USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Canaan > The history of Canaan, New Hampshire > Part 15
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Sixthly - That this Grant Shall not interfere with Any of our Grants made as aforesaid & now in force nor Interrupt the Grantees in their Improvements making thereon agreable to the conditions thereof-
In Testimony whereof We have caused the Seal of Our Said Province of New Hampshire to be hereunto affixed.
Witness JOHN WENTWORTH Esq Our Afore Said Governor & Com- mander in Chieff the Seventh Day of May in the Thirteenth Year of our Reign Annoque Domini 1773.
J' WENTWORTH
21/2001 /500 521:19 7533195 Beach Tree
+ 68 Rods
4272 Leves
2
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461W 6 miles to a Beach Tree
Tree
Beach
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Original Survey of Dame's Gore. april 23. 1773
DORCHESTER
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HANOVER
Cap Dames Patent
Moose Mount ,
CANAJAN
CARDIGAN
Relhan
SS3 WindE b& Rods
South East Corner
156
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
The proprietors of Canaan laid out land in the gore, thinking that it was a part of Canaan. Several rights were allotted land north of the "old town line." Joseph Randlett was one of these; also Josiah Clark. Daniel Lary settled there, buying his land of Dame. Caleb Clark bought five hundred acres of Dame, in 1774-'77. Captain Dame was not a thrifty man. It passed from him into the hands of Rev. Jonathan Homer, of Newton, Mass., for the consideration of 143 pounds and 12 shil- lings, on November 5, 1787. It was described in that deed as "Beginning at the north-east corner of the line lately run by the proprietors of Canaan through the Gore, thence running S 61 degrees E to the north-east corner of said line, then N 53 E to the south-east corner of Dorchester, then N 61 W to the south-west corner of Dorchester, then S 53 W to the first bound, Containing 4272 acres." It will be observed that the west line ran from the southwest corner of Dorchester to the north- west corner of Canaan. The direction of the line in the grant and deed are the same, but it was discovered by Homer that the bearing of that line was not correct, and he employed John Currier to survey it, and the line was run South 88° West, and the east line was also changed. Homer was called a hard man, perhaps because he wanted what he owned. There were several squatters, so considered by Homer, who had settled on his land, and would not atone to him. Joseph Randlett was one of them, and he began an action of trespass against him. Randlett called upon the town and proprietors to make good his title, as he had purchased the land of them. At the annual meeting in March, 1801, the town was asked to take into con- sideration the claim of Dame's heirs against Randlett, and Col. Henry Gerrish was appointed to settle the "disputed lines of the town." Later in October the town appointed Daniel Blais- dell and William Richardson "agents, empowered to defend in the two actions, viz : one brought by the proprietors of Dame's Gore against Joseph Randlett, and the other brought by the proprietors of Orange against Josiah Clark, in case the pro- prietors of Dame's Gore and Orange will not enter into a ref- erence, for the settlement of the same, and to take every measure to maintain our lines according to our charter and the survey." These suits dragged along until 1804, when the town was able
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DAME'S GORE AND STATE'S GORE.
to make a satisfactory settlement with Homer. The action against Josiah Clark, was for ejectment from 100 acres and damages to the amount of $500. Clark won, and judgment was entered in his favor for the costs in February, 1804. Clark's land did not belong to Orange.
In 1803 a petition had been presented to the General Court, respecting a gore of land lying between Hanover and Canaan. Ebenezer Hoyt had been appointed commissioner to determine it. The town voted "to remonstrate with the General Court against the petition, of those praying for the land and to post- pone the granting until the suit be determined between Col. Dame's heirs and the proprietors of Canaan, which involves in measure the same land." Homer had discovered that Dame's Gore did not include all the land on the north line of Canaan, that there was a small piece between Hanover, Lyme and the gore, which Dame's grant did not include, probably because at the time Captain Dame's patent was issued it was not known that Lyme extended beyond the line of Hanover. Homer wanted this piece, which afterwards became known as "State's or Gates' Gore." Homer did establish his right to Dame's grant, but it did not include the other piece.
