsmouth were severed from Massachusetts and made a separate jurisdiction, which caused Norfolk county to come to an end.
The following order was passed by the General Court held at Bos- ton on the 4th day of February, 1679:
The court being sensible of the great inconvenience and charge that it will be to Salisbury, Haverhill, and Almsbury to continue their county court, now that some of the towns of Norfolk are taken off, and considering that those towns did formerly belong to Essex and attended at Essex court, do order that those towns that are left be again joined to Essex and attend public business at Essex courts, there to impleade and be impleaded as occasion shall be; their records of lands still to be kept in some one of their own towns on the north side of the Merrimack river, and all persons accordingly to convene and attend in Essex county.
By the Court.
EDWARD RAWSON, Secret'y.
The records alluded to in the above order were subsequently deposited in the archives of the county at Salem, where they still remain.
Norfolk county came to an end because the New Hampshire towns were severed from Massachusetts and made a separate province against the wishes of their inhabitants. Robert Mason laid claim to New Hampshire, and by his influence and that of his friends with the king, succeeded in having it done, considering that he could be more successful in accomplishing his purpose if a separa- tion was made and an independent government established.
The records consist of births, marriages, deaths, deeds, wills, inventories, etc. The conveyances recorded are of lands in the present towns of Atkinson, Brentwood, Danville, East Kingston, Epping, Exeter, Fremont, Hampstead, Hampton, Hampton Falls,
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HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS.
Kensington, Kingston, Newmarket, Newton, North Hampton, Plaistow, Rye, Salem, Seabrook, South Hampton, and Newfields in New Hampshire, and most of the towns north of Salem in Essex county in Massachusetts.
Among the volumes now at Concord are several which relate ex- clusively to the court business which was done in Dover and Ports- mouth, where more business appears to have been done than in the rest of the county.
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ROBIESTOWN.
ABOUT 1735, Col. Robert Hale, who was at that time one of the leading men in Beverly, Mass., put in a petition in behalf of the men who composed Captain Raymond's company, that accompa- nied the ill-fated expedition to Canada in 1690, for a grant of a township in New Hampshire. The petition received favorable action, and Colonel Hale and his associates received a grant of the territory which comprises the present town of Weare. Ineffectual efforts were made to settle the town in accordance with the terms of the grant. About 1746, the lord proprietors bought of John Tufton Mason, the rights of Capt. John Mason, and thinking to make money, made grants of townships to bodies of associated men called town proprietors. At this time the town had been called Halestown about fifteen years, and Colonel Hale had acquired many of the rights and had become the principal owner.
The lord proprietors granted to Ichabod Robie and his associates a township six miles square at a place called Halestown, satisfactory arrangements having been made with Colonel Hale and his few remaining associates to be incorporated with the new proprietors. Ichabod Robie and his associates, eighty in number, became the town proprietors. Most of them lived in Hampton Falls, a few in Hampton and other towns near by, and the other persons agreed upon in Beverly and the towns near there. Among them were one colonel, three captains, one lieutenant, two esquires, two ministers, two deacons, and one widow. The town was now called Robiestown, as Ichabod Robie was the first named proprietor. The following were some of the proprietors living in Hampton Falls:
Ichabod Robie, Esq., Jeremiah Pearson, Elisha Prescott, Jona- than Swain, Benjamin Hilliard, Thomas Boyd, Josiah Batchelder, James Prescott, Abner Sanborn, John Robie, Bradbury Green, Jeremiah Bennett, Jacob Stanyan, Enoch Barker, Enoch Sanborn, Benjamin Swett, Henry Robie, Caleb Sanborn, Jolin Clifford, Lieut. Joseph Batchelder, Abner Philbrick, Paine Row, Jonathan Fifield,
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HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS.
Ebenezer Sanborn, John Brown, John Gove, Jr., Jacob Brown, Elisha Batchelder, Nathan Brown, Jonathan Steward, Jonathan Green, Jr., John Green, Richard Nason, Samuel Prescott, Nathan Green, Capt. John Tilton, Reuben Sanborn, Jr., Timothy Blake, Reuben Sanborn, Ebenezer Prescott, Capt. Samuel Prescott, Na- than Tilton, Henry Thresher, Walter Williams, Timothy Fuller, Thomas Batchelder, Capt. Thomas Cram, David Tilton, Caleb Ben- nett, Samuel Prescott, Meshech Weare, John Loverin, Abner San- born, Jr., Edward Gove, Simon Fogg, Mrs. Judith Quimby, Jona- than Hilliard.
