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 47
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
Rev. Israel Evans, who settled in Concord, 1789, then owned a chaise, in which he rode with one horse. Afterwards he owned a carriage with four wheels, in which he rode, sometimes with one horse and sometimes with two.
* For these traditions I am greatly indebted to Moody Kent, Esq.
33
514
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
In 1791 or 1792 the late Judge Walker purchased a chaise at Cambridge, Mass., made for him by Mr. Prentice, of that place.
Previous to 1800 there were very few carriages or wagons in town. The people generally rode on horseback or went on foot. There were very few sleighs. In heavy snows, horse or ox-sleds were commonly used to convey people from one place to another.
OLD CLOCKS.
Rev. Mr. Walker brought the first clock into Concord from Eng- land. Dea. Joseph Hall, senior, owned the second clock. When people who had no time-piece saw the deacon coming from the " Eleven Lots," on the Sabbath, they knew it was time for them to go. Ephraim Potter made wooden clocks, which were set up in some houses about 1775, and later, and which kept good time. Levi and Abel Hutchins set up the clock-making business about 1785, which they carried on till about 1819. Their clocks were noted as good time-keepers, and are still found in many of the old families. Major Timothy Chandler also manufactured excellent clocks, which are seen now and then among the ancient things.
ANCIENT DWELLING-HOUSES STILL STANDING.
Mr. Richard Herbert, when in his 94th year and in possession of all his faculties, said, that all the houses in Concord main vil- lage, except sixteen, were built within his recollection, viz. :
1. The house of Joseph B. Walker, Esq., which remains as it was when he (Mr. Herbert) was a boy, except alterations made a few years ago.
2. Capt. Coffin's house ; was built one story, with two rooms. The back part and one story have been added since.
3. The house owned by Mr. Charles H. Stearns ; was built by Capt. Benj. Emery, who sold it to Dr. Carrigain. Capt. Emery afterwards built the house where Capt. E. S. Towle lives. His wife was reluctant to move, and said she " had rather watch the hogs three hours a day, than go up into the woods to live !" *
4. The house of Mr. Shadrach Seavey ; was built by Capt. Nathaniel Abbot, one story, and stood where the new North church stands. It was the residence of Capt. Joshua Abbot. Mr. Herbert remembered when the back part was added.
5. The " Dearborn house," recently moved from the hill where * The hogs then run at large, and were an annoyance about the houses on Main street.
515
ANCIENT MATTERS.
the new City Hall is located ; was built by Lieut. Richard Her- bert, about 1756. He paid ten dollars for one acre of land there. In this house Mr. Herbert was born. In the summer of 1854 the house was purchased by Mr. Reuben F. Foster, and moved to what is now called Fosterville, north of Richard Bradley's, where it has been refitted, and stands conspicuous among other houses by its cupola, or observatory.
6. The Stickney house, now the residence of Joseph P. Stickney, was a garrison. It has since been enlarged and much altered.
7. The Edward Abbot house, which stood where Dr. Chad- bourne's house now is, south corner of Montgomery strect ; was also a garrison. It now stands in the rear of Dr. Chadbourne's, in the humble position of a wood-shed and stable.
8. A part of Capt. Richard Ayer's house - now the Union Hotel, opposite the Free bridge road - was built before Mr. Herbert can remember ; - also,
9. The old Osgood house, which was burnt down in An- gust, 1854.
10. The Farrington house, now owned by Mr. David G. Ful- ler, on Pleasant street.
11. A part of the old store on the corner of Main and Pleas- ant streets, occupied by Mr. William P. Hardy.
12. A part of Mr. Benjamin Gale's old tavern, which stood opposite the new Phenix Hall ; now forms a tenement on Warren street.
13. Dea. George Abbot's house, where Mr. John B. Chandler lives, on Fayette street. This house presents a good specimen of the ancient style of building -two stories in front, with a low, slanting roof on the back side. In this house Hon. Thomas W. Thompson formerly resided.
14. The Capt. Roach, or Arthur Rogers house, east of the house of the late Gov. Hill, built in the same style as the preceding.
15. Dea. Joseph Hall's, or Dea. Wilkins' house, at the Eleven lots.
16. The Rolfe house, or Countess of Rumford mansion ; also at the Eleven lots.
DWELLING-HOUSES -DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL HABITS AND CUSTOMS.
