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 3
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Granite - Anecdotes - Iron - Clay, 544
Quadrupeds - Birds - Reptiles - Fishes, 549
Fruit - Ornamental Trees - Elms - Forest Trees, 549
Climate and Temperature, . 550
15
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
No. 2.
BIOGRAPHY, IN THE ORDER OF DECEASE.
PAGE.
Capt. Ebenezer Eastman, . 551-3
Dr. Ezra Carter, 553
Benjamin Rolfe, Esq., 555
Rev. Timothy Walker - Note - The Walker House, 556
John Stevens, 563
Jacob Shute, Andrew MeMillan, " Mother Osgood," Florence MeCauley, 565-6
Rev. Israel Evans, 567
Ephraim Colby, the Wrestler, 569
Sir Benjamin Thompson, or Count Rumford, 570
Sarah, Countess of Rumford, 572
Hon. John Bradley - His Grandfather's Will - House,
573
Joseph Wheat, the Stage-driver - Reuben Abbot,
577
Hon. Timothy Walker,
579
Rev. Asa MeFarland, D. D.,
582
Nathaniel Haseltine Carter, Esq.,
584
George Hongh, Esq.,
587
Capt. Richard Ayer,
589
Jesse Carr Tuttle -Jonathan Eastman, Esq., 590
Stilson Eastman, 591
John Farmer, Esq., 592
Col. William A. Kent, 593
Philip Carrigain, Esq.,
596
Gov. David Lawrence Morril, . 598
Abiel Chandler, the Donor of Dartmouth College, 599
Gov. Isaac Hill, . 600
Mr. Abel Hutchins,
603
No. 8. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY,
IN THE ORDER OF ORGANIZATION.
First Congregational Church, . 604
Friends' Meeting - Episcopal Church, 606
Methodist Episcopal Church, 609
First Baptist Church, 610
Second Congregational, or Unitarian Church 612
613
South Congregational Church,
614
East Congregational Church - Universalist Society and Church, . 616
Freewill Baptist Church, 617
Pleasant Street Baptist Church, 618
Christian Baptists, 619
Second Advent Society, 619
Besides the foregoing, there is a Baptist, Congregational and Methodist Church in Fisherville ; also a Universalist Society.
NO. 4. GENEALOGICAL.
HISTORY OR REGISTER OF FAMILIES THAT SETTLED IN CONCORD, MOSTLY PREVIOUS TO 1800, ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED IN TWO CLASSES, VIZ. :
First Class, furnished wholly or in part by individuals, 619-701
Second Class, copied from Town Records, . . 701-17
[These names are too numerous to be repeated. Any particular name must be looked for under the family head.]
West Congregational Church, .
16
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
No. 5.
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY, PAGE.
Including, (1.) The names of all the LAWYERS who are known to have practiced in Concord. arranged in the order of their graduation, or of entering their profession, 718-723
(2.) The names of all PHYSICIANS who have resided or practiced in Concord, . 724-729
No. 6.
The names of GRADUATES at College from Concord, . 729-736
[As the List of Professional Men and Graduates may be easily referred to and examined, it is deemed unnecessary to repeat them, either here or in the Index of Names.]
No. 7.
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS, 737-745
Printing, 737 - "Election Day," 738
Ministers who have preached the Election Sermon, 739-40
Concord Literary Institution - Boating Company, 740-41
Free Bridges - Col. Grover's House,
741-42
Carriage Manufacture, . 742
Contest about an old Gun, 744
Indian remains - remarkable discovery, . 745
No. 8.
DOCUMENTARY AND STATISTICAL CHAPTER, 745
Document for Chap. II., (see p. 56,) 745
Documents for Chap. III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., 746-47
Act of Incorporation of the Parish of Concord, . 747-49
Names of Grantees of Rumford, Me., 749-50
Documents for Chap. IX., - Prices of Articles, &c., 750-51
Names of Concord Men in the Revolutionary War, 753
Bounties paid to Soldiers in the Revolutionary War,
Soldiers killed, or who died in the War, 754
Soldiers who lived and died in Concord, belonging to other towns, 754
Documents for Chap. IX. and X. 755
Names of Men from Concord in the War of 1812-15 - Doc. No. 1, Chap. XII., p. 347, - Doc'ts for Chap. XIII., pp. 369, 547, 550,
755
Catalogue of Fishes,
756
STATISTICS.
