USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire > Part 33
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The members of the first court were then variously occupied. Chief Justice Hurd was an active member of the New Hampshire Committee of Safety for Grafton County. He took an early and pronounced stand in the cause of independency, and had a general charge of all military opera- tions in the Coos country, until, because of his loyalty to and warm parti- sanship for the Exeter government, his influence was undermined by the faction in the Connecticut Valley which, repudiating that government, was endeavoring by effecting a union with Vermont towns to establish a new state, and he was practically forced to leave the county, returning to his old home in Boston. Judge Porter did not find time hanging heavy on his hands, as he was facing charges of Toryism and disloyalty, and for a considerable period was under surveillance on his father's farm in Box- ford, Mass. Judge Woodward was devoting himself to the promotion of a scheme for the annexation of that part of Vermont east of the Green Mountains and known as New Hampshire Grants to western New Hamp- shire in which event he would have the capital of the state thus formed at Hanover, the seat of Dartmouth College, or in some near-by town, and Haverhill was a party to this scheme. Judge Hobart was in the saddle at the front, rendering valuable and efficient service with his sword.
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Colonel Fenton, clerk of courts and judge of probate, had been deprived of his office and sent out of the country for his country's good.
Grafton County was too thoroughly occupied with other matters to pay attention to litigation during the Revolutionary War, and the Court of Common Pleas was not reorganized until 1782, when Samuel Emerson of Plymouth, Ezekiel Ladd and James Woodward, both of Haverhill, and Enoch Page were named as judges, with George Williamson Liver- more of Holderness as clerk.
The first term of the new court was held in Haverhill August 3, 1782. Ten cases, which had been continued from the April term of 1775, were disposed of and there were twenty-one cases on the new docket. The counsel appearing were Moses Dow of Haverhill, John Porter of Plymouth and Aaron Hutchinson of Lebanon, and so far as the records show these were the only members of the bar in the county at that time. The mem- bers of the court were laymen. Lawyers were not numerous, and those who were competent for judicial honors could hardly afford to accept places on the bench on account of the insufficient salaries. For some years it was as much the custom to appoint physicians, clergymen and merchants to the bench as members of the legal profession. There is good authority for saying that the laymen of that period made better judges than such lawyers as could afford and were, therefore, willing to accept appointments. Lawyers were not popular in many towns in the period immediately following the Revolution. A general demoralization following the war, the evils arising from an unlimited issue of paper money, confiscation of the property of those who had been adjudged Tories, the contracting of debts the payment of which became hopeless, the relations of church and state, and questions arising out of grants of lands and townships by the Province governors resulted in a flood of liti- gation in which lawyers seemed to derive most of the benefit instead of litigants, and lawyers were, for a time, not only unpopular, but no incon- siderable party demanded the abolition of the profession.
The Court of General Sessions of the Peace, commonly called the Sessions Court, held its first term in Haverhill April 19, 1774, with nine justices present, viz .: John Hurd, Asa Porter, John Fenton, Bezaleel Woodward, Israel Morey, Daniel Brainard, John Wheatley, Seth Wales and Samuel Gilbert. Moses Dow was appointed to act as King's attorney in the absence of Att. Gen. Samuel Livermore. The statutes provided that this court should "have cognizance of all matters relating to the con- servation of the peace and punishment of offenders." It was also "author- ized and empowered to make orders for the raising any sum or sums of money that may be necessary from time to time, for building and repairing court houses, prisons, houses of correction or other public county build- ings, payment of grand jurors, travel of petit jurors, travel and attendance
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of the justices of the Sessions, and all other county charges; and to examine and allow any accounts or demands that may be laid before it for the ends aforesaid, and to remit any fines or forfeitures accruing to the county." On its organization, justices of the peace were not numerous in Grafton county, but in 1794, when the court was abolished and its powers trans- ferred to the Court of Common Pleas, it had become too large a body for the satisfactory transaction of business, the records showing no less than twenty-two justices present at one term held in Haverhill.
