History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire, Part 8

Author: Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Concord, N.H. : Rumford press]
Number of Pages: 838

USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire > Part 8

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Notably public-spirited, he was a constant and untiring promoter of all enterprises which he believed to be for the industrial, social, educational and religious welfare of the town. He combined with the characteristic Scotch- Irish prudence, thrift and energy, the characteristic Scotch-Irish religious devotion. He and his wife were admitted to membership in the church at Hampstead March 25, 1764, and after their settlement in Haverhill, were dismissed to be received by the church in Newbury of which they were members until the organization of the church in Haverhill in 1790 of which church he was the first deacon. He gave to the settlement at the Corner the two commons or parks about which the village was built. He also gave the land on which the court house and the academy were built, and was a leader in the enterprise of founding the academy and securing the transfer of the jail and court house from their first site on the plain, near Horse Meadow to the Corner. He was one of the incorpora- tors of the social library and a leading spirit in securing the incorporation and construction of the old Cohos turnpike.

Whatever early educational advantages were his were improved, and while he was not a graduate of college, he was deemed qualified to take charge of the academy for a term when there was a vacancy in the princi- palship. His handwriting as it appears in the town and county records is a marvel of beauty. Some of his numerous activities will be chronicled in other chapters. [See Genealogy, Johnston.]

HISTORY OF HAVERHILL

JAMES CORLISS, who settled in 1769, was of a family which became influential in town and county, and others who added materially to the prosperity of the settlement were John Chase, John Herr and Jonathan Ring. A daughter of the latter became the wife of Gen. John Mont- gomery, and a great grandson, George Ring, carpenter and builder lives in Woodsville, one of the very few descendants of the early settlers residing in town.

Among the settlers of 1770 was AMOS KIMBALL who came from Ver- mont, settling first at Ladd Street, but later removed to the north end of the town near Woodsville, where he became the leading citizen of that section, his descendants becoming prominent and influential in town affairs.

LUTHER RICHARDSON, who was one of the early innholders of the town, and who filled various town offices, settled in 1772. EPHRAIM WESSON and JONATHAN HALE settled the same year. Major Hale took an active part in the Revolution, and was a member of the Committee of Safety during that struggle. He was one of the committee having charge of the scouting parties sent out from Haverhill. On several occasions he secured arms and ammunition for the town. Later he acquired large landed interests in Coventry, and owned a farm of upwards of a thousand acres on what was known as Coventry Meadows, later Benton Flats.

Captain Wesson came from Pepperell, Mass. He had seen hard service in the old French war, held a lieutenant's commission in the expedition against Crown Point in 1755, later was at the taking of Louisburg, partic- ipated in the attack on Ticonderoga, and fought in other battles of that war. He became prominent in the affairs of Haverhill, served as mod- erator and selectman, and very naturally became prominent in the Revolu- lution. He was a member for a time of the Provincial Congress at Exeter, and a special delegate for the procurement of arms for Haverhill. He was a member of the committees of safety and of correspondence. He lived at Horse Meadow, and was a neighbor of and intimately associated with Timothy Barren. Shortly after the close of the war he moved to Groton, Vt., and was one of the first settlers of that town. He was a brave and accomplished officer, a man of unblemished character and reputation of unyielding Puritan principles. He lived to the advanced age of ninety-three years.

THOMAS SIMPSON settled in 1772 or 1773. He was almost constantly in service during the Revolution, was captain of rangers. He served as moderator, selectman and held numerous positions of trust and responsi- bility. In petitioning for a pension on account of the loss of an eye and because of other wounds, he eloquently closed: "that he may express in strains of gratitude the liberality of that country in whose service he has spent the best of his days, and in whose defence he more than once shed

HISTORY OF HAVERHILL

cheerfully the crimson flood of life." No government, not even an ungrateful republic could resist such an appeal. Captain Simpson was granted a pension. [See Simpson, Genealogy.]

BRYAN KAY came to Haverhill in the latter part of 1774, and became a a farmer and inn keeper. At the age of 38 with his wife Dorothy, age 42, five daughters, a brother, Robert, age 42, he sailed from Hull, England, for Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia. In landing at Halifax his two elder daughters were drowned, and the remainder of the family including the brother Robert, who settled in Newbury, came to Haverhill. Of the surviving daughters, one married Stephen Morse, another John Morse, his brother, and another Moses Porter. [See Genealogies.] During the Revolution several of the annual and special town meetings were held at his house, and the various offices to which he was repeatedly elected and appointed indicate his usefulness as a citizen. Though a Yorkshire man, and but recently from the Mother Country, he heartily espoused the patriot cause.

