USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Rochester > History of the town of Rochester, New Hampshire, from 1722 to 1890, Vol. I > Part 3
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happy seenes of his boyhood instantly rushed upon his mind; his arm fell by his side ; he walked back to the fort overpowered by the long-forgotten associations so unexpectedly and so vividly revived within him, and took no further part in that horrible tragedy. From that time he thought often of his boyhood home, but his wife and children bound him to the Indians with ties too strong to be severed. The village of the St. Francis tribe contained a mixed population of French and Indians. On the evening of October 3, 1759, a wedding was celebrated in the village, at which a French priest officiated. The principal warriors of the tribes were absent on a hunting expedition. During the wedding ceremonies persons were heard around the wigwam supposed to be Indians who had not been invited to the wedding. The result proved that they were spies of that noted New Hampshire ranger, Major Robert Rogers, who was seeking an opportunity to revenge the massacre at Fort William Henry, and discovered that evening that many of the war- riors were absent from home. The dance went on, and the festivi- ties did not end till long after midnight. Dore had some corn to husk a short distance from the village, and as it would soon be day- light, instead of retiring to rest he thought he would go into the field and husk his corn. Just before dawn he heard the sound of guns. He supposed some of the Indians, who like himself had chosen not to go to sleep after the wedding frolic, were shooting ducks. But soon, hearing a general discharge of muskets, he knew that an enemy was among them, and kept himself concealed. From his hiding-place he saw the women and children rushing into the water for escape, being there shot or otherwise killed. It was a horrid scene, equal to any Indian butchery. An hour or two later he saw the smoke and flames of their burning village, and after all seemed quiet he crept cautiously forth. A sad picture met his gaze. Of the beautiful village of the St. Francis tribe nothing but smoking ruins remained. Their richly ornamented church and all their dwellings had shared one common fate. The dead bodies of their old men and women and children were strewn in all directions. Such was the summary vengeance visited upon the St. Francis tribe by Major Rogers and his company of Rangers, for the massacre at Fort William Henry. After long search among the ruins, Dore dis- covered the bodies of his wife and children, and hastily deposited them in one grave. No living being met his eye. He knew not
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where the remainder of his tribe had fled. The objects of his affec- tion were buried. The ties which bound him to the Indians were all sundered, and his thoughts turned toward the home of his childhood. He soon returned to Rochester, and settled on a farm in Lebanon, Me., where he spent the remainder of his days. He married again, but having no children adopted a boy named John Dixon, who became heir to his farm which he occupied for some years. As might be expected, Dore was as killful marksman, being expert as an Indian in the use of the bow. He usually spent his winters in hunting, taking John Dixon with him. Upon his last excursion, being near the fork of the Kennebec, they met an Indian with whom Dore had a violent altercation, during which they pointed their guns at each other. Finally the Indian stepping backwards, disappeared without turning his face from Dore. Dixon witnessed this but did not understand its meaning, till Dore told him that the Indians were determined to kill him, that he should immediately start for home, and that he, Dixon, must make his way back as best he could. They then separated, and Dore arrived home in ten days, while his companion was two weeks in reaching the first white settlement in Ossipee. The Indian whom they met was a relative of Dore's first wife, and it is believed that the Indians accused Dore of betraying them to the whites on account of his sudden disappearance when their village was destroyed. On the subject of the loss of his Indian family Dore was reserved, and would enter into no conversation about it. He was often heard singing the song he was singing when the Indians took him on the fence. After his return he was always known as "Indian Dore." He died in Lebanon about 1816 .*
The excitement produced by the atrocity of the twenty-seventh of June cannot easily be imagined. The suddenness of the attack, - its locality the most thickly settled part of the town, -the exciting nature of the struggle, -the death of so many of their friends and neighbors, -the capture of the wounded Richards and the youthful Dore, -and the escape of the enemy before pursuit could be made, - all must have roused the feelings of the people to an intense degree. It is apparent from the haste with which they adopted measures for
* Two somewhat different accounts are given by the author. They are here combined and rec- onciled as nearly as possible. The authorities cited are Judge Noah Tebbets, who "forty years ago interested himself in the remarkable history of this man," and T. M. Wentworth, Esq., of Lebanon, Me., " who was brought up near the place where 'Indian Dore' lived." Mr. W. gives the name of Dore's adopted boy as Jonathan Rankins. The other name has been given above because it is the one used by the author in the later sketch. [Editor.]
