USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Canaan > The history of Canaan, New Hampshire > Part 3
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"No need of that," replied Miner, "I've thought it all over as we came along, you just stay where you are and you'll get these lands about as cheap as you want them."
17
THE FIRST AND SECOND SETTLERS.
"I've been jammed in crowds all my life," says Scofield, "and I'm up here to get away from them, can't bear to be crowded, never could; came away from Connecticut because there was too many people and too much law."
"Just you hold and listen a minute," says Miner. "I've seen a good many of these proprietors down there in Norwich and Colchester and there's soft spots in more than half of them. They will never come up here because they are afraid of the journey, and if we can make them believe there's to be assess- ments on their rights, they'll be glad to sell out cheap and you and I can have the benefit of their indolent fears."
"It looks very probable, perhaps you're right. But how are ye for venison at your camp ?"
"None at all, seen nothing to shoot at," says Miner.
"Well, you'd better come in and take some along with ye. We killed a bear that was snuffin' round the pig pen, two days since and the boys brought in a deer, so we are well supplied; and mind you bring the dame soon to see the old woman; its natural they should want to talk with one another."
"So I will," says Miner, "this venison is much like the land, it don't cost much after you get it."
It was not long before the women came together with very cheerful greetings. Mrs. Scofield was a middle-aged, motherly woman, who had followed her husband in all his wanderings for a home. They had a cabin which afforded them a shelter for themselves and their children. She was hopeful all her life; and, humble as it was, cheerfulness reigned in her home. Thus it was that at their first meeting, the old and the young couple being mutually pleased, formed a lasting friendship which continued during their lives and afterwards, in another generation be- came stronger by family ties.
Mr. Scofield, on learning that the proprietors of these lands were preparing to occupy them, naturally felt anxious as to his position here. He had after much wandering got his family in a position to secure a comfortable home. He had cleared a small patch of ground and was preparing to put in seed. Mr. Miner had assured him that there was land enough in Canaan for all the people who were coming, without any one of them being crowded, "and further," said he, "and to remove all your
2
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
anxieties, I pledge my word to you that should any dispute arise, as to your occupancy here, I'll divide my share with you, for I am an equal owner and have a right to do what I will with my own. Then we will take advantage of circumstances and when we find a disgusted proprietor, we'll step in and buy him out before he has time to change his mind."
They resolved to be neighbors. Mr. Miner would plant his stakes at a convenient distance from Mr. Scofield, who should retain the land whereon he had made improvements and what- ever lands they occupied, their rights should be recognized by the grantees. Having made this friendly covenant, they each set themselves diligently to work, and in due time they had green fields
"Where the rain might rain upon them ; Where the sun might shine upon them ; Where the winds might sigh upon them ; And where the snows might die upon them."
And now, having brought these two men together, who were so long apart, we will leave them while we go back and look after some other men, who, though willing, were not strong enough to come alone, but who, in the following years left records of hon- orable lives and actions.
OTHER EARLY SETTLERS,
Of the sixty-one grantees named in the charter, fifty-one were residents of Norwich, Colchester, and the surrounding towns in that vicinity in Connecticut. The other eleven were the friends of the Governor, and their names were written in the charter by court favoritism, a system that has always been understood in courts and cabinets, and by which men of genius get lands or profits without work.
After the departure of young Miner, in quest of his unknown lands, the subject of emigration often came to the surface in conversation between the proprietors, but several months passed away before they arrived at a conclusion. And then instead of coming as settlers, a few started out as explorers, who were to visit the lands and report upon its beauty and loveliness, its
19
THE FIRST AND SECOND SETTLERS.
fertility and the uses to which industrious men might put it. The party consisted of George and Daniel Harris, brothers, Amos Walworth, Samuel Benedict, Samuel Jones, Lewis Joslyn, Asa Williams, Joseph Craw and Daniel Crossman, some of these gentlemen brought along their families. The expedition was delayed until summer and they reached Canaan by the same route as that traveled by Mr. Miner. It is supposed they were heartily welcomed by the two first families, who were anxiously awaiting for news from home. Mr. George Harris, who from his energy and superior intelligence, was recognized as a leader among them, soon after their arrival organized parties for ex- ploration, and in a few days they had examined the southern, western and northern portions of the town. The following inci- dent relating to one of their parties is handed down as a legend : George Harris and his party, in 1767, came upon a sheet of water near Hanover, whose surface seemed to be alive with wild geese and ducks. They killed a goose - an old one - and cooked it, all day, and then it was tough. It never got to be a tender goose, and to commemorate this circumstance they named that water "Goose Pond."