The inhabitants of the gore being few, and under no govern- ment of their own, or able to protect themselves against the en- croachments of adjoining towns, thought best to make applica- . tion to the Legislature to be annexed to some town. Accord- ingly, in 1808, Daniel Lary petitioned the General Court to be annexed to Dorchester. Others of the inhabitants opposed this and wished to be annexed to Canaan. Homer opposed the peti- tion, and asked the Legislature to postpone any action in the matter for three years until such a time as the people knew what they wanted. Some of the inhabitants asked Canaan to accept them, should the Legislature grant their request to be annexed to Canaan, and in November, 1808, the town voted, "that Dame's Gore may be annexed to Canaan, agreeable to the petition of the inhabitants of the Gore to the General Court in June last"; but the Legislature refused to act upon or grant their petition, and it was many years before they succeeded.
In 1833 the town voted to petition the General Court to annex
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
Dame's Gore. In 1837 the town was asked to vote for the an- nexation of "that part of Dame's Gore lying West of the Mas- coma, and also that part of Dorchester lying west of the river- and south of a line drawn from the North-east corner of Enoch Fifield's land westerly to Lyme line." The article was dis- missed. In 1841 the town was asked to annex Dame's Gore, and again refused. In 1844 they refused again; but at the meeting on March 14, 1846, they voted to annex Dame's Gore, but dismissed that part of the article which referred to the annexation of State's Gore, and on July 2, 1846, the Legislature by enactment made Dame's Gore a part of Canaan.
By virtue of a resolve of June 20, 1815, William A. Kent, treasurer of the state, appointed Ebenezer Hoyt, to ascertain the quantity and appraise the value of a piece of land lying west of the line of Dame's Gore, adjoining Hanover and Canaan. This resolve authorized the treasurer to convey. And on De- cember 27, 1815, he conveyed to Samuel Jones Gates and Adam Pollard for $220, the triangular-shaped piece described as fol- lows "Beginning at the north-west corner of Canaan, thence running N 45 degrees E 182 rods to the north-east corner of Hanover, thence running S 64° E 277 rods to the corner of Lime, & Dorchester thence W 2º S 380 rods by Dame's Gore to the first bound containing 149 acres and 100 square rods." This is State's. or Gates' Gore.
Of the early settlers on Dame's Gore Caleb Clark lived on the West end, then came Joseph Bartlett on the east side of the River. David Jones of Epping who married Hannah Dow, lived. for a time at the Corner, but in 1794 moved to the gore and lived on what was afterwards the Lary farm. He was taxed in Canaan for the years 1793-'95. On the east end towards Orange was Josiah Clark, Daniel Lary and next Tristram Sanborn. Jonathan Homer purchased the gore in 1787 and on September 20, 1788, he made a personal visit to the gore to take formal possession of his new purchase. He made Josiah Clark his agent, to see that no trespass was committed, trees cut or any squatters allowed. At that time he showed his good will by giving Lary and Clark the privilege to make sugar from the maples on Sugar Hill. This hill Homer afterwards sold to San-
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DAME'S GORE AND STATE'S GORE.
born in 1817. Abner H. Cilley was an early settler. He was industrious and obstinate, and succeeded in the face of many annoyances from Mr. Homer in making himself a pleasant home. He was served with writs and summonses by the agents of Homer who were instructed to bring suits for larceny or tres- pass on every tree that was cut. Thomas H. Pettingill had good gleanings there, so also did Elijah Blaisdell. But Mr. Cilley lived and died at a good old age in his own house, the first built on that part of the gore, which is still standing in good condition, the property of R. H. Haffenreffer. Daniel Sher- burne was an agent for Mr. Homer, and built the second house on that part of the gore owned by Mr. Haffenreffer. The third house was built by David Pollard, who was the father of eighteen children, fourteen of which lived to grow up; the fourth house was built by Amos Kinney, the fifth by Elwell Eastman, who lived there but a short time. Then B. P. George built on the west side of the road. Edwin May also built and lived there. The last man who was brave enough to finish a house on the gore was John W. Hoyt, whose family resided there while he was away in the army. Joseph Pollard, who married Abner H. Cil- ley's daughter, lived there and took care of old Abner, receiving the latter's property for so doing. After Pollard closed his house, all of the buildings were vacant for some time, until Mr. Haffenreffer purchased as much of the gore as he could and repaired all the buildings, that were not too much dilapidated. But for all the hard labor and money that have been put upon that land it still refuses to make anyone rich.