Monies raised at different periods, 756
Rate for Rev. Mr. Walker's Salary, 1755-6, 757
Town Rates for 1778, 758
Table of Division of Parsonage Fund, from 1830 to 1853,
School Statistics for 1855, . 760
Schools and School-masters, . 763
762
Captains in Military Companies,
765
Table of Mortality in Concord, 1825 to 1853,
767
Persons deceased eighty years of age or upwards,
767-69
Criminal Statistics of Concord for the year ending February 1, 1854,
770
Report of the Police Justice,
770
Extracts from a Diary kept by Benjamin Kimball,
771-72
Extracts from the Meteorological Register, kept by Wm. Prescott, M. D., 773
The " Dark Day," Friday, May 19, 1780, .
773
Snow that fell in Concord, from September, 1841, to June, 1853, 774
Errata - Proprietors' Records, . 774
Index of Names, 776
766
Deaths by Consumption,
761
Post-masters in Concord - Military and Field Officers, 764
Adjutants with the rank of Captain,
751-53
INDIAN HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
THE history of the PENACOOKS, a powerful Indian tribe that formerly occupied this soil, is full of interest. Our sources of information concerning them are much more reliable than is commonly supposed. Some things are merely traditionary : others are authenticated by ancient historians, and by official documents on record or on file, both in the Secretary's office of Massachusetts and of New-Hampshire.
At the first settlement of New-England, there were five prin- cipal nations of Indians. 1. The Pequots, of Connecticut ; 2. The Narragansetts, of Rhode-Island ; 3. The Pawkunnawkuts, in the south-castern parts of Massachusetts, including Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard ; 4. The Massachusetts, situated about the Bay ; and, 5. The Pawtucketts, which, says the historian Daniel Gookin, 1674, " was the last great sachemship of Indians. Their country lieth north and north-east from the Massachusetts, whose dominion reacheth so far as the English jurisdiction or colony of the Massachusetts doth now extend ; and had under them several other smaller sagamores ; as the PENNAKOOKS, Agowames, Naamkecks, Pascataways, Accomintas, and others. They were a considerable people heretofore, about three thousand men, and held amity with the people of Massachusetts. But these were almost totally destroyed by the great sickness that prevailed among the Indians, (about 1612 and 1613,) so that at this day they are not above two hundred and fifty men, beside
2
18
INDIAN HISTORY.
women and children. This country is now inhabited by thic English, under the government of Massachusetts."*
That the Penacooks occupied the soil which is now Concord, all historians and public documents agree. The name itself is thought to indicate the locality ; for Penacook means, " the crooked place ;"t having reference to the broad sweeps and wind- ings of the Merrimack as it flows through the township. Here, when first known by the English, were the head-quarters of the Penacooks, under a powerful chief whose name was PASSACONA- WAY, and who extended his dominion over subordinate tribes, along the river, from the Winnepissiogee to Pawtucket Falls, and as far cast as the Squamscots and Piscataquay.# In 1631, Gov. THOMAS DUDLEY, in his letter to LADY LINCOLN, estimates the Indians under Passaconaway, along the Merrimack, "at four or five hundred men." On the east side of the river, upon a bluff called " Sugar Ball," northeast of the main village, and in full view, was an ancient Indian fort. Tradition has so preserved and fixed the identity of this location with " Sugar Ball," that it is presumption, at this time, to call it in question. Near the fort, a little to the north, is the spot which probably was their ancient burying-ground - as a considerable number of human skulls and bones have been dug and ploughed up, or washed away by the rains, and been picked up on the side or at the bottom of the bank.§
At this fort, according to tradition, there was once a terrible fight between the Penacooks and Mohawks. The traditionary
* Gookin's list. of Indians. Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. 1, p. 147-9. Ist series.
t " From Pennaqui, (crooked,) and Auke, (place,)-a name strikingly appropriate to their fertile grounds embraced within the folds of the Merrimack at Concord." Hon. C. E. l'otter.
# For a more minute notice of Passaconaway, the curious reader is referred to Hon. C. E. Potter's account, in the Farmers' Monthly Visitor, vol. 12, No. 2. He there shows that Passa- conaway's name is on the famous Wheelwright Deed of 1229, and which Mr. P. does not believe to be a forgery. In the same article Mr. P. adventures the opinion that the Concord Indian fort was on the south side of Sugar Ball intervale-an opinion which we cannot entertain for a moment, in opposition to clear, unbroken, invariable tradition. The widow of the late Benjamin Kimball, now 88 years of age, who has lived on the said interval more than sixty years, points to the north bluff as the only supposable location of the fort. Robert Bradley, Esq., of Fryeburg, a native of Concord, now 83 years of age, says, " the tradition always and invariably was, that the old Indian fort stood on Sugar Ball,-the Sand Bluff, on the east side, nearly opposite his brother Richard's house."