CONDITIONS OF THE GRANT.
There were to be one hundred shares, seventeen reserved for the lord proprietors, to be free from all taxes; the first minister settled in the town to have one share; the ministry one, the income to be used for the support of the gospel; the one hundred acres of these shares to be laid out near where the meeting-house was to be built, and not to be drawn as the other lots; the school was to have one lot for its use and support forever.
The center square was to contain six acres, and be left at some convenient place for a meeting-house, schoolhouse, training field, burying ground, and any other public use. Settlers, to the number of thirty families, were to be got by the town proprietors within four years from the granting thereof, each to have a house sixteen feet square and three acres of land, cleared and fitted for mowing and tillage on each settled lot, and ten more families in the next two years. A meeting-house for the public worship of God was to be built within six years. Preaching of the gospel was to be con- stant after twelve years. A sawmill was to be built within two years, to saw at the halves for ten years. If no man built it then the town proprietors were to build it, and saw on such terms as would forward the settlement of the town, the sawing to be done by the long rule. Twenty acres of ground were to be set apart in some fit place for the mill privilege.
Taxes were to be paid by each man for laying out the lots and doing other things. The lots should be sorted in laying out, and care taken that the shares should be as equal as possible. Ranges were to be made where the land would admit of it in laying out the lots, and the land left between the ranges for highways four rods wide, and between the lots two rods wide. All white pine trees
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ROBIESTOWN.
fit for masting the royal navy were to be reserved and granted to his majesty the king and his heirs.
Forfeits were to be had of this grant to the grantors if the gran- tees should not settle the forty families in the time set, and should not do the other things named in this grant. If some of the gran- tees performed the conditions, then they should hold their own shares and the shares of those who did nothing, and any one who did his part should hold his right or share.
An Indian war should be an exception. The time it lasted should not count against the grantees, and they should have their full time after it was over.
The lord proprietors provided that if any suit or suits should be brought, the grantees should defend one at their own expense, and if they got beaten the grantees should recover nothing back from them.
The town proprietors met February 25, 1750, at the inn of Ben- jamin Swett in Hampton Falls, for the annual election of officers and the transaction of any other proper business. Capt. Samuel Prescott was chosen moderator; Meshech Weare was chosen pro- prietors' clerk for one year, and until another should be chosen and sworn, and Meshech Weare, Capt. Samuel Prescott, and Dea. Josiah Batchelder, "a committee to call meetings of ye proprietors as there shall be occasion agreeable to the same methods as ye last committee."
Richard Nason, Capt. Samuel Prescott, and Paine Row were a committee to survey and run the lines and lay out the lots. They then chose Ichabod Robie, Esq., Paine Row, Jacob Stanyan, Me- shech Weare, and John Sanborn a committee to go to Robiestown and look out the most convenient place for a way to said tract of land, or in any part thereof, and mark out the same in order for clearing it, and to do this business as soon as the season would admit. This committee did the work, coming to an unbroken wilderness in the early spring. and probably occupying the camps used the previous fall by the surveying party. They looked out a route and perhaps lightly marked it, but could not have done much work upon it. Ichabod Robie, Esq., charged £25, Paine Row £15, Jacob Stan- yan £20, Meshech Weare £12, and John Sanborn £8 for their ser- vices.
The committee to call proprietors' meetings gave notice March 26, 1750, that one would be held April 5 at four o'clock in the after- noon at Swett's inn, to do these things: First, to pay their rates, or
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HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS.
taxes; second, to vote that the rights of those who did not pay be forfeited; third, to sell the same; fourth, to vote to fence in the whole of Robiestown, and the manner in which to do it; fifth, to see what was best to be done to get settlers.
They met at the time appointed, and chose Dea. Jonathan Fifield moderator. It was voted that rights that did not pay charges should be forfeited. They then adjourned for two weeks that no- tice to those who lived near might be given from the pulpit each Sab- bath. Those at a distance were to be notified by letter. All who did not pay their rates would forfeit their rights. Meshech Weare wrote the pulpit notice. It was read by the minister on two Sab- baths, and was to let all know that the town proprietors had deter- mined, at a meeting held April 5, that the rights of such as did not pay their proportion of the charges that had arisen, within fourteen days from that time, should be forfeited to those of the proprietors that would carry on the same.
