USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hollis > History of the town of Hollis, New Hampshire, from its first settlement to the year 1879 > Part 9
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The like vote was passed at the annual town meeting in 1768. In 1769, about a year after this last vote, the south part of the Mile Slip and a tract of territory about one mile and one-fourth wide. from off the west end of Hollis, were incorporated into a town by the name of Raby, so called from a town of that name, in the county of Durham, in the north part of England, from which some of its settlers first emigrated. It appears from the documents and records relating to Raby, that the petitioners for the charter asked for and expected a tract of land two miles in width from the west end of Hollis to be united with the Mile Slip. It is also evident that the people of Hollis were willing to spare the two miles,
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1776.]
MILE-SLIP AND DUXBURY.
provided it could be done and still leave their meeting-house equally distant from the new east and west lines, otherwise they were not willing. I infer from the language used in the charter of Raby, that the Governor and Council tried to do their best to satisfy both parties-that is, to give to Raby the two miles, and also to leave the Hollis meeting-house no nearer the new west line than it then was to the east line. Accordingly, with this end in view, they described the south-east corner of the new town as being "at a stake and stones about two miles from the South West corner of Hollis (as Hollis then was) thence North by the needle to the North line of Hollis, leaving the meeting house in the middle between this line and the East line of said Hollis."
But unfortunately the west line of Hollis did not extend far enough towards the setting sun, by three-fourths of a mile, to give to Raby the coveted two miles, and at the same time to leave the Hollis meeting-house at equal distances from the east and west lines of the town. It not being possible to satisfy both conditions, the sur- veyor who run the town line appears to have come to the conclu- sion that it was of more importance that the Hollis meeting-house should be equally distant from the east and west lines of the town, than that the people of Raby should have all the land they expected. Accordingly the line was so established as to take from Hollis a tract of land about one mile and one-fourth in width, instead of two miles, and leaving Hollis meeting-house the same distance from the east line of Raby as it was from the west line of Dunstable. The people of Raby were evidently disappointed with this result, and the next year, at the annual town meeting in Hollis, an article was inserted in the warrant, "To see if the town would set off to Raby the Families and Lands they expected." This question being sub- mitted to the meeting, it was "passed in the negative," and the meeting-house in Hollis continued, for many years after, to divide equally-a straight line passing through it-between the new west and east lines of the town. The town of Raby, as at first chartered, was but about two and one-half miles wide, and contained not more than twelve square miles-an area not much more than one-third of that of Hollis. The people of that town were not content with these narrow limits, but the war and troubles of the Revolution soon coming on, this discontent was allowed to sleep till the war was well over. But in 1785, two years after the war was ended, the people of Raby presented their grievances to the General Court
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92
MILE-SLIP AND DUXBURY.
in a petition setting forth the small population and narrow limi: their town, together with the alleged mistake in their boundaries when chartered, occasioned as was charged by the "wrongs . : sharp practice of Hollis," and asking for the annexation from Hollis of three-fourths of a mile more. Upon notice of this petition a town meeting was soon called in Hollis and resolutions adopte to oppose it, and Capt. Daniel Emerson, at that time their Rep ... sentative in the General Court, was instructed to use his influence against it. Notwithstanding the stout opposition of Hollis, the General Court decided that Raby was in the right, and passed as act setting off from the west end of Hollis to Raby another tract of territory of the uniform width of three-fourths of a mile. This last annexation to Raby left the length of the south line of Ilollis four miles and eighty-five rods instead of six miles and ninety-six rods a> in the original charter. In 1796 the name of Raby was changed to Brookline by an act of the General Court upon a petition of the in- habitants of the town.
In the year 1776, upon application to the General Court of its in- habitants, the north part of the MMile Slip, including a tract of terri- tory of about one thousand acres, known as the Duxbury School · Farm, was invested with limited town privileges. In a census of New Hampshire taken in 1767, the Mile Slip had sixty-nine inhabi- tants; in that taken in 1775, it had eighty-three. In the census of 1790 it was called Duxbury, and then had a population of one hun- dred and sixty-nine.