§ Several of these skulls and bones are now in the possession of Hon. Chandler E. Potter, of Manchester, a native of Concord, who has made diligent researches into our Indian history.
19
THE PENACOOKS.
account of this fight accords so exactly with what GOOKIN says of the Mokawks, that its correctness can hardly be questioned. In his history, 1674, he says : "These Maquas are given to rapine and spoil : they had for several years been in hostility with our neighbor Indians, as the Massachusetts, Pawtucketts, Pennacooks - and in truth, they were in time of war so great a terror to all the Indians before named, though ours were far more in number than they, that the appearance of four or five Maquas in the woods would frighten them from their habitations and cornfields, and seduce many of them to get together in forts ; by which means they were brought to such straits and poverty that had it not been for the relief of the English, doubtless many of them had suffered famine. The Maquas' manner is, in the spring of the year, to march forth in parties several ways, under a captain, and not above fifty in a troop. And when they come near the place that they design to spoil, they take up some secret place in the woods for their general rendez- vous-then they divide themselves into small parties, three, four or five-and go and seek their prey. They lie in ambushments by the path-sides in some secure places, and when they see pas- sengers come, they fire upon them with guns ; and such as they kill or wound, they seize on and pillage, and strip their bodies ; and then with their knives take off the skin and hair of the scalp of their head, as large as a satin or leather cap ; and so, leaving them for dead, they pursue the rest, and take such as they can prisoners, and serve them in the same kind."
The tradition of the bloody battle between the Penacooks and Mohawks is substantially this : The Mohawks, who had once been repulsed by the Penacooks, came with a strong force, and encamped at what is now called Fort Eddy, opposite Sugar Ball, on the west side of the river. Thence they watched their prey, determined either to starve the Penacooks, by a siege, or to decoy them out and destroy them.
Having gathered their corn for the season, and stored it in baskets around the walls of their fort, the Penacooks, with their women and children, entered within and bid defiance to their foes. Frequent skirmishes occurred between individuals of the parties. If the Penacooks went out of the fort, they were sure
20
INDIAN HISTORY.
to be ambushed ; if a canoe was pushed off from one bank of the river, others from the opposite side started in pursuit. Some time had thus passed, and no decisive advantage was gained by either side. The Penacooks dared not adventure a fight in the field, nor the Mohawks to attack the fort.
After a day or two of apparent cessation from hostilities, a solitary Mohawk was seen carelessly crossing Sugar Ball plain, south of the fort. Caught by the decoy, the Penacooks rushed out in pursuit : the Mohawk ran for the river. Band after band from the fort joined in the chase, till all were drawn out and scattered on the plain, when the Mohawks, who had secretly crossed the river above, and by a circuitous route approached in the rear, suddenly sprung from their hiding-place and took pos- session of the fort. A shriller war-whoop than their own burst on the affrighted Penacooks : they turned from the chase of the solitary Mohawk, and long and bloody was the battle. The Penacooks fought for their wives and children-for their old men -for their corn-for life itself; - the Mohawks for revenge and for plunder. On which side the victory turned, none can tell. Tradition says the Mohawks left their dead and wounded on the ground ; and that from that fatal day the already reduced force of the Penacooks was broken into fragments, and scattered. A diversity in the sculls which have been dug up in the ancient bury- ing-ground has induced the belief, that in it the dead of both the savage tribes were promiscuously buried.
What remains to be said of the Penacooks can best be nar- rated in connection with the biography of their principal chiefs or sagamores, as gathered from authentic historical documents.
Over the track of the Concord and the Northern Railroad, at this time, (1853,) are daily seen running three powerful engines, named PASSACONAWAY, WONALANCET and TAHANTO. A stran- ger to our history reads these names with wonder, and asks their origin. We are almost proud to answer, They are the names of three of the noble chiefs of the Penacook tribe-tried friends of the English in prosperity and in adversity -and one of them a bold advocate of temperance, against lawless traffickers in rum. These names are almost the only visible mementos of the race that has perished from our soil.
PASSACONAWAY.