The records of this court give much valuable information concerning the erection of the first court house and jail, a little to the north of North Haverhill Village, and of its abandonment twenty years later for a loca- tion at the Corner. Before the organization of the courts the proprietors of Haverhill, at a meeting held April 23, 1773, had made generous provi- sion for the location of court house and jail, by voting "a parcel of land 200 rods square and a road two rods wide and 200 rods long opposite the Great Ox-Bow to accommodate the court house and jail." Col. Asa Porter was made the agent of the committee for the erection of the build- ing which was to be court house and jail combined, two stories high, 50 by 80 feet, the upper story to be used as court and jury rooms, and the lower for jail, at the west end, and at the east end, rooms for the sheriff and dwelling of the jailer. In Colonel Porter's detailed account of ex- penses incurred in erection, the first charge was made in May, 1773, and the last in May, 1775. The colonel evidently intended to build for the future as well as the present. The raising of the frame was a notable event. It began on the 19th of November, 1773, and ended November 30. Provision was made for the men employed in the raising on a liberal scale. They consumed 45 gallons of rum at 6s a gallon, 650 pounds of beef, 25 pounds of pork, 1} gallons of molasses at 6s, and bread that cost £4, 9s, about one third the amount which was expended for rum. The fathers were by no means total abstainers, and could not be charged with extravagance and wastefulness in the item of bread.
There was evidently dissatisfaction with the work of Colonel Porter on the ground of expense incurred, and at the April term of the Sessions Court, 1774, John Fenton, Samuel Gilbert, Daniel Brainard, John Wheat- ley, Samuel Gilbert and Seth Wales were appointed to inspect Colonel Porter's accounts respecting the erection of court house and jail. The committee reported that the accounts showed gross extravagance on the part of the agent, and the court added Samuel Gilbert and Mr. Jonathan Hale and Capt. Charles Johnston to the building committee, who were instructed to report the next day "in what manner it will be best to finish the court house and goal." The committee reported, as instructed, what needed to be done at present, and recommended "that it be done in the plainest and most frugal manner." This recommendation of the
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committee was adopted, and the committee were directed to proceed accordingly.
At this same session it was voted that the sheriff be instructed to notify the selectmen of Plymouth and Haverhill that it is expected they erect stocks and whipping posts in their respective towns near the court houses and jails forthwith. There is no record, however, that this vote was ever carried into effect. Colonel Porter's account for the building was the subject of long continued discussion and was not finally settled until the September term of the court in 1791, when a final and formal settlement was made with Colonel Hurd, who was the county treasurer at the time of the erection of the building. The bill in question amounted to £386, 5s, 2d, or a little less than $2,000. In the frame and covering of the building the best materials were used. Some of the shingles of old growth pine were sixteen inches in width, and were in perfectly sound condition when the building was finally taken down fifty years after it was built. The plainness and frugality ordered were found, in the interior, which led to a constant demand for repairs when terms of the court were resumed February 20, 1783, after being suspended from April, 1775, a period of nearly eight years. The condition of the house was such that at the February term, 1783, the court adjourned to the house of Maj. Nathaniel Merrill, near by, and then to the house of Ezekiel Ladd, Ladd Street, for the remainder of the term. That the building had been used by Hazen's regiment in 1779 appears from the appointment, by the court, of a com- mittee at the September term, 1791, "to prepare an account against the state of New Hampshire for damages done the court house in Haverhill by the Continental soldiers stationed near that place, and procure the necessary vouchers for supporting said account." Later, in 1794, the court allowed the account of Joshua and Nathaniel Young for underpin- ning and other stone for steps, etc., furnished in 1774 for the court house, only half of which were used. The committee investigating the account reported that Joshua Young took one of the stones away, that another was used for a hearth in Captain Merrill's house, and that the residue were taken by Colonel Hazen's regiment in 1779 and used for chimneys to their huts. The court allowed the account to the amount of £42.
