USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Rochester > History of the town of Rochester, New Hampshire, from 1722 to 1890, Vol. I > Part 12
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" How long, dear Saviour, O how long Shall that bright hour delay ? Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, And bring the welcome day."
He thus passed peacefully and joyfully to his rest January 27, 1825, and lies buried among the people of his charge. A plain white stone marks his grave with the following inscription : -
Rev. Joseph Haven born May 14th old style 1747, died Jan. 29, 1825.
CHAPTER VII.
LEADING MEN OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
" With moistened eye
We read of faith and purest charity
In statesman, priest, and humble citizen.
O could we copy their mild virtues, then
What joy to live, what blessedness to die !
Methinks their very names shine still and bright,
Apart, - like glowworms on a summer night,
Or lonely tapers when from far they fling
A guiding ray, or seen like stars on high."
HON. JOHN PLUMMER.
JOHN PLUMMER was an active and useful man in our town for many years before and after as well as throughout the Revolu- tion. Interested in public affairs, and possessing a sound judgment with considerable energy of character, he gained an influence with the people, so that his opinion was authority on important ques- tions. His business experience caused him to be elected to many local offices. No man in the history of the town has been so frequently chosen moderator of town meetings. Nearly sixty times was he elected to this office. He was also selectman for several years, and seldom was an important committee appointed, of which he was not a member. At that time few persons had sufficient education or business experience to qualify them for responsible offices. The people were almost exclusively engaged in farming, while the schools afforded no such advantages as at the present day. The education even of the leading men of that time would be regarded very limited now. Their success depended more upon native force and good judgment than upon knowledge derived from books. This fact must not be forgotten in estimating the char- acter and abilities of men of that generation. Mr. Plummer was the first magistrate appointed in the town, "and by his remark- ably conciliatory conduct was able to settle most disputes that
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came before him in an amicable manner, and was worthy to be called a peacemaker." This expression well illustrates his char- acter. His benevolent disposition was constantly manifested in aets of kindness to the poor. By assistance, as well as good advice, he gained their friendship and esteem. He was well known be- yond the limits of the town, holding acquaintance with the influ- ential men of the State. He was a friend of Gov. Wentworth, who showed his appreciation of his worth by appointing him Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1773. Though perhaps some- what restrained by this friendship of the British Governor, from radical opposition to the royal government, yet his loyalty to the American cause is unquestionable. He was hardy and athletic, with an iron constitution. Witty and humorous, he was very fond of company, especially that of the young. After the Revolution, his house was much frequented by his old companions in arms who always found a hearty welcome and hospitable entertainment, and many hours were spent talking over the events of the war. He was a man of much popularity, for his kind-heartedness made him beloved by the whole community. No person's feelings were more easily moved in behalf of the poor and distressed, whose sufferings he was ever ready to relieve. If the corn crop hap- pened to be cut off, the poor for miles around knew who had a goodly store left over from which their wants would be freely supplied. He often pleaded the cause of the poor in court, without fee or reward, and sometimes volunteered his services in defense of the unfortunate. In such cases, he was listened to with marked attention, and seldom failed of success. The town manifested its confidence by choosing him the first member of the Committee of Correspondence. He hastened away - a volunteer delegate - to the Convention at Exeter immediately after the battle of Lex- ington, and rendered various services to the Committee of Safety during the war. When an independent State Government was established in 1776, such reliance was reposed in his patriotism and integrity, that he was re-appointed to the Judgeship. He retained this office until his voluntary resignation in 1795, at which time he was Chief Justice. He was a member of the Constitu- tional Convention in 1778. As a farmer he was successful, and was a stock-raiser upon a large scale. His affairs were managed with economy and skill, and he acquired large tracts of land which
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were inherited by his children. He died Nov. 19, 1815. at the advanced age of ninety-six years.
Of Judge Plummer's ancestry little is known. His parents resided at Dover Neck, from which place he came with several brothers and settled in Rochester. Descendants of these families are now quite numerous in this and neighboring towns. Judge Plummer's natural endowments, benevolent disposition, and patri- otism, rather than his moral character, gave him position. He whose duty it is to enforce the laws, ought to set the example of obedience. But Judge Plummer was no Puritan. The town treasury received frequent accessions by his numerous fines for breaking the Sabbath. Even to-day, tradition recounts his noto- rious amours, the memory of which is preserved as faithfully as that of his revolutionary services.
