USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Rindge > History of the town of Rindge, New Hampshire, from the date of the Rowley Canada or Massachusetts charter, to the present time, 1736-1874, with a genealogical register of the Rindge families > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
NATHANIEL PAGE.
In 1772 and 1773, fifty-nine persons were warned out by Jonathan Parker, Jr.
If these proceedings are open to criticism, the error rested in the province laws, since the town, for its own protection, was compelled to adopt a practice which had become universal. And it certainly was more humane than the custom of "riding out of town, " which was sometimes tolerated after this regulation had become obsolete. Then for a small amount of money the needy were sometimes hired to leave the town, and perhaps receive a colder charity from other hands; and not infrequently, without regard to their wishes, they were carried by the town authorities, or more frequently by some one hired for that purpose, to the town from whence they came, where they were directed to apply for bread which here had been withheld. This proceeding may possess an appearance of justice as an issue between the towns, but it could not have been remarkably agreeable to the persons most keenly inter- ested in the result. On one occasion the selectmen of Rindge were considerably overreached in an enterprise of
91
TO THE REVOLUTION.
this character. The poverty of an inhabitant of the town had become a most emphatic illustration of the truth of the declaration, "The poor ye have always with you." But the selectmen, failing to comprehend their duty in the premises as' clearly as they realized the general truth of the Scripture, employed Israel Divoll to carry the needy individual to his former home in Leominster. In this transaction their faith that he would be properly cared for was more commendable than their works to the same end. For this business the agent was paid the sum of five dollars. Not to be outdone in this species of liberality, the selectmen of Leominster offered Mr. Divoll six dollars if he would bring the pauper back. The offer was accepted to the replenishment of his purse with money, and the minds of the Rindge officials with chagrin. At another time, when the population of the town was one more than was thought necessary for its prosperity, the town by vote instructed the selectmen to employ the greatest rogue in the commu- nity to carry the supernumerary inhabitant to the town from whence he came. Mr. Divoll was not employed. The selectmen immediately nominated Asa ยท Brocklebank as a proper person for the enterprise, whereupon Mr. Brocklebank, who was better known for his good nature than for any dishonest practices, quickly responded that he would accept the trust if the town would select the next greatest rogue to instruct him how to proceed ; and Col. Daniel Rand, a most exemplary and candid-minded citizen, was requested to advise him in the fulfillment of his duty. While these proceedings are sustained by tradi- tion. to the credit of the town they were never entered upon the records; and if any instructions were given they probably did not exceed a caution against taking pay from more than one town.
92
HISTORY OF RINDGE.
This treatment of the poor savors of inhumanity, but it was in accordance with the prevailing usage, and the people and their officials suffer in no degree when placed in comparison with those of other places. The method of providing for this unfortunate class has passed through various phases ; yet the innovations, which will be noticed in a subsequent chapter, have been more suggestive of benevolence and humanity.
During the seven years that intervened between the date of incorporation and the Revolution, the emigration to the town was both numerous and reputable. A large majority of these settlers were worthy and influential townsmen, and their descendants have been intelligent and valuable citizens. At this time the southwest part of the town was mainly settled, and that locality even to this day is frequently called Topsfield, from the name of the town from which many of the people came. Topsfield was also the residence of several of the proprietors of Rowley Canada, which fact is more or less intimately associated with this emigration to the town, and is another illustration of the impress of the Massachusetts grant upon the destiny of the township.
William and David Robbins, of Cambridge, in 1764 pur- chased Lots Twenty in the first and second ranges. They immediately commenced a clearing, and their names are found upon the highway accounts for 1767, but they did not become permanent residents until the spring of 1768. Ezekiel and Solomon Rand soon after took up farms near the abode of their brother Daniel. Francis Towne, from Topsfield, in 1771 settled upon the farm now owned by his grandson, Joshua C. Towne; also from the same place came Nathaniel Thomas, who settled upon the farm still owned by his descendants; Philip Thomas, who located a
93
TO THE REVOLUTION.
short distance west of Nathaniel ; and Othniel Thomas, who settled near Monomonock Lake upon the farm now of Gilman P. Wellington; John Emory, who fixed his abode in the southwest corner of the town; Aaron Easty, who purchased the farm of John Coffeen, and in 1771 sold it to John Buswell, who hailed from Boxford. In addition to these, the town of Topsfield sent Abel and Elisha Perkins, who selected for their future home the farm now of George W. Towne, and Samuel Page, who resided upon the farm now of Willard C. Brigham.