The jail seems to have been in worse condition than the court house. At the May term in Plymouth, 1783, the sheriff entered his protest against the present situation of the jails in the county, and the court ordered the Haverhill jail to be put in order. At the November term, 1883, Moses Dow, Charles Johnston and James Woodward were appointed a commit- tee to repair the jail, and also "to consider the method for building a jail and jail house in Haverhill and make a plan of the same, also to prepare a place and conveniences for the same, ascertain on what terms the land may be had and see who will advance property towards effecting the same
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and how much and report thereon at the next Court of the General Ses- sions." This committee reported in favor of building a new jail and jail house "on land of John Ladd a little south of the Brook," probably Powder House Hill, but action on the report was postponed, and noth- ing came of it. In June, 1785, Colonel Porter and Nathaniel Merrill were appointed a committee to make a jail yard, and a suitable close room for prisoners, with window shutters and bars, and cause the room to be properly cleansed. They were also to contract for the erection of a barn, 20 by 22 feet in dimensions, suitable for stabling horses at an expense not to exceed £30.
In spite of frequent repairs, conditions continued unsatisfactory. At the March term, 1788, Bezaleel Woodward, Charles Johnston and Moses Baker were appointed "to receive offers from individuals or corporations with respect to the accommodation of the County of Grafton with nec- essary public buildings and consider the proper place for their erection." At the September term, the same year, in response to the vote just named, offers were made, one by Colonel Craig of Rumney, and another by Esquire Shattuck and others of Cockermouth to erect in their respective towns court house and jail free of expense to the county, and, at the same term, Moses Dow and Andrew S. Croker were appointed to see on what terms the court house at Haverhill could be disposed of. No action, however, seems to have been taken. At the September term, in 1790, Ezekiel Ladd and A. S. Crocker were appointed "to repair the jail in such manner as they think fit for the confinement of prisoners, and to repair the dwelling so as to be comfortable for a family to live in." The sum expended for these repairs was £82, 17s, 2d. Minor repairs were again made in 1792, amounting to £9.
Dissatisfaction with the building and its location was not overcome by these repairs. It rather increased. There was ample waterpower at the Brook which was being more and more utilized and the settlement there, and at Ladd Street, was rapidly growing, and the Corner was coming into prominence. The meeting house had been erected at Ladd Street and the church organized in 1790, and enterprising men in that section of the town took advantage of the situation.
In 1793, Col. Charles Johnston and others had erected a building for an academy, for which they secured a charter a year later. The building was a large and commodious one, and contained accommodations for the courts as well as the academy if it should be decided to abandon the court house at the north end of the town. It was located in Colonel Johnston's field on the land between the present Pearson Hall and the academy building. The lawn in front of it extended down to the river road, and is now the North Common. There was then one building on
REGISTRYOF PROBATE
IN WWE S TGAT OFFICE
I'CLERKS OFFICE
REGISTRY OF OCEOS
COURT HOUSE AND COUNTY OFFICES AT HAVERHILL (From an old print)
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it, in the present northwest corner, the residence of Samuel Brooks, sub- sequently removed to the west side of Main Street.
Colonel Johnston and his associates memorialized the Court of Sessions, offering the free use of the building for the Sessions Court and the Court of Common Pleas. This was considered at an adjourned session of the March term which was held at the meeting house in June. Court was opened and immediately adjourned to the new academy building. After examination of the building it was "voted that the offer of Col. Charles Johnston and others this day, of the use of a building for holding the courts, in their memorial mentioned, be accepted by the justices of this court, and that hereafter the courts when sitting in Haverhill do sit in said building until the further order of this court." A formal vote of thanks was tendered to Colonel Johnston for this generous offer, and an adjournment was taken to the old court house, where, on meeting, the court immediately adjourned to "the new court house."
