USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > The history of Concord : from its first grant in 1725, to the organization of the city government in 1853, with a history of the ancient Penacooks ; the whole interspersed with numerous interesting incidents and anecdotes, down to the present period, 1885 > Part 16
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While the assemblies were in session, and the commissioners were devising to settle the disputed claims, Gov. Belcher, with a select company, made an excursion of three days to the falls of Amoskeag- an account of which was published in the papers, and concluded in the following manner : "His Excellency was much pleased with the fine soil of Chester, the extraordinary im- provements at Derry, and the mighty falls at Skeag."
Among the questions which puzzled the commissioners, and which it required all their wits to settle, were, " Whether Merri- mack river, at that time, emptied itself into the sea at the same place where it did sixty years before ? Whether it bore the same name from the sea up to the crotch ? and whether it were possi- ble to draw a parallel line three miles northward of every part of a river ; the course of which was in some places from north to south ? The first and second questions might be settled histori- cally, or by competent living witnesses, but the last must have required wiser heads than Solomon's to decide !
* See Belknap's Hist. N. H., 1737. Note.
148
HISTORY OF RUMFORD.
The commissioners at this session evaded the main point on which the controversy turned, which was, " Whether the charter of William and Mary granted to Massachusetts all the lands which were granted by the charter of Charles the First ?" If the former, then the claim of Massachusetts must be granted ; if not, then it must fail. Making, therefore, an evasive decision, the commission adjourned, and left the parties to pursue their contentions as best they could, by means of agents, before His Majesty's Council in England. The New-Hampshire interest was represented by John Tomlinson, Esq., who employed a Mr. Parris as solicitor - a man of shrewdness, penetration and art- ful address : Massachusetts employed as her agent Mr. Edmund Quincy, who died in 1738, and afterward the affair was in the hands of Wilks and Partridge - neither of whom understood so much of the controversy as Tomlinson, nor had the address of Parris. The latter drew up " a petition of appeal " to His Ma- jesty's Council, in which all the circumstances attending the transaction from the beginning were recited and colored in such a manner as to asperse the Governor and assembly of the " vast, opulent, overgrown province of Massachusetts ;" while "the poor, little, loyal, distressed province of New-Hampshire," was represented as ready to be devoured, and the king's own prop- erty and possessions swallowed up by the boundless rapacity of the charter government .*
To those who would look further into the merits of the ques- tion, I must refer to original documents, or to the condensed view in Belknap's History. It suffices my purpose to say, that after the agents of the respective governments had exhausted all their ingenuity and address to accomplish their objects, the whole subject was decided by His Majesty, in Council, on the 5th of March, 1740, on principles of equity and common sense ; at least, so far as respects the course of the Merrimack river - which, at the date of the original charter of Massachusetts, was unknown, viz. : It was determined, "That the northern bound- ary of the province of Massachusetts be a similar curve line, pursuing the course of Merrimack river at three miles distance, on the north side thereof, beginning at the Atlantic ocean, and
* See Belknap's Hist., Ch. 17, year 1737.
149
HISTORY OF RUMFORD.
ending at a point due north of Pawtucket Falls ; and a straight line drawn from thence due west, till it meets with His Majesty's other governments." The northern boundary line of New- Hampshire was fixed as it remains essentially to this day.
By this decision of His Majesty all the towns that had been laid out by Massachusetts west of the Merrimack river, above Pawtucket Falls, and those bordering the river, and embraced within the " three miles north of the river," which Massachusetts claimed, fell within New-Hampshire.