In 1752, Israel Adams, Jr., came from Andover, with a deed from the Rowley Canada proprietors of a tract of land, which is the farm owned by Deacon Howard Gates. of Ashby, and commenced a clearing during the summer of that year. He was promptly notified by Benjamin Bellows that he, too, held possession of the same land under the Masonian charter. Becoming satisfied that he could not read his title clear, Mr. Adams gave Mr. Bellows the benefit of a season's labor, and went back to Andover. Twenty years later, accompanied by his aged father, he returned to Rindge, secured another kind of a deed for the farm still known as the Israel Adams place, and there resided until his death. David Adams, from Boxford, removed to an adjoining lot of land, which remained in the possession of his descendants until a recent date. The families were not related. Samuel and Isaac Adams, brothers of David, also removed to Rindge about the same time. The former removed to Jaffrey in 1780; the latter was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill. Daniel Adams, another brother, resided here several years.
Zebulon Converse came from Bedford, Mass., and settled on Lot One in the first range, but soon after removed to the site of the residence of Morton E. Converse.
13
94
HISTORY OF RINDGE.
Jabez and Jeremiah Norcross came in 1771. The former settled nearly opposite the dwelling of his brother, Page Noreross, and the latter on the farm now of his grandson, Joshua Norcross, and a short distance east of him was the abode of Ebenezer Chaplin, who removed from Atkinson. From Lunenburg came Samuel Tarbell, who settled in the west part of the town, and in a district still associated with his name. From the same town was Isaac Wood, who settled upon the farm owned by his grandsons, John E. and Jonas Wood. Lincoln sent Abraham and Benjamin Peirce ; the latter located near Francis Towne. Henry Smith was also from Lincoln, and built a house nearly opposite the house of the late Jonathan W. Allen.
Edward Jewett, whose name frequently occurs upon the records, and who resided for many years upon the farm . now of Ivers H. Brooks, came from Concord. John and Abraham Wetherbee, brothers of Benjamin, settled in the southeast part of the town, the former on the farm recently of J. S. Wetherbee, his grandson, and the latter where A. J. Converse now resides. Jonathan and his brother Obadiah Sawtell were from Groton, and settled in the east part of the town. From the same town was Salmon Stone, who located upon the "Lord farm " near the centre of the town. Asa Sherwin and John Sherwin were from Boxford ; the former lived upon the farm formerly of the late Charles Cutler, and the latter, at a later period, occupied the house previously owned by Philip Thomas. To gain a better idea of the town as it was at the close of these seven years of constant emigration, the reader should locate Benjamin Bancroft, from Groton, near the resi- dence of Col. G. W. Stearns; Henry Godding upon the Dea. Cummings farm; Ebenezer Muzzey near the resi- dence of Ezra Page; Solomon Cutler upon the Dr. Thomas
95
TO THE REVOLUTION.
Jewett place -the last three from Lexington ; - Richard Kimball, from Boxford, upon the Gates farm, enjoying the Adams clearing; Levi Mansfield upon the Amos Keyes farm ; John Hannaford between the residence of Lyman Bennett and Monomonock Lake; James Wood, from Box- ford, near the residence of B. F. Danforth ; John Earl, or Eills, as he spelled the name, upon the Josiah Stratton farm ; Ebenezer Davis near the farm of Lyman Stratton; James Crumbie, from Andover, at West Rindge ; Samuel Walker. from Weston, upon the farm now of William S. Brooks, which he purchased of William Spaulding, after he had sold his former residence to Philip Thomas; Barnabas Cary, from Attleborough, in the east part of the town; Daniel Gragg near Long Pond; Asa Brocklebank, from Rowley, in the east part of the town, and subsequently on the farm previously occupied by Henry Godding ; Paul Fitch, from Ashby. was proprietor of the mill at Converseville ; and Ebenezer Lock, from Ervingshire, near Orange, Mass., was the village blacksmith. There were also Moses Whitney, Ezekiel Learned, Obadiah Marsh, and Jeremiah Russell from New Salem; Nehemiah Porter from Weymouth ; Thomas Hutchinson from Ashby; Ebenezer Shaw from Abington ; John Gray from Wilton, N. H .; Solomon Whit- ney. Richard, and William Davis from Lincoln; Joseph Wilson from Petersham ; and Silas Whitney from Winchen- don. Other families removed to this town during this period. and not a few of the sons of the earlier settlers were now married, and occupied houses, which they had erected upon their clearings. With this numerous acces- sion to the population of the town came three physicians, Drs. Morse, Townsend, and Palmer, who will be noticed in another chapter. Many facts contained in this chapter will be repeated elsewhere; but it has been deemed proper
96
HISTORY OF RINDGE.
to present this view of the population as it existed at the commencement of the Revolution, since many of these names will frequently appear in the record of that period.