Another of these parties, in traversing the northern part of the town, came upon the camp of James Clark, who, with his family, had just come in from the Piscataqua settlements, and had pitched upon the hill, which he afterwards sold to Joseph Bartlett. This man Clark lived here until 1772, when Governor Wentworth built his road to Hanover. It was laid out north of Clark's house. The governor offered to take Clark into his service, which he accepted and followed on in the train to Hanover.
These exploring parties returned to Mr. Miner's camp at the time appointed, expressing themselves well pleased with the lands they had examined, particularly with the numerous ponds and streams which indicated abundance of water. In their travels, each one had selected a spot upon which to pitch his home. George Harris, Amos Walworth, Samuel Jones, Joseph Craw and Daniel Crossman selected lands upon what is now "South Road," so as to form a neighborhood. Crossman, Craw and Benedict, who had brought their families along, went into
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
the business of brush housekeeping, like Miner and Scofield. While Samuel Jones, who was unmarried and had been a major of militia, for the time being, attached himself to the family of Mr. Scofield, from which he afterwards took a wife, and began improvements on his own pitch, which was not far away. Mr. Harris and Walworth returned to Colchester to convey the result of their observations to the waiting ones who came eagerly to hear the reports from New Hampshire.
But they were not ready to start, and did not come yet for more than a year, except Mr. Harris, who, with his wife and family, and accompanied by Samuel Dodge and Capt. Josiah Gates, returned to his new home the same season, and busied himself in assigning lands, laying out roads and other matters in the interests of the grantees. Before winter set in, each of these families had built log houses, and were prepared with their slender means to meet the rigors of the season. Joseph Craw's child died during the winter of 1768, the first death in the town- ship. There was much to discourage these new settlers. No roads to pass from house to house. No corn mills nor saw- mills, no crops of grain to be gathered. The way of their coming was not favorable for the transportation of grain or food. Their slender stock slowly diminished, until the colonists began to feel alarm lest they might come to want and their families suffer. Here was a great trial approaching and it needed brave men to meet it. And under it some of those strong men grew faint and wished they had not come. Some, it is said, even turned back and sought their old homes in Connecticut. There was no mill nearer than Lebanon, nor roads leading to it, nor bridges upon which to cross the streams. Only a foot trail led through the forest, obstructed by swamps and fallen trees, and rafts of logs served for bridges.
For several years it occurred that a man must walk to Leba- non, where a mill had been built, work a day to earn a bushel of "bread corn" and have it ground, then pack it upon his back to his home in the forest, by that blind trail through the forest. We can imagine how carefully that bushel of bread corn was husbanded and dealt out to the laborers. The times afforded no room for tramps, nor vagabonds, nor idlers, or other non-workers
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THE FIRST AND SECOND SETTLERS.
to lounge about and eat up the hard-earned bread of honest industry.
"Here eyes do regard them, In eternity's stillness, Here is all fullness, Ye brave, to reward you, Work and despair not."
It happened, a few years after the settlers came in, there was a failure of crops. There was but one man in town who had corn in his crib, our old friend, Maj. Samuel Jones, who was a man of wealth and influence, living on South Road, west of Beaver Brook. He was a kind man, considerate to his poor neighbors, to many of whom he gave employment. It is related that Col. Ezekiel Wells, also a man of wealth and influence, went to the major to purchase corn, confident that his social position was such as to bar a refusal, and thus he would save the trouble of going to Lebanon. But the major was inexorable. He replied : "Colonel, you have a good horse and plenty of money, and can get your corn with but little personal inconvenience. I want a good deal of work done, and these neighbors of mine have nothing else to pay for my corn. It wouldn't be right for me to sell you my corn and send these men all the way over to Lebanon on foot. No, Colonel, can't do it, we must help one another." Colonel Wells was an irascible and profane man, but the major was not moved thereby. Returning home, the colonel stopped a moment at a place where young Thomas Baldwin was hewing timber and made this remark: "By God, I wish I was a devil." Thomas stopped his work, and looking at the colonel quietly replied : "Put your foot upon this log and I'll make a devil of you at one blow of the axe."