In pursuance of this decision, the next thing was to run the line. Gov. Belcher received orders, 1741, to apply to the gov- ernments of both provinces, to join in appointing surveyors to run out and mark the lines ; and that if either should refuse, the other should proceed ex parte. Massachusetts failed to com- ply. New-Hampshire appointed three surveyors, one of whom was Richard Hazzen - surveyor of the interval lots at Penacook - who surveyed and marked the west line from Pawtucket Falls across Connecticut river to the supposed boundary line of New- Hampshire .*
This decision respecting the boundary awakened deep concern in the inhabitants of Rumford. Strongly attached to the Massa- chusetts government, they were anxious, if possible, to retain their connection. On the 11th of June, 1740, in obedience to a pre- cept from the General Court of Massachusetts, they elected their first representative, Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., and instructed him to prefer a petition to His Majesty, that the inhabitants " may be quieted in their possessions, and remain under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay ; also, to petition the Gen- eral Court to use their influence with His Majesty in that behalf." At a meeting, also, September 26th, " the town being informed that by the determination of His Majesty in Council, respecting the controverted bounds between the province of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire, they were excluded from the former province, to which they always supposed themselves to belong- ' Voted, unanimously, to prefer a petition to the king's most ex- cellent Majesty, setting forth their distressed estate, and praying to be annexed to the said Massachusetts province.' "
* Belknap, 1741.
150
HISTORY OF RUMFORD.
At the same mecting, Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., agent of Massachusetts, " was empowered to present the said petition to His Majesty, and to appear and act fully in behalf of the town, with respect to it ;" and in case he declined, Benjamin Rolfe was authorized to act in the matter, " according to his best dis- cretion."
All, however, was to no purpose. In accordance with the decision of His Majesty, New-Hampshire extended her jurisdic- tion over all the inhabitants within her bounds, and on the 18th of March passed what was called the DISTRICT ACT, including a part of Salisbury and Almsbury ; a part of Methuen and Dra- cut, Litchfield, Nottingham-West, [Hudson,] part of Dunstable, and Rumford .* By this act the inhabitants of these several districts were subjected to taxation without representation. t
* See Document for Chap. IV., No. 1.
+ Voted, That Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., be hereby desired and empowered, in the name and behalf of said inhabitants, to prefer a petition to Ilis Excellency our Governor, or to the Gen- eral Assembly of this province, that they may be empowered to make choice of some suita- ble person to serve for and represent them in every session of the General Assembly from time to time, within this province. - Rec., 1744.
CHAPTER V.
RUMFORD AS A DISTRICT-FROM 1742 TO 1750.
WE have now reached a period of tragical interest in our history. From 1742 to 1754 scenes of anxiety, alarm and terror were of frequent occurrence. The Indians, whose hos- tilities are related in this chapter, were not, so far as known, of the Penacook tribe ; for as long as any of the Penacooks remained in this section of country, they were friendly to the inhabitants, and especially so to the minister, Rev. Mr. Walker. But the Indians who committed depredations and massacres in Rumford and vicinity, were mostly from Canada - instigated by the French, who then had possession, and who, from 1744 till 1762, were most of the time at war with England and her colonies.
Entirely unmolested by Indians, great progress had been made by the inhabitants in their settlement, in clearing and cultivating their lands, improving the roads, and in the structure of their houses. But in 1739 apprehensions of danger were entertained, and the town, by vote, ordered " that a garrison should be built round the house of Rev. Mr. Walker, and that five pounds should be granted to Barachias Farnum, to enable him to build a flanker, in order to defend his mills on Turkey river."
About the year 1742, according to tradition, the wife of Mr. Jonathan Eastman - who resided on the Hopkinton road, opposite the house of Mr. Aaron Shute - was taken by a party of Indians and carried to Canada. She was, however, soon redeemed by her husband, and restored to her family.
152
RUMFORD AS A DISTRICT.
The opening of the French war, in 1744, greatly increased the alarm and anxiety which pervaded the colonies; and, par- ticularly, the frontier towns which were most exposed. As one means of removing or allaying these fears, the expedition against Louisburg, on Cape Breton - which was the strong-hold of the French - was projected, and triumphantly executed by the daring enterprise of the New-England colonics. In this expo- dition Capt. Ebenezer Eastman was commander of a company raised in these parts, and was engaged in the assault made on that strong-hold the following year .* Before he set out, he signed a petition, with sixty-two others, to the General Assembly of New-Hampshire, for assistance against the French and Indians. This petition was drawn up by Rev. Mr. Walker, of which the annexed fac-simile will be examined with interest.
