USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Newmarket > Old Newmarket, New Hampshire; historical sketches > Part 3
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On April 21, 1775, the news of the battle of Lexington had reached Newmarket, and a special town meeting was immediately called. It was voted to send thirty men, under the command of Captain Samuel Gilman, to the relief of the Colonies against the regulars, and that each man be paid and billeted against the town.
April 24, at a special town meeting, it was voted that forty-three men be enlisted as Minute Men, completely equipped and ready to march at a minute's notice. Old guns were repaired and made ready for service. All the lead in town was collected for bullets. Clothing and knap- sacks, together with ninety-two pounds of pork, six quintals of fish, a supply of beef and cheese, a drum and an assortment of shoes were contributed the first week of the war. It was voted that twenty-four men be kept for the safety of the town; that sentinels be kept at the Lamprey River bridge and at the bridge over Exeter River. Feeling against Tories ran high. Town meetings were frequent. Many conferences were held at the Moody parsonage. Wentworth Cheswell was the town messenger, and on his fast gray horse carried news of these prepara- tions to Exeter and returned to report startling news from Boston. On the seventeenth of May, 1775, the committee of safety voted that Captain Nathaniel Rogers, Dr. Mars- ters and Captain William Torry, suspected as Tories, each confine himself to his own home or farm and not on any occasion leave the town without permission of the committee of safety. Again these same men were giving trouble. On the tenth day of May, 1777, Dr. Mars- ters and Nathaniel Rogers were taken to Exeter and con- fined in jail as Tories, but were released under orders not
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to go more than half a mile from their homes without a permit. Jacob Brown and George Bell, traders, also of Newmarket, were driven from town and debarred from returning to the State. Public conferences or town meet- ings were frequent ; but unity of sentiment and purpose did not always prevail. At one of these meetings a disagree- ment about counting the polls occurred. In the excite- ment and confusion it was not easy to determine the vote by the usual method of counting hands. So the moderator ordered the yeas to the central door of the meeting house and the nays to the women's gallery. The nays refused to go. A motion for a written ballot was defeated. Then some one suggested that the nays stand near the pulpit and stay there until counted. The moderator must have had in mind a plan to put the negative voters in an embar- rassing position. The women's gallery was no place for a man. Women were slightly under-estimated in those days. Her influence was strictly confined to her home. Both common law and custom permitted the husband to compel his wife's obedience by reasonable chastisement. St. Paul's advice or admonition was by no means disregarded. The women's gallery was called by the rowdy element in the town "The squaw seats." So the order to the nays to go to the women's gallery doubtless caused laughter and rude jokes at the expense of the negative voters.
In 1777, Newmarket had a supply of two hundred and seventeen pounds of powder. This was all found to be dam- aged. There were sixty pounds of cannon powder, one hundred and eight pounds for muskets and forty-nine for priming pistols. This was all sent to Samuel Hobart, of Exeter, to be restored. His receipt in full payment for
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this service is signed by Samuel Jewett in behalf of Samuel Hobart. This bill against the town was thirteen pounds and ten shillings. The ink with which this receipt was written was of unfading quality.
Twenty-eight men of Newmarket were in service by June 1, 1775. In all, two hundred and thirty-three men whose names and services are recorded were furnished by Newfields and Newmarket, then one town. Of officers, we furnished one colonel, two lieutenant colonels, one adjutant, seven captains, eight lieutenants, two ensigns, ten ser- geants and eleven corporals. It took fifteen days for the news of the signing of the Declaration of Independence to reach Newmarket.