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future security, that great anxiety prevailed. No sooner were the remains of the murdered men buried, than a petition was dispatched to the Governor and Assembly at Portsmouth, representing the dan- gerous situation of the inhabitants, and begging for a guard of sol- diers to protect them. This petition -
" Humbly sheweth that the inhabitants are few in number, -in indigent circum- stances, - living in a wilderness, - and are continually liable to the assaults of the barbarous Indian enemy, who have killed within the past week four men, and taken prisoners one man and a boy; - they have killed and wounded a considerable number of our cattle ; - they are continually lurking about our houses and fields, and are seen by some of us almost every day ; - we cannot go out or come in without being liable to fall by them, - and our families are suffering because we are not able to go to our labor. *
* Therefore, we pray your Excellency and your Hon- ors to take our deplorable circumstances under your wise consideration, and extend to us your paternal care and affection by allowing us a suitable number of soldiers to guard us in our garrisons and about our necessary employments."
The excitement had not subsided when another event occurred, which carried it to a still greater height, and added another life lost to the list of their calamities. Traces of Indians had been discov- ered in the sand near the Heath brook at Norway Plain, and, in expec- tation that a party were on the way to attack the settlement, a company of men concealed themselves at night beside the road, a short distance below Norway Plain brook, at the foot of Haven's Hill, intending to ambush the Indians when they came along. Upon the approach of the enemy, however, one of these sentinels, Moses Roberts, became alarmed, and began to creep through the bushes toward his neighbor, who seeing the bushes wave, fired upon him, supposing him to be an Indian. Roberts died the next morn- ing, blaming only himself and justifying the man who shot him.
To support the petition of the inhabitants the Rev. Amos Main was sent to Portsmouth. His mission proved successful, for besides the assurance of soldiers to protect them, he brought back a very sub- stantial token of the "paternal care and affection" of the authorities in the form of a huge cannon, -one of the iron guns of Queen Anne's time,-for the safe return of which, when demanded, he gave his receipt in a large sum.
Throughout the summer and autumn and a part of the winter, scouting parties of soldiers were stationed in the town, who went their daily rounds upon the most traveled roads near the garrisons, and from one garrison to another, occasionally making longer marches when special reasons required. These parties or squads
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usually consisted of from twelve to twenty men, who were relieved every few weeks by fresh soldiers. When long marches across the country were to be made, the number was much larger. Upon report that a party of thirty Indians had killed a man at Pennacook (Concord), and were approaching Rochester, Gov. Wentworth ordered Major Davis with a detachment of forty men to march to Rochester, to scout about the town. Similar cases frequently occurred. It was doubtless owing to such precautions and the con- tinual presence of soldiers that there was no further loss of life this year.
In the spring of 1747 the inhabitants again found it necessary to petition for a guard, and as a strong argument why this favor ought to be extended to them, they set forth that no less than twenty of their brethren were enlisted in His Majesty's service for the Canada expedition. Driven by distress and fear of the enemy, several fami- lies had already removed from the town. The petitioners confessed themselves unable to defend the settlement. Their only dependence for succor and relief was upon the provincial authorities, and while they acknowledged with hearty thanks the protection granted dur- ing the past year, yet unless the same could be continued, they said they must unavoidably move away and leave all their improvements to destruction by the Indians. Major Davis, with thirty men, was sent for their protection. Uncommon danger must have threatened the settlement at this time, for at a public town-meeting in the fol- lowing October, the town voted their grateful acknowledgment to the Governor and Council for sending Major Thomas Davis with thirty soldiers, who by his prudent, diligent, and careful management, under Divine Providence, had been instrumental of defeating the enemy in their attempts against them, and so of preserving their lives. It is probable there had been an engagement, for on May 23, 1747, Samuel Drown, a soldier, had been wounded in the hip. The ball was never extracted, and he was for a long time taken care of at the expense of the Province. He died in 1795, aged 90 years.