In the company which Capt. Eastman commanded were Na- thaniel Abbot, Isaac Abbot, Obadiah Peters, one Chandler, and probably others whose names are not known. The late aged Joseph Abbot said he "always understood that his uncle Isaac was killed at Cape Breton, and that one Mr. Chandler from this town also died there." Capt. Eastman went to Cape Breton twice. He first set out from Rumford, March 1, 1744-5, and returned November 10th, the same year. The next year he went again, and returned home July 9, 1746.+
The reduction of the fortress at Louisburg only changed the scene of war. The Indians, the more instigated by the French, poured forth from Canada upon the frontier towns, and, with horrible barbarity, carried on the work of destruction. The inhabitants of Rumford felt the general shock, and sought for means of defence and safety. At each parish meeting, from 1744 to 1747, they chose some person to represent to the gov- ernment, either of New-Hampshire or Massachusetts, or both, " the deplorable circumstances they were in, on account of their being exposed to imminent danger, both from the French and Indian enemy."# The language which they instruct their agents
* Rumford, June 22, 1744. Received of Capt. John Chandler, five pounds of powder, which I promise to pay -the said powder-or the value in money, to the said Capt. Chandler, on his demand - as witness my hand. EBENEZER EASTMAN.
+ Minutes from Rev. Mr. Walker's Notes.
# See copy of said petitions - Documents for Chap. V., Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4.
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INDIAN HOSTILITIES.
to use is -" We request of them such aid, both with respect to men and military stores, as to their great wisdom may seem meet, and which may be sufficient to enable us, with the Divine blessing, vigorously to repel all attempts of our said enemies."
In answer to these petitions, early in 1745 two small com- panies of scouts were raised, by authority of Gov. Wentworth, under the direction of Col. Benjamin Rolfe, of which Capt. John Chandler, of Rumford, had command of one, consisting of ten men, and Capt. Jeremiah Clough, of Canterbury, of the other, consisting of five men .* The Massachusetts government also sent a small detachment of men from Andover, and another from Billerica, who were stationed here in 1745. In 1746 precau- tionary measures were taken by the proprietors for the preserva- tion of their records .; Under authority of Gov. Wentworth, garrisons were established at different points in the town, and men, with their families, assigned to them, as was most con- venient.
The garrisons, or forts, were built of hewed logs, which lay flat upon each other - the ends, being fitted for the purpose, were inserted in grooves cut in large posts erected at each corner .¿ They enclosed an area of several square rods ; were raised to the height of the roof of a common dwelling-house, and at two or more of the corners were placed boxes where sentinels kept watch. In some cases several small buildings -
* See Documents for Chap. V., No. 5.
¡ At a meeting of the proprietors, the 19th of March, 1746-Voted, " That Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., clerk for said proprietors, be directed and ordered to carry the proprietors' books of record to the town of Newbury, or any other town where he shall judge they may be kept safest."
"Voted, That Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., be desired and ordered to purchase suitable books, at the proprietors' cost, and copy all the Proprietors' Records therein, for £100, old tenor, to be paid him by the proprietors."
17/47.
February 9, 1746. Voted, That Dr. Ezra Carter be clerk for this meeting - Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., the clerk for said Rumford, being out of the province.
Voted, That two men be chosen to represent the dithicult circumstances of the inhabitants of said Rumford to the Great and General Court, at Portsmouth, respecting the danger we are exposed to, both from the French and Indian enemy, and to request of them such aid or protection as they in their great wisdom shall think meet.
Voted, That Capt. Ebenezer Eastman and Mr. Henry Lovejoy be chosen to make the afore- said representation.
# A part of one of the main posts of the garrison round the house of Rev. Mr. Walker is still preserved, and may be seen in the room of the N. Il. Ilistorical Society. It was pre- sented to the society by Joseph B. Walker, Esq.