During the seven years included in this chapter the town lost several valuable citizens. In 1769, John Coffeen emigrated to Cavendish, Vt .; Jonathan Stanley, Henry Coffeen, Nathaniel Turner, Jonathan Jewett, David Allen, and Jonathan Hopkinson removed to Jaffrey, and the names of Isaac Allen, John Lilly, Aaron Taylor, Silas Dutton, William Stearns, John MacElwain, Joseph Worcester, Samuel Larrabee, Samuel Larrabee, Jr., David Hammond, Samuel and Daniel Harper disappear from the records.
In 1772, John Fitch, his wife and one daughter removed to this town. With them came Zeno, a negro servant of Mr. Fitch. In 1739, Mr. Fitch, then about thirty years of age, removed from Bradford, Mass., and settled in the south part of Ashby, but then in the town of Lunenburg. His abode was several miles distant from his nearest neighbors, and was described by him as "seven miles and a half above Lunenburg meeting-house, and three miles and a half above any of the inhabitants, on the road leading from Lunenburg to Northfield." The settlers in that vicinity, apprehensive of an attack from the Indians, assisted Mr. Fitch in fortifying his house, and early in the year 1748 four soldiers were stationed within the garrison. Mr. Fitch was a man of considerable distinction. He had traded much with the Indians, and his frontier position was well known to them. It appears that they had resolved upon his capture, and a party of them, not far from eighty in number, stealthily approached his abode during the absence of two of the soldiers, and on the morning of July 5, 1748, suddenly fell upon him and his two remaining companions, who were a short distance from the garrison.
97
TO THE REVOLUTION.
One of the soldiers, named Zaccheus Blodgett, was instantly killed. Mr. Fitch and the other soldier, named Jennings, escaped within the enclosure where they made a stout resistance for an hour and a half, when Jennings received a fatal wound in the neck from a shot through a port- hole. The wife of Mr. Fitch loaded the guns, while her husband continued his efforts to repel the assault. The Indians at last assured him that if he persisted in firing he and his family should perish in the flames of the build- ing ; but if he would surrender they promised to spare the lives of all within his house. A surrender was then made, and the house and fences were burned by the Indians, and Mr. Fitch, accompanied by his wife and five children, was conducted to Montreal. The ages of the children were respectively five months, four, five and one-half, eleven, and thirteen years. A company of men from Lunenburg and vicinity, under command of Major Hartwell, started in pur- suit early the following morning. The Indians proceeded along the south side of Watatic Mountain, and made their first stop at the meeting-house in Ashburnham, the inhabit- ants of which town had abandoned their settlement but a short time previous. It is probable that they continued their course through the eastern portion of this town, and thence by way of Spafford Gap in a more northern direction. Somewhere in the township of Ashburnham the pursuing party discovered a piece of paper fastened to a tree con- taining a few lines written by Fitch, imploring his friends not to attempt his rescue, as the Indians had promised to spare their lives if unmolested, but threatened instant death to himself and family if his friends attempted to deprive them of their captives. The pursuing party then returned. After enduring the severest hardships in their long journey through the wilderness and in captivity, the
98
HISTORY OF RINDGE.
family were ransomed by their friends in Bradford. They returned by way of New York, Providence, and Boston. After bravely enduring the perils of captivity the wife of Mr. Fitch sickened while returning, and died in Provi- dence, Dec. 24, 1748, nearly six months after the date of capture. The others returned to their former home in Ashby.