CHAPTER III.
PROPRIETORS' MEETINGS, 1768-1785. "
During the winter and spring of 1768, there was but little variation in the labors of the settlers. Some progress had been made in laying out roads, and several acres of trees had been felled and the land burned over preparatory to putting in seed.
Until this season, it does not appear that any organization of grantees had ever been made. It was necessary that some per- sons should be authorized to transact the business of the grantees, in order that the settlers might feel secure in their titles. Ac- cordingly a meeting of the Proprietors was warned and was held, probably at the house of John Scofield, although the record does not say, on the nineteenth day of July, 1768. This is the first meeting of the people of Canaan. They met as proprietors of the Township of Canaan, owners of the land and not as citi- zens in a municipal capacity. The doings of the proprietors as recorded in the Proprietors' Book of Records, was concerned mostly with the laying out and dividing of the land, the ap- pointment of officers for the purpose of allotting the land, called the "Lot Laying Committee," the appointment of assessors for the purpose of assessing the taxes to pay the expenses of the proprietary in surveying the lots, surveying and building roads and bridges, the appointment of a collector to collect the taxes, a treasurer to hold the money, and a proprietors' clerk to keep the records. Committees were appointed at different times for different purposes, mostly to see that the proprietors' money was laid out in a proper manner towards the object for which it was raised.
Not till two years later was a town meeting held, and during these two years the town affairs were conducted by the pro- prietors. The town officers were also officers of the proprietary, sometimes holding the same positions in each body. There were really more offices to be filled than men to fill them and some
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PROPRIETORS' MEETINGS, 1768-1785.
held two positions. Up to 1787, the proprietors assessed taxes on the lands for the purpose of building and mending roads and bridges, after that time the care of roads and bridges was assumed by the town and appropriations were made by the town alone. From 1770 to 1787, appropriations were made by both town and proprietors for that purpose.
The first meeting of the proprietors is as follows :
Province of New Hampshire: Canaan July 19th. 1768. A Meeting Legally warned of the Proprietors of the Township of Canaan in said Province, the following votes were passed (viz.) :
1st. Chose Mr. George Harris Moderator.
2nd. Made choice of Mr. Joseph Craw Proprietors Clerk.
3rd. Made Choice of Mr. George Harris first Committee Man.
4th. Chose Captain Josiah Gates 2nd. Committee Man.
5th. Chose Samuel Benedict 3rd. Committee Man.
6th. Chose John Burdick 4th. Committee Man.
7th. Chose Mr. Joseph Craw 5th. Committee Man.
8th. Chose Mr. Samuel Benedict Asseser.
9th. Chose Mr. John Burdick 2nd. Asseser.
10. Chose Mr. Joseph Craw 3rd. Asseser.
11. Chose Mr. Samuel Dodge Collector.
12. Chose Mr. John Scofield Treasurer.
13. Voted to raise a tax of three dollars upon each Proprietors Right to defray the Charges of Making & Mending Rodes in the Township of Canaan.
14. Voted that the above mentioned tax of three dollars on each Prors Right for making and Mending Rodes be worked out under the care and direction of the Proprietors Committee and to be done by the middle of November next & ye sd Committee alow 4/ [shillings] pe day for sd labor.
15. Voted to raise one dollar upon each Proprietors Right which the Proprietors will give with one hundred acres of upland to be layed out in the undivided land with a stream where it shall be judged best & most convenient to build Mills on to any person who will appear and build a good Corn Mil & Saw Mill within twelve months from this time. So as to have said Mill well done and going for the benefit of the Town.
16. Voted that the Proprietors Committee are hereby directed to lay out to those Proprietors as are already settled in said Township of Canaan Ten acres of Meadow and allso one hundred acres of Upland where they have already made their Pitch, to be allowed towards their Right or share in Said Township, and also the said Committee are fur- ther directed to lay out ten acres of Meadow and one hundred acres of upland as above said as shall appear to make speedy settlement in said Town & furthermore the Proprietors Clerk is hereby directed to put the returns sd ten acres & hundred acres lots upon Record as they
24
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
shall be layed out and returned by the Committee to each proprietor as aforesaid.