In 1794 the town of Milford was incorporated. The act charter- ing Milford was entitled "an act to incorporate the south westerly part of Amherst -- the north-westerly part of Hollis-the Mile SEp and Duxbury School Farm, into a town." Milford, as incorporated; included a small part of Amherst north of the Souhegan river. much the largest portion of that part of the old town of Monson, which by the division of Monson in 1770 had been annexed to Amherst : all of the Mile Slip not included in Raby, with the Duxbury School Farm, and an area of from 1000 to 1500 acres taken from the north- west corner of Hollis. It does not appear that the people of Hollis made any opposition to this contribution to the territory of their new neiglibor. The inhabitants living on the territory annexed were nearer to the village in Milford than to the meeting-house in Hollis, and probably, without objection, acquiesced in the transfer. This tract annexed to Milford is the last loss or gain in territory which has fallen to the lot of Hollis for the last three-quarters of
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1776.]
INCORPORATION OF MILFORD.
a century and more. During that period the town has remained of the same shape and dimensions, as left at the incorporation of Mil- ford. without any encroachment from its neighbors since, or effort on the part of its inhabitants to extend their borders. According to a survey and plan of thetown, (now at Concord), made in the year 1805 by Nathan Colburn, a Hollis surveyor, still remembered, Hollis, as it then was, and still is. contains an area of 19,620 acres, or about 30 2-3 square miles, a territory not very much differing in ex- tent from that of the town as first chartered. In all these many border troubles and controversies, which I have taken occasion to notice, it cannot but be observed that the people of Hollis have uni- formly had a wakeful eye to their own rights and interests, that they at all times vigorously and vigilantly endeavored to hold their own, and the present generation will find little reason to reproach the memory of their ancestors for not guarding and striving to perpet- uate the rights and interests of those who should come after them,
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THE PROVINCIAL MILITIA LAW.
L:744
CHAPTER VII.
THE PROVINCIAL MILITIA LAW .- FIRST MILITIA COMPANY IN HOLLIS .- HOLLIS IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS OF 1744 AND 1755 .- PETITIONS FOR GUARDS .- NAMES OF OFFICERS AND PRIVATE SOLDIERS. - 1744 TO 1763.
A law enacted by the New Hampshire General Court in the year 1718, required all able bodied male persons between the ages of sixteen and sixty, with the exceptions mentioned below, to do military duty. These exceptions included members of the Gener- al Court, ministers, deacons, schoolmasters, physicians, justices of the peace, millers, ferrymen, and such persons as had before held a military commission. Each private soldier was required to be fur- nished with a " Fire Lock, Snap Sack, Cartouch Box, Worm and Priming Wire, I Pound of Gun Powder, 20 Bullets, and 12 Flints, " and to train four days in the year, and to muster once in three years." It was also made the duty of each town in the Pro- vince to keep on hand a stock of ammunition for the town's use. consisting of "one barrel of good Gun powder, 100 pounds of bullets and 300 flints, for every sixty Soldiers," and also to provide arms and ammunition for such poor soldiers as were not able to sup- ply themselves. This law, with but little change, remained in force till the war of the Revolution, and it explains the reasons for many votes found in the records of Hollis for the assessment of . Rates for the " town stock of ammunition."*
In May 1744, the General Court passed an Act organizing the 6th Regiment of New Hampshire militia. This regiment, of which Joseph Blanchard of Dunstable was Colonel, embraced the mili- tia companies of a large part of the territory acquired by the set- tlement of the new Province line in 1741, being the towns and dis- tricts then known as Dunstable, the West Parish of Dunstable. Rumford, (now Concord), Nottingham, (now Hudson), Souhegan
*Province Laws, pp. 93, 97.
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FIRST MILITIA COMPANY.
1744.]