On September 20, 1855, Mr. David Watson, of New- market, died at his residence here. He was the last Revolutionary soldier from this town. His funeral ser- vices were reported by the Rev. Mr. Harding, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at that time: "Mr. David Watson, of Newmarket, died at his residence September 20, 1855, aged ninety-seven years and seven months. He was in his country's service from the commencement of the Revolutionary struggle to the close. In several of the most hard fought battles it was his honorable lot to be engaged. After the close of the war he returned to New- market, his native place, where he has ever since lived, respected not only for his early deeds of valor, but for many traits of character which constitute a good citizen and a kind neighbor. The funeral services were attended by several hundred on the twenty-first of September at two P. M. A military escort, numbering thirty-two, was com- manded by Captain Samuel Davis and John F. Chapman,
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of Newmarket, who performed their parts well. Much credit is due to David Murray, Esquire, for the prompt and efficient discharge of his duties as Marshal of the Day. The religious services were conducted by the writer, Rev. Mr. Harding, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Burrowes. In the procession to the grave, besides the escort and many others on foot, there were forty-seven carriages. After funeral shots were fired over the grave and the family had passed, the procession halted and the choir, which had served on the occasion, sang at the grave with singular effect that excellent and patriotic hymn, 'My Country, 'tis of thee.' As we returned to our homes from these solemnities all felt a grateful sense of earnest satisfaction that so much was contributed to honor the venerable man who had fought so nobly and bravely for the liberty we so richly enjoy."- L. B. HARDING.
Every country that has been disturbed by war expe- riences a period of readjustment. There comes a time of commercial distress when great populations are bowed down by markets destitute of buyers, with wages ever sinking, factories closed, laborers idle, and well-nigh every house- hold feeling in some degree the general depression. Farming communities suffer perhaps the least hardship, "for they deal directly with God." The chief industry of Newmarket languished; for the ship yards were silent, except for the occasional sound of mallet and saw, repair- ing fishing boats. The wharves were again "encumbered," this time with fish houses. These also hovered along the river bank.
Gradually, as the years went by, an air of comfort- able living settled over the town. People were employed.
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Blacksmith shops gave service to the village and to the surrounding country. Two tanneries were in operation, and shoe-makers were numerous, for in those days shoes were all custom made. "Hannah at the window binding shoes" was an able assistant to every shoe-maker.
The life of a town is its business. This was moderate. It was an era of moderation. Things moved along at a sort of ox-cart speed. Business enterprise was cautious, safe, and of necessity small. A commodious, general merchan- dise store provided the village with groceries and hardware, wet and dry goods, and a general meeting place for the town's men, where every night national, state and domestic affairs were discussed and settled. The group all left together. No man wanted to leave until closing time, knowing the wit of those remaining would focus on him- self. Before town meeting day political discussions would get as hot as the big, wood-burning stove, around which they sat. The articles which later appeared in the town warrant were discussed and approved at this general store before they were posted on the meeting house door. For this reason the voters from the outlying districts felt that town politics came to them all cut and dried.
LAWS AND A LAW BREAKER
The enactment of state laws by the legislature of 1798 received a good share of attention in Newmarket. Com- munities were affected then as now, in degree, according to the vigilance of the town police. One of the new laws declared "No person shall ride through any town at a swifter gait than five miles an hour." This in effect was a challenge to every owner of a fast stepping horse. No other method of locomotion exceeded the speed of the horse. If the police failed to see any violation of this law it did not unfavorably affect his chances of reappointment. Newmarket has always had a strong liking for fine horses; and a race course has been maintained on the Plains from early times.
At this same session of the legislature the law against profanity carried a fine not exceeding ten shillings or one shilling for every oath. If unable to pay, imprisonment for ten days or to be whipped, not exceeding ten lashes, was the penalty. In those days it was not safe even to be a loafer. Idle persons were punished with lashes. Seven crimes in New Hampshire carried the death penalty. Among these were horse and sheep stealing. A new law of the above date gave to the horse thief what was con- sidered a lighter punishment for his crime: "If convicted
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by due course of law he shall be marked with India ink well and deeply defined inserted above the eye-brows to the hair on either side of the head and by a line well defined from the center of the forehead to the end of the nose, and such person shall stay in custody not exceeding thirty days 'till such marks are well and effectively fixed. The sheriff to receive the sum of six shillings for marking each convict as aforesaid."