Every one who has traveled the Neck road remembers the spring by the roadside, about half a mile below Gonic, between the Rich- mond Henderson house and Dudley Hayes's. On the seventh of June, 1747, three boys, John and George Place, and Paul Jenness, discovered a company of Indians lying in ambush near this spring. The Indians fired upon them, and John Place returned the fire,
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wounding one of their number. Jenness presented his gun in a threatening manner without firing, and by keeping it aimed at the Indians prevented them from rushing upon them until a party of men at work in the field near by came to their relief, and the Indians were put to flight. The wounded Indian was traced by the stains of blood for a long distance.
A few rods from the road leading from Rochester Village to Gonic, and not far from the latter place, in a quiet spot half encircled by trees which line the high river bank, several rough, unlettered stones, indistinctly visible to the passing traveler, mark the resting- place of some of the early inhabitants. One of these graves is that of Jonathan Hodgdon's wife, who was killed by the Indians, May 1, 1748. The locality of her death is just beyond the " Great Brook," on the right hand side of the road, nearly opposite the place of her burial. She had gone out on a still Sabbath morning to find and milk her cows. A considerable party of Indians lying concealed upon Ham's hill, which commanded a view of Squamanagonic gar- rison, had been for several days watching all the movements of the settlers. Tradition says it was their plan to watch the fort until they saw the men depart with their guns to the church, and then surprise and capture the women and children left behind, and finally waylay the men as they should return, -a favorite stratagem of these tribes. But when they saw Hodgdon and his wife leaving the fort together, they determined to capture them. Mrs. Hodgdon was seized and the Indians endeavored to keep her quiet and carry her away as a prisoner, but as she persisted in screaming they killed her on the spot. Her husband, who was a short distance away, hearing her cries hastened to her rescue, intending, if she were taken by the In- dians, to surrender himself also. He arrived at the instant of her death, while the savages were in the act of scalping her. Presenting his gun it missed fire, but he made his escape to the garrison .* The news spread rapidly. The old iron cannon upon the hill charged, it is said, with nine pounds of powder, thundered its note of alarm,- heard even at Portsmouth. Hundreds of people gathered from near and far. At two o'clock in the afternoon a company of light horse arrived from Portsmouth, and the country was scoured as far as Lake Winnipiseogee, but without success. It was believed that
* Jonathan Hodgdon married again and had in all twenty-one children. He died in 1815, aged 90.
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the Indians concealed themselves upon islands in the river near our village.
Governor Wentworth had already ordered several well-known In- dian fighters to raise men and to be constantly ready to protect the settlers. Under date of March 26, Capt. Job Clements of Dover had been directed -
" to impress or inlist into His Majesty's service thirty-five effective men - and scout with them, in the neighborhood of Rochester, which 'scouting you are to repeat as often as you shall judge it for the safety and protection of the inhabitants."
The pay of the men was £2 15s. per month. The seven first named on the roll came to Rochester, May 4, and were doubtless en- gaged in the search above related. The following are the names on the-
" Muster-Roll of a company of pressed men, under command of Capt. Job Clements, at Rochester and Barrington, in 1748" :-
John Hodgdon, Sergeant. James Wilkson.
Ebenezer Jones.
John Howe. Edward Man.
William Hill.
Samuel Toby.
Joseph Rawlings.
Edward Burroughs.
Nicholas Weeks.
James Perkins. James Nute.
Edward Man.
John Huntress.
Moses Pinkham.
Joseph Downing.
Joseph Downing.
Abraham Plaice.
Peter, negro belonging to Greenleaf.
Aaron Bickford.
Benjamin Ricker.
John Huntress.
Daniel Conney.
Samuel Weymouth.
Daniel Allen.
Ebenezer Nock.
Jacob Allen.
William Johnson.
James Hall.
Ichabod Bickford.
John Leavitt.
Bryant Davis.
John McCoy.
Elias Tarlton.
Ephraim Ricker.
John Lewis.
Thomas Wentworth.
Joseph Downs.
Thomas Hamack.
Jonathan Ricker.
Moses Ricker.
James Perkins.
Samuel Ham.
Daniel Bunker.
James Clements.
The repetition of names doubtless indicates a re-enlistment after one month's service.
