USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Newmarket > Old Newmarket, New Hampshire; historical sketches > Part 5
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EARLY MILL METHODS
The cost of construction of Number One Mill was eleven thousand one hundred ninety-seven dollars and ninety-four cents. The machinery for its operation was installed without delay. The looms with one reed and two shuttles cost the Company ninety dollars each.
The mill bell in the morning rang fifteen minutes before the starting to work bell and this bell in summer rang fifteen minutes before sunrise. The breakfast bell rang at seven o'clock. The return to work bell at half past seven. The yearly average for a day's work was eleven hours, fifty-seven minutes and forty-seven seconds.
The highest wage of weavers was two dollars and seventy-two cents a week, but only three persons attained to that wage. The average was two dollars and twenty- nine cents a week for the fine work and one dollar and eighty cents for the coarse work.
When Number One Mill was finished it was considered very modern in construction and equipment. A six hun- dred pound bell was placed in the cupola, "three lightning rods were run from the ridge-pole to the water and extended ten feet above the ridge-pole; the flukes were plated with silver." In obtaining an insurance policy the directors stated their ample protection against fire as follows: "We
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keep a good watch. We have a forcing pump deriving its power from the great wheel located in the run-way, with a cistern in the upper room. This pump may be struck into gear for raising water, the upright cylinder of which has a hose and pipe attached thereto, and the water can be raised and may be directed instantly to fire in any part of the room. We have a full company of enginemen, a tub engine, a line of hose, axes and about one hundred good leather buckets. The rooms are heated with Willard's invention, furnaces such as are used in the Episcopal Church in Boston, they have hot air chambers and slides."
The good ships, Helen Mar, North America and the Pembroke, freighted the cotton from New Orleans to Bos- ton for sixty-two and one-half cents per hundred pounds.
A diary faithfully kept by an employee of the Com- pany from 1830 to 1837 shows how dependent the Company was upon weather conditions, and how closely the weather was observed and recorded. The mills then were run by water power. The flow from the reservoirs at Pawtucka- way and Mendum Ponds was carefully watched and guarded. The agent or a trusty man from the office visited these reservoirs almost every day during times of flood or drouth to put on or take off flash-boards, repair leaks, etc. Not only did the Company look to weather conditions for its supply of power, but its raw material was freighted by sail from Boston by way of Portsmouth and Great Bay to its wharves here. The finished products were returned to market in the same way. After the ice formed in Great Bay all material was transported to and from Portsmouth by sled or wagon, and weather conditions were still import- ant. A few selections from the diary show the general. character of this interesting daily record:
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"Monday, April 18, 1831. S. A. Chase was at the dam at Nottingham. Found that some person had put plank on the run-over in the place of the flash-boards taken off last fall, and the water had risen over them one foot seven inches and a half, being thirteen and a half inches below the level of the dam. One of the planks of the run-over was removed the whole length, leaving flash-boards one foot high on."
"Tuesday, April 19, 1831. Josiah Wiggin went to Nottingham with Stone and Smith. They gravelled the dam where it had washed off from the upper side, by the freshet."
"Friday, April 22, 1831. Smith went up and put on the flash-boards two feet high, same as last year."
"May 5th. S. A. Chase at Mendum Pond. Two feet and four inches over."
"May 14th. S. A. Chase and Wheatland at the pond; on their way from Northwood found the water three and one-half inches over the run-over. John Haines went up and put on six inches more heighth of flash-board at the pond. That night came a heavy rain and next day Smith went up and took them off again."
"Wednesday, June 1st. Smith went up and put on six additional inches of flash-boards again. Found the water two feet below the top of the dam and two feet four inches above the run-over."
"June 9th. The saw-mill has been kept running all this spring until this evening. When the mill shut down the water was one inch below the top of the dam. Nine- inch flash-boards were put on."
"November 21st. Very cold. Ground frozen. B.
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Wheatland at Portsmouth. Loaded gondola with 92 bales of cotton. The remainder is in Sheaf's store. Thomas Churchill and Joseph Stone at Mendum Pond with team. S. A. Chase with Major Walker lotted out the Lovering Orchard into nine house-lots."
