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 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
Many traditionary stories are related of rattle-snake hunting. The late Amos Abbot - father of John and Simeon - with his cousin Reuben, one afternoon killed forty-nine snakes with sticks and hooks ; but such an effluvia proceeded from the slaughtered snakes as to sicken them. Commonly the faces of the hunters would be swollen with inflammation, caused, as was supposed, by poisonous effluvia.
There is a tradition that a Penacook Indian undertook to re- venge himself on the nation of rattle-snakes for having bitten one of his family. He made a large fish-pot and set it at the mouth of a den of rattle-snakes. As they came out they filled the pot, which, in the joy of his success, he rolled away from the den, and then piled around it a large quantity of brush, which he set on fire, dancing and singing to see the contortions and struggles of his conquered foe ; but his joy was short. Whether from the effluvia inhaled, or some other cause, he soon sickened and died.
One person undertook to " blow up" a den of snakes. Hav- ing caught and fastened a large rattle-snake, he tied to his tail a powder-horn filled with powder - putting in for a stopple a piece of punk, which he set on fire and let the snake go. Re- turning to his snaky companions, unsuspicious of the fate that awaited them, soon the powder-horn exploded, when the whole den of snakes was blown " sky high."
238
HISTORY OF RUMFORD.
Another mode of destroying these reptiles, if not equally singular, was as effectual - that is, the letting the hogs run at large where the snakes were abundant. In the autumn of the year, being fat and lazy, the snakes made a delicious morsel for swinish appetites. The hogs would often kill them before they had time to coil and dart their poison .*
The oil from rattle-snakes was found very useful, and was used for sprains, stiff joints, rheumatism, &c.
George Abbot, Esq., relates that his father, when a young man, killed an enormous fat rattle-snake, which he afterwards stretched out on a flat rock, in the sun, and that the oil which came from it penetrated the rock so deeply that the marks of it remain even till this time.
So thorough was the war of extermination carried on by our fathers against the rattle-snake tribe, that it is said not one has been seen on Rattle-snake Hill for the last forty years.
* A writer in llarpor's Magazino for March, 1855, says : "Of all enemies with which the rattle-snake has to contend, except man, tho hog is the most formidable. An old sow, with a litter of pigs to provide food for, will hunt for the reptile with a perseverance and sagacity truly astonishing, tracing them to their hiding-places, and never letting them escape." [Sce the whole article, which is very interesting.]
CHAPTER VIII.
FROM 1765 TO 1775-INCORPORATION AS A PARISH IN BOW BY THE NAME OF CONCORD.
As the greater part of the inhabitants of Rumford were at this time comprehended in the township of Bow, to which the former were unanimously opposed, vexatious difficulties were experienced in conducting town affairs, and particularly in assessing and collecting taxes. Even some of the inhabitants of Bow proper felt themselves as much oppressed as those of Rumford. Hence petitions were presented to the General As- sembly of the Province, setting forth their respective grievances .* On the 11th of April, 1764, Rev. Mr. Walker presented a peti- tion,* setting forth that the " affairs of the inhabitants [of Rum- ford] have been in great confusion since 1749;" that they have " felt themselves greatly aggrieved " by the imposition of heavy taxes ; and, as a remedy for the evils complained of, prays that they may be " incorporated by their former known bounds." In answer to this petition the House of Representatives reaffirmed by a vote, that " what the town of Bow is now in arrears for the Province tax shall be collected," and that " all the inhabitants settled on lands between said Bow, Canterbury and New-Hop- kinton, except such as are already polled off to Pembroke and New-Hopkinton, shall be taxed and pay their proportion " of the same ; that " the inhabitants of Bow [including, of course, all in Rumford] should meet in Bow for the choice of officers, &c.,
* See Documents for Chap. VIII., Nos, 1 and 2.
240
PARISH OF CONCORD.
and on these conditions " the petitioner shall have liberty to bring in a bill !"'
It hence appears that the government tenaciously clung to their original purpose of giving Bow the preeminence, and of disallowing all the claims and rights of Rumford as incorporated by Massachusetts.