Mr. Fitch used to relate that among the plunder taken from his premises by the Indians was a heavy draft chain, which one of them carried upon his shoulders to Canada, and there bartered it for a quart of rum, which, as Frank- lin would say, was paying dear for (wetting) his whistle. Paul, one of the children, then between five and six years of age, was strapped upon the back of an Indian, and performed the journey more easily than other members of the family. He lived to an advanced age, and is the one referred to in this chapter as owner, for a short time, of the mill at Converseville. He well remembered this experience of his childhood, and used to say that, brought into such close contact with his animated vehicle, the smell of the Indian made him sick, and that he cried so lustily the savage turned him about and again bound him to his back. With his face towards his former home, and blindly entering the unknown future, the journey was continued. His new position was a truthful symbol of the uncertainty of his fortunes. Jacob, another of the sons of Mr. Fitch, then four years of age, and who subsequently was one of the early school-masters in this town, suffered more severely. Though in other respects well formed, his lower limbs were of dwarfish size, on account of the rigor with which he was bound to the back of his Indian transport. John Fitch was again married in 1751. After residing in Rindge five or six years, he returned to Ashby, where he died April
99
TO THE REVOLUTION.
8. 1795. From him the city of Fitchburg received its name, and a granite monument in his memory has been erected upon the Common in Ashby. As stated, the date of the capture of this family occurred during the summer of 1748. In Whitney's "History of Worcester County," it is stated that it occurred in the summer of 1749, and Torrey's "History of Fitchburg," in an attempt to correct the date given by Whitney, makes an equal error in stating that it was in the summer of 1747. Kidder's "History of New Ipswich," a work of unusual accuracy, has found the golden mean, and gives the true date of the event, and quotes a paragraph from the Boston Gazette of that year which confirms the accuracy of the date. In 1749, Mr. Fitch presented a petition to the General Court for relief, in which he gives a full account of his capture and sufferings, and says that the Indians made the attack before noon on the fifth day of July, in the year 1748.
CHAPTER V.
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY -1775 AND 1776.
The Prevailing Sentiment of the People. - Census of 1775. - Conven- tion at Keene. - Delegate chosen to attend the Provincial Con- gress. - Convention at Walpole. - Town-Meeting Warrants. - Minute-Men. - Selectmen and Committee of Safety for 1775. - Battle of Lexington. - Roll of Captain Hale's Company. - Captain Philip Thomas' Company. - Battle of Bunker Hill. - Lovejoy, Adams, and Carleton Killed .- Loss of Arms and Clothing. - The Company Continues in the Service. - Enoch Hale Appointed Colonel of the Fourteenth Regiment. - Training Bands and Alarm Lists. - List of Officers. - Importance given to Military Titles. - Selectmen and Committee of Safety for 1776. - Conventions at Walpole and Hanover. - Association Test. - Captain Parker's Company. - Colonel Baldwin's Regiment. - Other Enlistments. - Scarcity of Salt.
The grievances which led to the Revolutionary War are well known, and are more appropriate topics for general than of local history. It remains for these annals to record the deeds of men, and not of armies, and to portray the sufferings of the individual at the fireside and in the field. As far as possible, this chapter will be the record of the men, and of their families, who composed the population of the town of Rindge during the long and sanguinary struggle. The winter of 1774-5 was a season of doubt and uncer- tainty. The people were nervously waiting for the clouds to break, or, if need be, for hostilities to commence. Anything
101
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
was to be preferred to the state of suspense and anxiety which had fallen upon all the land. This town was in full sympathy with the sentiment that a war was to be deplored, and if possible to be avoided; but that it might and, in certain events, would occur was as freely acknowledged ; and early and with remarkable unanimity they were pre- pared for the issue, whether force would compel submis- sion or resistance would overcome force.
.
In 1775 an enumeration of the inhabitants of the province of New Hampshire was had. The entire popu- lation was eighty-two thousand two hundred; the number in Rindge was five hundred and forty-two. This census being made on the eve of hostilities is of great interest. and presents to our minds a township of less than one-half the number of inhabitants at the present time. Of this number about one hundred and twenty would be males between sixteen and sixty years of age. This number was considerably increased during the progress of the war by the removal of new families into-town; and several who removed hither after the war commenced enlisted into the service. The repeated record of warning out new- comers, the fact that the census in 1780 included seven hundred or more, and that a number in excess of one hundred and twenty are found in the army from this town, all prove that in population the town made consid- erable gain during each year of the war. The compar- ative population of Rindge at this period will be seen from the returns of a few other towns: Jaffrey, 351; Marlow, 207; Mason, 501; Marlborough, 322; Nelson, 186; Dublin, 305; Peterborough, 549; New Ipswich, 960 ; Keene, 758; Manchester, 285.