"November 22nd. Wind N. E. A severe storm. Forty minutes past 8 A. M. a frame house belonging to Gilman, standing near John Haines's, blew down. The storm was so violent that great apprehensions were enter- tained that the Gondola had met with some accident. Dispatched Daniel Palmer and Meserve by the bayside as far as Mathes' Neck to ascertain where she was. They returned in the afternoon having seen nothing of her. Job Durgin and E. P. Smith went to Portsmouth by way of Piscataqua Bridge and found the gondola safe at Ports- mouth. Hoisted two of the waste gates at 10 A. M., one more at dark. Tide very high. Nineteen inches below the floor of the warehouse. Lost speed in Number One Mill for about two hours."
"November 23rd. Wind northwest and cold. S. A. Chase and Major Walker surveying in the Lovering Orchard. B. Wheatland at Wadley's Falls in the forenoon. Shut down the mills, except No. 1 card room at dark, in preparation for Thanksgiving Day. Three waste gates up all day."
"November 24th, Thanksgiving Day. S. A. Chase and B. Wheatland at Wadley's Falls in the forenoon, where they exchanged horses with Gardner Towle, Charlie for the black mare, Dolly, then went up to John Dow's."
"November 30th. Wind northwest and clear. Very cold for the season. The river below froze nearly or quite
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over last night. Packet which went down yesterday was prevented from coming up today, by the ice."
"December 1st. S. A. Chase at Dover in a sleigh. Wheatland in Portsmouth in a sulky to get money for pay- roll. Packet got up from Portsmouth as far as the mouth of the river where she was stopped by ice and run ashore. Gondola went down to discharge her."
"December 2nd. Very cold day for the season. The river closed up solid with ice last night. At night we loaded two teams with cloth on wheels for Portsmouth. Last night several hands went down river to break ice and get the Gondola and Packet out, but did not succeed. They both remain frozen in near Nat. Stevenses."
"December 4. Wind northeast. Violent storm of snow. Put up a Lehi coal stove in No. 3. Pump beginning to freeze."
"December 5. Another northeast storm began at four o'clock this morning. Continued until 10 A. M. Snow blowing exceedingly and very cold. The mills were cold all day. Some loss of work in consequence."
"December 7. Violent wind and cold. B. Wheatland at Portsmouth. Two teams at Portsmouth with finished goods. J. Wiggin and Thos. Churchill with sleds brought up 15 bales upland cotton from Shapley's wharf. Took the Lehigh coal stove from No. 3 and placed it in basement of No. 1 on a new hearth."
"December 17. Violent wind and snow flying so it is difficult to see a rod ahead. Wiggin and Churchill at Portsmouth, brought up four tons of Lehigh coal, fifteen barrels of flour and some shingles. B. Wheatland down to the Stevens farm where the Packet and Gondola are frozen in."
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"December 19. Wind westerly. Very cold. No. 2 so cold that many of the girls went out."
"December 24. Ground covered with ice and sleigh- ing very rough. Wiggin and Smith, with two teams, at Portsmouth, upset coming home with a load of 20 bales of cotton."
"January 27, 1832. At six o'clock this morning the thermometer stood at 18 degrees below zero. At seven o'clock it stood at nineteen and one-half degrees below, then rapidly rose till 10 degrees above. The river smoked exceedingly. So great a degree of cold was never observed before this."
"January 28th. At seven this morning the ther- mometer was twenty degrees below zero. B. Wheatland at Portsmouth in a sulky. Wiggin and Churchill there with two teams."
"January 30. Exceptionally bad travelling. Very icy. Carried the girls to the mill this morning and out at night."
"February 17. S. A. Chase, B. Wheatland, L. Board- man, A. Robinson, Seth Shackford and some men from Portsmouth made a survey from Lamprey River to the lower end of Great Bay. Starting from the road in front of Dr. Kittredge's house they followed a course north 80 degrees east to the mouth of Crummet's Creek, thence across said creek to Mathes Neck, and thence to Furber's Ferry."
A NUMBER OF THINGS
After the cotton mills were well established, the next enterprise that jolted the mind of the average citizen was the fact that weaving cloth was not the only business to be undertaken by the Company.
A commodious store had been built on the site of the present post office building; and the directors of the Com- pany gave orders that the store near the Orthodox Lot be made ready for use.
A surprisingly large cargo of merchandise came up the river and unloaded; others followed.
If there had been any idle folks in town they would have found the wharf more attractive than the seats near the band stand are to the unemployed of today.
The business men were somewhat disturbed when the announcement was made that this store would be opened on the seventh of June for the Company's employees and the general public, where everything could be bought for cash at a low price, and the employees could buy on credit. This pleased the average citizen.
