USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hollis > History of the town of Hollis, New Hampshire, from its first settlement to the year 1879 > Part 6
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PROV. LINE .
4 MILES 140 PERCHES
Nº 4 .
HOLLES.
MONSON.
'3 N1 7
FLINT'S
MUDDY
BROOK.
PONO.
Nº 2.
ASHVA
Nº 1.
MERRIMACK.
DUNSTABLE.
BROOK.
RIVER.
RIVER.
MERRIMACK
MAP OF
DUNSTABLE, HOLLES, MERRIMACK-MONSON
COPY OF A PLAN BY THE BACK OF THE ORIGINAL CHARTER THIS 5" DAY OF APRIL 1746. THEODORE ATKINSON SECTY.
AS CHARTER ED
April, 1746.
BUS PARE'S WITH POSTO
PENNICHUCK
2 MILES 128 PERCHES.
FUINISA
BROOK
WPPOND.
Zł
PENNICHUCK
JONInord 2
Nº 3.
THE WEST LINE OF OLD DUNSTABLE
4 MILES AND 62 PEACHES.
59
1746.] CHARTERS OF DUNSTABLE, MONSON, ETC.
by Law have and Enjoy. To have and to hold the said Powers and Authorities, Immunities and Franchises to them the said In- habitants and their Successors forever.
" Always Reserving to us our Heirsand Successors, All White Pine Trees growing and being, and which shall hereafter grow on said Tract of Land fit for the use of our Royal Navy ; Also the Power of Dividing the Said Town to us our Heirs and Successors when it shall appear necessary or convenient for the benefit of the Inhabitants thereof.
" And as the Several Towns Within our said Province are by the aw thereof Enabled and Authorized to Assemble and by the Ma- rity of Votes to chuse all such officers as are mentioned in Said Law, We do by these Presents nominate Col. Joseph Blanchard to call the first meeting of the Said Inhabitants to be held within the Said Town at any time within thirty days from the date hereof, Giving legal notice of the Time Place and Design of Holding Said Meeting. In Testimony Whereof We have caused the Seal of our Said Province to be hereunto affixed.
Witness, Benning Wentworth, Esq., our Governor, and Com- mander-in-Chief of our said Province the third day of April, in the year of our Lord Christ, 1746, and in the 19th year of our Reign.
B. WENTWORTH. By his Excellency's Command with the advice of Council, THEODORE ATKINSON, Sect'y.
BOUNDARIES OF DUNSTABLE, AS CHARTERED APRIL 1, 1746.
"Beginning at the River Merrimack at the Northern Boundary Line of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and runs from the River Merrimack, North, Eighty Degrees, West, five miles and forty rods to Nashua River. Then by said River to Flint's Brook ; thence by Flint's Brook into Flint's pond ; then by a run of water into Muddy brook, and down Muddy brook into Pennichuck pond ; then by Pennichuck brook into Merrimack river to the place where it first begun."
BOUNDARIES OF MONSON.
.. Beginning at the West Line of Dunstable, old Town, four miles and one hundred and forty rods north, by the magnet, of the north- ern boundary line of the Province of Massachusetts Bay ; then south-
1+
60
CHARTERS OF DUNSTABLE, MONSON, ETC.
erly eighty degrees, east. to Muddy brook ; then by that brook to Pennichuck pond and from the north end of said pond, north. by the magnet. to Souhegan river ; then by the said river to the head lin ; on the west side of old Dunstable ; then south, by the magnet. on that line to the place where it begun."
ORIGINAL BOUNDARIES OF MERRIMACK.
" Beginning at the Merrimack river where Pennichuck brook comes into that river; then by Pennichuck brook to Pennichuci: pond ; then due north, by the magnet, to Souhegan river : then by that river to Merrimack river : then on the west side of Merrimack river to the place where it first begun."
On the 5th day of June, 1750, that part of the present town of Merrimack north of the Souhegan, was annexed to that town by an amendment of its original charter.
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Nottingham West, now Hudson, on the east side of Merrimack river, being, as at first incorporated, wholly within ancient Dun- stable, and Pelham, embracing its extreme eastern part were also incorporated as towns by the Governor and Council of New Hamp- shire, in 1746. Litchfield, as chartered by the General Court of Massachusetts. in 17344. as we have seen, lay upon both sides of the Merrimack, was also within old Dunstable. That part of Litch- field on the east side of the Merrimack was chartered as a town by the Governor and Council of New Hampshire. June 5. 1749.