Finally, however, on the 25th of May, 1765, an act of incor- poration was obtained, the conditions of which were humiliat- ing to the inhabitants of Rumford; but it was the best they could get, and this was preferred to the abhorred embrace in which they had been held for more than fifteen years. For the whole act I must refer the reader to the documentary chapter ;* but the title is in the words following : "An act for setting off a part of the Town of Bow, together with some lands adjoining thereto, with the inhabitants thereon, and making them a Parish ; investing them with such privileges and immunities as Towns in this Prov- ince have and do enjoy." To this " parish" in the town of Bow was given the name of CONCORD. The " parish " comprised the inhabitants who are settled on the lands herein described, viz. : " Beginning at the mouth of Contoocook river, so called, which is the south-east corner of Boscawen ; from thence, south, sev- enty-three degrees west, by said Boscawen, four miles ; from thence, running south, seventeen degrees east, seven miles and one hundred rods; from thence, running north, seventy-three degrees east, about four miles, to Merrimack river; then crossing the said river, and still continuing the same course to Soucook river ; then, beginning again at the mouth of Contoocook river aforesaid, from thence, running north, seventy-three degrees east, six hundred and six rods from the easterly bank of Merri- mack river, or till it shall come to the south-west line of Can- terbury ; from thence, south-east, on said line, two miles and eighty rods; from thence, south, seventeen degrees east, to Soucook river aforesaid ; from thence, down the said river, till it comes to where the line from Merrimack river strikes Soucook river."
The inhabitants included within the abovesaid bounds were granted all the ordinary powers and privileges of towns, " ex-
* Documents for Chap VIII., No. 3.
241
BOUNDARIES OF THE PARISH.
cepting that when any of the inhabitants of the aforesaid parish shall have occasion to lay out any road through any of the lands that are already laid out and divided by the said town of Bow, application shall be for the same to the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the said Province, as in other cases." Provision was also made in the act for collecting " all arrearages of taxes," and for assessing and collecting the taxes which should be due in 1765 and 1766. To secure all these ends more effect- ually, John Noyes and Edward Russell, of Bow proper, were to be united with the selectmen of the new parish, to assess the polls and estates of all the inhabitants who were subjected to pay the taxes.
It will be perceived that by this incorporation the bounds of the township are considerably varied from the original .* The north line of Concord, on the west side, was changed from "the middle" of the Contoocook, to the " southerly side thereof." The north bound, on the east side, was run straight to the Can-
* The original grant of Penacook was seven miles square and one hundred rods, commencing " where Contoocook river falls into Merrimack river, and thence to extend, upon a course east, seventeen degrees north, three miles, and upon a course west, seventeen degrees south, four miles - to be the northerly bounds of the said township ; and from the extreme parts of that line, to be set off southerly at right angles, until seven miles shall be accomplished from the said north bounds." This original grant does not determine the precise point " where Contoocook river falls into Merrimack river" - where the north line shall be run - whether it shall be in the middle of the Contoocook, or on the northerly or southerly side. It seems, however, to have been understood to run from the middle ; for when Contoocook (now Bos- cawen) was granted by Massachusetts, in December, 1732, it was bounded as follows, viz. : "Beginning at the middle of Conteocook river, where it empties into Merrimack, where it joins on Penacook plantation ; thence, running west, fifteen degrees south, adjoining Pena- cook line, four miles, to a white pine tree, marked for Penacook corner-bounds ;" and thence, further on the same line, three miles and eight poles," &c. [See original grant in Price's llistory of Boscawen, p. 21.] The difference of two degrees in the line was probably owing to the variation of the compass ; for it is manifest that the Contoocook line west, which com- mences " at the middle " of the Contoocook river, " where it joins on Penacook plantation," ran on the Penacook line four miles to its westerly corner bounds. But when Boscawen was newly incorporated by New-llampshire, in 1760, the bounds were described as follows, viz. : " Beginning at the southerly side of Contoocook river's mouth, where the same falls inte Mer- rimack river; running thence, on a course west, seventeen degrees south, seven miles and one hundred rods," &c. Why this change in the starting point of the line between Concord and Bescawen -from " the middle of the Contoocook " to the "southerly side thereof"- there are various conjectures. [See statement in Document No. 4, Chapter VIII.]
But the variation and change from the original bounds were far greater on the east side. Originally the line ran straight from the mouth of the Contoocook, "east, seventeen degrees north, three miles ;" but by the new incorporation it was to run east, seventeen degrees north, only "six hundred and six rods from the casterly bank of Merrimack river till it shall come to the south-west line of Canterbury ; from thence, south-east, on said line, two miles and eighty rods ; from thence, south, seventeen degrees east, to Soucook river ; from thence, down the said river till it comes to where the line" from the west of Merrimack river running across strikes the Souceok river.