Judge Plummer's first wife was Elizabeth, sister of Col. Titcomb. of Dover, a distinguished and gallant officer in the Revolution. After her death he married Lydia Dennett of Portsmouth. The following amusing account of his courtship is from "Brewster's. Rambles about Portsmouth ": -
"Like a good housewife in those days, when no factories were in operation, the widow Dennett kept her flock of sheep, and attended to the various pro- cesses of converting their product into cloth, and her fame extended beyond the limits of the town. Near the house is a good spring which still flows as of old. It was a time of wool-washing. Laying aside her widow's weeds, dressed in a leather apron, a man's broad-brim hat and other apparel to match, she was washing her wool at the spring, when a stranger on horseback approached and inquired for the residence of widow Dennett. Nothing daunted she pointed to the house, directing him to the front door, while she stepped round and entered the back way. He was not long in waiting before the lady of the house in comely apparel appeared. The gentleman introduced himself as John Plummer of Rochester. He had heard of her good reputation, said perhaps it was too soon to come a courting, but would ask the privilege in proper time of pro- posing himself to her favorable consideration. In due time Judge Plummer came again, and they were married. They lived happily together many years, and their gravestones in Rochester record the ages of each at about ninety years. Whether he ever inquired who it was he found washing wool at the spring, we have never been informed."
LT. COL. JOHN McDUFFEE.
The parents of Col. John McDffuee were among those Scotch families that had been settled in the north of Ireland in the reign of James I, and who emigrated to America to obtain freedom from Popish laws, and from the rents and tithes with which they were burdened. This son was born in 1724, soon after their arrival
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in this country, and the family were among the early settlers of Rochester.
Col. McDuffee entered upon military life in the French and Indian wars. In the Earl of Loudon's Expedition against Crown Point, he was commissioned a lieutenant in March, 1757, by Gov. Benning Wentworth. In January following he received a similar commission in William Stark's company of Rangers, and was au- thorized to fill up the company in any part of the Colonies. The soldiers of New Hampshire were so expert in Indian warfare, and so inured to fatigue and danger, that valuable services were ex- pected of these rangers. They were raised by express desire of Lord Loudon, to be employed in winter as well as summer, and proved so useful in skirmishing and procuring intelligence that they were kept in service till the close of the war. They sailed in the expedition to Louisburg and were engaged in the siege of that city until its surrender. Lieut. McDuffee with his rangers was employed in scouring the island, making prisoners of the French, men, women, and children, in accordance with an order from Gen. Whitmore detaching him for this special service. In the battle which resulted in the surrender of Quebec he com- manded a considerable detachment under Gen. Wolfe. He spent the following winter in that city, where he became enamored of a young French lady of aristocratic family, and was very devoted in his attentions. His addresses were not encouraged by the parents, however, and the family secretly removed from the city in order to interrupt the acquaintance. This disappointment was the reason of his remaining unmarried through life. So says tradition. After the conquest of Canada he returned home, and in 1762 was chosen Representative to the Provincial Assembly, being the first person chosen to this office in Rochester. He was frequently employed by the government in making surveys of public works. In 1768, in accordance with an act passed by the Assembly, he was engaged in laying out a highway from Durham Falls to Coos. In 1786, on petition of John Stark, the Legislature appointed a committee, of which Col. McDuffee was one, to run out the lines of Mason's Patent. Upon the basis of this survey a settlement was made with the Masonian Proprietors, finally dis- posing of a question which had been a source of trouble, vexation, and expense from the first settlement of New Hampshire. On
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the approach of the Revolution he took an active part in behalf of the Colonies, and throughout the war was a zealous and enthu- siastic friend of independence. In 1774 he was appointed one of the town Committee of Correspondence, and was delegate to the first Provincial Congress at Exeter, May, 1775. War had by this time become unavoidable, and this Congress was principally occu- pied in devising measures, raising men, and collecting munitions, for the defense of the Colony. He gave to this object not only the influence of his voice, but the force of his example, for on May twentieth, only three days from the opening of the Congress his name was enrolled as Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Regi- ment commanded by Col. Enoch Poor. As he was at that time one of the Selectmen, a town meeting was called to fill his place. His regiment was not fully organized at the time of the battle at Bunker Hill, but hearing the cannonading in the morning of that day, he mounted his horse and left his home in Rochester arriving at the field of battle the same evening. He remained at Camp Winter Hill and Cambridge during the siege of Boston, then went with the troops to New York, and thence up the Hudson to Mount Independence, where many New Hampshire troops were stationed, and where he filled the office of Brigade Commissary or Pay- master. As his name occurs frequently in the town records during the latter part of the war, it appears that he left the army about the close of the year 1779. He was a representative to the State Legislature in 1782. He was two years a member of the State Senate under the new Constitution, occupying the position of " Senior" Senator by which title the chairman of that body was then called. He was also for four years a Senator under the revised Constitution. His life was mostly spent in public service. He retained his faculties remarkably until a few months before his death, which occurred Oct. 15, 1817, at the age of ninety-three.