That Haverhill had become in 1774 just previous to the outbreak of the Revolution, the leading town in the Coos county was due in part to natural advantages, but more to the character of the men who were its first settlers, such men as these just enumerated. They had the fitness and training for the task they undertook. The records of their town meet- ings are meagre, but such as they are they shed light on the beginnings of the town.

The first annual town meeting was held at the house of John Hall, inn- holder, in Plaistow, March 13, 1764. James Bayley was elected modera- tor, and thereupon the meeting "adjourned to the house of Maj. John Taplin in Haverhill, Wednesday, June 13, 1764." Unfortunately there is no record of this adjourned meeting. The first meeting of which there is record was a special meeting held at the house of John Hazen, January 25, 1765, a meeting of such importance and significance that the entire record is of special interest. Five votes were passed:

Ist: Voted to join with Newbury to give Mr. Peter Powers a call as their gospel minister.

2d: Voted to give their equal proportion of his salary as Newbury has voted, viz .: seventy-five pounds-dollars six shillings-and also to give thirty cords good wood at his Dore, cut and corded.

3d: Voted to pay one-third part of Mr. Peter Power's settlement as Newbury has voted, with a condition that Newbury shall be bound and obligated to return said money when Haverhill shall settle a minister to be returned in the same speacies Haverhill has paid it in.

4th: Voted that Timothy Bedel, John Taplin Esq., and Elisha Lock be a committee to wait upon Mr. Powers with the above votes, and to apply to the Proprietors of Haver- hill for their assistance in the above affair.

5th: Voted that this meeting stand adjourned to the 1st day of February, 1765, at 3 o'clock P. M. at Captain Hazens in Haverhill.

HISTORY OF HAVERHILL

There is no record of this adjourned meeting.

The first town meeting of which there is record provided for a "gospel ministry." The first money raised and appropriated was for the salary of a gospel minister. It antedated appropriations for roads, schools, or even the salaries or wages of town officers. The first corporate act of these settlers was to establish a town church. The reason for this may pertinently be asked. These first settlers were of sturdy Puritan stock, were God-fearing men, but were not religious devotees. Indeed, few were church members. There were reasons for this action other than those purely religious. These settlers wished to give their town char- acter and standing, to offer inducements to a desirable class of families to make their homes in a wilderness. Hence they first of all established a church. The minister of the average New England town in the eight- eenth century was its first citizen. He was the recognized, almost unquestioned authority on questions of religion and morals, the arbiter in matters educational and social, if not indeed political. There were no newspapers, few books in the new settlements; schools had not been established. Stated worship on the Lord's Day furnished the only oppor- tunity for the scattered families to meet, exchange greetings, hear the latest news from the old home towns, discuss quietly among themselves matters of local importance as well as obtain religious instruction. Every- body "went to meeting," to services held not in "a church," but in a meetinghouse. They sat on rude benches and listened reverently, or indifferently, as the case might be, to long prayers and still longer ser- mons; but this Sabbath meeting was their one weekly outing, their only vacation from strenuous toil and labor. It was newspaper, library, club, as well as the House of God. This first corporate action of the settlers was wise, worldly wise. They might not have been devotedly pious, most of them were not, but they recognized in the church and its minister not only an institution which would attract desirable settlers, give char- acter to the community, but a saving salt which would prevent the degen- eration of their settlement into the primitive conditions of savagery.

At the annual meeting of 1765, held at the house of John Hazen, the records show no business except the choosing of officers. The minor offi- cers elected were: Constable, Edward Bayley; hogreeve, Uriah Morse; surveyors of highways, Joshua Hayward, James Woodward; fence viewer, Jonathan Sanders; tything man, Jonathan Goodwin. On the second article in the warrant, "to see what sum of money the town will raise for the payment of Mr. Powers and other public affairs," no action seems to have been taken.

At the annual meeting in 1766, the minor officers chosen were: Con- stable, James Abbott; surveyors of highways, Maxi Haseltine, Nathaniel Merrill; hogreeve, Moses Bayley; fence viewers, John Page, Asa Bailey;

HISTORY OF HAVERHILL

surveyor of timber, Richard Young; tything man, Edward Bayley. The progress made in the settlement is indicated by the fact that a pound seems to have become a necessity, and it was voted to build a pound for the benefit of the town. Joseph Hutchins, Ezekiel Ladd and James Woodward were appointed a committee to build it. This pound was probably located at Ladd Street and John Ladd was the first pound keeper.