16
242
PARISH OF CONCORD.
terbury line six hundred and six rods ; then, south-east, on the Canterbury line, two miles and eighty rods ; thence, south, sev- enteen degrees east, to meet the Soucook river, which was made the remainder of the eastern bound. The southern boundary, also, instead of being seven miles, according to the original grant, was limited on the east side by the Soucook, at the point where the line from the west across the Merrimack river struck it. This line struck the Soucook river about twenty rods above what were called Head's Mills, in Pembroke. The old bounds are still visible .*
In consequence of this change in the original boundaries on the east side, there were two gores of land, called the northerly and southerly Bow Gores. The northerly gore, containing about one thousand three hundred and seventy-nine acres can be dis- tinguished on the map of the town accompanying this volume, lying on the east side of the township, between the Soucook river on the east and the original straight line, which formed the east- ern boundary of Rumford. This gore came to a point on the high land north-west of the dwelling-house of Mr. John Clough, on the Loudon road. The house of Mr. Clough was formerly owned by Mr. Benjamin Thompson, who lived in "Bow Gore," and who used to be complained of by his neighbors " because he didn't pay taxes any where." Near Mr. Thompson's, within the Gore, was a school-house, where the children of the Potter families, and others in Concord, attended school. This state of things continued until both Gores were annexed to Concord by an act of the Legislature, December 13, 1804 .;
In regard to the name- CONCORD - given to the township in the new incorporation, the uniform tradition is, that it was de- signed to express the entire unanimity in purpose and action which had characterized the inhabitants of Rumford during the period of their controversy with the proprietors of Bow, and, indeed, from the first settlement of Penacook .¿
By the act of incorporation, Samuel Emerson, Esq.,§ of
* See Town Records, Vol. III., p. 126. t See acts in Secretary's office.
# The Rev. John Barnard, in his sermon at the ordination of Mr. Walker, charged the people " always to live in Love and Peace - to rejoice and strengthen the hands of their Minister by their CONCORD." This they always did do.
§ See Town Records.
243
FIRST LEGAL MEETING.
Chester, was authorized and appointed to call the "first meeting of the inhabitants, for the choice of town officers," on the third Tuesday of August, 1765; but, as the records set forth, "by some accident the meeting was not duly called," and was not held at that time. Consequently, at the next meeting of the General Court, November 27, 1765, a special resolve and vote were passed, authorizing the said Emerson to call a meeting for the aforesaid purpose, on the third Tuesday of January, 1766 .*
Accordingly, the first " legal meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the Parish of Concord" was held on the 21st day of January, 1766. At this meeting it was voted that " Lieut. Richard Hasseltine be moderator, and Peter Coffin parish clerk."
"Voted, That Joseph Farnum, Lot Colby and John Chandler, jun., be selectmen.
"Voted, That Benjamin Emery be constable.
" Voted, That Lieut. Richard Hasseltine and Amos Abbot be tythingmen.
"Voted, That Jonathan Chase, Robert Davis and Nathaniel Eastman be surveyors of highways.
"Voted, That Dea. George Abbot be sealer of leather.
"Voted, That Lieut. Nathaniel Abbot be sealer of weights and measures."
The foregoing is the whole record of the first "meeting of the Parish of Concord." The persons above chosen held office till the ensuing first Tuesday in March, when the first annual meeting was held .;
At the first annual meeting, March 4th, Ezra Carter, Esq., was chosen moderator, and Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., clerk.# One hundred pounds, lawful money, were raised " for paying Rev.
* See Town Records.
t The manner of notifying parish meetings was as follows : I. The selectmen issued an order to the constable of the parish to notify a meeting at a specified time and place, and for specified purposes. 2. The constable issued his notice "by setting up a notification," agreeably to the order from the selectmen, at the meeting-house door, - days before the meeting. 3. A meeting held pursuant to such a notification was a "legal meeting." From the first meeting in January, 1766, till 1784, the " notice " for legal meetings was given " to the inhabitants and freeholders of the PARISH OF CONCORD " - subsequently, upon petition, in 1784, as will appear from the records, the word "parish," which was always offensive to the inhabitants, was dropped, and "town " substituted therefor.
# See full list of officers at the close of this chapter.
244
PARISH OF CONCORD.