All these New Hampshire town charters, unlike those granted by the General Court of Massachusetts, were wholly silent in respect to the .. settlement and maintainance of able and orthodox minis- ters" and the building of meeting-houses. Benning Wentworth. at that time the royal Governor of New Hampshire. was an Episco- palian and a zealous adherent of the Church of England. and it may well be supposed that he had no special sympathy with the current orthodoxy of the times as taught in the Cambridge Platform and the Assembly's Catechism.
Instead of the like conditions as in the Massachusetts charters - in respect to orthodox ministers and meeting-houses. Governor Wentworth in these New Hampshire charters expressly reserved. for the use of the royal navy. all suitable white pine trees then growing and being and which should afterwards grow in the towns so chartered. thus giving for the use of His Majesty's navy all such
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61
THE NAME OF HOLLIS AND ITS ORIGIN.
1746.]
trees as were best adapted to the building of orthodox meeting- houses.
By a Province Law of New Hampshire, passed in 1714, it was · enacted. "That it should be lawful for the free-holders of a town. convened in publie Town Meeting to make choice of a minister for the supply of said town, and to agree what annual salary should be paid him," and it was made the duty of the selectmen " to make Rates upon the Inhabitants of the town for the payment of the Salary of the minister in the same manner as for other town charges." When a minister was chosen and settled under this law. all the tax-payers in the town were liable to be taxed for his sup- port, it making no difference, as it would seem, as to this liability. whether the minister were a Calvinist. Episcopalian. Presbyterian. Baptist, or New Light.
" Or Light that shines when few are nigh, For Spiritual trades to cozen by."
In Massachusetts, at that time. as has been shown, no minister satisfied the law unless " able. learned and orthodox."
THE NAME AND ITS ORIGIN.
Within my remembrance. there has been much controversy upon the question whether the name of Hollis should be spelt with the letter i or e in the last syllable, and also as to the person in whose honor the town was named. Mr. Farmer, in his Gazetteer of New Hampshire, spells it with an ¿, and tells us that the name was either derived from the Duke of Newcastle, whose family name was Hollis. or from Thomas Hollis. a distinguished benefactor of Harvard Col- lege ; Mr. Farmer spelling both names .. Hollis." Hon. J. B. Ilill, in his history of Mason. says the name was derived from that of the Duke of Newcastle, whose family name was Holles ; Mr. Hill using the letter e in the last syllable. From the best evidence at my com- mand upon the question. I have no doubt that Mr. Hill is correct. both in the orthography of the name and also in that of the person for whom the town was called. In the original record of the town charter. now at Concord. and in the copy of the charter on the Hollis record. the name is spelt Holles. In the town records for the twenty-five years and more before the war of the revolution the name occurs hundreds of times, and, so far as I have seen. is uni- formly spelt Holles as in the charter, and is so spelt in the New Hampshire Laws published as late as 1815.
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THE NAME OF HOLLIS AND ITS ORIGIN. [1746.
At the time Hollis was chartered, Benning Wentworth, as we have seen, was governor. Mr. Wentworth was appointed to that office in 1741, and held it till 1765. He was indebted to the Duke of Newcastle for this appointment, who was at the time, and for some years after, secretary of state for the colonies, this commission costing the friends of Gov. Wentworth £300 in fees and expenses of solicitation.
In a work entitled " Burke's Extinct Peerages of Great Britain.", now in the library of the New England Historic, Genealogical Society in Boston, I find that the original name of this Duke of Newcastle was Thomas Pelham, (an English baron). This Thomas Pelham (whose mother was Grace Holles) was a nephew and the adopted son and heir of his uncle, the preceding Duke of Newcastle. who was childless, and whose family name was Holles. Upon the death of the old duke (his uncle), this nephew succeeded to his estates and titles, and assumed his family name and was afterward known as Thomas Pelham Holles.
It was very much a custom with Gov. Wentworth to name towns in New Hampshire, chartered by him, in honor of his friends and patrons connected with the home government. The towns of Mon- son, Hollis and Pelham were all chartered the same year, 1746, and while the Duke of Newcastle (Thomas Pelham Holles) was still secretary of state for the colonies. Monson was the family name of one of the board of the Lords of colonial trade, and that fact. I ap- prehend, accounts for the name of the extinct town of Monson. Pelham, the original family name of this Duke of Newcastle, was perpetuated in the name of the town of Pelham, in the same way and for the like reason that Holles, his name by adoption, was in- tended to be in that of the town of Hollis ; the grateful governor. besides the £300, thus paying his patron the double compliment. - much in the same way as his successor, Gov. John Wentworth. commemorated the maiden name of his wife, Frances Deering, in the names of two of our neighboring towns, Francestown and Deering, as an expression of his gratitude for her acceptance of his hand at the end of two sad, lonely weeks of widowhood. Whatever may have been the special obligations of Benning Wentworth to the Duke of Newcastle. the people of New England had very little reason to think well of him. Mr. Bancroft, in his history, says of him, " that he was of so feeble a head and so treacherous a heart that Sir Robert Walpole called his name " Perfidy": that Lord Halifax
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63
FIRST TOWN ELECTION.