Col. McDuffee was a man of noble form and commanding ap- pearance, six feet two inches in height, of large frame, yet not corpulent. With a high sense of honor, he was firm and inde- pendent in the maintenance of his opinions. When the first pen- sion act was passed, he was advised to apply for a pension, but he spurned the suggestion with indignation, saying that it was sufficient reward to him to see the object accomplished for which he had fought. Impetuous in his feelings, he had no patience with
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any kind of oppression or injustice. His passions were especially violent against the enemies of his country; and in the last years of his life he might frequently have been heard muttering impre- cations against tories and redcoats, for, from being many years a soldier associating with rough companions, he had acquired so fixed a habit of profanity that he seemed to be utterly unconscious of the vice. The "New Hampshire Gazetteer " says, " He was a man of strong mind and memory, of extensive information, and a sincere friend of his country."
DEACON JAMES KNOWLES.
James Knowles was born in Hampton in 1720, and came to Rochester in 1749. Little can be said of his life, further than to mention the positions he filled. Frequently moderator of town meetings, member of nearly every important committee in town during his active life, Representative to the Old Provincial As- sembly, when that body was convened for the last time by the British Governor, delegate to most of the conventions which fostered the spirit of revolution, Representative for six years to the new Assembly under the independent State Government, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1778, and also of the Convention of 1781, muster-master in the revolution, a magis- trate of the town, Selectman for several years; - such were some of the offices he was called to fill. As servant of the peo- ple, he spent a large part of his long life in unambitious yet useful public labor. In the church, taking the office of Deacon upon the death of Stephen Berry who had honorably filled that position from the organization of the church till his death in 1762, he zealously and with religious fidelity discharged its duties for a space of forty years, until his own death at the beginning of the present century. To his patriotism were added the virtues of a calm and peaceful Christian character. He was one of the pillars of the church, and at the same time was always earnest in every cause which concerned the welfare of his country. As large a share of public responsibilities fell to his lot as to that of any one during this period. He died in 1802, aged eighty-two. Few are the names that come down to us, around which cluster so many pleasant and honored associations. In a sermon upon his death, Mr. Haven says : -
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" As a friend he was to be trusted ; as a neighbor, benevolent and respected ; as a magistrate or citizen he was for order and government; and his general deportment was that of a sincere Christian, - not ostentatious in his worship, but steady and firm in his religion. As an officer of the church, he dignified his office. The church has cause to lament his death, though he died in ven- erable old age. He lived beloved and died lamented, and we trust his memory like that of the just, will be sweet."
DR. JAMES HOWE.
Among the patriots of the Revolution the name of James Howe should not be omitted. His pedigree runs back to James Howe who was a freeman at Ipswich, Mass., in 1637. One of his sons removed to Andover, and afterwards to Methuen, where his son Deacon James Howe was born in 1695, and died Dec. 22, 1771. His son James was Deacon with him in the same church. This Dea. James Jr. was born Nov. 7, 1723, and died 1805 or 1806. He was married to Jemima Farnham Feb. 6, 1752, and had six sons, as follows : - Jonathan, James, David, Jacob, Isaac, and Farnham; all of whom served their country in the Revolution, from Bunker Hill to the close of the war.