Mr. Walker's salary from the 26th of May, 1765, to the 26th of May, 1766, together with the other necessary charges of the parish, and a committee appointed to reckon with the collectors and constable that have been chosen."*
On the 25th of March it was "Voted, That the school shall be kept on the easterly side of the river such part of the year as their rates for the school shall come to of the polls and estates that lay to the northward of Sugar Ball ; also, at a place that will best accommodate those persons that live upon Contoocook road, northward of Nathan Colby's - and those persons that live westward of said road, such part of the year as their rates will pay ; also, at a place that will best accommodate those persons that live upon Hopkinton road, westerly of Theodore Stevens' and westerly of Turkey river, such a part of the year as their rates will pay ; and the remainder of the year it shall be kept in the town street, about the middle way from Capt. Chandler's to Lot Colby's."
Capt. Chandler, referred to in the above vote, lived in a house on the road which runs west by Richard Bradley's, on the spot where a new house is just erected by Hamilton Perkins, Esq. An apple tree is now growing where the old cellar was. Here his son Daniel lived, who was father of ABIEL, the distinguished benefactor of Dartmouth College. Abiel Walker, Esq., well remembered the old Chandler house. Daniel Chandler erected a frame in addition to his father's house, on the same spot, but not being able to finish it, it fell first into the hands of John Stevens, trader, and was sold by him to Capt. Robert Davis, and moved on to the Davis lot, north side of Franklin street, on the rise of ground about ten rods from Main street. In this house lived Capt. David Davis, father of Gen. Davis. Lot Colby lived at the other extreme of the main settlement, at the " Eleven Lots," and on the spot where the venerable Joseph Abbot died, January 20, 1832, aged ninety. Mr. Joseph S. Lund now lives on the same spot. The school-house was a few rods north of Gass' tavern. The late Richard Herbert and Abiel Walker, when boys, went to school there to a Master Hogg, from Dunbarton.
Another meeting of the Parish of Concord was held November
* See Constable's Warrant, Doc. No. 5, Chap. VIII.
245
THE FIRST CENSUS.
10th, this year, at which Mr. Phinchas Virgin was chosen sur- veyor of highways "in the room of Lt. Ebenezer Virgin, de- ceased." Phinehas was the eldest son of Lt. Ebenezer - born November 21, 1733. The father was an original proprietor - a man of enterprise, and highly useful as a citizen. He probably came from Salisbury, Massachusetts, and built and lived in the house still standing on the Mill Brook Interval, so called, on the east side of the Merrimack, a few rods in rear of the house of Mr. John Jarvis. Mr. Virgin was the man who first came in possession of the " Peorawarrah gun," before described. He was the father of seven children, and his descendants are num- erous and respectable .*
1767.
About this time the inhabitants of Bow, who, according to the charter of " the Parish of Concord," were rated with the latter, feeling themselves " greatly abused," presented the following petition to the General Assembly for relief :
" To His Excellency JOHN WENTWORTH, Esquire," &c .:
The Petition of the Selectmen of Bow, in behalf of themselves and inhabitants of said Bow, exclusive of such as are set off into Parishes -
HUMBLY SHEWETH, "That your petitioners have been and are now greatly abused by being rated with Concord; for their Selectmen are ye major part of the Assessors, and they make the rates as they see fit : Wherefore the sd petitioners humbly and earnestly prays your Excellency and Honours to take their distressed curcomstances under consideration, and releave them from being rated any longer with Concord, in such manner as your Excellency and Honours shall in your great wisdom and clemency see fit, and your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.
SAMUEL ROGERS, SAMUEL WELCH, EPHRAIM MOORS, Selectmen of Bow."
[August 28, 1767. Read and ordered to be sent down to the Honble Assembly.]
The first enumeration of the inhabitants of the Province; was
* See Register of Virgin Family.
t The number of towns in the Province at this time was ninety-five - whole population, 52.700. Twenty-one towns were returned as having a larger population than Concord. [See census of 1767 - Historical Collections by Moore & Farmer, vol. i., p. 166.]
246
PARISH OF CONCORD.
this year made by order of the General Assembly. The fol- lowing is the return for Concord :
"Unmarried men, from sixteen to sixty, 62
Married men, from sixteen to sixty, . 125
Boys, sixteen and under, 189
Men, sixty and above, 18
Females, unmarried, 126
Male slaves,*
9
Female slaves, 4
Widows, . 15
Total,
. 752 "
1768-9.
At a meeting January 2, 1769, Capt. Chandler was " chosen and desired to notify all persons that owe any rates in this parish, and use his best endeavors with them to get them to settle with the Rev. Mr. Timothy Walker, and to pay what rates they owe before Concord was incorporated."