Of course this new store had a strong financial back- ing. The attraction in quality, fashion and price drew trade like a magnet. When Benjamin Brooks built a three story brick house on Main Street, with commodious twin
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stores on the street floor, the Company removed its stock to this new location.
At the annual stock taking, January 21st, 1827, the value of the stock was $12,526.37, and this at a time when money was dear and commodities cheap.
One can readily see that the storekeepers in town were not benefited. This new store combined their several branches of trade: hardware, dry goods, groceries, milli- nery, toilet articles and drugs. The equilibrium of trade was completely upset. The only business undisturbed was the distribution of New England rum and Holland gin.
So, one hundred years ago a prejudice against the mill management was formed. The removal of the Bryant Rock began it; the Company Store urged it along; and, although years of prosperity and steady employment for the towns- people checked its growth, politics and taxes, over produc- tion and a business slump, a floating population deprived of war wages, labor agitation, and an inability to recognize business conditions everywhere, all combined to make an efficient wrecking crew.
Under the management of Captain John Webster the Company store was discontinued. The list of goods made by the stocktakers in January, 1827, would arouse the interest of an experienced antiquarian. A few of these are here noted. The names, as you read them, will recall the passing of landmarks in the world of trade: Dutch ovens, whale oil, luster tea sets, brass kettles, shoe thread, warm- ing pans, gold beads, bullet molds, snuff and snuff boxes, brittania and pewter ware, high shell combs, steelyards, bellows, ink powders, hour glasses, candle snuffers, stirup irons, oak bed wrenches, bed cords and pins, bed orna-
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ments and curtains, bed curtain frames and vallancing. In dry goods: India prints, bocking, Kerry cloth, French calico, tow cloth, sasanette, cassanete, black crepe and mourning goods, embroidered crepe and silk shawls, velvet capes, children's sun-bonnets, calashes for ladies, red, yel- low and green flannel for men's shirts, nankeen, jeans, cam- let cloth, bombazine and bombazette. One article in this long list seems to have a sort of classical, Oriental or scientific slant. Cytberion. It excited curiosity. What was its meaning? Its use? Encyclopedias gave no aid. Weeks later in looking over a "Dover Inquirer" of date April 6, 1852, the word Cytberion claimed my attention. In large black type it was advertised and described as "a combination of rosemary and castor oil warranted to cure the severest headaches, to give whiskers a beautiful appear- ance, to restore gray hair, to curl hair beautifully, and to give to all light hair a rich, dark color and a beautiful luster."
TOWN BUSINESS AND INCIDENTS
When Pa. Tuttle decided to give his son, Benjamin, a better chance in the business of Newmarket, encouraged by the activity of the town, he calculated that a new tavern well built and properly equipped would be a great success. He knew Benjamin had been well trained in the business by himself. He bought land adjacent to the Town Hall, then in process of erection, and there began the building of a three-story, brick hotel. On its completion the upper story was used as a meeting room for the directors of the New- market Manufacturing Company. This meeting was always followed by a special dinner, served in the dining room below. This building is not greatly changed by the addition of double piazzas and other improvements. It is now the property of the Newmarket Manufacturing Com- pany. The Town Hall and the tavern are of the same age, both built in 1847-1848.
William Chapman, a resident of the North Side, was a successful hunter, and the only one in town who had a cougar to his credit. One day he started out to hunt foxes. His gun was loaded for foxes and not for larger or more ferocious game. The woods all about had long since been cleared of the big cats that the early settlers found. Chap- man was alone, looking only for foxes, when he saw in a
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tree close by, a big cougar. It was very evident that the animal had seen him first. He had not long to decide what to do. He knew it was important to make a decision before the cougar did. The head of the animal was his target and his aim was true. Blinded and helpless the cougar fell to the ground where he was speedily killed. Chapman, satis- fied with his game, shouldered it, and although the walk from the woods in Lee may have been tiresome, doubtless he found compensation as he went with his burden through Main Street to his home. Thereafter he was known as Cougar Chapman.