Mr. Homer died and Charles C. Curtis was appointed execu- tor; he proceeded to sell the remainder of the land and accord- ingly held an auction in May, 1846, and closed out all of Homer's interests. Homer had sold land to Joseph Bartlett, Josiah P. Haynes, Caleb P. Wells, David Richardson, Mary Sanborn, Samuel J. Gates, Nathaniel Derby, Adam Pollard, Amos Kin- ney, Abner H. Cilley, Joseph Sherburne, Obadiah Eastman, Tristram Sanborn and Josiah Clark. Curtis sold to E. and J. Martin, Orrin and George Fales, Alexander Caldwell, John Rock- well, Asa Ham, Jonathan Kittredge and John Lougee, John L. Pressey, John B. Flanders, Joseph Hapgood, Wesley P. Burpee,
.
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
William P. Weeks, Moses Hadley and the balance remaining was bid off to Curtis' son. Joseph Worthen and others, not succeeding in getting Homer to build a road across his land petitioned the court in 1821 and compelled him not only to lay out the road, but to pay the costs of the action. He employed John Currier, who surveyed a road across the gore May 23, 1821.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SURPLUS REVENUE AND LITERARY FUND.
In the year 1836 Congress voted to distribute thirty-six mil- lions of dollars of surplus revenue, then lying in the treasury, among the several states. These millions had accumulated from the sale of public lands, and were still increasing. The national debt had been all paid. General Jackson told his party that this money was a source of danger to the liberties of the country. The Democratic party in those days was hostile to internal improvements, and opposed them everywhere. Railroads were built by individual energy; rivers were obstructed by snags, sawyers, rafts, and sand bars, and even the harbors of the lakes and the St. Clair flats were found pretty much in the con- dition nature left them. This money was to be distributed in four installments, three of which were paid when an angry cloud hovered over our northern borders, threatening war with Eng- land, and the fourth installment was retained to pay the ex- penses of transporting troops to Maine, to Niagara, and to the Indian Stream country in northern New Hampshire. The amount paid over to our state exceeded over $800,000. The Leg- islature voted to divide the money among the towns in propor- tion to population. At the annual meeting on March 14, 1837, the town voted to receive the money, and William P. Weeks was appointed financial agent in relation to it. The money, $3,003.75, was ordered to be loaned at six per cent. interest, paid in ad- vance, in sums of not over three hundred dollars nor less than one hundred to any one individual, the interest to be appro- priated to the schools, and to be divided among the several school districts in town according to the number of scholars; and an inventory of the scholars was to be taken the following April 1st of all scholars under 21 and over 3 years of age.
The agent received the money and loaned it to such persons as complied with the terms agreed upon ; no discrimination being made in regard to the politics of the person applying for it. In
11
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
1837 the amount of interest was $180.22, and the next year it was the same, things moved on smoothly and the scholars got the benefit of the interest money. At this date there was a heap of malignant cussedness slumbering in the hearts of our people. It came in with the mob that destroyed the academy, and cropped out upon all occasions of excitement. In December, 1838, when George Drake destroyed the windows in the academy, the town appointed Caleb Blodgett, Thomas Flanders and James Pattee an "Investigating Committee," and it was their duty to try and fix the outrage upon the abolitionists, Jonathan Kittridge, Nathaniel Sumner, William W. George, and their associates. So positive were they that this injury had been done by the abolitionists that they proceeded at once to pronounce sentence upon them, by voting that "all the surplus revenue in the hands of the abolitionists be collected forthwith by the treasurer." And that there might be no doubt where Jonathan Kittredge stood they voted that he "be consigned over to the abolition- ists." The committee reported that they had not been able to fix any charge upon anybody except the town, and the town paid their charges, $59.68. At the same meeting they voted to repair the Academy, the expense of which, amounting to $28.37, was paid out of the surplus revenue. At the March meeting in 1839 they voted "to collect a sum of the surplus revenue suffi- cient to buy a farm for the poor, and to stock it, and to fur- nish the house on said farm." James Pattee, Chamberlain Packard, Jr., and Joseph Dustin were appointed a committee to buy the farm.