In spite of drastic laws criminals developed; and in old Newmarket we had of this a very notorious example. Henry Tufts was born here June 24, 1748. His parents were respectable and honest. His grandfather was a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1701, and a Congre- gational minister of good repute. The home of Henry Tufts was on the road from the Plains to Lee Hook. In his young manhood he was appointed tything-man at the Rev. John Moody's meeting house. His service there was not for long. He early developed tendencies that grew with his years which made him without doubt the most versatile criminal that any New Hampshire town was ever obliged to own. He was a vagabond of good personal appearance. Avoiding all industry he acquired necessities and luxuries simply by taking whatever he wanted where- ever he found it. As a soldier of the Revolution he served his first enlistment of two months without desertion. After that his desertions were as frequent as his enlistments. In 1780 he rambled away from his regiment at West Point to the town of Charlemont in order, as he said, "to have a little change." He spent the night at the Spencer Tav- ern where he met one of his own kind, a British agent, and Tufts was charmed with the plan which this man offered to him-to put in circulation counterfeit money. Congress
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had issued a paper medium to pay off the soldiers. The British agent's plan was to put in circulation counterfeit bills to discredit the new national currency. He taught Henry Tufts an entirely new line of roguery. Tufts exchanged all the silver he had for five thousand dollars in counterfeit bills. They separated and Tufts made haste to invest in more permanent property. He bought and paid for an expensive horse and an entirely new outfit of citi- zens clothes for himself. Then he remembered Sally Judd, the latest of his three living wives. He bought a store of fine things and sent them to her with a generous supply of bad money. In his autobiography he says "I had not trav- elled many miles before I thought of my own family, and like an honest man I provided for them."
In the spring of 1793 Tufts got into serious trouble. He says "I bought a silver tablespoon and five silver tea- spoons which turned out to have been stolen. So I was tried for burglary, a capital offense." This occurred in Essex County, Massachusetts. He was committed to Ips- wich jail. His trial took place in the Fall of 1793. James Sullivan was the prosecuting attorney, and for the defense James Sewall, of Marblehead, afterwards member of Con- gress, and Francis Dana, afterwards Chief Justice. Twice the jury disagreed. On the third trial they brought in a verdict of guilty. Tufts was sentenced to be hanged at Ipswich jail August 13, 1795. Great efforts were made for his reprieve. Harvard students signed and circulated a petition. It was not until the hour of execution that the order came from Governor Samuel Adams for his reprieve. He says "Three thousand persons had gathered to witness the tragic spectacle. Under the circumstances I was far from regretting their departure."
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At the petition of his normal wife, Nabby, Governor Adams commuted his sentence to imprisonment for life. He was sent to Castle Island where he served five years. He was then transferred to Salem Jail, from which he escaped the next day. He debated with himself for some time as to which wife he should begin his new freedom with, Abigail, Lydia or Sally Judd; and while he debated he walked toward Maine where Abigail then lived. He wrote eloquent letters of farewell to Lydia and Sally.
In former days he had been compelled to leave New Hampshire and sojourn with Indians in Canada. There he made himself familiar with the use of herbs for the cure of physical ills. So, now in Limington, Maine, he settled down as a doctor. He had lived in a Maine village before this time; but then he put on clerical robes and took his grandfather's title of Reverend.
He died in Limington, Maine, January 31, 1891, in the eighty-third year of an uncommonly misspent life. His autobiography of over three hundred pages is highflown and amusing. He tells of his many disguises and narrow escapes, as burglar, horse thief, bounty jumper, tramp, fortune teller, revival preacher, Indian herb-doctor, free- booter, vender of counterfeit money. Twenty times he was sentenced to prison in New Hampshire, Maine and Massa- chusetts. He says "My coffin was made and my grave dug when I escaped death by hanging." His first wife, Abigail, was a native of Durham, a woman of courage, honesty and fidelity. She had removed with her children to Limington, Maine, where she received Henry Tufts into her home and cared for him in his old age. His book, "The Life, Adven- tures, Travels and Sufferings of Henry Tufts," was printed in Dover in 1807, by Samuel Bragg.
A HORSE STORY
At the beginning of the new century the people began to see the necessity of making better roads and of placing well-built bridges over brooks and rivers which flowed in the line of travel. Turnpikes were opened and stage coach lines were giving regular service, with the larger towns as terminals. The law of 1798 was still in force; but the majority of the townspeople did not desire to drive through town or anywhere "at a faster gait than five miles an hour." So the law was not disregarded. Those who owned speedy horses were content, after a few turns at the race course, to drive a sleek, long-stepping horse in a racing gig, slowly through Main Street, knowing well that the style and trotting speed of his horse on the track would be the subject of discussion.
