USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > Meredith > Old Meredith and vicinity > Part 8
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The Daniel Smith house, now owned by Mrs. Bond, stands on the west half of the lot just north of that on which Ebenezer Smith built his own house. He bought this lot in 1773 for £90 of John Neal, the first to settle there. Ebenezer's son Daniel lived in this house for a few years after his marriage. Here his son,
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Noah Smith, was born, and here when a little boy he helped plant the poplar trees on the south of the house. There were two, and he held one firmly while the earth was tamped around the root, and his little sister held the other. One of these trees is still living, although there are dead branches at the top. The other trees in the row sprang from the first pair.
Later Daniel Smith moved to Gilmanton, and the house passed to his brother John, who had lived for a time in Gilford. It is from the Smith papers,-deeds, receipts, and memoranda left in this house-that many facts have been taken for this history of old Meredith.
Col. Noah Smith's life, beginning and ending in the old town of Meredith, reads like a romance. After trying his fortune in New York and making friends there, he went to Mexico with a few horses and Troy coaches, and built up a stage route
DANIEL SMITH HOUSE
there. Here too he found his wife, whose father, Mr. Lauriat of Boston, wishing in the early 40's to exhibit a gas balloon in Mexico, first asked advice of Mr. Smith, who told him it would not be safe to do so.
At the height of his prosperity the Mexican War ruined his business and en- dangered his life. He escaped from the city in disguise, but returned later, guiding General Scott into the city by back roads known to few. After the war he returned to Gilmanton with his motherless daughter, his wife and son having died before reaching the North.
With him came too his old war horse, blinded in battle, that had borne him in safety from Mexico. Later he gave this horse to the late Richard Gove, and he was kept in a stable near Main Street. When the band was playing for the procession on the Fourth of July, the old horse, blind as he was, came forth with head held high and marched to the music, looking ready to lead the troops again into the City of Mexico. Mr. D. Stillman Lovejoy remembers this scene and tells us this story. Mr. Head's house on the east was built much later.
In 1770 a road two rods wide was laid out north of the Smith lot. Going toward
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the west we pass on the right the lot where Job Judkins is said to lie in an un- marked grave on the Pitman farm. David Watson lived on the south side of this crossroad.
At the end of this road, facing south, is the fine old house where Fred F. East- man lives. Lake Winnisquam is very narrow here, and the sheep were taken across to pasture. On this shore are two large flat ledges sloping into the water, one south of the house, one north, and it was on these rocks that they washed their sheep. The people nearby wished, therefore, a continuation of the high- way south of the house to the water. There are no signs now of such a road.
Although always spoken of as the Eastman place, this was first the Perkins house. In Mrs. Bond's house hangs a framed wedding card with a garland drawn in red and black ink around the names and date-John Perkins, Lucy Prescott, 1773. Why was this in the old Smith house? The answer is, because John Smith married Annis, the daughter of John and Lucy Perkins. They, too, had a daughter Annis, and she also married a Smith, always spoken of as Esquire Charles Smith.
Charles Smith was a descendant also of an Ebenezer Smith, but of an entirely different branch of the Smith family (Granite Monthly, March, 1888). Here it will be enough to say that Mehitable Sheafe of Portsmouth was his mother, that his sister was the wife of the Rev. John K. Young, the honored pastor of the church at Meredith Bridge, and that the late Mrs. Lucian A. Ladd was his daughter. His second wife was Irene Neal.
On this same crossroad, east of the Province Road, can be found the site of the house built by Lieutenant Joseph Roberts. The road going north crosses next what is known as the Flanders place. It was here that Gordon Lawrence lived, and it was in his house that the last meeting of the proprietors was held in 1811. The Flanders house is said to have been a posting tavern at one time, with a clock on the side of the house facing south. In 1770 several short roads were laid out. One of these is at the schoolhouse corner; another is at the top of Mead Hill on the left. We passed on our way up the hill John Mead's cellar hole on the left; Stephen lived in his father's old house on the hill.
Here, where Mrs. Blaisdell and her son now live, Reuben Marston, Jr., the first pound-keeper, settled. His old house was torn down when the Weeks house was built, and he and his family moved to Marston Hill on the Meredith Center road. Mrs. Hanaford gives us the following facts in regard to the Marston family. The family was of English origin, and their old home is said to have been near Marston Moor, the famous battlefield where Cromwell fought. This was near the Scottish border, and some of the earlier Marstons married Scottish lasses. Some of the family were Quakers and were persecuted for their religion.