The importance of the pound is indicated by the character of the pound committee. It was voted to raise £10 lawful money for the use of the town, and the price of all labor done for the town was fixed at one-half dollar a day. This was the first money raised for town purposes.

In 1767, the minor officers chosen were: Constable, Maxi Haseltine; surveyors of highways, Edward Bayley, John Page, Joshua Hayward; hogreeves, Moses Bayley, Timothy Barns (Barron); fence viewers, Joseph Hutchins, Joshua Haywood.

Highways seem to have occupied the time and attention of the annual meeting this year. They were rude apologies for highways, little more than bridle paths. The difficulty seems to have been that many settlers did not respond to the call of the surveyors for work in making roads, since it was voted that William Bancroft, Joseph Hutchins and Richard Young be "a committee to settle with the old surveyors and see who has worked and who has not," and further that "the surveyors shall not call on them that has done the most work till the others have done their part." Three shillings a day was fixed as the price for a man for work on the highway, and two shillings for a yoke of oxen. Elisha Lock was the first tax collector.

A special meeting was held June 15, 1767, at which the question of highways was again at the front, and John Hazen, Ezekiel Ladd and Timothy Bedel were made a committee to lay out roads and to see that the same were made by the town. At this same meeting it was voted to raise £35 lawful money for Mr. Powers and other town charges. The minister was a town charge. Also voted to "jine" with Newbury in building a meetinghouse in the center of Newbury as the road shall be laid out beginning at the south side of the governor's farm, measuring the road next to the river to the south end of said town or the lower end, and the middle is the place.

In 1768, at the annual meeting, balloting for the choice of officers was dispensed with, as it was voted to choose all officers by "handy" vote, whatever that might mean.

The minor officers were: Constable, William Bancroft; surveyors of the highways, John Way, Ezekiel Ladd; hogreeves, Moses Bayley, Joshua Hayward; fence viewer, John Mills; surveyor of lumber, Nathaniel Weston; tything man, Joseph Hutchins. It was voted to raise £40

HISTORY OF HAVERHILL

lawful money to pay Mr. Powers and to defray other town charges for the year.

In 1769 the minor officers elected were: Constable, Josiah Elkins; highway surveyors, John Way, Joseph Haines; hogreeves, Richard Young, Ebenezer Rice; fence viewer, Samuel Ladd; sealer of leather, James Abbott; tything man, James Abbott; surveyor of lumber, Nathaniel Weston. Wolves were evidently becoming troublesome, for it was voted to give a bounty of 20s for each wolf caught and killed in town. At a special meeting February 15, 1770, "Voted to build a meeting house in Haverhill the present year."

At the annual meeting March 13, it was voted to set the meetinghouse on the common land that Joshua Poole's house stands on; that the house be 40 by 50 feet; that Jonathan Sanders, Elisha Locke and Ezekiel Ladd be a committee to provide building material. The sum of £35 was voted for preaching and £6 to defray town charges. The selectmen were made a committee to dispose of the money for preaching. John Page and John Chase were appointed "to reckon with the former selectmen." The minor officers chosen were: Highway surveyors, Joseph Hutchins, Joshua Hayward; hogreeve, James Corliss; tything men, John Way, Jonathan Elkins; fence viewers, John Way, Elisha Lock; sealer of leather, and of weights and measures, James Abbott; surveyor of lumber, Elisha Lock.

The annual meeting in 1771 was held March 12 at Joshua Poole's. Simeon Goodwin was chosen constable; treasurer, John Hazen; highway surveyors, Timothy Barron, James Bayley, John Hew; sealer weights and measures, Charles Johnston; fence viewers, Ebenezer Rice, Joshua Poole, John Page; surveyor of lumber, Elisha Locke. A bounty was again voted on wolves, and the sum of £35 was voted the Rev. Mr. Powers "the present year, provided he preach in Haverhill." It was voted to raise the frame of the meeting house, board and shingle and lay the under- floor. Later this vote was reconsidered. They voted to build a house one story, 30 by 36 feet, and Jona Sanders, Maxi Hazeltine and Ezekiel Ladd were chosen a building committee. These votes were subsequently reconsidered. Voted to raise £50 lawful money to build a house, and that each man shall have the privilege of working out his proportion at 3s per day. It was voted at an adjourned meeting March 19 to build the house proposed in 1770, and Jona Sanders, James Bayley and Timo- thy Barron were chosen the building committee. Bills to the amount of £23, 6s, 6d were allowed for work already performed on the meeting house. Edward Bayley had spent a day in "numbering the people" in town in 1767, and for this work, he was now allowed 3s.