THIS name is supposed to mean in the Indian tongue, " the child of the bear," from Papoeis, child, and Kunnaway, a bear. How far the name corresponds with the character of the famous sagamore, must be judged by the sequel .*
The ancient historians, WOOD, THOMAS MORTON, and HUB- BARD, all agree that he was regarded with the highest venera- tion by the Indians, on account of the wonderful powers which he possessed. He was a Powow, sustaining at once the office of chief, priest and physician, and having direct communication with the Great Spirit. WOOD, in his "New-England Prospect," says : " The Indians report of one Passaconnaw, that hee can make the water burne, the rocks move, the trees dance, meta- morphise himself into a flaming man. Hee will do more ; for in winter, when there are no green leaves to be got, he will burne an old one to ashes, and putting those into the water, produce a new green leaf, which you shall not only see, but substantially handle and carrie away ; and make of a dead snake's skin a living snake, both to be seen, felt and heard. This I write but upon the report of the Indians, who confidently affirm stranger things."
THOMAS MORTON writes : " If we do not judge amisse of these salvages in accounting them witches, yet out of all question we may be bound to conclude them to be but weake witches :- such of them as wee cal by the name of Powahs,f some correspon- dency they have with the Devil, out of al doubts, as by some of their accions in which they glory is manifested ;- Papasiquineo,
* Ilon. C. E. Potter, on Indian names. Farmers' Visitor, (Language of Penacooks,) Vol. 13, No. 11.
t Powahs are said to be " witches, or sorcerers, that cure by the help of the devil." After Rev. Mr. Elliot began to preach to the Indians with success, "divers sachems and other principal men amongst them, met at Concord, Ms., in the end of Feb. 1646, and agreed " that there shall be no more Powwowing amongst the Indians. And if any shall hereafter Powwow, both he that shall Powwow and he that shall procure him to Powwow shall pay 20s. apiece."
22
INDIAN HISTORY.
that sachem or sagamore, is a Powah of great estimation amongst all kinde of salvages ;- there hee is at their Revels-(which is the time when a great company of salvages meete from severall parts of the Country, in amity with their neighbours) - hath advanced his honor in his feats or jugling tricks, (as I may right tearme them,) to the admiration of the spectators whome he endeavored to persuade that he would goe under water to the further side of a river too broade for any man to undertake with a breath, which thing hee performed by swimming over and de- luding the company with casting a mist before their eies that see him enter in and come out,-but no part of the way hee has been seene ;- likewise by our English, in the heat of summer, to make Iee appear in a bowle of faire water ;- first having the water set before him, he hath begunne his ineantations according to their usual aceustom, and before the same has bin ended a thick clowde has darkened the aire, and on a sodane a thunder clap hath bin heard that has amused the natives ; in an instant hee hath showed a firme piece of Ice to flote in the middle of the bowle in the presence of the vulgar people, which doubtless was done by the agility of Satan, his consort." Such was the reputation of Pas- saconaway, when first known by the English.
He seems to have exercised his powers in vain against the English, on his first acquaintance with them : at least, he had the sagacity to perceive that opposition would be not only useless but ruinous : and hence he showed himself friendly, and sought in various ways to conciliate their favor. In 1632, he delivered up an Indian who had killed a white man by the name of Jenkins, who went into his country to trade. In 1642, upon an alarm of an Indian conspiracy from Connecticut, the government of Mas- sachusetts sent a force of forty men to disarm Passaconaway. Failing to reach his wigwam, on account of a violent rain, they entered that of Wonalancet, his son, and seized him, together with his squaw and child. Tying him with a rope, they led him along ; but Wonalancet, watching his opportunity, slipped the rope and made his escape into the woods. The court fearing that this unjust assault upon the family of Passaconaway would provoke his displeasure, sent a messenger to apologize to him and invite him to come to Boston and speak with them: whereupon he
23
THE PENACOOKS-PASSACONAWAY.
made the manly reply-" Tell the English, when they restore my son and his squaw, then I will come and talk with them."
Notwithstanding this provocation, Passaconaway cherished no resentment ; but desirous of peace, "about a fortnight after, he sent his son and delivered up his guns" to the authorities. In 1644, Winthrop says, " Passaconaway and his son desire to come under this government. He and one of his sons subscribe the articles ; and he undertook for the other." Soon after this, Winthrop again records, " Passaconaway, the Merrimack sachem, came in and submitted to our government."