The farm they proposed to buy was the old Deacon Welch farm, then owned by Moses Pattee, consisting of one hundred acres and also another piece of forty acres in the north part of the town above John Currier's. The Pattee homestead had cost the impecunious Moses about eleven hundred dollars; but his brothers, Daniel and James, held a mortgage against it. They were willing and anxious to receive their money back, and as Daniel was chairman of the board of select- men, it was not difficult for him to pursuade the "Board," and as James was chairman of the buying committee it was not difficult for him to persuade the others that the farm was worth much more than the sum it cost Moses, and that it would
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THE SURPLUS REVENUE AND LITERARY FUND.
be greatly to the interest of (the Pattee family) the town and the poor thereof to purchase it at the price asked. The town became the happy possessor of these valuable pieces of real estate on March 18, 1839, about a week after they voted. The poor had a farm, the Pattees got their money back, and a large hole was made in the sum total of the surplus revenue. But there were many voters who were not satisfied with this dispo- sition of their money. They thought there was too much family interest at work in getting rid of that farm for so much money,- $1,450 for the land, and $550 to carry out the second part of the "vote." The town worked this farm with the usual results to such speculations - that mean losses every year - for a little over seven years, and then was glad to find a purchaser on August 8, 1846, at $1,200, in Moses French of Enfield. The furniture and stock were sold for what they would bring at auc- tion. The loss to the town in this operation amounted to 10 per cent. per annum on its investment, without reckoning the di- minished amounts paid to schools.
For two years, 1837 and 1838, the interest on the surplus reve- nue distributed to the schools was $180.22 each year. In 1839 the amount fell off to $60; in 1840 it was $60; and in 1841 it was $60; and the sum total of this revenue which accrued to the bene- fit of the schools during the five years it attracted the greed of the people was $540.44. After 1843 it ceased to appear in the records, because it had then been absorbed into the pockets of the taxpayers. One thousand dollars of the surplus revenue went into Canaan Union Academy, and with it $300 of the lit- erary fund, and never came out. In 1843 the amount of the surplus revenue was $775.58, when the town voted to distribute it, as a result of the trouble which had arisen over the collection of the notes of the proprietors of the academy. In 1844, March 9, the amount of surplus revenue paid to Daniel Campbell was $814.32, and then it disappears from the records. When Dame's Gore was annexed, the town received $113.95 as the share of the gore. This also was absorbed and disappeared into the town treasury to pay the town debts.
In 1821, at the March meeting, the town voted "that the notes for the school fund be lodged with the town treasurer and kept and managed by him under the direction of the select-
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
men and the town." What this vote refers to is not known, unless it is a resurrection of the old funds received from the sale of the school lands in 1806, for the literary fund was not created by act of the Legislature until June 29, 1821. This law was designed to distribute the bank taxes collected by the state amongst the schools in the several towns according to their scholars. In 1822 the school fund comes up again and the town voted "that all persons indebted to the school fund by note, procure two sureties, and no notes to be renewed without two sureties." In 1829 the town was asked to make some disposition of the literary fund and the "old school fund," but they re- fused. In 1830 the town voted that "the first selectman take the direction of the school fund and put it to the best interest of the town." In 1832 the town voted to divide the interest and principal of the literary fund over $1,00 and distribute it into the several school districts, according to polls and estate, and to let out the school fund of $1,000 to best advantage with sureties. In 1833 the town voted to purchase a poor farm not to exceed $1,000, and immediately afterwards voted $300 to purchase the poor farm, and also to place the school fund in the treasurer's hands.
Elijah Blaisdell had the school fund and did not pass it over, so the town appointed Luther Kinne agent to prosecute Elijah to "final execution." Later, in July, the town voted to use the $300 appropriated for the poor farm towards the road around Clark Hill, and then tried to appropriate the school fund to buy the farm, but the town dismissed the latter article. In 1834 the town appropriated the interest on the school fund and $120 of principal of the literary fund "to be received from the state." They, then, that there might not be any doubt as to how the funds were to be disposed of in the future,
Resolved, That it is the duty of the treasurer to take charge of the school and literary fund, keep a regular account of the same in a book appropriated for that purpose, see that the notes are regularly renewed at least once in two years on the first day of February and made amply secure. Collect the interest and make a regular transfer of the money received from the state, and so much of the interest of the permanent school and literary fund as will make the sum of $120 annually, from the amount of the literary fund to the amount of the school money raised by the town, and to pay the same with the school money for the
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THE SURPLUS REVENUE AND LITERARY FUND.
order of the selectmen for the support of schools and for no other pur- pose.