This was burned in 1814, and the question of providing accommoda- tions for the court again demanded attention. The burned building also contained room for the accommodation of the schools of the first school district. Negotiations were at once begun for the joint occupation of the new academy building, which should be erected by academy, court and district school. At a meeting of the voters of the school district September 2, 1814, it was "voted that Joseph Bell, Jonathan Soper & Jonathan Sinclair be a committee to confer with the trustees of Haverhill Academy and see whether they will grant to district No. One the privilege of holding a district school in any building which may be erected for the accommodation of the Academy." That these negotia- tions were successful appears from the vote of Demember 16, 1815, to raise the sum of five hundred dollars for the purpose of building a school- house in connection with the trustees of Haverhill Academy and that Ephraim Kingsbury, Ezra Bartlett, and John Nelson be a committee to superintend the expenditure of this money. It was also voted that the committee be instructed to have the building built of brick. The courts were also successful in securing a home for themselves as appears from a report of a committee consisting of Ezra Bartlett and David Webster, Jr., made in March 1817, to the effect that the County of Grafton had become a tenant in common with the trustees of Haverhill Academy and school district Number One in the erection of a building for joint occu- pancy, and that the whole of the upper part of the building was to be for the use of the courts with such privilege in the district schoolrooms as are desired for the use of juries. In consideration of this the committee reported that it had, in behalf of the county, paid to the trustees of the academy the sum of $1,000.
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This building, the old academy, now Pearson Hall, was for a period of about thirty years the home of academy, courts and district school. Its exterior has suffered little or no change since its erection more than a century ago. Of the interior the late Daniel F. Merrill, twice principal of the academy, says:1
I well remember the old academy building with entrance into a large vestibule or "entry" as it was called having stairways on either side leading up to the old court room in the second story, used for several years as a place of worship for the Methodist denom- ination. Opposite the front entrance below were three doors, those on either side open- ing into narrow rooms used for the "town schools," and also for jury rooms during the sessions of court. The middle door, opposite the front entrance, led into a long narrow hall, the length of the town schoolrooms. Another door at the end opened into a large, well lighted room, the width of the whole building with the teacher's desk upon a raised platform opposite the entrance.
This arrangement could hardly have been satisfactory to any of the parties, and yet, in spite of dissatisfaction all the time increasing, it was continued for three decades.
In 1845 the partnership was dissolved. The county proposed to relin- quish its interest in the academy building, and build a court house for its sole use, if the trustees of the academy would furnish free of expense to the county a suitable building lot. The school district also agreed to give up its rights in the building if needed interior repairs should be made so that the entire property might be used for academy purposes. Both these propositions were accepted by the trustees and, to meet the expense of repairs and the purchase of court house lot, the friends of the academy raised by subscription the sum of $1,500. The lot lying to the east of the recently erected county offices building, then occupied by a dwelling house, a wheelwright shop and a blacksmith shop, was purchased and presented to the county and on this the commodious court house was erected, and made ready for the courts in 1846. The court room was admittedly one of the best in the state, the jury rooms and judge's room were convenient. The cost of the building was about $4,500, and Grafton County had reason to take a just pride in its court house. The building is still standing on Court Street.
For several years before definite action was taken, the question of the removal of the court house and county offices from Haverhill Corner to Woosdville was agitated, and the matter was brought before the county convention only to have the proposition negatived. The opposition to the removal on the part of the people at the Corner was vigorous and, combined with the sentiment existing throughout the county against destroying and breaking up traditions and historic associations nearly a century old, was successful for a time. New offices for the registry of deeds and probate and for the clerk of courts were imperatively de-