A sporty resident of Newmarket managed and shared in the gain of the first horse race in New England in which the horse won a national reputation. In the spring of 1818 the Boston Jockey Club advertised "to pay one thousand dollars for any horse that can trot a mile in three minutes." This advertisement claimed the attention of a man in the State of Maine, who owned a rangey bay gelding with slanting shoulders, whose legs stood well under him. Not a handsome horse, but his master had great faith in his trotting ability.
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The owner of this horse rigged up a light sulky and with this horse started for Boston, stopping over in New- market for a few days with his cousin, a farmer, stock breeder and expert horseman. At first the cousin laughed at the idea of the horse winning in the Jockey Club race. But a demonstration on the race track was very convincing. Plans were made accordingly.
Very cheerfully the owner and his horse started for Boston, looking, as he was, a countryman from way down east, driving a peculiar looking horse in a home-made racing gig, with a bag of horse feed swaying behind. Slowly they went over the rough turnpike and up and down the long hills. But when a level stretch of road appeared the horse recognized his opportunity for speed, and way- farers looked in wonder 'till horse and driver were lost in the distance. Arriving in Boston the countryman, with his horse, hung around the stables of the Jockey Club, bragging always of what his horse could do, but refusing to give a demonstration of his speed. Meanwhile the New- market cousin went by packet to Portsmouth and thence to Boston, a well-attired, gentlemanly stranger. His interest in horses, however, led him to the Jockey Club, where he was introduced to the countryman from Maine. He readily joined in the fun that was being made at the expense of this greenhorn jockey who was very anxious to enter the club race, and was ready to bet any amount of money on his horse winning, at the same time admitting that he "hadn't money enough to buy a gallon of New England rum." Then the stranger agreed to lend him one thousand dollars to bet on the race, if the countryman would give a bill of sale of the horse to him as security. After much
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hilarity this was done. Then the word went round among Boston horsemen and preparations were made for the race. The name Boston Blue was given to the horse and the race advertised. On the old Lynn turnpike the event took place. Boston Blue won in 2:57. The stake-holder paid over the two thousand dollars to the jockey from Water- ville, Maine. Boston Blue was sold by the stranger to the Jockey Club for one thousand dollars, as advertised, and by different routes the cousins returned to Newmarket.
Boston Blue acquired fame as a racer in New York and Philadelphia and was later sold to parties in England, where he trotted eight miles in twenty-eight minutes and fifty-nine seconds, winning for his owners a large sum of money.
WAR OF 1812
In the last week of June, 1812, the news reached New- market that war had been declared against Great Britain. This occasioned more excitement here than enthusiastic support. The fact that all the great nations of the world were at this time engaged in war did not increase the mili- tary ardor of New England. Napoleon, with his great army of four hundred and twenty-five thousand men, and the news from the Peninsular War dwarfed the reason for our conflict with England. The embargo and non-inter- course act had made New England hostile to the Madison administration and the war.
At this time our State Militia was at its best, with thirty-seven regiments organized in six brigades, combined in three divisions, each commanded by a major general.
The military slogan of New Hampshire was, "A well regulated militia is the sure defense of the State." The law required that "every able-bodied man of the age of eighteen years and every such man under the age of forty shall enlist in the State militia." Numerous exceptions were made. Newmarket belonged to the First Battalion of the Fourth Regiment, which was recruited from Exeter, Newmarket, Brentwood, Poplin and Epping.
This military motto or slogan had a significance at
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that time which is not forced upon the casual reader of our state history. Governor Plumer's action in placing the New Hampshire militia under the command of a United States army officer and in sending them outside the State limits to the occupation of Fort McClary, which at that time was in Massachusetts territory, gave the Fed- eralist party in New Hampshire a legitimate claim that Governor Plumer had exceeded his authority and vio- lated the constitutional rights of the citizens of the State. Political feeling ran high, Republicans against Federal- ists. The Federalists were opposed to the Madison admin- istration; but they were not in the majority in Newmarket. Everybody here was greatly interested in the war activi- ties at Portsmouth. Three thousand New Hampshire militia were stationed there and all along the shore of the Piscataqua. Sixteen privateers were fitted out and sailed from Portsmouth during the war. They captured many prizes. Naturally the young men of Newmarket partici- pated in these events; but unfortunately there are no town records of that time. The State records show that sixty- two Newmarket men were enlisted in the War of 1812.