17. Voted that the owners of more than one sixteenth Part of the Rights or Shares in the Township of Canaan shall make request to the Proprietors Clerk, setting forth the reasons for calling said meeting and also the articles to be acted upon and of the time and place of holding said meeting. That the Clerk warn a meeting by duly posting a notification Agreeable to said request (10) days at least before the time of holding at the house of Mr. John Scofield in said Canaan. Shall be a sufficient warning for the future.
18. Voted to raise six shillings on each Proprietors Right Labour or Provitions to be given to the first settlers in said Canaan as was proposed to be given them Encouragement, to be proportioned amongst them as (viz.) :
to Mr. John Scofield of Vallew of 26 dollars
to Mr Asa Williams 18 dollars
to Mr Samuel Jones of Vallew of 8 dollars
to Mr. Daniel Crossman of Vallew of 8 dollars
Test GEORGE HARRIS Moderator, JOSEPH CRAW Pro C
Soon after this meeting the proprietors realized that their charter had lapsed for non-performance of its conditions, and without its renewal in their favor they were liable to be deprived of the results of all their labors; that the township might be granted to others. Accordingly they prepared a memorial and presented it to the governor, followed on December 3, 1768, by a petition of George Harris in behalf of himself and the other grantees, praying for a new grant of the township :
A memorial of the Proprietors of the Township of Canaan in sd Province humbly represents that your Excellency memorialists having obtained A Royal Charter of the sd Township of Canaan Did A number of them soon begin A Town in the second range, & the Town between it & Conn River not having begun to settle [namely, Hanover] and in- deed all the towns thereabouts being destitute of Roads and also of Provisions (to Spare) which rendered the settlement impractible at that time; Whereupon the adventurers withdrew until the Spring of the year 1766. At which time (the difficulties being in some measure removed and the proprietors having given New Encouragement to the first settlers) Canaan began to settle indeed and Encreases fast to this time & bids fair to Encrease still - that whether the Proprietors are engaged to settle the Town your Excellency may determine something by A copy of part of Canaan Proprietors records which we herewith transmit to your Excellency But your Excellencys memorialists being sensible that the time limited in their sd Charter for Duty to be done is
25
PROPRIETORS' MEETINGS, 1768-1785.
Expired, & the duty not done in full as required in the sd Charter, al- though they have made Good proficiency hereto - Therefor your Ex- cellency memorialists humbly pray your Excellency would be Pleased to renew their Chareter, that so the further settlement of Canaan may be Encouraged and those who have advanced their interests thereon not Deprived thereof, and the Hopes of all your Excellencys Dutiful Me- morialists Resolved into Gratitude, and furthermore your Excellencys memorialists (apprehending it to be requisite to have the lines of the Township of Canaan ran and the bounds Ascertained), Humbly beg Leave to recommend Mr Aaron Storrs to your Excellency as a fit person for sd purpose (he being A Surveyor that is well approvd of and pray your Excellencies favor (if it may also be your Pleasure) to appoint him to that service. Whom we also appoint to be our agent to Lay this our Memorial befor your Excellency & to Receive your Excellencys answer to this our Memorial & your Excellencys Memorialists as in Duty bound Shall Ever Pray.
At a Meeting of the Proprietors of the Township of Canaan held in Canaan Aug ye 12 day 1768 Chose Mr Aaron Storrs to Lay the above Memorial before his Excellency the Govr of New Hampshire.
Test JOSEPH CRAW. Propr Clerk
The meeting referred to on August 12, 1768, was never re- recorded in the Proprietors' Book of Records.
Petition of George Harris of Norwich in Colony of Conn husbandman in behalf of Himself and other Grantees of Township of Canaan, unto your Excellency & the Honble Council humbly shews :-
That yr Petitioner & his associates have expended large sums in bringing forward the settlement of said Township, which (on acct of the many Obstruction & Difficultys they have met with for want of necessary Roads & Mills) they have not been able to effect, till his majestys grants to them was expired & as the settlement of new land is a heavy and weighty work, yr Petitioners pray they may be indulged with a New Grant of said Township for such time longer as yr Excel- lency may judge necessary & your Petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray -
GEORGE HARRIS in
behalf of Himself & associates
Dec. 3, 1768.
Their application was successful and Gov. John Wentworth granted them a renewal signed February 23, 1769.