East, (now Bedford. ) Souhegan West, (now Amberst), and some others, making in all nine companies, of which that in West Dun- stable was the ninth. Of this last company, Peter Powers was ap- pointed Captain by the Governor and Council .* As we find in the Hollis records, shortly after the appointment of Captain Powers, the title of Lieutenant prefixed to the name of Benjamin Farley, of Ensign to that of Jerahmael Cumings, and of Sergeant to the name of James Stewart, there can be but little doubt that those persons held the offices indicated, in the first militia company of West Dunsta- ble. In those times of peril, when it was necessary for the defence of the hearth-stone and family from the midnight assault and scalp- ing knife of the savage, that each citizen should be a soldier. military titles, as in after times, had not become an empty compli- ment. Such titles as Captain, Licutenant and Ensign indicated that the persons known by them were distinguished among their townsmen for such qualities as were most useful and most needed for the common safety, and for that reason most valued and hon- ored. When once duly bestowed, they virtually became a part of the name of such persons as were entitled to them, to be used alike in social intercourse and in the public records.
From the year 1745 to January 26, 1775, we find no roll of the Hollis militia company, nor have the names of its officers come down to us except as those names have been preserved in the Hollis tax lists, and other public documents, with their rank or title pre- fixed. It appears from an original roll of the Hollis militia com- pany of the last date, still existing, supposed to be in the handwrit- ing of the town clerk of the time, that inclusive of officers Hollis then had 224 soldiers liable to do military duty, that being the num- ber of names on this roll. Of this company Joshua Wright was Captain, Reuben Dow Lieutenant, and Noah Worcester Ensign.
In addition to the military officers already mentioned, we find on the Hollis tax lists and other public documents prior to 1775, many names of Hollis men with military titles, most if not all of whom may be presumed to have held the commissions indicated by their several titles in the militia company of Hollis. Captains-Benja- min Abbot, Zedekiah Drury and Leonard Whiting. Lieutenants. -Robert Colburn. Amos Eastman, Samuel Farley, David Farns- worth, Amos Fisk, Samuel Gridley and James Taylor. Ensigns- Stephen Ames, Josiah Brown, Jonas Flagg, Daniel Merrill and Benjamin Parker.
*Prov. Papers' Vol. 5, p. 232.
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96
PETITION FOR GUARDS.
1744 .
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR OF 1744.
In the month of March, 1744, the French and Indian war % . begun, in which the Massachusetts and New Hampshire troop, us- dertook the chivalrous expedition for the capture of Louisburg .. This war lasted till October, 1748. As in former wars, the Cani. and Eastern Indians took sides with the French, who, coming ?. large numbers from Canada and Nova Scotia. prowled arom our defenceless settlements, waylaying, murdering and scalping ... taking captive to Canada the settlers in the frontier towns, some which no farther off than Peterborough, Lyndeborough and Ness Boston, were wholly deserted. The inhabitants of Hollis, Monson. Souhegan East, Souhegan West. and other places west of the Mer- rimack river. repeatedly petitioned the General Court for scouts and garrisons for their protection.
Among the earliest of these petitions was one from the old Parish of West Dunstable. On the ISth of June, 1744. about three months after war was declared. at a meeting of the inhabitants of West Dun- stable, James Stewart was chosen their delegate to present this peti- tion to the General Court. The Commission of Mr. Stewart for thi purpose was in writing, signed by all, or very nearly all of the householders then in West Dunstable, forty-five in number, and was in substance as follows :
" DUNSTABLE, June IS. 1741.
" Wee, the Inhabitants of the West Parish in the District of Dun- stable, do hereby authorise and depute Mr. James Stewart in our names and behalf, to make proper application to the Government of New Hampshire, Setting forth our being situated on the Frontier, and exposed to the Enemy, and the Necessity wee are in of a Guard. and Pray for a Sutable and Seasonable Relief there.
" Voted to Request Six Garasons and twenty-five soldiers."