James Howe was born at Methuen, Mass., March 23, 1755, and died in Rochester Oct. 13, 1807. He married about 1784, Lucy Fisher of Needham, Mass., a sister of Mrs. Haven. She died in Boston, Mass., June, 1836. They had eight children, as follows : - 1. Lucy born Sept. 7, 1785, married first Ephraim Dennett of Ports- mouth who died in 1831. She afterwards married Josiah Vinton, Esq., of Boston, - no children. 2. James born May 11, 1787, and died in Boston May 12, 1832. He was a man of much en- ergy and usefulness. He conducted a large business at Haverhill, Mass., and afterwards in Boston, in the wholesale dry goods trade with his brother Hall Jackson Howe. He had three sons and one daughter, who are highly respected residents of Brooklyn, N. Y. 3. George is a farmer in Needham, Mass., and has four chil- dren. 4. Hall J. born Feb. 12, 1791, first settled as a dry goods merchant in Portsmouth, where he married Eliza P. Waldron. He removed to Boston, where he died August, 1849, leaving a large and highly respectable family. 5 & 6. Willard and Mary died in infancy. 7. Calvin Whiting born July 13, 1796, retired from business in 1857, and resides in New York city. He married Dec. 1, 1825, Charlotte Atwell. They have three daughters and one son, who served as surgeon in the Army of the Potomac.
9
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8. Fisher born Sept. 3, 1798, was in business at Haverhill, Mass., from 1809 till 1820, when he went into company with his brother in Boston for sixteen years. Subsequently he resided in Brook- lyn, N. Y. He married first June 16, 1825, Matilda Saltonstall, who died in Brooklyn May 21, 1831, leaving one daughter. He was again married Oct. 1, 1832, to Elizabeth Leavitt, who had three sons and two daughters. In 1849 he visited Europe and the East. He wrote occasional sketches of travel which were gathered into a volume and published.
Dr. James Howe studied medicine with Dr. Bodwell of Methuen, Mass., and came to Rochester about 1776. His name appears on the Test Association. He became Surgeon's Mate in Col. Pierce Long's Regiment, and was one of the sufferers in the Canada expedition of 1777. IIe was esteemed as a man and a physician on account of his great natural talent, and his benevolent dispo- sition. His largeness of heart endeared him to the people far and near. It is related that being called, at one time, to the bedside of a poor woman, he found the family so destitute of clothing that he repaired to the barn, took off his shirt which he left for their use, returning home shirtless to tell the tale of wretchedness he had been called to meet. He was emphatically a man of good deeds. For many years they formed his only creed. It was his ambition that his good deeds should overbalance his evil ones. Hence it became a favorite maxim with him to make the rich pay for doctoring the poor. In his later years, he kept no accounts, paid nothing, and charged nothing; but when he needed anything for his family use, he applied to his rich neighbors. The sound of a farmer's dinner-horn was sufficient invitation for him to walk in and take a seat at the table, where he was always welcomed. Though a man of great eccentricities, and perhaps great failings, yet " even his failings leaned to virtue's side." His intemperance scarcely needed an apology in those days when abstinence was by all regarded a meanness and not a virtue, and his improvi- dence was but too large a generosity. The duties of the medical profession did not allow much time for other pursuits, yet the town elected him delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1791, and sent him for three years to the Legislature. By the toils and exposures of his profession, a constitution naturally strong was early impaired, so that he did not live to great age. Near
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the close of his life, renouncing his dependence upon good deeds, he sought a more enduring peace by reliance upon the merits of a Saviour, and died in the triumphs of Christian faith.
Pre-eminent among the honorable names of this period is that of the Rev. Joseph Haven, a full sketch of whom is given in the chapter on Church history. There are doubtless other names worthy of special mention. In fact almost every man, save the few tories of infamous record, was a patriot and a hero in those days "that tried men's souls." But the personal history of only a very few can now be obtained. With this short but brilliant list we must close the record.
CHAPTER VIII. EARLY SETTLERS: - THEIR HARDSHIPS AND MODE OF LIFE .*
" The ambushed Indian, and the prowling bear: - Such were the needs that helped his youth to train ; - Rough culture : - but such trees large fruit may bear, If but their stocks be of right girth and grain."