The attack of May 1st was the last attempt of the Indians in Rochester. Such vigor of pursuit perhaps deterred them from sub- sequent attacks. Peace took place the following year, - a peace of short duration, for in 1754 the sword was resumed. In these later wars, however, the Indians were not so cruel and barbarous as before. Prisoners were so valuable for redemption that they secured as many as possible alive, and kindly cared for them, sharing their food with them in times of scarcity. The settlers also, through ex- posure and experience, had become better warriors, and understood better how to cope with their savage and wily foes. Heretofore the
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English had carried on the war in a desultory and feeble manner, which encouraged their enemies to undertake these marauding and murderous expeditions. From this time the English displayed more vigor, and, fitting out formidable expeditions against Canada, largely relieved the eastern settlements from the calamities of the war. The British officers, however, sent press-gangs into the towns to in- press men into their service. The people of Rochester petitioned to be exempted from the press, but it does not appear that the request was granted. When the press-gang visited the town, Jabez Dame concealed himself until the danger was past; but having informed the girl he was courting of his intentions, he volunteered the next morning.
The following are the names of some of the Rochester men engaged in His Majesty's service at this time : -
Lieut. John McDuffee. Jabez Dame.
Daniel Alley.
Ensign Wm. Allen.
Ichabod Corson. Gershom Downs.
John Copp, Jr.
William Berry. Eleazar Rand.
The war was virtually closed in 1759 by the surrender of Quebec. The following year all the remaining French possessions in Western Canada were surrendered to the English, and the eastern settlements found a permanent peace from the ravages of the Indians.
CHAPTER III.
INCORPORATION AND CHARTER.
The New Hampshire Register gives but nine places incorporated before Rochester. An idea of the population and progress of the Province at this time may be formed from the following statement, dated ten years later.
Whole number of ratable inhabitants in N. H. 2,946
66 two-story dwelling-houses 1,316
€ 6 one-story dwelling-houses 606
acres of improved land 16,434
or less than one third of the present area of this town. This does not include several townships then recently granted, some of which had not been settled.
A few years prior to 1722 about one hundred families of Scotch Presbyterians with their four ministers, having " conceived an ardent and inextinguishable thirst for civil and religious liberty," arrived in Boston from the north of Ireland, where they had settled in the reign of James I. By permission of the colony of Massachusetts many of these families settled above Haverhill upon a tract of land which they called Nutfield. The town was incorporated in the same year with Rochester, and was named Londonderry, from the city in Ireland in which many of these settlers had resided, and where some of them had endured the hardships of a memorable siege. These people first introduced here the art of manufacturing linen, and the culture of the potato. Their spinning-wheels turned by foot were a great curiosity in the country. They were an industrious, thrifty people, and among their descendants have been civil and military officers of the highest rank, and men eminent for learning and every desirable accomplishment. Being among the early settlers of many places in New Hampshire and Vermont, an account of these people often finds a conspicuous place in town histories. It is known that some of them settled in Rochester, and among the family names
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now familiar to us, are those which appear in the carly records of Londonderry.
The settlement of these immigrants in Londonderry first gave a stimulus to the inhabitants of the older towns to prepare new plan- tations. They regarded the new-comers with jealous eyes. Had not they themselves fought the king's wars? Had they not endured the hardships and privations incident to the wilderness? And were they not therefore entitled to the choicest and most fertile lands in preference to strangers? Should they be restrained within the limits of the old towns? Thus reasoning they soon began to petition for new townships and grants of land. Special reasons founded upon conflicting claims to the lands, kept these petitions for a long time in suspense, but at length they were favorably regarded, and in May, 1722, Barrington, 'Chester, Nottingham, and Rochester were incor- porated. The signing of the charters of these four towns was the last act of government performed by Col. Samuel Shute, his Maj- esty's governor of the colonies of Massachusetts and New Hamp- shire. Having once learned to evade all difficulties as to title, by inserting the saving clause, " as far as in us lies," other grants through- out the Province rapidly followed. The towns mentioned appear to have been named from distinguished British statesmen of that day. Viscount Barrington was brother to Gov. Shute. The Earl of Rochester was brother-in-law to James II., and was one of the most eminent men of his time. Macaulay says: -
" A statesman, who subsequently rose to the highest eminence to which a British subject can reach, soon began to attract a large share of the public attention.