154
RUMFORD AS A DISTRICT.
erected for the temporary accommodation of families- were within the enclosure. Houses not connected with garrisons were all deserted by their owners, and the furniture removed. In the day-time men went forth to their labor in companies, always car- rying their guns with them, and one or more of the number placed on guard. If the enemy was discovered approaching, alarm guns were fired, and the report answered from fort to fort. On the Sabbath the men all went armed to the house of worship ; stacked their guns around a post near the middle, and sat down, with powder-horn and bullet-pouch slung across their shoulders, while their revered pastor - who is said to have had the best gun in the parish - prayed and preached with his good gun standing in the pulpit.
The following official document was found among old papers in the hands of Jonathan Eastman, Esq., and presents an exact view of the state of the settlement in the summer of 1746.
GARRISONS IN 1746.
PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPE
We, the subscribers, being appointed a Committee of Militia for settling the Garrisons in the frontier Towns and Plantations in the sixth Regiment of Militia in this Province, by his Excellency, BENNING WENTWORTHI, Esq., Governor, &c., having viewed the situation and enquired into the circumstances of the District of Rumford, do hereby appoint and state the following Garrisons, viz. :
The Garrison round the house of the Reverend TIMOTHY WALKER to be one of the Garrisons in sd Rumford, and that the following in- habitants, with their familys, viz. :
Capt. John Chandler, Abraham Bradley,
Nathaniel Rolfe,
Joseph Pudney,
Isaac Walker, jun.,
Samuel Bradley, John Webster,
Obadiah Foster,
be, and hereby arc, ordered and stated at that Garrison.
Also, the Garrison round the House of Capt. EBENEZER EASTMAN, [on the east side of the river,] to be one Garrison, and that the fol- lowing inhabitants, with their familys, viz. :
Ebenezer Virgin, Jeremiah Dresser,
Eben !. Eastman, jun.
Phillip Kimball,
Nathan Stevens,
Phillip Eastman, Jeremiah Eastman, Judah Trumble, Timothy Bradley, Joseph Eastman, jr.,
155
ESTABLISHMENT OF GARRISONS.
Nathaniel Smith, William Curey,
Daniel Annis,
be, and hereby are, ordered and stated at said Garrison.
Also, that the Garrison round the house of Mr. HENRY LOVEJOY, [in the West Parish Village, where Levi Hutchins now lives,] be one Garrison, and that the following inhabitants, with their fam- ilys, viz. :
Henry Lovejoy,
James Abbot,
Ephraim Farnum, Zebediah Farnum,
James Abbot, jun., Joseph Farnum, Reuben Abbot, Abiel Chandler, James Peters,
Amos Abbot,
be, and hereby are, stated at said Garrison.
Also, the Garrison round the house of Mr. JONATHAN EASTMAN, [on the Mill Road, opposite the house of Mr. Aaron Shute,] be one Garrison, and that the following inhabitants, with their fam- ilys, viz. :
Jonathan Eastman,
Abner Hoit,
Amos Eastman,
Jacob Hoit,
Jeremiah Bradley,
Timothy Burbanks,
Seaborn Peters, Isaac Citizen,
be, and hereby are, ordered and stated at said Garrison.
Also, that the Garrison round the house of Lieut. JEREMIAH STICKNEY, [where Joseph P. Stickney now lives,] be one Garrison, and that the following inhabitants, with their familys, viz. :
Jeremiah Stickney, Nathaniel Abbot, Ephraim Carter,
Joseph Carter,
Edward Abbot,
Aaron Stevens,
George Hull,
Ezra Carter, Joseph Eastman,
Edward West,
Samuel Eastman,
Sampson Colby,
Joseph Eastman, 3d,
James Osgood,
William Stickney,
Timothy Clemens,
Thomas Stickney, Jacob Pillsberry,
Nathaniel Abbot, jun., Stephen Hoit,
be, and hereby are, ordered and stated at that Garrison.
Also, that the Garrison round JOSEPH HALL's house, [where the late Dea. Jonathan Wilkins lived,] be one Garrison, and that the following inhabitants, with their familys, viz. :
Col. Benjamin Rolfe, Joseph Hall, Ebenezer Hall,
Joseph Pudney, William Pudney,
Henry Pndney,
David Foster,
John Merrill,
Thomas Merrill,
Isaac Waldron, Patrick Garvin, John Merrill, jun.,
156
RUMFORD AS A DISTRICT.