The great fire at Portsmouth on the night of the twenty-ninth of December, 1813, which destroyed three hundred and seventy-three buildings, was at first attributed to British spies. It was, however, conclusively proven to have been the work of a servant girl who had been dis- charged. In revenge she set fire to the barn of her former employer, and the fire quickly spread beyond control. At night, when the fire was raging, the sky brilliantly reflected the flames, and the people here gathered on the hill to watch the progress of the fire as registered in the sky. Many families were made homeless.
OLD RESIDENTS AND THEIR HOMES
Nathaniel Treadwell, who had lost his home and much property in the great fire in Portsmouth, came to New- market seeking a dwelling place. He bought of General James Hill the house that was built as a parsonage for the Rev. John Moody. At Mr. Moody's death this house passed by will to his grandson, John Moody Smith, who sold it to his father-in-law, General James Hill.
Nathaniel Treadwell and his son, Captain Charles, were at different times taverners here from 1814 to 1828. Later this house was sold to Thomas Chesley and later still to the Boston and Maine Railroad. This house is now owned by Mr. Ralph Waugh, a dealer in antiques, who is likely to restore and preserve it. It stands on the east side of the Exeter Road a short distance north of the grade crossing at Rockingham. Judging by its appear- ance one would hardly think of it as an ancient landmark. In the course of time it has suffered changes. No other house in town is so rich in historical associations. It is the oldest house within the present limits of Newmarket. When Captain Nathaniel Treadwell kept tavern here, it was sometimes used for religious services. If the weather was very cold, the temperature in the nearby meeting house did not respond to the heat of the small stove. It
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is said that on such days Elder Brodhead preached in his surtout and kept his hands warm by emphatic gestures. If his congregation appeared to suffer from cold he would say "We will adjourn to the dining room at Brother Tread- well's." The preaching at the tavern may have had an unexpected influence. Three Treadwell daughters mar- ried three Methodist ministers.
The Hubertus Neal tavern is still standing near the Junction. Abner Stinson's tavern, remodelled, is now called the Howard Hanson house. Farther north, on the west side of the Exeter Road, was the Lieutenant John Burley house before mentioned. In this house the north- east chamber, supposed to be haunted, was indeed unusual in construction and finish. The floor, walls, door, ceiling and inside window-shutters were all of one kind of wood, guiltless of varnish or paint and dark with age. When the inside window-blinds were drawn and the door shut the room was like a large, square box with the cover on, so not a ray of light could enter, a dismal place for even a ghost to be "laid," and strangely in contrast with the light and cheerfulness of the other rooms. A few years ago this house was sold to a dealer in antiques. It was care- fully taken down and rebuilt in Weston, Massachusetts.
When Constantine B. Mathes built his house where the Jeremiah Folsom Garrison stood, he removed from his land the old house which was once the home of John, Peter and Nancy Burley. The Moses Burley house was in the field southeast of the old garrison. A little farther north on the Exeter Road the house now owned by Fred W. Knight was the property in 1817 of Bruce Brackett. The beautiful elm tree near the road is said to have been
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planted by him. This house was later the home of John Presson, his sister, and her daughter's family.
The Jeremiah Mead estate is now the property of Miss Nellie Laine.
William L. Priest resides where Dr. Nathaniel Kidder lived. The doctor was for many years a successful physi- cian here, and like all our doctors, was active in town politics.
On the west side of Exeter Road there were no houses from Dr. Kidder's to the Lovering or brick house at the junction of the old Exeter and Nottingham Roads.
On the east side of Exeter Road the estate of E. Chap- man extended from Jeremiah Folsom's land to the present railroad crossing where the house which he built still stands, now the property of Alphonse LaRoche. This Chapman land extended easterly to the Pindar Lane. The Chapman family burial ground was in what is now a grove of oaks and pines by the Bayside Road, south of the home of James H. Crimmins. Almost every trace of its former use has disappeared. The accumulated mould of more than a century has hidden the mounds. The rude stone mark- ers are sunken and moss-grown. Time has erased names and dates. Tall pines are growing over the graves.
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