At the annual meeting in 1772 Joshua Hayward was elected constable; Simeon Goodwin, treasurer; Ephraim Weston and James Corliss, high-

HISTORY OF HAVERHILL

way surveyors; Charles Johnston, sealer of weights and measures; James Abbott, sealer of leather; surveyor of lumber, Elisha Lock; hogreeves, Joseph Hutchins, John Way; fence viewer, Ezekiel Ladd. The 6s bounty was continued on wolves with the provision that they be full grown.

In 1773, the annual meeting voted to hire a master "to keep a town school the present year." At an adjourned meeting it was voted to raise £35 lawful money to be paid in specie for the use of school, and £5 in cash to defray town charges. John Page was allowed 24s for work on timber for the meeting house, and 3s a day was fixed upon as compensa- tion for the various officers, when attending to their duties. This was the first year money was raised for a school. The river road from Bath line to Piermont, line which had been laid out four rods wide and which had been cut out by the proprietors was this year given to the town. The lesser town officials chosen were: Constable, Joshua Hayward; fence viewers, Timothy Barron, Simeon Goodwin, James Woodward; tything men, Jonathan Elkins, Charles Bayley, Joshua Hayward; surveyor lum- ber, James Woodward; hogreeves, Daniel Y. Wood, Charles Bayley, David Ladd; deerreeve, Ephraim Wesson. Jurors were chosen this year for the first time for the Grafton County courts.

In 1774 the annual town meeting which had previously been almost uniformly held at Captain Hazen's was held March 8 at the house of Luther Richardson. A new minor office was created, and Joshua Hay- ward and James Corliss were elected surveyors of wheat. Other officers were: Constable, James Woodward; tything men, John Page, Jonathan Elkins, Maxi Haseltine, Timothy Barron; highway surveyors, James Bailey, Maxi Haseltine, Joshua Hayward, Timothy Barron, James Cor- liss, John Page (this office had become more important by the taking over from the proprietors the river road); surveyor of lumber, Joseph Hutchins; fence viewers, Timothy Barron, Samuel Ladd, Luther Rich- ardson; hogreeves, Jonathan Ring, Luther Richardson, Stephen Smith; deerreeve, Charles Bailey; sealer of weights and measures, Samuel Hull; sealer of leather, Ezekiel Ladd. Taverns had been opened. The old account books of Ezekiel Ladd and Asa Porter show sales of merchandise, the prophecy of the later country stores. Artisans were employed at their various trades. Wolves and bears were being exterminated, and the necessity for protection of deer was seen in the appointment by the town of deerreeves.

The census taken in 1767 by Edward Bailey gave a population of 172; unmarried men from 16 to 60, 21; married men from 16 to 60, 32; boys, 16 and under, 43; men, 60 and above, 1; unmarried females, 43; married females, 29; male slaves, 2; female slaves, 1.

Another census was taken in 1773, showing a marked increase in the

HISTORY OF HAVERHILL

six years, a total of 387, classified as follows: unmarried men between the ages of 16 and 60, 30; married men between the ages of 16 and 60, 66; men over 60, 1; unmarried females, 112; married, 66; widows, 3; negro slaves, 2.

It will be noted that the increase in the number of families during these six years was more than 100 per cent, another marked indication of the healthy and prosperous growth of settlement.

Danger from wolves had evidently decreased, and the bounty for their killing was withdrawn. It was voted to provide "two burying places" in the town, also a burying cloth for use of the town. The places provided were what are now the Ladd Street and Horse Meadow Cemeteries.

Premonitions of the struggle for independence in which the colonies were to become involved are found in the brief record of a special meeting held at the house of Luther Richardson November 4, 1774, Capt. Eph- raim Wesson, moderator.

"Voted to provide a town stock of ammunition."

"Voted to raise £20 to provide a town stock of ammunition."

A proposition to provide arms for such persons of the town as are unable to procure arms for themselves was negatived.

The records of the town meetings, and of the meetings of the proprietors are meagre, but much progress had been made and Haverhill had become a fully established town. The records contain hints of methods adopted. A church had been established. Provision had been made for schools. An effort had been made, which only narrowly failed to locate Dartmouth College in the town. Haverhill had been made the chief shire town of Grafton County. The chief justice and one of the associate justices of the county court were citizens of Haverhill. A court house and jail had been erected. The meadows and adjoining uplands along the river from Bath to Piermont had been occupied and were the homes of thrifty and enterprising settlers. Mills had been erected, frame houses were super- seding the log cabins which were the first homes. Commendable progress had been made in making roads.