Capt. PETER POWERS WILLIAM COLBURN JOSEPH MCDANIELS
Lieut. BENJAMIN FARLEY SAMUEL CUMINGS
RANDALL MCDANIELS
Ensign JERAHMARL CUMMINGS JONATHAN DANFORD
JONATHAN MELVIN
WILLIAM ADAMS
Rev. DANIEL EMERSON
DAVID NEVINS
STEPHEN AMES HENRY BARTON
SAMUEL FARLEY
THOMAS NETINS
BENJAMIN BLANCHARD
& BENJAMIN BLANCHARD, Jr
STEPHEN HARRIS
THOMAS PATCH
WILLIAM BLANCHARD
WILLIAM HARTWELL
JOHN PHELPS AMOS PHILIPS
JOSIAH BLOOD JOSIAH HOBART
ENOCH HUNT
JAMES WHEELER
JOHN BOYNTON, Jun
ZERUBBAREL KEMP
PETER WHEELER
JOHN BROWN JONATHAN LOVEJOY
FRANCIS WORCESTER, Jr
JOSIAH BROWN
JAMES MCDANIELS
JOSHUA WRIGHT."t
JOSEPH FARLEY NICHOLAS FRENCH
BENJAMIN PARKER
SAMUEL PARKER
ELNATHAN BLOOD
STEPHEN HAZELTINE
MOSES PROCTOR
NATHANIEL BLOOD
*Holmes Annals, Vol. 2, p. 33.
tProv. Papers, Vol. 9, p. 195.
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1744 to 1747.]
PETITIONS FOR GUARDS.
The following extracts from the petition soon after presented by Mr. Stewart set forth the reasons for it and the condition of the set- tlement at the time.
" The Memorial and Petition of James Stewart. in the name and behalf of the inhabitants of the West Parish of Dunstable, Humbly sheweth, That said Parish has been settled about 14 years, and a Gospell Minister ordained above a year. * That many Thou- sand Pounds has been spent in clearing and cultivating the Land there, and some Thousands more in Building Houses. Barns and Fences. * * The breaking up of which Settlements will not * only ruin the Memorialists. but greatly diserve his Majesty's Interest."
" That it was by long and importunate Intercession of this Prov- ince (and not of the Memorialists seeking) that they are cast under the immediate care of this Government, which they conceive gives them so much the better right to its Protection. That as War is already declared against France, and a Rupture with the Indians hourly expected, your Memorialists, unless they have speedy help. will soon be oblidged to leave their Settlements. Wherefore your Memorialists most humbly supplicate * such seasonable Relief as may enable them to subsist in the war, and (be) secure against the Ravages and Devastations of a blood thirsty and Merciless Enemy."
Near three years later. about one year after Hollis was chartered as a town, (the war still raging) at a town meeting held in April, 1747, Samuel Cumings was appointed a delegate to present to the General Court a second petition for " scouts" and "guards." The subjoined extracts from the petition of this delegate show the con- dition and needs of the town at that time. He says to the General Court in this petition. .. That Holles is a Frontier town much exposed to Danger from the Indian Enemy, and the number of Effective men belonging to the same not exceeding fifty, who have. all or most of them Families to take care of and being mostly new settlers, have much Labour on their hands to subdue and cultivate their Lands. That their situation is such that they dare not to ven- ture to work without a guard * which if they cannot have they must spend their time in watching and warding, in which case their families must suffer for want of the necessaries of life. And they Humbly pray that they may be allowed a scout of ten or a dozen men for the ensuing season till the Danger of the Summer (7)
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98
FRENCH WAR FROM 1754 TO 1763.
and Fall of the year is over and the harvest past * * and as in des bound &c."* In reply to these and other like petitions fron t- frontier settlements and towns west of and near the Merrimack in similar perils, the General Court at several different times detail : detachments of soldiers as patrols to scout through the woods wes: of that river, and at one time voted a force of ninety scouts to patre! the forests from the mouth of the Contoocook river to Holles.