Lawrence Hyde [Earl of Rochester] was the second son of the Chancellor Clar- endon, and was brother of the first Duchess of York. He had excellent parts which had been improved by parliamentary and diplomatic experience; but the infirmities of his temper detracted much from the effective strength of his abilities. Negotiator and courtier as he was, he never learned the art of governing or con- cealing his emotions. When prosperous, he was insolent and boastful; when he sustained a check, his undisguised mortification doubled the triumph of his ene- mies; very slight provocations sufficed to kindle his anger; and when he was angry he said bitter things which he forgot as soon as he was pacified, but which others remembered many years. His quickness and penetration would have made him a consummate man of business but for his self-sufficiency and impatience. His writ- ings prove that he had many of the qualities of an orator, but his irritability pre- vented him from doing himself justice in debate, for nothing was easier than to goad him into a passion; and from the moment when he went into a passion he was at the mercy of opponents far inferior to him in capacity. Unlike most of the leading politicians of that generation, he was a consistent, dogged, and rancorous party man, a cavalier of the old school, a zealous champion of the crown and of the church, and a hater of republicans and non-conformists. He had consequently a great body of personal adherents. The clergy especially looked on him as their
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own man, and extended to his foibles an indulgence of which, to say the truth, he stood in some need, for he drank deep; and when he was in a rage, and he very often was in a rage, he swore like a porter."
Those who are acquainted with the style of this historian, know well with what exaggerated outline his characters are frequently drawn, rendering them in some instances mere caricatures, and will be able to make a proper allowance.
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Rochester became exceedingly popular in England. During sev- eral reigns the whole kingdom had been violently agitated by ques- tions of religion, Protestants and Catholics striving for the ascend- ency with an alternation of success. James upon his accession endeavored to establish the supremacy of Popery. Protestants could not be retained in the principal offices of government. Rochester had for years held the exalted position of lord treasurer; he clung tenaciously to the office; he pleaded for delay; he listened to set arguments from the most learned of the papist clergy, who labored for his conversion; yet when neither evasion nor his relationship to the king could longer save him from a direct choice between his treasurership and his religion, he deliberately sacrificed his high office.
" The Old and New Testaments, the martyrologies of Eusebius and Fox were ransacked to find parallels for his heroic piety. He was Daniel in the lion's den, Shadrach in the fiery furnace, Peter in the dungeon of Herod, Paul at the bar of Nero, Ignatius in the amphitheater, Latimer at the stake."
Such was the admiration excited by his constancy. Doubtless the rigid Protestants of New Hampshire deemed it an honor to have the new town named after so distinguished a leader.
To be among the grantees of the new plantations was a privilege eagerly sought. The prospect of receiving, gratuitously, an ample tract of land, either a whole share of five hundred acres, or even a fractional part of a right, was certainly alluring to those who had been so long confined to the limits of the old towns. That all who signed the petition, however, did not become grantees, is certain. It is not so well known what qualifications were required for propri- etorship, or for what reason some were selected to receive whole shares, while others had to be content with a half, a third, or a quar- ter. Upon examination of the schedule, however, it can hardly escape the notice of any one, that while the whole share proprietors include the Governor, Lieut. Governor, members of the council, and others whose consequence is indicated by such titles as Col.,
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Lieut .- Col., Capt., Lieut., and Ensign, the smaller proprietors have no such prefix to their names. Evidently the poorer citizens, those who most needed the lands, were not the ones to receive them.
Most of the inhabitants of Dover, with persons from Portsmouth, Newington, and Oyster River (Durham), joined in the petition for the new township of Rochester. The following is from the Journal of the Council and Assembly : -
" PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
"At a General Assembly held at Portsmouth by adjournment May 3, 1722. The petition of sundry persons mostly of The Town of Dover, praying for a Tract of Land above The said Town, &c was Read at the board and ordered To be deliv- ered To Col. Waldron and Capt. Wentworth, That They might Collect out of the said petitioners such persons as They Thought proper to be proprietors and present The same To The board for approbation."
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