Reuben Marston was a descendant of William Marston, who had land granted to him in Hampton for his military services. Reuben Marston, Jr., married Sarah Batchelder, a descendant of William Batchelder, one of the founders of Hampton. Three of the daughters of Reuben Marston, Jr., married three Smith brothers, of what is now called Winona. The descendants of the Smiths of the sixth generation live on the old Smith homestead, and the sixth generation of the Marston family live on the old Marston homestead, on Marston Hill.
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The Province Road now swings toward the right. Farther north on this same lot and on the same side of the road Lieut. Reuben Morgan lived. The town meet- ing was held at his house in 1783. Lieut. Morgan's fine old house is now taking on new life as a part of the State Home. Its beautiful old woodwork is being kept, wherever it is possible to do so, by Dr. Baker, and its old-time look pre- served.
It was after 1830 when Nathaniel Sanborn came to live in this house. The first Nathaniel had settled in Chemung, across the bay; his grandson Nathaniel had married Sarah Roberts, the daughter of Joseph Roberts, in 1825. One of their sons was Joseph N. Sanborn of Sanbornton; another was Charles, the father of Herbert N. Sanborn. Stephen R. Sanborn of Pleasant Street is also descended from Nathaniel of Chemung through his son Richard. The Province Road turns in such a way that a portion of the Jeremiah Smith lot is on the west side of the road, so that a lane is necessary.
Farther up the hill on the right are the two Smith houses, the larger built by Jeremiah Smith. It has been occupied by his son Jacob and his descendants until now, Mrs. Tilton being the last to live here. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tilton feel very certain that this is the oldest house in town. Jeremiah Smith, an older brother of Ebenezer, first built a shack near the road, about halfway between the houses now standing. Trees were then cut for a log cabin, and bricks were made from clay found on the place,-the bricks were laid in clay, of course. Last came the frame house near the log cabin. In this old house is carefully kept the pol- ished cocoanut shell, which, filled with Jamaica rum, Jeremiah Smith carried in his pocket on his journey to his new home. The house known as the Rhoda Smith house was built by his son John.
We now come to the "Parade." The field just above the Smith house was the usual place for holding drills on training days. This is the height of land; from the lake one sights the three poplars by the house. Sometimes the crops had not been gathered here and the fields back of the next house or even farther north were used for the drill.
Just beyond is the road leading over to the Weirs, the "Shad Path." One year there was a scarcity of food, and Priest Folsom was talking in church, when some one entered and said, "The shad have come! The shad have come!" Priest Folsom said, "The shad have come. I close my sermon. They will do you more good than my talk." The fish were coming upstream at the Weirs. The in- habitants needed them for food, and the men all rushed down the "Shad Path." This road, laid out in March, 1770, dips down and then follows the shore more or less closely, rising again by the Weirs schoolhouse.
Beyond the "Shad Path" on the left of the Province Road Reuben Marston settled. He had a frame house in 1770, and was a selectman in 1769. On the right is the Cawley house, standing high against the sky-line. This house was built by Isaac Farrar and the town-meeting of 1784 was held there. The Farrars moved away and the Cawleys have owned the place for fifty-eight years. Mr. Cawley tells us that at first the house was only half its present size.
We have now reached the center of the settlement.
The Province Road has been changed (1826), and although the old road
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can still be followed, it leads only to the ruins of the old parsonage. The fine old woodwork has been taken away and the house is now but a shell. The old wood- shed was once the study from which Mr. Williams would slip away, without the knowledge of his wife, to one of the nearby taverns.
On land that now lies between the old and new roads John Blaisdell built his house, facing the old road, with a long sloping roof in the back. We are indebted to Carl F. Blaisdell for the following facts.
The Blaisdell family can trace their line back to Ralph and his son Henry, who was born in England in 1633 and settled in Amesbury, Mass. Henry's great- grandson, Jacob, served as a lieutenant in the Revolution; he was the father of John, born in Epping in 1765, who settled in Meredith as early as 1790. John's daughter Betsy married Stephen Boynton, and Hannah married Isaac Farrar.