1746 to 1750.]
used to revile him as a knave and fool, and that he was so igno- rant of this continent, that it was said of him, that he addressed his letters to the 'Island of New England.'"
.. Thomas Hollis, the generous benefactor of Harvard College, was an eminent and wealthy merchant of London ; of very exemplary character, and liberal in his political principles. Mr. Hollis died in 1731,-ten years before Mr. Wentworth was appointed Governor, and I know of no reason for supposing that the governor was per- sonally acquainted with him. Hollis Hall at Cambridge, built and dedicated just before the revolution, was named for this benefactor of the college. The name of the London merchant, and also of this hall, have been always spelt as the name of the town of Hollis now is.
There can be no doubt that the people of Hollis. one hundred years ago, well understood the character of the Duke of Newcastle, and also that of the worthy London merchant, and it is not strange that it should have been their choice that the name of the benefactor of Harvard College should be commemorated in that of their town, rather than any of the many names of the Duke of Newcastle, whether original, adopted or bestowed by those who knew him as well as did Sir Robert Walpole and Lord Halifax.
Accordingly, about the year 1775, when change and revolution were the order of the day, in all their other important interests and affairs, a slight orthographical revolution, as appears by their town records, was for the first time initiated in the name of their town by changing the e in the last syllable into i. During the revolutionary war, and afterward to the end of the century, and in many instances later, the name was spelt in the records and other public documents in both ways, according to the opinion or caprice of the writer. and it continued so to be spelt, as we have seen, as late as 1815. But for the last fifty years, so far as I have known, it has with great uni- formity been spelt as it now is, Hollis, like that of the benefactor of Harvard College, and that orthography appears now to be perma- nently established both by common usage and the will of the people. while Holles, the name of the Duke of Newcastle. has passed into merited oblivion.
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6.4
THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE.
[1746 to 1750.
THE FIRST TOWN ELECTION.
The first Town Election in Hollis. (as provided in the charter,. was called by Col. Joseph Blanchard, April 28, 1746. for the soie purpose of choosing officers for the new town. At this meeting the first town officers were chosen as follows :
SAMUEL CUMINGS, Moderator .
JAMES STEWART,
SAMUEL CUMINGS, Town Clerk
CHRISTOPHER LOVEJOY,
SAMUEL CUMINGS.
JONATHAN DANFORTH,
BENJAMIN FARLEY, Selectmen BENJAMIN BLANCHARD,
FRANCIS WORCESTER. )
NICHOLAS FRENCH, !
THOMAS DINSMORE, )
WILLIAM ADAMS,
FRANCIS PHELPS,
ELIAS SMITH. Pound Keeper,
NICHOLAS FBINCH,
JAMES MCDANIELS,
Surveyors of Highwys ELIAS SMITH, Scaler of Weights and Measure- SAMUEL BROWN, Sealer of Leather
SAMUEL PARKER,
THE SECOND MEETING HOUSE.
In the month of March, 1745, as shown by the Tax List, the taxable inhabitants of West Dunstable had increased to the number of 77. They had had an acceptable and popular minister for near two years. and had begun to' have a very painful sense of the small capacity of their first meeting house -" 22 feet one way -20 fect the other ---- 9 feet Studs-and one Glass Window." This feeling in respect to the dimensions of their meeting-house first found public expression in the doings of a parish meeting held at the first mect- ing-house Sept. 6. 1745. while the inhabitants were still without a town or parish charter. At this meeting, as shown by the record of it. it was .. Voted unanimously to build a meeting-house 50 feet long - 44 feet wide -and 23 feet Posts in Hight." " Allso voted unanimously to sett the next meeting-house on ye Lott of Land y" present house stands on. which was given for yt use." " Allso vot- ed yt John Boynton. Benjamin Farley. Elias Smith. Stephen Harris. Thomas Dinsmore and Zedekiah Drury be a committee to take the whole care in carrying on ye work, and receiving ye money yt shall be subscribed for y' use, and employ faithful men yt shall appear to furnish Timber and other materials as shall be wanted for said House."