At an adjourned meeting May 1, the rights of twelve of the pro- prietors were declared forfeited to the other grantees. Among those forfeited at this time were the rights of Colonel Hale and some of the other Halestown grantees, who appear to have lost all inter- est in the new township. The sale took place upon the 7th of May. In the succeeding years many other rights were forfeited and sold.
The town proprietors soon found that the most difficult condi- tions in their grant were to get settlers and have them build houses and clear the land. To get the first two or three to go was the hard- est of all, so they were free to offer liberal bounties. Two of the proprietors, Jeremiah Bennett and Timothy Blake, appreciating the situation, were inclined to go and settle, and the proprietors, at a meeting May 10, 1750, voted, that if these two would go at once, they would find six men to help them two weeks, and would also pay them the same wages for the same time. When they took their families there, each was to have £50, old tenor, and the cost of moving. If they staid a year they would have £50 more, and if two years, an additional £50, one half at the first and one half at the end of the second year. The proprietors, that they might have the money to pay, voted that each owner of a right should pay to the committee by the next Thursday night twenty shillings, old tenor.
Henry Robie and Paine Row were the committee to carry out this vote. The men were raised and soon set out for Robiestown. The inen were from Hampton Falls, and were John Loverin, John Til-
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ROBIESTOWN.
ton, William Swain, Jonathan Swain, Caleb Bennett, and Paine Row. Jeremiah Bennett and Timothy Blake went with them. Each wrought twelve days on Bennett's land. They felled trees, cleared land, and built "hous or housen" on it. The workmen each got £1 10s. per day.
Another meeting was held June 11, 1750, at Swett's inn. They voted to raise eight men to go to Robiestown, and among the things they were to do were to cover the house built for Bennett with long clapboards, build a chimney, and fit the house so that a family could move into it as soon as possible.
John Loverin and Paine Row were the committee to raise the eight men. They went themselves, and along with them were Brad- bury Green, Benjamin Tilton, Enoch Sanborn, Timothy Walker, Eleazer Quimby, and Jeremiah Bennett, the one who thought to settle. These men each worked eleven days at £1 10s. per day. July 26, 1750, Samuel Prescott and Joseph Batchelder were ap- pointed a committee to look over the accounts of Henry Robie and Paine Row and of John Loverin and Paine Row, the two former committees, and found that their accounts of the above business amounted to £294 22s. The expenditure of this money did not prove to be much of a benefit to the proprietors, as once going to Robiestown was enough for Timothy Blake, and two trips satisfied Jeremiah Bennett. Neither of them ever settled there.
The proprietors held out further inducements for settlers by offering any persons, to the number of six, who would now go to Robiestown and settle, to send eight men with them to assist in building and clearing for two weeks. The settlers were to have provisions for one year at the expense of the proprietors if they staid there so long. If they took their families, they were to have provisions for the same time if they staid, and the proprietors were to pay the expense of their moving there.
To obtain money for this purpose each right was assessed three pounds. Paine Row and Henry Robie were a committee to carry the above into effect. Notwithstanding these tempting offers, no one accepted them. John Loverin and Paine Row went with six men to finish the Bennett house, and to open the way up to the center square. Sometime before June 16, 1652, twenty-four men were sent to clear this way, but it was many years before much of a road was built.
The grant required that a sawmill should be built. The proprie- tors thought if lumber could be readily obtained it would prove an
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HISTORY OF HAMPTON FALLS.
inducement to settlers. A number of ineffectual attempts were made, but in 1752, when the time had become short, and there was danger of the grant being forfeited because the mill had not been built, they acted at once. February 29, Dea. Jonathan Fifield, Richard Nason, and Capt. Samuel Prescott were chosen a commit- tee to see upon what terms they could agree with any one to build a sawmill. After making some investigation, it was voted to build the mill at once. Moses Blake and his associates agreed to make a substantial dam to stop the water and build and furnish the mill complete for seven hundred pounds, old tenor. The mill was promptly built, and at a meeting of the proprietors, October 24, 1752, it was accepted and Moses Blake was paid and discharged.
There is no record of the amount of business done by this mill, but probably not much, as a few years later a great freshet swept away both the mill and the dam. The saw was found and used to cover the mould board of a wooden plow, and did service in that capacity for many years.