The most careful research has been made to secure a
14
102
HISTORY OF RINDGE.
complete list of all residents of this town who served in the army during the Revolutionary War. It will be perceived that the lists are very nearly complete. The public records contain the names of those who responded to the alarm at Lexington in 1775, and very few other names are found upon any records or papers preserved in this town. The search for the rolls, date of enlistment, duration and nature of the service, has been made elsewhere. The military papers in the office of the Adjutant-General at Concord have been carefully peruscd. No name has been admitted upon these pages without unquestionable proof that the person was an actual resident of Rindge. Tradition and the records are frequently at variance; in such cases the authority of the record has been recognized. In addition to the rolls hereafter given, it is certain that in 1776 thirteen men, and in 1780 sixty-one men, were in the service for a few days, having enlisted in response to sudden alarms. They soon returned to their homes upon learning that the danger had passed. It would be a source of extreme satisfaction if it could be known that, with this exception, the name of every soldier and every casualty was here recorded; and it is believed that the lists are very nearly complete.
A convention of conference and recommendation was held at Keene, December 28, 1774. An address was issued, earnestly recommending the several towns in the vicinity to perfect measures of preparation, and requesting the several boards of selectmen to call a town-meeting and give the people an opportunity to adopt a by-law which had been prepared and sent with the address. It is to be regretted that no account of this convention has ever been published. The early date at which it was assembled, and the character
103
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.
of the measures adopted, surround it with an unusual interest. Agreeably to these recommendations a meeting was held in Rindge, January 23, 1775, at which the town voted "to accept of the recommendations adopted at Keene, and chose Lieut. Francis Towne, Ens. Daniel Rand, and Page Norcross a committee to manage the same "; and also " voted to make a BY-LAW as within mentioned, and choose Enoch Hale, Francis Towne, Daniel Rand, Nathaniel Russell. Jonathan Sherwin. Nathan Hale, and Edward Jewett to make and carry the same into execution." The above action of the town at this early date is a safer index of the prevailing sentiment than a vote passed about the same time "to purchase a town stock of ammunition." When the fact is brought into view that, under the statutes of the province, each town was obliged to keep in reserve a prescribed amount of powder and lead, the early measures to procure a public stock of ammunition appear less significant than at first might be supposed. It is apparent, however, that this statute was now obeyed with more alacrity than many others, and its requirements more carefully heeded than had formerly been the case. What was the exact recommendation of the convention at Keene is not definitely known; but the action of the town of Rindge in response to the address makes it apparent that it was of a precautionary character, and in harmony with the serious apprehensions and sentiment of the times.
At this meeting, Enoch Hale was chosen a deputy, or delegate, to attend the second session of the Provincial Congress, which assembled at Exeter on the twenty-third of January. Mr. Hale attended this session, and was also a delegate, and in attendance thirty-one days, at the fourth session of the Provincial Congress, which was convened at
104
HISTORY OF RINDGE.
the same place on the seventeenth day of May. It is presumed that he attended other sessions held this year, although no record of the fact has been found. It is certain that he was present to advise and vote upon the greater part of the experimental, yet momentous, proceedings adopted by that body, and while there probably formed acquaintances, and left impressions on the minds of his associates, which led to his many preferments during the succeeding years.
Of the proceedings of this session of Congress, or con- vention, Dr. Belknap says: "Their first care was to establish post-offices ; to appoint a committee of supplies for the army, and a committee of safety. To this last committee the general instruction was similar to that given by the Romans to their dictators, 'to take under considera- tion all matters in which the welfare of the province in the security of their rights is concerned, and to take the utmost care that the public sustain no damage.'" This is the origin of the efficient committee of safety, which continued to act in the affairs of the province, and soon after of the State, with great boldness and judgment, and, under the leadership of Hon. Meshech Weare, placed New Hampshire in the foremost rank, both in point of influence and achievements. Particular instructions were given them from time to time as occasion required. They were clothed with supreme executive power, and whenever the conven- tion was not in session, the orders and recommendations of this committee were received with as much authority as the acts and resolves of the convention. The continued record of the representation of this town in the Provincial Congress will appear in another chapter. Previous to March, 1775, another County Congress was held at Walpole.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.