Mr. Timothy Walker, Jr., " was chosen, March 7, town clerk, in place of Benjamin Rolfe," who appears to have been in feeble health ; and the parish clerk was " desired to purchase two suffi- cient books for the use of the parish." Messrs. Benjamin Emery, John Kimball and Robert Davis were appointed a committee " to treat with the proprietors of the meeting-house, in order to purchase said house for the use of the parish." The purchase was not made till 1782.
1770.
The parish agreed to " give forty shillings, lawful money, per acre for land" through Joseph Farnum's field, for a road, and " to pay Mrs. Osgood the first cost for the burying-cloth ;" to " pay ten shillings for every wolf, and six pence for every crow killed within the parish the present year." The following year, 1771, the bounty for killing a wolf was raised to " twenty shil- lings," and " for every crow catched in the parish, nine pence."
* See " Facts and Anecdotes " at the end of this chapter.
204
Females, married,
247
COMPENSATION OF JURORS.
On the 21st of December, 1771, Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., de- ceased .*
Heretofore nothing has appeared in the records respecting courts or jurors, or even the county to which Concord belonged. But a " warrant" was issued for a special town meeting, to be held August 24, 1772, " to choose one man of those duly quali- fied to serve at His Majesty's Superior Court of Judicature, to be held at Exeter, in and for the county of Rockingham, as a petit juror, the first Tuesday in September next ;" also, "to see what said parish will allow those who have served as jurors for said parish, and what said parish will allow jurors for the future."
Accordingly, at the meeting held for the above purpose, " Mr. Lot Colby was drawn out of the box for a juror." "Three shil- lings " were allowed " Messrs. Ebenezer Hall and Joshua Abbot for each day they have served the parish as jurors;" and " three shillings to be paid each juror per day, who shall serve the parish as jurors for the future."
November 21st, this year, Andrew McMillan, Esq., was ap- pointed to present a petition to the Honorable General Court, " that the inhabitants of Concord may have the same power and privilege of laying out roads which any other town or parish in this Province have or do enjoy ; and that the boundaries of said parish may be made as extensive as the township of Rumford (so called) formerly was ;"f and the next year, 1773, Mr. Mc-
* " July 29, 1771. At a meeting of tho proprietors -Voted, That Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., the proprietors' former clerk, deliver the proprietors' books to John Kimball, the present clerk." Mr. Kimball was chosen proprietors' clerk May 7, 1771, and took the oath of office before Andrew McMillan, Esq. He held the office till October 18, 1774, when he was succeeded hy Timothy Walker, Jr. November 7, 1774-Voted, That the proprietors' books be delivered by Mr. John Kimball to Timothy Walker, Jr .; " that a just and equal division of all the com- mon land be made, and that Messrs. Benjamin Emery, Robert Davis and Philip Eastman, be a committee for said purpose ;" and " that said committee make up to Ebenezer Hall and Jabez Abbot what land the proprietors of Bow took from the heirs of Edward Abbot, de- ceased ;" " that Messrs. Benjamin Emery, Philip Eastman, Thomas Stickney, Joseph Hall, Jr., and Lot Colby, bo discharged, and are discharged from the sum of £160 3s. 5d. 1q. - being part of the notes which they recovered of the administrators on the estate of Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., deceased, for the proprietors of Concord, dated March, 1760, together with the interest for the notes dated November, A. D. 1753."
The division of common lands above ordered was duly made and laid off in one hundred and three shares. A record of the same is found in the third volume of the Proprietors' Records, pp. 456 -505.
As to the right of laying out roads, &c., see charter of Concord.
24S
PARISH OF CONCORD.
Millan was appointed to present a petition that the parish of Concord may be annexed to the county of Hillsborough, provided that there might be an inferior and superior court held annually in said parish.
1773.
Previous to presenting the petition for the purpose just named, the inhabitants of the town made an expression of their respect to the Governor in the following address, which tradition ascribes to the pen of the then young but aspiring Benjamin Thompson, afterward Count Rumford :
ADDRESS OF THE INHABITANTS OF CONCORD TO GOV. JOHN WENTWORTH, 1773.
The Humble Address of the Inhabitants of Concord, in the Province of New-Hampshire, to His Excellency JOHN WENTWORTH, Esq., Captain General, Governor, and Commander-in-Chief in and over said Province.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.