On the 10th of February, 1832, word came from the farm of Josiah Folsom, in Hersey Lane, that a wolf had called at his place in the night and had killed and partly devoured two sheep. The tracks led through the Hersey woods to the Exeter Road, where he was seen loping along through the fields in the direction of Shackford's Point. Newmarket sportsmen were ready and eager to follow the trail; but a light snow and a high wind made this difficult. At the Bayside tracks were found where he had crossed on the ice. The hunters followed. In Horne's woods the tracks were plain, but darkness prevented pursuit. The next morning their zeal was renewed, when word came that in the night the wolf had returned to Josiah Folsom's for more mutton; but not finding any, had made off following his path of the preceding night. Speedily the hunters were on his trail. They were somewhat puzzled by a peculiar line running near and parallel to the tracks of the wolf. In Flatrock Pasture the trail was lost, and the short, cold day again ended in defeat. In town the news awaited the hunters that the wolf had been taken alive by
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Dover sportsmen, a chain around his neck holding him fast for capture. Three weeks before he had been found in the woods of Wakefield, this state, with a wounded leg. A chain was placed about his neck and when the wounded leg was healed his captors attempted to exhibit him in Dover and Great Falls. Although hindered by the chain, he made the distance to Josiah Folsom's, enjoyed a fine feast, gained two days of liberty and furnished the New- market hunters with an exciting and unusual objective. The next week, however, they had better luck. A wild cat was shot near George Robinson's on the Exeter Road.
Daniel Brackett, a resident of Newmarket, attained statewide celebrity as a champion heavyweight. In the "New Hampshire Gazeteer" of 1839 he is called the New- market Giant. At the time of his death he weighed five hundred and sixty pounds. The bearers at his funeral are not mentioned.
In 1840 Daniel Jewell owned a mill where now the pumping station is. He had a working force of twenty- eight men engaged in the manufacture of bobbins, spools and shuttles. He found ready market for these products in Dover, Great Falls and Newmarket. While Jewell was operating this factory at Piscassic Lower Falls he found the crude, ancient machinery of the first saw and grist mill operated by the early settlers at Lamprey River.
The First Congressional District has elected from Newmarket three Representatives to Congress: Rev. John Brodhead in 1828, Dr. George W. Kittredge in 1852, and Hon. William B. Small in 1873.
Captain John Webster was a retired sea captain of Salem, Massachusetts. He was early interested in and a
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stockholder of the Newmarket Manufacturing Company. He was successively clerk, paymaster, agent and treasurer of the Company. From 1834 until his death his interest in the town was continuous. In 1846 he was appointed agent, and he established his residence here. In 1855 the accidental death of his only son caused him to resign as agent and return to Salem. He accepted the office of treasurer of the Company, which office he held until his death. His interest in Newmarket and his generosity was proven by his gift of John Webster Hall.
Here is a list of Newmarket industries and institu- tions with dates of incorporation: Newmarket Social Library, incorporated in 1821; Newmarket Manufacturing Company, 1823; Newmarket Sacred Musical Society, 1825; Newmarket Savings Bank, 1832; Eagle Manufacturing Company, 1833; Newmarket Iron Foundry, 1834; New- market Aqueduct Company, 1834; Newmarket Machine Company, 1847; Fire Engine Company Number 1, 1852; Newmarket Gas Light Company, 1859. The police regula- tions of Portsmouth were by legislative act extended to Newmarket from 1832 to 1842.
The Newmarket Aqueduct Company, in the above list, laid pipes from a spring on the hillside behind the present bank building to the Newmarket Iron Foundry on the north side of the Creek.
In 1832 the population of the town had increased so that the small school house on South Main Street was not large enough to accommodate all the children of school age. This condition was met by the Company. They built a one-story school house on the west side of Spring Street opposite the foot of High Street. This school house was in use for nine years.
SUBSEQUENT CHANGES AND EVENTS
In 1831 Lovering's Orchard was divided into nine house lots, and these were offered for sale by the Newmarket Manufacturing Company. Benjamin Watson bought Lot No. 1 and built the Creighton house, now the Congregational parsonage. Benjamin Tuttle bought Lot No. 2 and built the Tasker house. Vincent Torr bought Lot No. 3 and built the A. H. Place house. Ephraim Day bought Lot No. 4 and built a house for himself, now owned by Mrs. Sarah Priest. Nancy and Thomas Cheswell, Orlando Langley and Susan Mathes bought the remaining lots and built houses in what was a part of Lovering's Orchard. The last apple tree in this orchard was blown down in the front yard of Mrs. Z. Dow Creighton in 1876. The eastern part of Lovering's Orchard was on high land. Solon's Brook flowed unhindered through the alders and ferns in the low lands between the orchard and the opposite hill variously known as Tom Brown's Hill, Pork Hill or Mount Pleasant.