During this war the grin government bounty for Indian scalps for the encouragement of scouts and Indian hunters was increased by vote of the General Court from froo, paid for them in Lovewell's war, to £250, O. T., and at one time to £400, O. T., for each Indian scalp taken west of Nova Scotia, and produced to the Governo' and Council. Probably owing to the efforts of the government. united with the vigilance of the settlers, it does not appear that any attack was made upon Hollis or any of the adjoining towns. I do not find that Hollis furnished any soldiers for the New Hampshire regiments raised in this war, and not more than two or three Hollis names appear in the printed lists of New Hampshire " scouts " pub. lished in the report of the Adjutant General for 1866. The pro- tection of their own families and firesides was the first, and would seem the only military duty, in these years, asked or expected of the settlers in the towns on the extreme frontier.
THE WAR IN WHICH QUEBEC WAS TAKEN AND CANADA CONQUERED.
In 1754, about eight years after the peace of Aix La Chapelle. the last French and Indian War was begun, which ended in the capture of Quebec and the final conquest of Canada.i Hollis in this war was no longer on the extreme frontier, and was much less exposed to the attacks of the savages than in the preceding war. During the eight years of peace, the population of the town had very considerably increased, and its soldiers seem to have done their whole duty in filling up the ranks of the New Hampshire regiments called for by the Government. In the roll of a small detachinent of New Hampshire troops posted on the Connecticut river in the fall of 1754. and to be found in the report of the Adjutant General for 1866, above referred to, I find the names of John Cumings. James French, Jonathan Hubbard, (Hobart) Samuel Parker and James Whiting, all names appearing on the Hollis records and believed to have been Hollis soldiers.
*Prov. Papers, Vol. 9, P. 399. tHolmes' Annals, Vol. 2, p. 53.
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99
FRENCH WAR FROM 1754 TO 1763.
In 1755, New Hampshire raised a regiment commanded by Col. Joseph Blanchard, to aid in the expedition against the French forts at Crown Point on the west shore of Lake Champlain. Of this regi- ment, Rev. Daniel Emerson was Chaplain, Dr. John Hale, Sur- geon's Mate, and Jonathan Hubbard. (Hobart) Adjutant, all of Hollis .*
Nearly two-thirds of the Third Company of this regiment were also Hollis men. Of this company, Peter Powers was Captain, Benjamin Abbot, Lieutenant ; William Cumings, Ensign : James Colburn, Clerk ; David Hubbard, (Hobart) and Samuel Cumings. Sergeants ; Jonathan Powers, Enoch Noyes, Stephen Hazeltine and James Brown, Corporals, and Samuel Brown, Drummer. all of Hollis. Among the private soldiers, or sentinels, we recognize the following Hollis names, viz. : Jacob Abbot, Ebenezer Ball. Samuel Barrett, Jabez Davis, John Flagg, Jonathan Fowler, Josiah French. John Goodhue, James Hill, George Lesley, Christopher Lovejoy. Levi Powers, Stephen Powers, Whitcomb Powers, Isaac Stearns. Nathaniel Townsend, Daniel Wheeler, James Wheeler, Peter Wheeler and John Willoughby, making in all thirty-four Hollis men in this regiment.
In August 1757, after the capture of Fort William Henry by the French and Indians, a battalion of two hundred and fifty New Hampshire troops was raised for the defence of Fort Edward. near Lake George, commanded by Major Thomas Tash. In the first company of this battalion there were eleven Hollis soldiers, viz. : Benjamin Abbot. Jacob Abbot, Stephen Ames, Ephraim Blood. Elnathan Blood, Robert Campbell, Timothy Emerson, John Hale. Samuel Hobart, (Sergt.) Jonathan Hobart and John Willoughby.