David Blaisdell, the son of John and his second wife, Esther Kelley, married Eliza Sanborn Gilman of Tamworth. He spent the greater part of his life in the old homestead where he was born. In 1854, however, he built the house across the road, and a few years later the old house was torn down, and a depression in the field is all that is left to tell where it once stood. Both David and his son Frank N., whose wife was Grace E. Weeks, were carpenters, although the latter worked for many years on the Lady of the Lake.
The road on the left passing Pickerel Pond was not there in early times, and those who drew the plan evidently knew nothing of the pond. It was here that Nathaniel Wadleigh settled; his land ran south to the Reuben Morgan lot and west to the Great Bay. This road is not straight now, but twists and turns before reaching the Meredith Center road. In the lower corner is the Wiggin cellar, and much farther south that of Elias Swain's old house. Nearly opposite the end of this crossroad is the lane where the Pickerings lived.
North of the pound on the east is a small cellar-hole at the foot of the cliff, and farther north, close to the Province Road, a few bricks where Rat-a-tat Tilton, the shoemaker, lived.
There was a road laid out in January, 1771, on the line of the next lot, but the roadas travelled ran across at an angle, and later left the Province Road at the foot of the hill (Roller Coaster Road). This was the Nathaniel Robinson lot, and in 1770 Robert Bryant is also there, probably clearing land or working as a carpen- ter.
There is no very old house on this lot now. The large white house was built by the father of Captain John S. Wadleigh. One of the two Batchelder houses is still standing. At the foot of the hill is the second Robinson house, where Mr. Hayward now lives; the first house having been built on a knoll back of this.
Just beyond the town line we note the long white John Wadleigh house. The old house at the back, with its tiny panes of glass, was kept when the newer part was built. The greater part of this lot is on the left, and the greater part of William Ray's on the right. At the next corner a few bricks show where William Ray built his log cabin.
We have come to the parting of the ways, and will now turn back.
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JAMES McCRILLIS
James McCrillis, the son of John McCrillis of Epsom, N. H., and born there in 1745, settled before 1768 at the foot of the hill just out of Meredith Village on the Center Harbor Road. This hill is now called Neal Hill, but was formerly known as McCrillis Hill.
His wife was taken sick and died; there were no neighbors. Telling his little children to keep quiet. as their mother was asleep, James McCrillis started out in the afternoon, spotting trees as he went, so as to find his way back in the dark, and walked to William Ray's on the Province Road, not reaching home until the next morning. A sad experience of pioneer life!
James McCrillis was killed when a building was being raised and was buried on his farm, now the Ezra Bickford place, at one time the Hodgson place. Mr. George S. McCrillis, his great-great-grandson, was able last October (1925) to locate the graveyard in Mr. Bickford's cornfield. The ground had been ploughed over and the stones removed, but twelve or more graves were found. Some think there may be twenty or thirty in all, many of the Fogg family having been laid to rest there. It is the plan to include all of these in the cemetery in the spring.
James McCrillis was in Ebenezer Smith's company when it marched to Ti- conderoga; William Ray went at the same time as ensign, 1777. Lieut. William Ray was also with Washington at West Point. Unlike his neighbor, James McCrillis, he lived to be an old man.
Mr. McCrillis also tells us that the Farrar graveyard on the Dane estate, mentioned in the article on "Old Graveyards," has now been enclosed with iron chains and posts and a flag has been placed over the grave of Jonathan P. Farrar.
WILLIAM FERNALD
William Fernald, a Revolutionary soldier of Meredith, served in 1776 at Fort Sullivan; he was also in Colonel Joshua Wingate's regiment at Fort Ticonderoga. He signed at Exeter for a pension for service at Fort Sullivan. He ran a tannery above Meredith Village in an old building that is still standing near the brook, below the Plymouth Street Cemetery. This building is now used as a barn. He had the reputation of being a good blacksmith also, and was postmaster in his last years.
A little farther down the old Stephen Tilton house is still standing. It forms a part of the long white house, and the door on the south is the door of the old house that was moved from Cass Hill to the village. It was farther back on this stream that Mr. Tilton's son-in-law, Seneca A. Ladd, once had a shop.