OUR ancestors were a hardy race whose sufferings as pioneers in the wilderness it is difficult for us to realize. At present, emi- gration proceeds with more system, and when the gold-seeker drops his pack at some rich lead, the comforts and even luxuries of life are not long in overtaking him. Flourishing cities exist to-day where only a few months ago not even the emigrant's shanty was to be seen. Not so in the early days of New England. When Timothy Roberts moved his family into Rochester in mid- winter, the prospect must have been cheerless. Not for mines of gold and silver did he come, but for a home, -a farm which by hard and diligent labor might afford sustenance to himself and family. Others followed seeking the same object. The settlement progressed but slowly for many years. How great the privileges they had to renounce! Dearest to them was the preaching of the Gospel, and though their charter promised them this blessing, yet more than eight years elapsed before a minister could be sus- tained, and the numerous petitions to the Assembly praying for assistance show how difficult was the task even then. For more than twenty years there was no school. Four years after the establishment of the church, there was no grist-mill in the town, although, as the inhabitants themselves state, Indian corn was their chief support. For several years their crops were cut off by frost and drouth. The people were poor and distressed but not discouraged. Then what labor was required in subduing the
* This chapter is taken mainly from an address by the author, delivered before the Roch- ester Social Library Company, in the Congregational Church, Thursday evening, April 4, 1867. [Editor.]
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forest, -in breaking up the land, -in making roads ! What exposure in dwelling in cabins,-in the toils of logging and hunting! What deprivations of social enjoyments! What a life of self-denial and toil! Scarcely had the war with the wilderness begun to turn in their favor, when war with the Indians burst forth calling them to new dangers and exposures. Their mills built, their farms subdued, their orchards grown, their houses provided, and the church established, they lived for many years in constant alarm lest not these only but their own lives also should suddenly be destroyed. Yet at such a time, by their courage and discipline, they became a terror to their foes. These trials developed strong traits of mind, inflexible habits, and iron frames. The men were distinguished for hardihood, boldness, industry,
and economy. As their circumstances tested all the energies of their character, so their character was schooled and molded to combat with circumstances. Their children brought up with coarse food, coarse clothing, and hard lodging, -trained to the use of arms and accustomed to danger, were preparing for the contest of life, -to become themselves pioneers at still more remote distances in the country. Notwithstanding their hardships many of these first settlers lived to a great age. Of those who died between 1776 and 1792, one was over a hundred years old, two between ninety and one hundred, fourteen between eighty and ninety, twenty between seventy and eighty, and four between sixty and seventy. Of those living here in 1792 one was between ninety and one hundred, nine between eighty and ninety, and five between seventy and eighty.
The houses or rude cabins of the settlers were usually con- structed of poles or logs so placed that by means of notches in the ends, the whole was firmly bound together. Then crevices or chinks were filled and plastered over with clay or stiff earth, mixed with moss or straw. The roof was made of bark or split boards. Something resembling a chimney or fire-place was built of stones, within which the fire was made upon the ground. A hole in the roof allowed escape for the superfluous smoke. In warm weather the smoke was desirable rather than otherwise to drive away the mosquitoes and other insects with which the woods abounded. Ovens formed of choice stones well plastered with clay or earth were built a short distance from the houses. Of course,
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after saw-mills were erected and better materials could be procured, these temporary cabins gave place to more substantial houses.
As families began to settle in remote parts of the town the necessity of making new roads was one of the heaviest burdens. As their dwellings were widely separated, the roads were long and the labor of keeping them in passable condition, great. Still they complained not, as long as the roads were for their own people. But when new settlements were formed in the back towns, especially in New Durham, Watertown (Wolfeborough), and East- town (Wakefield), the burden could no longer be silently borne. Great efforts were made to keep these roads clear through Roch- ester, then including Farmington and Milton, but in vain. At one time the town instructed the surveyors to warn men "to lay out two nights and work three days" to clear the road to New Durham. After performing more than five hundred days' work on this road, the town did not escape indictment. They petitioned the General Assembly, however, that a tax might be laid on the proprietors' lands to pay these expenses, representing that there were no inhabitants for seven or eight miles on this road, " neither were they in a capacity to take packs and travel sixteen or eighteen miles into the country to do so much labor as was needful, while their families suffered at home." In spite of the opposition of the non-resident proprietors, the prayer was granted, the lands taxed, and the inhabitants largely relieved. These days were dark
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