Moses Merrill, Lot Colby,
Jacob Potter,
be, and hereby are, ordered and stated at that Garrison.
Also, that the Garrison round TIMOTHY WALKER, jun.'s, house, [near where Mr. George Hutchins now lives,] be one Garrison, and that the following persons, with their familys, viz. :
Timothy Walker, jun.,* Richard Hazelton,
David Evans,
George Abbot,
Samuel Pudney,
Nathaniel Rix,
John Pudney, jun.,
Benjamin Abbot,
Matthew Stanly,
Stephen Farrington,
Isaac Walker,
Nathaniel West,
Abraham Colby,
William Walker,
Jacob Shute,
Aaron Kimball,
Daniel Chase,
Samuel Gray,
Daniel Chase, jun.,
James Rodgers,
Abraham Kimball, Samuel Rodgers,
be, and hereby are, stated at that Garrison.
And, inasmuch as the inhabitants who reside in the Garrison round the house of Mr. George Abbot;} the Garrison round the house of Mr. Edward Abbot, t and the Garrison round the house of Mr. James Osgood, f have, as yet, made no provision for house-room and conveniences in the respective Garrisons where they are placed, for themselves and familys, and the season of the year so much de- manding their labor for their necessary support that renders it diffi- cult to move immediately -Therefore, that they, for the present, and until January next, or until further order, have leave, and be continued in the several Garrisons in which they now are, and so long as there stated to attend the necessary duty of watching, ward- ing, &e., equally, as if the same had been determined standing Garrisons.
JOSEPHI BLANCHARD, BENJAMIN ROLFE, ZACHEUS LOVEWELL,
Come, &c.
Rumford, May 15th, 1746.
Such was the state of the settlement in the summer of 1746. Indians were now in the vicinity and an attack was daily feared. At the earnest solicitation of the inhabitants, a company of soldiers, under command of Capt. Daniel Ladda and Lieut.
* Not the late Judge Walker.
t George Abbot lived in the ancient house, now on Fayette street, west of Mr. Samuel Farrington's. Edward Abbot lived where Dr. Thomas Chadbourne's house now stands - a part of the old house still remains. James Osgood lived where Hosea Fessenden's house was recently burnt down.
# See muster-roll of Capt. Ladd's company - Document for Chap. V., No. 6. Also, see the part of Clough's journal which follows.
157
THE MASSACRE.
Jonathan Bradley, had been sent by the Governor, from Exeter, for the defense of Rumford and the adjacent towns. This company had been ranging in the woods and scouting in the vicinity about three weeks previous, and a part of them were in Rumford on the Sabbath, August 10th. On that day it ap- pears that the Indians had meditated an attack upon the inhab- itants while engaged in worship, and the night previous had secreted themselves in the bushes adjacent to the meeting-house, to await the favorable moment. One party of them was con- cealed in a thicket of alders back of the house where Dr. Samuel Morril now lives ; another was hid in the bushes, north- west, between the meeting-house and where Ebenezer S. Towle, Esq., now lives. Some few of the Indians, it is said, were seen in the time of worship by a little girl - Abigail Carter, sister of the first Dr. Ezra Carter -but she did not make known the discovery until the meeting closed, when the people marched out in a body with their guns. The presence of Capt. Ladd's com- pany, it is believed, prevented the Indians from making the designed attack. Thus thwarted in their bloody purpose, they retired and lay in ambush till next morning, in a deep thicket, about a mile and a half south-west of the main village, in the valley- a few rods beyond where the BRADLEY MONUMENT now stands.
THE MASSACRE, AUGUST 11, 1746.