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FACSIMILE OF MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
REDUCED
these are to Certify that an Intention of marriage between Jamnek Leavitt and Mary Smith Both of this town hath bem. awfully Published here - meredith November the 25 th / 789- attagt Ebers" Smith Town Clerk-
November 426 1789 Tenerte of the within Gertafet the within named pas Laws were moned by me IN folhan
The foregoing is a facsimile of a paper given to Mary Butler Chapter by Sarah H. Sargent, a descendant of Nicholas or "Priest" Folsom. The original has been forwarded to the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, at Washington, D. C., for preservation. This document is about six inches square and has, on the one side, the intention of marriage, as given and signed by Ebenezer Smith, Town Clerk, while on the reverse is the certificate of marriage, as given and signed by Nicholas Folsom. As may be seen, the marriage took place on the day following the filing of the intention of marriage .- Description written by Mrs. Abbie V. Smart.
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EBENEZER SMITH
Sadie S. Curtis
Ebenezer Smith, the son of Daniel and Deborah (Wilcomb) Smith, was born in Exeter, N. H., in the year 1734. He was one of a family of fourteen children. Of his boyhood nothing is known. However, it is unlikely that it differed from that of other pioneer children of that generation. When he was about twenty- eight years old he married Sarah Spiller of Exeter. He was the father of four sons and five daughters. The first child, born in 1762, died when only one year old.
About the year 1761 he became a proprietor of Gilmanton and was one of those who gave bonds for settlement, and in consequence he became an extensive landholder in the town.
A little later Smith and Joshua Crockett, together with five other young men, left their homes and went on a trip of exploration through the woods to the town of New Salem, which was afterward called Meredith. The other five returned to their homes immediately but Crockett and Smith remained long enough to explore the region. While here he staked out a claim and built a camp at the head of Lake Opechee. He then returned to Exeter. About the year 1766, together with his wife and one child he made the journey to New Salem. The common method of transportation in those early days was on horseback. There were only spotted trees to mark the path. Mrs. Smith took a seat behind her husband on the same horse; thus with his child in his arms and a little dog in his pocket the strenuous journey was accomplished.
Before the end of the year 1766 he had cut the trees on six acres of land and three of these were wholly cleared. During this same year he and David Law- rence presented at Portsmouth a petition for the incorporation of New Salem under the name of Meredith. The request was granted and Ebenezer Smith received ten pounds, sixteen shillings for his services in securing the charter.
After the incorporation of the town Colonel Smith was its leading citizen for forty years. The town meetings were usually held at his house. He was pro- prietor's clerk, first town clerk, justice of the peace, selectman for thirty-six years, representative to the General Court, president of the senate for six years, colonel of the first regiment of militia, and often received all the votes cast in the town for offices of honor and trust, such as senator and president elector. He was judge of the County Court from 1784 to 1787 and judge of Probate from 1797 to 1805. At one time he received votes for Governor. He was the town's largest landholder and was able to settle all his sons on large farms of their own. His son, Daniel, was the first male white child born in the town and according to tradition was given two hundred acres as a premium.
Colonel Smith built a large two-story house near the location of his first camp. Here he spent the remainder of his life. After his death his youngest son, Wash-
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ington, and family lived here for many years. This house was afterward re- moved.
Colonel Smith ran two sawmills part of the time. It was in his mills that the lumber used in the construction of the old church on Gunstock Hill was sawed out. Besides helping build this church he sawed the lumber and helped build a church on Meredith Parade. He was one of the trustees of Gilmanton Acad- emy and treasurer during the first six years of its existence. He could act as minister or lawyer.
In the war of the Revolution he took an active part during all or nearly all of the Revolutionary period. He signed the Association Test at Meredith. He was lieutenant-colonel of the Tenth Regiment of New Hampshire Militia. He ranked as first major in Col. Joseph Welsh's Regiment of Volunteers who marched from the State of New Hampshire in September 1777, and joined the Northern Continental Army at Saratoga. On the Revolutionary rolls is a list of the men mustered and paid by Ebenezer Smith, mustermaster and paymaster. There is an account of bounties paid soldiers by Ebenezer Smith.
In 1781 a convention assembled at Concord, New Hampshire, for the purpose of framing a state constitution. Ebenezer Smith of Meredith was mentioned as one of the leading members. The old record books show him to have been the genius of the settlement, and the people of Meredith and Laconia today owe much to the strong common sense and business ability of this old pioneer. He died August 22, 1807, and is buried in the little cemetery at the head of Lake Opechee.