On January 19, 1837, the town
Voted that the money in the hands of John H. Harris, George Harris and Nathaniel Currier, being a part of the school fund and belonging to the town, be collected and appropriated to the payment of the ex- penses and charges of the town the current year as far as it may be needed, and that the selectmen of the town give their notes in behalf of the town to the treasurer for the amount. And that the treasurer collect the same as soon as may be.
So vanishes the school fund, the literary fund continues to be received from the state and in 1839 amounts to $766.04, repre- sented by notes of persons who had borrowed the money. And the town continues to divide the interest among the several school districts. In 1847, $233.96 of the town money is added to the literary fund and in 1851 $300 of the principal with the interest is appropriated for the use of schools "immediately." The town, however, receives each year from the state "interest on the literary fund" for the benefit of schools, which is raised from the tax on banks, railroads, telephone and telegraph com- panies. In 1865 the literary fund, which was loaned in several notes at six per cent. interest, the income to be used for the benefit of schools, amounted to about $1,000. The interest was not always promptly paid. The town decided to collect this money, and "adding enough to it to purchase a state bond or some other good paying security for $1,000, the same to be kept; and the interest to be used for schooling." In 1879 the state redeemed the bond and the town applied the money on the town debt. So disappears the literary fund. It is still put down in the selectmen's report of the financial condition of the town as a permanent debt, and the town pays interest on it for the bene- fit of the schools, being compelled to by the wording of its re- ceipt to the state treasurer.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
From the earliest settlement of this town its people have been strongly sectarian in religious matters. Personal recollec- tions of the old people are, that they conceived it to be a vital importance to make a public confession of religion, and to be con- stant in their attendance upon its ordinances. Without reflect- ing that (in many cases) it was only an outside garment for Sunday use, the sentiment grows upon one that these solemn faced old gentlemen, whose constant appearance at the meet- ing-house, riding on horseback and bringing their wives upon a pillion behind them, were men of God to whom no evil could come nigh. My own increasing years and a more extended knowledge of human frailties and infirmities has considerably modified that sentiment. But that which used to excite my admiration greatly was the individuality that marked the rug- ged character of those men. There were none learned among them - nor were they much given to reading, except in the Bible and a few religious books they brought with them. Each man was his own expounder of the faith and doctrine he held to. They were all more or less given to expressing their views on Sundays, and having once announced their beliefs, they were not inclined to modify them, however they might differ from re- ceived opinions. There were strong voiced persons among them, who gradually monopolized the time, and at length crowded out the feeble. These men and women were never favorable to being taxed to pay for preaching, because they considered them- selves qualified to preach for nothing. The records for many years give us only negative votes upon the subject. At length, when young Thomas Baldwin, one of their own boys, sprightly, eloquent and consistent, by hard study and steady application, had been set apart and ordained as an evangelist, and placed over this young church and people they yielded gracefully to him as their leader. The women loved and petted him, and the men honored and respected him for his manly, yet gentle
Paper Mill
n
Catholic Church
M. E. Church, Street
Congregational Church
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THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
character - and 35 pounds was readily voted for preaching for his support. But in the flush of their pleasure at having a leader, and while they were congratulating themselves upon their unanimity, there was heard one little piping voice and then an- other very feeble, sounding much as if ashamed of its own weakness, and then another - until five men came haltingly for- ward and "descented" to raising the tax. They did not believe it Scriptural to support a man for doing nothing but preach,- it would be encouraging laziness. They liked for the brethren to have a chance to tell of the Lord's doings, and not pay for a man's speech when his hands were idle. "No, they wan't a going to do no such thing." Everybody in that hard working community ought to have a chance to free his mind in his own way. It was put to vote, and those dissenting fellows were ex- cused from paying any part of the tax. Each day while clear- ing away the forests, or working the lands, these strong minded men were rehearsing the thoughts they intended to speak at the next Sunday gathering. Among them were many fluent speak- ers - men, who with education, might have shone in the world of letters. With such men for fathers it is no wonder that many of the sons became preachers, and that several of them should attain eminence in the denomination to which they at- tached themselves.
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