It will be observed that these doings of the inhabitants of West Dunstable. before its boundaries were changed by the town charter of the next year. were entirely unanimous.
The number of names on the first Tax List in the town of Holli- in 1746 was but 53. - 24 less than in West Dunstable the year be- fore -a part of this last number living on the east side of West Dunstable having been set off by the acts of incorporation to the new town of Dunstable. and the rest of them on the north side to the town of Monson.
Tithing Men
Fence Viewer-
Hogreeves,
SEGOND MEETING HOUSE.BUILT 1746.
FIRST MEETING HOUSE. BUILT 17-11.
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. 1746 to 1750.] THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE. 65
At the second town meeting in Hollis, held May 20, 1716, ". Voted unanimously to take on us the obligation to Mr. Emerson, as it now stands in the covenant for his yearly Salary so long as he remains our minister, and to raise £200, O. T., for his Salery the year ensuing." "Chose Jonathan Danforth and Benjamin Farley to run ye Line between Holles and Monson." " Also voted to peti- tion ye General Court of Massachusetts Bay for some Solders We being in Gratt Danger from ye enemy." "Also voted that' the Book we have used for the Parish Records, be used for a Town Book."
The third meeting of the town was called June 13, 1746, for the following purposes : "To see if the town will build a House for the Public worship. of God." "To see if the town will Accept the Timber which is hewn and drawn together to build a House with. and chose a Committee to take charge of said Work." "To see if the Town will accept the acre of Land that was given the Parish to Sett the Meeting House on and for a Burying Place." " To see if the town will vote that the money due from Capt. Pow- ers shall be laid out in ammunition for a town Stock." " To see if the Town will provide a Pound and Stocks."
At this meeting the Town voted as follows :
ist, " To build a House for the Public Worship of God."
2d, "To accept the Timber that was prepared for said use to build said House with."
3d, "Chose Benjamin Farley, Benjamin Blanchard, and Capt. Powers a Committee to take care and see that said House is built."
4th, " To accept the Land that was given to the Parish to Sett the Meeting House on and for a Burying Ground."
5th, " That the Money due from Capt. Powers, shall be laid out to buy Powder, Bullets and Flints for a Town Stock."
6th, " To accept the old Pound for the present year and that the Selectmen provide Stocks."
Itappears from the doings of a Town Meeting held the same year, a few months later, that Josiah Conant had been employed by the Selectmen to make the Stocks for the town. and that his account for making them was then accepted.
The Pillory for the confinement of the head and hands of the offender, Stocks for his feet, and the Whipping Post with the cat o' nine tails for his back, were in common use with our ancestors
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66
THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE.
[1746 to 1750.
of the last century, for the punishment of minor offences. A person. for instance, found guilty of profane swearing, for a first offenec. was fined one Shilling - if not able to pay, he was set in the town stocks for two hours ; for more than one profane oath at the same time, or for a second offence, he was set in the stocks for three hours.
The Hollis Whipping Post, standing on the west side of the Hollis Common, was in practical use after the beginning of the present century, and is still remembered by persons now living.
After the meeting of the 13th of June, such progress was made with the new meeting-house, that a special town meeting was called on the 2Sth of the following July, at which it was "' voted that \' Meeting House be raised on the 13th of August next (1746). "Also Voted that ve Comte provide Victuals and Drink for ye Peo- ple on Raising Day, and bring it to the Fraim at noon. If they Cant Get it among our Friends to Provide it Themselves."
To the doings of the last two meetings there was a very earnest and persistent opposition in respect to the location of the new meeting-house. and the building and raising it at that time, by a very considerable number of settlers then living in the west end of the town, most of them in that part of Hollis, some years afterwards set off' to the present town of Brookline. Eight of these settlers had a written protest against the proceedings of these meetings en- tered upon the town records. setting forth their objections. After the meeting of the 28th of July, fixing the "Raising Day" for the 13th of August, thirteen of them united in a petition and complaint to the General Court of New Hampshire, dated August 5, 1746. stating their grievances, and praying for the "Appointment of a Committee to view the situation - and to fix upon a place for the Meeting-House, and that the Raising of it might be postponed till this Committee could report."