In 175S, a regiment of New Hampshire troops was raised. com- manded by Col. John Hart of Portsmouth, a part of which was ordered to join a second expedition against Louisburg, and the remainder to serve on the western frontier. Of this regiment Rev. Daniel Emerson was Chaplain, and Dr. John Hale. Surgeon. Of its Sixth company, Ebenezer Jaquith was Second Lieutenant and Josiah Brown. Ensign. Besides the foregoing, there were also in the same company sixteen Hollis soldiers, making in all twenty Hollis men in this regiment. viz. : Nathaniel Blood, Joseph East- erbrook, Jonathan Fowler, James French, Samuel Hazeltine, James Hubbard, (Hobart), Thomas Nevins, Ebenezer Pierce, Whitcomb
*Vol. 2, Adjt. Gen. Rep. for 1866. pp. 07, 120, 131, 132.
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FRENCH WAR FROM 1754 TO 1763.
Powers, Thomas Powers, Isaac Stearns, Samuel Stearns, James. Taylor, Abel Webster, Peter Wheeler and John Willoughby.
In 1759, the year of the capture of Quebec, a New Hampshire regiment was raised and put under the command of Col. Zacchen; Lovewell, of Dunstable. with its rendezvous at that place. With the exception of two companies, the rolls of this regiment are lost, but as it was made up of drafts from the militia regiments of the whole province, and its headquarters being in an adjacent town. there can be no reasonable doubt that the Hollis soldiers were well represented in it.
In 1760. the year of the final conquest of Canada, New Hamp- shire furnished its last regiment of eight hundred men for this war. of which John Goffe was Colonel. having its headquarters at Litch- field. This regiment marched to its destination by the way of Mon- son, Keene, the Green Mountains, and thence to Crown Point. Its adjutant was Samuel Hobart, and on the roll of one of its companies I find the following names of Hollis soldiers : Joseph Taylor. Lieut .. James Taylor, Sergeant, and among the privates, Jotham Cumings. Francis Powers, and Joshua Wright .*
In the foregoing lists there will be found sixty-one different names of men who as private soldiers or officers, in the several years of that war. went into the army from the territory now or at that time embraced in Hollis. How many other names of Hollis soldiers were on the lost rolls, cannot now be told. As no census had then been taken of which we have any knowledge, we have no means of learning the population of the town during that war with much approach to accuracy. The number of names on the Tax Lists, from 1754 to 1760, then varied from one hundred and eight to one liundred and seventeen, and the number of men furnished from the town in that war was equal to more than one half the number of tax payers, besides those that may have been on the lost rolls.
In February 1763, by the treaty concluded at Paris, peace was again proclaimed. For thirteen of the nineteen years beginning with 1.744 and ending with 1763, our ancestors were engaged in this savage and bloody warfare for the defence of their lives and fire- sides, carried on by their enemies with the avowed purpose of driving the English from the country. We now look back upon the history of those years and the doings of our ancestors, with feelings of filial gratitude and admiration, knowing as we do that
*Adjt. Gen. Rep. for 1866, Vol. 2, pp. 191, 313. 214, 232, 241.
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Ior
FRENCH WAR FROM 1754 TO 1763.
it was to their courage, constancy and sufferings that we owe the rich inheritance they have transmitted to us. We would gladly know much more than it is now possible to learn of the personal history of these early pioneers of the town and State, but knowing as we do how soon the memorials of the dead fade from the recol- lections of the living, we may well be grateful that even the names of so many of these brave defenders of their country have come down to our times.
The militia company in Hollis, from the year 1768. formed a part of the 5th Regiment of the New Hampshire militia till the begin- ning of the war of the Revolution. From 1768 to 1775, the field officers of that regiment were Edward G. Lutwyche of Merrimack, Colonel ; its Licut. Colonel was Dr. John Hale, and Samuel Ho- bart its Major. Col. Lutwyche was a loyalist or tory, and is said to have left the country near the beginning of the war. Major Hobart was appointed Colonel of the 2nd New Hampshire Regi- ment of minute men, by the New Hampshire Provincial Congress in September 1775, and in November of the same year, Lieut. Col. Hale was elected Colonel of the 5th Regiment of New Hampshire militia.
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