WADLEIGH FAMILY
Mabel M. Perkins
The historian Macauley once said "A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."
Among the early settlers of Meredith, N. H., who have honored the town by distinguished service, is the family of Wadleigh (sometimes "Wadley " and some- times "Wodley"); there were several families in direct lineage, others whom the writer of this sketch has been unable to connect, but who according to histories were probably related.
The earliest known ancestor in this country was Joseph W. Wadley, who is said to have been a ship carpenter, and hence a coat of arms is found in one branch of the family bearing a broad axe.
Because of the fact that our early settlers by this name are in direct line of descent from those who first came to this country early in the seventeenth century, it will be interesting to mention a few of their ancestors.
Robert was one of the provincial councillors in 1684 in Exeter. He was ac- cepted as an inhabitant of Exeter September 26, 1676, at which time he probably moved there with his family. He was then a man of mature years and had five sons, some of them tending towards manhood.
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He soon became known to the people of Exeter and was chosen to responsible positions. He had two brothers, Joseph and John. Joseph was in his day a noted mover of buildings. His son James married a Dearborn whose family was among the first settlers of Franklin Falls. He was a carpenter and millwright, and is said to have erected the first mill at the Falls.
Two of his sons, James and Joseph, settled in Sanbornton. Three other sons, brothers of the last named (one a half brother), settled in Meredith. History does not give the names of these three brothers.
Thomas Wadleigh was a descendant of a family second to none in the state, whose members have been leaders in society and men of influence.
It is related of him that he was a man of great physical strength. It is said that on one occasion he and two other men were about to lift a heavy log, he taking the small end and the other two the butt end.
They could not, however, succeed in raising the log till they exchanged ends, he taking the butt end and the other two men the small end; in this way the log was lifted. He had a family of nine sons and three daughters. Of the sons we find mention of John and Thomas.
John was among the pioneers of the town of Meredith. Mr. Wadleigh was a man of note and his voice was often heard in the councils of the town where he was many times chosen to office. In the great struggle of the American Colonies with the mother country he was an active participant, serving with patriotism and zeal. The records of that time would indicate that he was with Stark at Bunker Hill and Bennington and with Gates at Stillwater and Saratoga. He was born in 1753 and died August 11, 1842, having reached an age of nearly four score and ten years, leaving a name and character of inestimable worth. His wife, Molly, died November 13, 1827, age 70 years.
Thomas Wadleigh, brother of John, was very highly esteemed in his day for integrity and patriotism, and is said to have been possessed of much practical ability, good sense and sound judgment. He was born in 1755 and served six years and seven months in the Revolutionary War. At the battle of Bunker Hill he and his brother John fought side by side. In this battle the main-spring of the gun that John carried broke at the first discharge, rendering the weapon useless; but telling Thomas he would load while the other fired, he did this so quickly that the piece became too hot for holding; but the two brothers with one gun were able to load and fire all the ammunition of both before they left their position.
Dearborn Wadleigh, son of John and Molly Wadleigh, was born in Epping, N. H. He inherited the homestead farm in Meredith, which place had been his home from early childhood. He married Polly Hayes of Sanbornton, a woman whose rare merit was well known.
Dearborn Wadleigh was a man much esteemed in the community, and a valued citizen. History tells us he was positive, strong in his convictions and in politics was an old-time Whig. He died December 27, 1859, at the age of 82.
Gen. John Wadleigh, son of Dearborn and Polly "Hayes" Wadleigh, was born in Meredith, June 3, 1806, and history records that the old town of Meredith had none whom her citizens held in greater regard and esteem. We can do no better
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than to copy, in part, what is said of him from the "History of Belknap and Merrimack Counties," published in 1884.
"General Wadleigh remained with his parents on the old homestead until he was of age, participated in the labors of the field and received such education as the district school afforded, supplementing it at the old Gilmanton Academy, then in its palmy days. While yet a lad his heart was filled with thoughts of the future and the ambition to be a leader among men, and his manly bearing and strong personality impressed itself upon those with whom he was brought in contact. The true American inheritance of free and independent thought had descended to him in more than ordinary measure, and he found his whole nature to be in direct opposition to the Federalistic principles of the Whig party, and, on reach- ing his majority, he affiliated with the Democrats, and cast his maiden vote for their candidate at election (town meeting). On his return from the meeting he was informed that his presence at home was no longer desirable.
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