This petition conceded that the proposed " location for the Mect- ing-House was just and reasonable for the Parish of West Dunsta- ble, as incorporated seven years before by the General Court of Massachusetts, but that it was unjust and unequal for the town of Holles as it then was. That by the late Act incorporating the town. above three miles off of the east end of the old parish were set to Dunstable bringing the east line of Holles within a mile and one half of the Meeting-Hlouse place. That the west line of Holles was near five miles from the Meeting-House place, and some inhabitants
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67
1746 to 1750.] THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE.
already settled at the outside. That the petitioners with others had applied to the Selectmen of Holles to call another meeting to consider the injustice of this location, but that their applica- tion had been refused. That if the Meeting-House should be built at the place proposed it would discourage settlements in the west end of the town, but that when further settlements should be made, the house would have to be pulled down, many changes made in the Highways - they loaded with great charges,-and room left for much contention and disturbance."
This Petition was signed by Stephen Ames, William Adams. Samuel Douglas, Isaac Farrar, James, Joseph and Randall McDan- iels. John and Jonathan Melvin, Samuel Parker, Moses Proctor, James Whiting, and Jasher Wyman. It was presented to the Gen- eral Court by Stephen Ames as agent of the Petitioners, read, con- sidered and dismissed by the House of Representatives on the 11th of August, two days before " Raising Day." so that the .. Raising" was not interrupted or postponed.
Afterwards, while the work on the new meeting-house was in progress, at a special town meeting held on the 22d of Dec .. 1746, the town
" Voted to Raise two Pence per acre Lawful Money a year on all the Land in the Town of Holles for five years for ye support of the Gospel, and ye Arising charges of said town. and to Petition ye Generall Court for strength to Gather, and Get ye money of Non- Residents. And Allso Chose Samuel Cumings to prefer said Pe- tition. and any other that may be thought proper and beneficiall forye Town."
Early in the following spring, Mr. Cumings, as agent for the town, presented to the General Court the following petition for the passage of the proposed law. This petition may interest some of us at the present day, as clearly and forcibly setting forth the reasons that influenced the people of the town in asking for the law in question, and also as showing the popular sentiment of the times in respect to the justice and policy of taxing the property of non-resi- dent landholders for the support of ministers and building meeting- houses.
68
THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE.
[1746 to 1750.
COPY OF THE PETITION.
"Province of New Hampshire
To his Excellency Benning Went- worth. Esq., Gov., &c., The Honble his Majesty's Council & House of Representatives in Gen- Assembly convened, March 311, 1747.
"The Petition of Sam' Cumings in Behalf of the Town of Holles, Humbly Sheweth, That the sd Town has Lately settled A Minis- ter and are now building a Meeting-House for the Publick Wor- ship of God there.
" That the settlers of sd Town have but lately entered thereon, and altho a considerable progress in Agriculture has been made (the only way we have for our support) yet find these charges very burthensome.
"That a considerable part of the best Lands in sª Town belong to non-resident propri" who make no Improvement.
" That by the arduous begining the settlement & heavy charges by us already paid has greatly advanced their Lards and they are still rising in value Equal as the Resident propri" tho the charges hitherto and for the future must Lye on ye settlers only, unless we obtain the assistance of this Honble court."
" Wherefore your Pet' most humbly prays that y' Excellency and HonT would take the Premises into consideration, and grant the Whole of the Lands in sd Township may be taxed annually for five years next coming two pence new tenor p. acre to be applyed for the support of the minister and finishing ye Meeting-House and by Law Enabling us to collect the same & y' Pet as in Duty Bound shall pray &c. SAMUEL CUMINGS."
This petition was favorably considered by the General Court, and on the following 14th of May, 1747, an Act was passed taxing all the lands in Hollis at two pence per acre for the support of the min- ister and finishing the meeting-house, but limiting the law to four years.
In the meanwhile the work on the new edifice went on, and such progress was afterwards made with the enterprise, that in about two years after " Raising Day," a plan of the .. Pew Ground," as it was called, was made by a Committee appointed by the town and ac- cepted by vote of a town meeting. The plan of this Pew Ground embraced a space on the lower floor next the walls, wide enough
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69
1746 to 1750.] THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE.
for a single range of pews on each of the four sides, and this space was apportioned into sites or ground for about 20 pews. At a town meeting on the 12th of September, 1748, this Pew Ground was dis- posed of by vote of the town as follows :
" Voted that the highest in pay on Real Estate have the Pew Ground on their paying £200, Old Tenor, to be applied towards fin- ishing the Meeting-House and the Pew men are to take their Pews for Themselves and Wives, the man and his wife to be seated ac- cording to their Pay."
That is, as I interpret this record, the men who at that time paid the highest taxes on real estate were to have the luxury of own- ing and sitting in separate pews, the wife being indulged with the privilege of sitting in the same pew with her husband upon the con- dition that the purchasers of the pew ground should build the walls of their pews, and pay £200 Old Tenor towards the completion of the building.
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