The first order, or, as it may be called, generation of dwelling houses in Concord, was built of hewn logs. They were all situ-
516
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
ated on lots laid out in the " first and second range " of house lots, as surveyed in 1726. But as soon as saw-mills could be erected and materials provided, these gradually gave place to framed houses, one story in height, about sixteen to twenty-four feet on the ground, with from one to three rooms. The second order of houses was more scattered over the territory, and now and then appeared a house of larger dimensions, two stories in height, with gambrel roof; or two stories in front, with low, slanting roof back. The third order of houses appeared after the Revolutionary war, from 1785 to about 1800. They were built two stories, with what is called a hip-roof, with two front rooms, a door in the middle, and entry and hall running through, and an L, one story, on the back side, for a kitchen. Of this kind was the house built by Maj. Daniel Livermore, the late residence of Dr. Bouton ; also, the houses owned by Rev. Israel Evans, Rev. Dr. McFarland and Charles Walker, Esq. The Evans and MeFarland houses have recently been altered, by changing and raising the roof. Tradition represents that in the first, and many of the second order of houses, the windows were either of paper, or mica, or diamond- cut glass. Chimneys were built of stone, with huge fire-places, and an oven on one side running back. In the chimney, across the flue, was a lug-pole, as it was called, made of oak, from two to four inches in diameter, and on which were hung hooks and trammels, of wrought iron, so constructed as to be raised or lowered to suit the convenience of pots and kettles, suspended thereon for culinary purposes. These lug-poles were liable to be burnt by the fire which blazed beneath, or broken by the weights suspended on them, and hence in due time gave place to the crane, which was constructed of iron, and fastened on one side into the chimney-jamb, while the end swung over the fire, with the hooks and trammels on it. The first crane was introduced in 1757 by Stephen Farrington .*
The fire was made by placing a large log, called a back-log, three feet long, or more, on the backside of the fire-place ; two rocks in front of it served for andirons, with a large fore-stick, resting on the rocks, and a back-stick upon the back-log. Then smaller wood, from three to four feet in length, was piled on. The whole was lighted with a pitch-knot, or other combustibles. This made a glorious fire. At each end or corner of the fire-
* See story of it, as before related, pp. 231 - 2.
517
ANCIENT MATTERS.
place were small benches, on which children sat, and roasted first one side and then the other ; while the old folks enjoyed the full blaze in front - and hauled off and on, as they were able to bear it! Instead of modern gas light, or oil, or even dipped candles, they used in the evening pitch-pine knots, which gave a clear and brilliant light, by which the women could see to sew or knit, and others, (if they had books,) to read. Splinters of pitch- pine were lighted, to carry about the house and into the cellar, instead of lamps and candles.
In early times every family kept close at hand a flint and steel, with which to strike fire. The fire fell on a piece of old punk, or upon tinder kept in a tin box. From the punk or tinder thus ignited a candle or pitch-pine splinter was lighted, and thence communicated to wood on the fire-place. Careful house-keepers, however, took pains to rake up the coals on the hearth at night, covering them with ashes, and thus keep fire till morning. But in warm weather this method would often fail, so that the flint, steel and tinder, were indispensable.
ŞKILBURN-MALLORI BOSTOM.
The preceding cut presents a fair view of the house built by Major Daniel Livermore, in 1785, with the addition of the back
518
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
part, which was built by Dr. Bouton in 1840. The beautiful trees in front were set out about the time the house was finished, in 1786 or 1787. The south end of the house is nine inches over the line of the street, while the north end is exactly on the line. The reason assigned for this position by the late Richard Herbert, was, that " when Maj. Livermore was building his house he was courting one of Judge Walker's daughters, at the North end, and he wanted it skewed a little, so that he could look up that way." After the establishment of the upper Concord Bank, in 1806, the house and land was bought by the bank proprietors of Maj. Livermore, and occupied by Samuel Sparhawk, Esq., cashier of the bank. The north room, with a projection built out for the vault, was used for the counting-room, or bank-office. The south room was the family parlor, in which was also Mr. Spar- hawk's library. At a party given by Mr. Sparhawk, about 1818, among the invited guests was Mr. S. F. B. Morse, now distin- guished as the inventor of the electric telegraph, who was that evening introduced to Miss Lucretia P. Walker, daughter of Charles Walker, Esq., who was accounted the most beautiful and accomplished young lady of the town, and whom Mr. Morse sub- sequently married. In 1829 Rev. Mr. Bouton bought the house and land belonging thereto, of the president, directors and com- pany of the Concord Bank, where he resided twenty-six years.
ANCIENT WELLS.
Ancient wells were dug at a distance of from ten to forty feet from the house, and water was drawn with a bucket suspended on one end of a small pole, the other end being fastened to a long well-sweep, as it was called, which was supported at a proper height by a strong, erect post, and swung on an iron or wooden pin, so balanced that when the bucket was filled with water it could be easily drawn up. Specimens of the old fash- ioned well-sweep, and
" Of the old oaken bucket, that hung in the well,"
may still be seen in various sections of the town : one at Mr. Jacob Hoyt's, on the Mountain ; another at Mr. Jerry Abbot's, west of Long pond. Another mode of drawing water from wells was by means of a windlass, erected over the well, - the bucket
519
ANCIENT MATTERS.
being fastened on the end of a rope, or chain, of suitable length, and then lowered and raised by turning a crank. But the well- sweep and windlass have generally given place to the pump in outer sections of the town, while in the main village many fami- lies are supplied with spring water, by means of wooden or lead pipes from fountains in the adjacent upland.
The cut here subjoined presents a fair view of the residence of Jacob Hoyt, Esq., on the Mountain, in which the old " well- sweep" is apparent.