1 Haverhill Academy Centennial Anniversary.
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manded, and it was recognized that the location at the Corner had become, since the building of the railroads, inconvenient of access to the people of the county. Woodsville had become a railroad centre, and it was pointed out that any one in any section of the county having business at any of the county offices could leave his home, transact his business were it at Woodsville and return the same day. As a place for holding the sessions of the court for the Western Judicial District of the county the superiority of Woodsville over the Corner was unquestioned. Mani- festly destiny pointed to Woodsville, and its citizens conducted an aggres- sive campaign for securing the removal of the county offices from the Corner, and the erection of a new court house in their village. Plans and specifications for the proposed new building were secured for presenta- tion to the convention of 1889, and the offer of a most desirable lot for such building to be presented to the county, without cost, was made by Ira Whitcher of Woodsville who had been one of the leading promoters of the proposed removal from the Corner to Woodsville. The lot in question lying just north of his own residence, he had for years refused to sell, frequently saying that he was holding it in reserve for the Grafton County court house. A new court house was also needed for the Eastern Judicial District at Plymouth, and the friends of both projects combined to secure the results they so earnestly desired. The matter was thor- oughly canvassed and at a meeting of the convention, held July 24, 1889, the following resolution, offered by Harry Bingham of Littleton, was adopted by a vote of 20 to 12:
Resolved, That the court house and county offices, now located at Haverhill Corner, be located at Woodsville in said town of Haverhill and that the sum of twenty thousand dollars be appropriated for building a new court house and offices at Woodsville, and that the sum of ten thousand dollars be appropriated for building a new court house at Plymouth, said buildings to be erected in accordance with plans and specifications to be approved by the county commissioners and to be furnished in a thorough and work- manlike manner at a cost not to exceed the sums heretofore named, and that said appro- priations to be expended and said buildings be erected under the direction of the county commissioners, and Ira Whitcher of Haverhill, B. F. Kendrick of Lebanon, Frank H. Abbott of Bethlehem and Alvin Burleigh of Plymouth, who are hereby constituted a committee for said purpose. Said appropriation of thirty thousand dollars is to be funded at the lowest possible rate of interest payable in fifteen years at two thousand dollars a year.
F. B. Kendrick of Lebanon declining to serve upon the committee, J. F. Perley of Lebanon was appointed to serve in his place.
Plans and specifications for the two buildings were adopted, and Ira Whitcher, chairman of the sub-committee having in charge the erection of the Woodsville building, agreed to erect it according to the plans and specifications for the sum of $20,000, the amount appropriated, and bond was given by Edward F. Mann and others to guarantee the fulfill- ment of this agreement. The building was completed, ready for occu-
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pancy, in the latter part of 1890, and at the convention of the represen- tatives from Grafton County in February, 1891, the following resolutions were adopted:
WHEREAS The courthouse in that part of Haverhill called Woodsville has been com- pleted and suitable offices for the clerk of the Supreme Court, register of deeds, and register of probate have been provided therein;
Resolved That said officers be instructed to remove the records and furniture of their respective offices to the rooms provided for them in said new court house;
Resolved That the commissioners be instructed to duly advertise and sell at public auction on the first day of May, 1891, all the property owned by the county, situated at Haverhill Corner, excepting what is necessary for the use of the county at that place, and to pay the proceeds of the same into the county treasury.
The removal ordered was promptly made and the 1891 March term of the Supreme Court was held in the new court house. In the course of the construction of this building certain changes from the plans and specifications adopted were made by Mr. Whitcher, at the request of the commissioners, involving additional outlay and expense. The com- missioners also insisted that by the vote of the convention making the appropriation, and by the terms of the bond furnished, he had obli- gated himself to furnish the building with needed furniture as well as to erect it. In the vote of the convention the following words occur, "and to be furnished in a thorough and workmanlike manner." Mr. Whitcher contended that there was an error in the record, that instead of the word "furnished," the word finished was intended, the word almost invariably employed in such votes and contracts. The record should have read "finished in a thorough and workmanlike manner." He presented his bill for furnishing, and for additional expenditures asked for by the com- missioners, which the commissioners refused to approve and pay. The report of the Building Committee was presented to the convention of the legislature of 1893, and after reference to a special committee, and due consideration by the convention, it was accepted, and a resolution was adopted as follows:
That the County of Grafton appropriate the sum of $2,995.20 to pay Ira Whitcher, that being the amount expended by him as chairman of the Sub-building Committee in excess of the appropriation for building the Woodsville court house, and that the sum of $2,995.20 be raised by taxation for this purpose.
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