The way made into Robiestown led to the center square, and it was found necessary to build a bridge across Piscataquog river. Ensign Nason, James Prescott, and John Loverin were chosen a committee for the purpose. Each owner of a right was to send one man, or pay his proportion. Twenty-six men, mostly from Hamp- ton Falls, began Monday, June 22, 1752, and completed the bridge and came home Saturday the 27th. After the road and bridge were completed, efforts were made to clear the center square and build a camp thereon, which appears to have been done.
The proprietors appear to have made a survey, returned their plan, drawn their lots, assessed and collected rates, sold the for- feited rights, made a way, built a bridge, erected a sawmill, and probably cleared the center square and erected a camp thereon, but did not fence the township.
The town proprietors one by one sold their rights at a nominal price to settlers who came from other places. The French and Indian War extended their time, and prevented a forfeiture of their grant, so that in 1764, the forty families had been secured and the settlers asked for an act of incorporation, which was granted by Governor Wentworth, and the town was named Weare, in honor of Colonel Weare, who was afterward president and governor of the state. From what we can learn the proprietors did not receive much return for the labor and money expended in the attempt to settle Robiestown, and some of them must have been at consider-
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ROBIESTOWN.
able loss, as the town was not settled to any great extent until many years later. Had they received their grant a number of years later, it would probably have been more successful than it was.
John Robie, of Hampton Falls, son of Henry Robie, one of the proprietors, born July 23, 1742, went to Weare to live, and was town clerk more than twenty-five years, and also selectman and representative, and for many years a justice of the peace.
John Worth of Hampton Falls lived in Weare for a time. Many of the first settlers of Weare came from Hampton and that immedi- ate vicinity. Among them appear the names of Brown, Dow, Gove, Page, Philbrick, Cilley, and Quimby.
The town of Chester was granted in 1722. One half of the grantees were from Hampton and Hampton Falls. We find the following names from Hampton Falls: Philemon Blake, Abraham Brown, Nathaniel Batchelder, Sen., Jonathan Brown, Moses Blake, Josiah Batchelder, Nathaniel Batchelder, Jr., Jacob Basford, James Boyd, Amos Cass, Richard Clifford, Zechariah Clifford, Rev. The- ophilus Cotton, John Cram, Benoni Fogg, Jacob Garland, William Healey, Thomas Leavitt, John Prescott, James Prescott, John Pres- cott, Jr., Samuel Prescott, Ichabod Robie, Robert Row, Joseph San- born, Benjamin Sanborn, Nathaniel Sanborn, Reuben Sanborn, John Sanborn, Enoch Sanborn, Capt. Jonathan Sanborn, Dea. Samuel Shaw, Jacob Stanyan, Capt. Joseph Tilton, David Tilton, Jethro Tilton, Col. Peter Weare.
Among the families from this town who settled in Chester we find the following names: Basford, Batchelder, Blake, Boyd, Brown, Clifford, Healey, Prescott, Robie, Row, Sanborn.
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THE MOULTON ELM.
THE large elm tree near the Moulton homestead on the Exeter road, which is the admiration of all beholders, is of great age, yet shows little sign of decay. It must have been growing when the first settlement of the town was made. Thomas Moulton, born in 1755, said it was a very large tree when he was a boy. His son Joseph, who died, aged 92, in 1888, said he could not see that it had increased in size during his recollection. The circumference of the tree six feet from the ground is sixteen and one half feet, and at the ground several feet larger, and the spread of the branches is more than one hundred feet.
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THE MOULTON ELM
WEARE MONUMENT.
MRS. HANNAH PORTER, a daughter of Hon. Meshech Weare, who died in 1849, aged ninety-five years, left a sum of money in her will to be used in erecting a monument to the memory of her father. Hon. George H. Dodge was appointed executor of her will, and finding the amount left by Mrs. Porter to be insufficient to erect anything which would be appropriate, he applied to the legisla- ture of 1852 to raise and appropriate money for the purpose. It was not until the next session, in 1853, that a joint resolu- tion was passed, authorizing the governor and council to appoint a committee, "To cause to be erected over the grave of Hon. Me- shech Weare, in Hampton Falls, a suitable monument to his mem- ory, his patriotism, and many virtues." Twenty-five hundred dol- lars was appropriated. The following persons were appointed as this committee: George H. Dodge of Hampton Falls, J. Everett Sargent of Wentworth, and John H. Wiggins of Dover.
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