For the particulars of the tragic scene which now follows, we are indebted to the journal of Abner Clough, clerk of Capt. Ladd's company, which is published in full in the fourth volume of the Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, and to the story related by the aged Reuben Abbot, five years before his death, which was taken down in writing by IIon. Samuel A. Bradley and Richard Bradley, Esq., grandsons of Samuel Brad-
158
RUMFORD AS A DISTRICT.
ley, who was one of the killed. The manuscript is now in the hands of Richard Bradley. It was taken August 29, 1817, when Mr. Abbot was in the ninety-fifth year of his age.
FROM ABNER CLOUGH'S JOURNAL.
" Capt. Ladd came up to Rumford town, and that was on the tenth day [of August,] and, on the eleventh day, Lieut. Jona- than Bradley took six of Capt. Ladd's men, and was in company with one Obadiah Peters, that belonged to Capt. Melvin's com- pany of the Massachusetts, and was going about two miles and a half from Rumford town to a garrison; and when they had gone about a mile and a half, they were shot upon by thirty or forty Indians, if not more, as it was supposed, and killed down dead Lieut. Jonathan Bradley and Samuel Bradley, John Lufkin and John Bean [and] this Obadiah Peters. These five men were killed down dead on the spot, and the most of them were stripped. Two were stripped stark naked, and were very much cut, and stabbed, and disfigured ; and Sergeant Alexander Rob- erts and William Stickney were taken captive.
* * It was supposed there was an Indian killed where they had the fight ; for this Daniel Gilman, who made his escape, saith that he was about sixty rods before these men* when they were shot upon, and, he says, the Indians shot three guns first. He says he thought our men shot at a deer ; he says that he run back about forty rods upon a hill, so that he could see over upon the other hill, where the Indians lie, and shot upon the men ; and, he says, as ever he came upon the hill so as to see over upon the other hill, he heard Lieut. Jonathan Bradley speak and say, ' Lord, have mercy on me : - Fight!' In a moment his gun went off, and three more guns of our men's were shot, and then the Indians rose up and shot a volley, and run out into the path, and making all sort of howling and yelling, and he did not stay long to see it, he saith. It was supposed that John Lufkin was upon the front, and Obadiah Peters on the rear : and they shot down this Lufkin and Peters the first shot, as they were in the path, about twelve or fourteen rods apart ; and they shot Samuel Bradley,
* Tradition says that Gilman went on ahead to shoot a hawk, and the Indians, seeing him alone, let him pass.
159
THE MASSACRE.
as he was about twelve feet before where this Obadiah Peters lay, and wounded [him] so that the blood started every step he took. IIe went about five rods right in the path, and they shot him right through his powder horn, as it hung by his side, and so through his body - and there lay these three men, lying in the path - and Lieut. Bradley run out of the path, about two rods, right in amongst the Indians. He was shot through his wrist. It was supposed he killed the Indian ; it was supposed that he fought, (as he stood there in the spot where he was killed,) till the Indians cut his head almost all to pieces ; and John Bean run about six rods out of the path, on the other side of the way, and then was shot right through his body ; -- so that there were none of these men that went one or two steps after they were shot, excepting this Samuel Bradley that was shot as above said. And there seemed to be as much blood where the Indian was shot as there was where any one of the men were killed. It was supposed the men laid there about two hours after they were killed, before any body came there. We did not go till there came a post down from the fort,* three quarters of a mile beyond where the men lie and were killed. The reason we did not go sooner, was because we did not hear the guns. I suppose the reason that we did not hear the guns, was because the wind wa'nt fair to hear. We went up to the men, and ranged the woods awhile, after these captives, and then brought the dead down to town in a cart, and buried the dead men this day. These men, when they went away in the morning, said they in- tended to be at home about twelve o'clock, in order to go to Canterbury in the afternoon, or, at least, to get fit to go. It was supposed that these men, some of them, rid double on horses when they were killed. On the twelfth day, early in the morn- ing, went up and took the blood of the Indian, and followed along by the drag and blood of the Indian about a mile, very plain, till we came within about fifteen rods of a small river, and then we could see no more sign of the Indian ; but we tracked the Indians along down the river, about twenty or thirty rods, and there were falls where they went over. * It was supposed there could not be less than fifty or sixty Indians."
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