In the spring of 1831 the selectmen were petitioned to lay out a street from Tenney's Corner to the southern end of Lovering's Orchard. This short street would be of great benefit to those who had bought land and were build- ing houses adjoining it. It did not meet with the approval
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of all the tax payers. It was called by the wags "the new road to Boston." A part of what we call Exeter Street was cut through in front of these new houses. It joined the old road to Exeter where it does today.
William Tenney had sold his house and store and removed to Exeter. Tenney's Corner was undergoing changes. A fine, stone house was replacing the old cottage of William Taylor at the head of the new street, and a two-story stone house on Main Street took the place of the snug little law office of William Tenney.
The low land through which the "new road to Boston" was laid out is now the northern end of Exeter Street. For many years after this street was laid out, every year when the melting snows filled Solon's Brook to overflowing, the lower part of Exeter Street was a turbulent little river. Boats were frequently in use for a brief time. About sixty years ago a flood of unusual proportions swept away a section of the railroad south of the station, and its force carried the iron rails, twisted and bent, through Exeter Street, leaving them at the foot of the hill in front of Nathan Stackpole's blacksmith shop. Cellars and founda- tions were flooded and weakened on the east side of the street. Doctor Sanborn's barn was turned about and left in the street. It was this disaster that caused the Boston and Maine Railroad to build a substantial stone culvert better to control Solon's Brook in the future. Previous to this time there were three small plank bridges on Exeter Street over the underground winding brook. One was near the blacksmith shop, one in front of Thomas Brown's coffin shop, and one at Robinson's tan-yard near the junction of the old Exeter Road with the newer Exeter Street.
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In 1826 James B. Creighton came to town from Wad- ley's Falls. He bought that tract of land which extended from what is now Creighton Street along Main to Water Street and thence along Water Street to tidewater. On the third day of June, 1782, the town of Newmarket sold this same parcel of land to Benjamin Mead and Wentworth Cheswell. They sold to William Tenney, who sold to James B. Creighton. The boundary lines were the same as in 1782, one of which lines was from the Cheswell well on Main Street. At the northwest corner, now occupied by the post office, a two-story house had been built, store below and dwelling above. The dwelling apartment was occupied by the Creighton family, and the store was stocked with general merchandise, and Creighton entered the com- petitive race for town trade. He soon added lumber to his financial interests. Later, a partnership was formed with Perley D. Blodgett and Miles Durgin, of Newmarket, and Ensign John Dow, of Epping. The people were curious to know what this partnership indicated, but plans were not announced. Astonishingly large piles of brick and lumber were parked in the vicinity of Tenney's Corner. Great excavations were being made from the road leading to the Creek to beyond Cheswell's well on Main Street. All good citizens have an interest in the prosperity of the town; but interest and curiosity are of close kin. The partners pre- served silence; and it is safe to say that a due amount of guess work was done. Some said "It is to be a new fac- tory ;" others, "It is a big tavern." The extended propor- tions limited the guessing to either a factory or an unusu- ally large tavern for so small a town.
On this land a stable had been built by William Ten-
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ney shortly before the sale to Creighton. It was forty- eight feet long and thirty-six feet wide. The cost of land and stable was two thousand dollars. Captain Woodbury was hired to move the stable further down the line near to Creighton's corner store. He carefully did the job for one hundred and thirty-six dollars. This stable was converted into a store with tailor-shop above. It was destroyed in the great fire of 1866 which burned all the buildings from Water Street to the brick block.
Schoolmaster Tasker was engaged as architect to draw a plan of a block one hundred feet in length and forty feet wide, three stories on the front and four on the rear, the block to be of brick. There was to be a large hall in the upper or fourth story with dormer windows and three large windows to the south. This is now Red Men's Hall. The brick work on the southwest corner is considered a difficult piece of work of the Gothic style. The master mason of the brick work on the new mill said he had no workmen here who could copy it. When this block was finished the partners agreed about the division. Twenty- three feet of the north end was set off for Ensign Dow, twenty-two feet in the middle portion for Miles Durgin, the southerly end being retained by Creighton, fifty-five feet in front and forty-three feet in the rear of the build- ing. Perley D. Blodgett had before this ceased to be a partner.
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