For two years subsequent to the first recorded meeting, there does not appear to be much increase in the population, but few of the grantees arrived and some who were here returned to Norwich. Among the new settlers we find Deacon Caleb Welch,
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
who "pitched" upon the farm once owned by Harrison Fogg. He cleared the land of trees and dead brush, built a house, and planted an orchard of apple and pear trees, from which he lived to make thirty barrels of cider in one year, which he and his boys drank. He was very close with the fruit, jealous of his apples and pears. He came here with four boys, Caleb, Martin, William and Russell. William married and settled in Enfield, Martin married and died in Jerusalem. Deacon Caleb died with old Moses Low, who lived near him. He was buried in the Cobble, but no stone marks his grave. His wife went to live with her son in Enfield, where she died at the age of ninety years.
The Deacon's was the eighth family that settled in town. His son, Caleb, afterwards built the house where once Rufus Rich- ardson lived and was its last occupant. Young Caleb sold it to Joshua Currier, who lived in it sixteen years, sold it to David Richardson and then bought the house where his son, Farring- ton, once lived, the first house east of the Gulf.
Dr. Ebenezer Eames, along with whom came Thomas Baldwin, a youth then sixteen years old. Joshua and Ezekiel Wells, two brothers; Samuel Chapman, who kept an inn on South Road, and was afterwards known as the old lame basket maker; Jedidiah Hibbard, Asa Kilburn and Samuel Meacham and his family, the three latter men being residents of Lebanon as early as 1764, followed Harris upon his return from Connecticut.
The power to call a legal meeting by the proprietors seems to have lapsed and application had to be made to Israel Morey in January, 1770, one of His Majesty's justices of the peace at Orford, who called a meeting to be held at the inn of Mr. John Man at Orford on May 10. At this meeting John Scofield was chosen moderator and the meeting adjourned to six o'clock the next morning at the house of John Scofield, in Canaan, to meet for the future and forever hereafter in Canaan.
It appears now that the settlers are much depressed and disaffection is apparent from the hardships they encountered and the scanty harvests. The want of a mill was every day increasing, and no relief seemed to be at hand. The bread corn had still to be carried to Lebanon as for four years past, by the same trail first blazed by Scofield and now not much improved.
27
PROPRIETORS' MEETINGS, 1768-1785.
It was voted that the proprietors of Canaan build the desired mills, and that they be completed in a workmanlike manner by the twenty-fifth day of December, 1770. A tax of twelve shil- lings was laid on each right, to be paid to the person who should build the mills. And as further encouragement to some such person, a grant of three hundred acres of land from the undi- vided uplands was voted, one hundred of these acres to be laid out so as to include all privileges convenient to said mills. But in vain did they hold out their twelve shillings tax, about $125, and three hundred acres; no millwright appeared yet for many months.
At this meeting Jedidiah Hibbard was chosen clerk, the duties of which he fulfilled until 1773. John Scofield was chosen treasurer and held the office until his death, in 1784. Jedidiah Hibbard was chosen collector and John Scofield, Joseph Craw and Asa Kilburn assessors. The clerk was authorized to warn meetings upon the request of ten of the proprietors and until there be twelve families settled herein by posting a copy of the warning in a public place, also sending a copy to Mr. Fowle, the printer at Portsmouth, and one to George Harris at Colchester, Conn., to be inserted in the public prints, if he see cause. And whenever twelve families are settled here the notification may be posted in said town alone.
From all the evidence we have gathered, it appears that at this time, 1770, nearly four years after the arrival of Mr. Scofield, there were not yet twelve families in the town, and these were chiefly settled upon or near the present "South Road." Their names were John Scofield, Thomas Miner, Joseph Craw, Daniel Crossman, Asa Williams, George Harris, Amos Walworth, Caleb Welch, Samuel Chapman, Ebenezer Eames and Samuel Benedict. Several other names appear, as Samuel Jones, John Burdick, Samuel Dodge, Jedidiah Hibbard, Asa Kilburn, Josiah Gates, Thomas Baldwin, but they were not reckoned as family men. A large majority of the proprietors living in Connecticut had not arrived and failed ever to come. They entered into the proprietary as many do in these days for the purpose of selling out at enhanced prices.
The meeting adjourned to meet again at the house of John Scofield. The proprietors' meetings were all held up to the
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