At this period Passaconaway was an old man - his age vari- ously estimated from eighty to one hundred. Hitherto he had stood aloof from Christian instruction, and from all the usages of civilized life. But the famous JOHN ELLIOT, known as the Apostle of the Indians, had previous to this gathered companies of praying Indians in various places in Massachusetts, and in pursuance of his apostolic labors, in 1647, he visited Pawtucket Falls, (now Dracut,) where he met Passaconaway with two of his sons. The result of this and a subsequent interview in 1648, is thus told by Elliot himself, under date of Nov. 12, 1648. "This last spring I did there meet old Papassaconnaway, who is a great sagamore, and hath been a great witche in all men's esteem, (as I suppose yourself have often heard,) and a very politic, wise man. The last year he and all his sons fled when I came, pre- tending feare that we would kill him : But this year it pleased God to bow his heart to hear the word ;- I preached out of Mal- achi 1 : 11, which I thus render to them : 'From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, thy name shall be great among the Indians ; and in every place prayers shall be made to thy name,-pure prayers,-for thy name shall be greut among the Indians.' *
* * After a good space this old Papassacon- naway speak to this purpose-' That indeed he had never prayed unto God as yet, for he had never heard of God before as now he doth :' and he said further, ' that he did believe what I taught them to be true ; and for his own part, he was purposed in his heart from henceforth to pray unto God ; and that he would per- swade all his sonnes to do the same,' pointing at two of them who were there present, and naming such as were absent. His sonnes
24
INDIAN HISTORY.
present, especially his eldest sonne, (who is a sachem at Wad- chusett,) gave his willing consent to what his father had prom- ised, and so did the other, who was but a youth : And this act of his was not only a present motion that soon vanished, but a good while after said that he would be glad if I would come and live in some place thereabouts and teach them ; and that if any good ground or place that hee had would be acceptable to me, he would willingly let me have it." *
Again, 1649, Elliot writes : " Papassaconnaway, whom I men- tioned unto you the last yeere, who gave up himself and his sonnes to pray unto God, this man did this year shew very great affection to me, and to the word of God ; he did exceedingly earnestly, importunately, invite me to come and live there and teach them ; he used many arguments, many whereof I have for- gotten ; but this was one, 'that my coming thither but once in a yeere did them but little good, because they soone had forgotten what I taught, it being so seldom, and so long betwirt the times ;' further he said, That he had many men, and of them many nought, and would not believe him that praying to God was so good, but if I would come and teach them, he hoped they would believe me : He further added, 'That I did, as if one should come and throw a fine thing among them, and they earnestly catch at it, and like it well, because it looks finely, but they can- not look into it to see what is within it, and what is within, they cannot tell whether something or nothing, it may be a stock or a stone is within it, or it may be a precious thing ;- but if it be opened and they see what is within it, and see it precious, then they should believe it - so, (said he,) you tell us of praying to God, (for so they call all Religion,) and we like it well at first sight, and we know not what is within, it may be excellent, or it may be nothing, we cannot tell; but if you would come unto us, and open it unto us, and show us what it is within, then we should believe that it is so excellent as you say.'
" Such elegant arguments as these did he use with much grav- ity, wisdome and affection ; and truly my heart much yearneth towards them, and I have a great desire to make an Indian Towne that way."
Of Passaconaway we hear but little more till 1660. He
25
THE PENACOOKS-PASSACONAWAY.
seems to have been at the Penacook fort, which was visited by Maj. WALDRON, of Dover, in 1659; but in 1660 he met the Indians subject to his authority, with their sachems, at Pawtucket Falls, and there made to them his farewell speech. An English- man was present, probably DANIEL GOOKIN, " who was much conversant with Indian affairs along the Merrimack," and who was a witness of the scene. The substance of the speech, as reported by HUBBARD, was this : " I am now ready to die, and not likely to see you ever met together any more. I will now leave this word of counsel with you, that you may take heed how you quarrel with the English; for though you may do them much mischief, yet assuredly you will all be destroyed and rooted off the earth, if you do : for I was as much an enemy to the English on their first coming into these parts, as any one whatsoever ; and I did try all ways and means possible to have destroyed them ;- at least to have prevented their sitting down here ; but I could no way effect it, [meaning by his incantations and sorce- ries,] therefore I advise you never to contend with the English nor make war with them."
With a freer rendering of this Farewell Speech of the Great Sachem, we may imagine that the venerable old man, tremulous with five score years, stood in a circle of a thousand of his chil- dren and said : " Hearken to the last words of your dying father : I shall meet you no more. The white men are sons of the morn- ing, and the sun shines bright above them. In vain I opposed their coming : vain were my arts to destroy them : never make war upon them : sure as you light the fires, the breath of Heaven will turn the flames to consume you. Listen to my advice. It is the last I shall ever give you. Remember it, and live !"
It is a sad conclusion of the noble old chief's history, that two years after this-his tribe reduced and scattered-his possessions encroached upon on every side, his physical force abated, and waiting only to die,-he was obliged to petition the General Court of Massachusetts in these humiliating terms :
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