CHAPTER V

ATTEMPTED SECESSION AND REVOLUTIONARY WAR

HAVERHILL DURING THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION-OFFICERS APPOINTED BY THE

EXETER GOVERNMENT-CAUSE OF DISAFFECTION IN COOS AND ATTEMPTED SECES- SION-ITS HISTORY AND THE RESULT-HAVERHILL STOOD BY THE PATRIOT CAUSE- COLONEL HURD LEAVES TOWN ON COLONEL PORTER'S RETURN HOME-IN DOUBLE REVOLT-NAMES OF HAVERHILL SOLDIERS-ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN MEN.

THE conditions existing in Coös towns, of which Haverhill in 1775 was the recognized centre of influence, were peculiar, and need to be consid- ered in any account of the part borne in Haverhill in the Revolutionary struggle. The Coös towns had been chartered by His Majesty's govern- ors, and were nominally a part of His Majesty's province, but in some respects this connection with the province was more nominal than real. Previous to the termination of the royal government, no town in the Coös country, or on either side of the Connecticut River, had been represented in the provincial legislature except Charlestown which was first repre- sented in 1771. For the House of 1775, members were elected for the towns of Plymouth, Orford and Lyme by virtue of the King's writ, but they were refused seats on the ground that the writ had been issued with- out the concurrence of the legislature. This body was not disposed to add to its membership from the recently settled towns. This refusal led to an acrimonious dispute between the governor and the house. The governor stood on the royal prerogative, and the House upon its right to regulate its membership and grant the privilege of representation as it saw fit.

The towns in the northern and western section of the province were aggrieved at this denial of representation, and in this grievance Haverhill shared. This feeling later induced action which threatened the integrity of the new state of New Hampshire. Many of those who had settled the Coos towns,-and this was especially true of Haverhill,-were men of culture and influence, and they were inclined to pay little heed to legis- lative enactments in which they had no voice. When the break came between the Province and the Crown and the provincial congress became a provisional government, Haverhill was unrepresented, except during the fourth and fifth congresses, when Ephraim Wesson and John Hurd were members of the fourth, and John Hurd of the fifth, in which he represented the towns of Haverhill, Bath, Lyman, Gunthwaite, Landaff and Morristown. Just how or when Wesson and Hurd were elected does not, however, appear in the town records. There was no subsequent

HISTORY OF HAVERHILL

representation of Haverhill in the new government until 1783. When a special town meeting was held, January 5, 1775, to consider the threaten- ing aspect of affairs, a committee, consisting of James Bayley, Capt. Ephraim Wesson, Capt. Charles Johnston, Simeon Goodwin, Timothy Barron, Lieut. Joseph Hutchins and Maxi Haseltine, was appointed to see that the results of the Continental Congress were duly observed in the town. The phrase "results of the Continental Congress" is significant as is also the fact that nowhere in the town records during the Revolution is there any reference to the provincial congress or house of representa- tives of New Hampshire.

The Exeter government made requisitions for aid and service from Haverhill and like appeals were made to the Exeter authorities by lead- ing citizens of Haverhill and Coös, but these were made largely because of dangers threatening the entire province and state as well as Coös from the north. The fact remains, however, that there was little sympathy on the part of the masses of the people of Haverhill and the surrounding towns with the Exeter government. The tie of allegiance to New Hamp- shire was not strongly binding.

It was recognized, however, at the outset that the holding of Coos against attack by the British from Canada was all important. As early as May 2, 1775, committees from the towns of Lyme, Orford, Piermont, Bath, Gunthwaite, Lancaster, Northumberland and Haverhill met at the house of Joseph Hutchins, innholder, in Haverhill and signed the following pledge and declaration:

We, the subscribers, do solemnly declare by all the sacred ties of honor and religion, that we will act at all times against all illegal and unconstitutional impositions and acts of parliament, made and enacted against the New England governments and the con- tinent of English North America. And we do believe that shutting up the port of Boston, Quebec bill, and sundry other bills and acts, to be illegal and unconstitutional, and also the declaration wherein the New England governments are declared in a state of rebellion, etc., are unconstitutional and unjust; and we do engage to stand in opposi- tion to all force come, or coming against us, by order of the present ministry, for sup- porting of the present measures, while our lives and fortunes last, or until those notorious and unconstitutional acts are repealed and the American Colonies re-established in the privileges due to them as English subjects.

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History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire, Part 8

Author: Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Concord, N.H. : Rumford press] Number of Pages: 838

Author: Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Concord, N.H. : Rumford press]
Number of Pages: 838