故井
The frame of this house, of large, heavy oak, is believed to be the oldest on the east side of the river. It was first erected at " the Fort," by Capt. Ebenezer Eastman, a short time before his death, in 1748. The house being left in an unfinished state, it was sold to Ebenezer Virgin, taken down, and moved to its pres- ent location on the Mountain. Tradition relates that at the raising of the house by Capt. Eastman there was a great gath- ering of people, with " young men and maidens," who were to celebrate the raising by a dance in the evening. Abigail Carter, mother of Jacob Hoit, asked her parents if she might go. They said, "Yes, if parson Walker's girls go." The parson consented that his daughters should go, and proposed also to go with them. After the raising was over, Mr. Walker's girls asked him if they
520
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
might stay in the evening. He said, "Yes, yes, only come home in good season." So the girls all stayed till the dance was over, and were then waited on by young gentlemen to go home. But on coming to the ferry to their great disappointment they found the parson there waiting to take the girls under his own protection !
Mr. Ebenezer Virgin sold the house and adjacent farm, con- taining about two hundred acres, to Jeremiah Haskell, of New- bury, who came to Concord about 1812. Haskell married a daughter of Ebenezer Moulton, of Newburyport, into whose hands the house and farm fell by mortgage. In 1818 Haskell left Concord and went to parts unknown, and nothing certain was ever heard of him. In April, 1819, the property was sold at public auction, and bid off by Mr. Jacob Hoyt, for $2.375. On this elevated spot Mr. Hoyt has resided till the present time, having made great improvements on his farm, and keeping the old mansion in good repair. The site is one of the most desira- ble, and furnishes one of the most extensive and beautiful pros- pects on the east side of the river.
FOOD.
The ordinary food of early settlers, and of their descendants of the first and second generation, for breakfast and supper, was bean or pea-porridge with bread and butter. On Sabbath morn- ing they had, in addition, coffee or chocolate. The bread was what is called brown-bread, made of rye and Indian meal. Occa- sionally wheat bread was used. For dinner they usually had baked or boiled meat, and peas or beans, with baked or boiled puddings.
For the information of our wives and daughters, I give the following ancient recipe for bean-porridge : Take one quart of beans or peas, four gallons of water, and two or three pounds of beef or pork -or, if you please, both ; put them into an iron pot or kettle, and boil them together until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Take out the meat, and thicken the liquid with Indian mcal, and you have the porridge.
The most approved and genteel way of eating the porridge was on this wise : The porridge was dipped out into wooden bowls, each member of the family having one, and was eaten
521
ANCIENT MATTERS.
with a wooden spoon. On the authority of my friend, George Abbot, Esq., I can add, " that this was a delicious meal. Every father at his own table was, to appearance, as happy as a king with his nobles at a banquet of wine !" Often, to close the re- past, the following lines were sung or chanted by the children :
" Bean porridge hot, bean porridge cold ; Bean porridge best when nine days old !"
There was another dish, said to be a still greater luxury, viz. : baked pumpkins and milk. It was prepared in the autumn in the following manner: Take pumpkins that had hard shells; cut a hole with a gouge in the stem end, large enough to admit a large sized hand ; scrape out the seeds completely ; then fill the cavity almost full of new milk ; heat the oven hotter than neces- sary for ordinary baking; place the pumpkins in carefully, and fasten up the lid so that no fresh air can penetrate ; keep them in twelve hours or more; then, withdrawing the pumpkins, pour into the cavity more new milk, and with a spoon begin to eat, digging out the inside as you proceed, and leaving nothing but the shell! In this truly primitive mode Gov. Langdon used to feast on pumpkin and milk, when a boarder at Dea. John Kim- ball's. The governor preferred this mode, as decidedly more genteel than to scrape out the contents first and eat from a bowl !
DRINKS.
Malt beer was a very common drink in early times. Malt was manufactured from barley, which was raised more or less by every farmer. The first manufacturer of malt in Concord was Lieut. Richard Herbert, about 1765 - who had a malt-house in the rear of the dwelling which he built, where his son, Capt. Samuel Herbert, now lives. Some twenty years afterward the same business was taken up by Jeremiah Abbot, son of Capt. Nathaniel Abbot, who married a daughter of Col. Stickney. His malt-house was on or near the spot where Nathan Stickney, Esq., now lives. Abbot sold out to William Stickney, the taverner, who continued the business till about 1816. After Mr. Stickney ceased to manufacture malt, the old malt-house was used for smoking bacon. At times, in the fall and winter, from two hun- dred and fifty to three hundred fine legs of bacon, belonging to
522
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
different families, would be hung up to smoke at once. The beautiful elm trec, now growing in the yard of Nathan Stickney, germinated in the cellar of the old malt-house, and may be called the malt-elm.
In making beer a quantity of malt was mixed with hops and boiled in water, of greater or smaller measure, as was wanted. This was transferred to a cask, or large jug, and left to ferment a day or two, when it was fit for table usc.
Cider succeeded, and soon supplanted beer. This was a uni- versal drink at every meal - morning, noon and night. In the fall farmers gathered their apples and made cider. They usually laid in from fifteen to thirty barrels for a year's stock. Mr. Reuben Abbot - now living on the old homestead, west of Long pond - says that he and his father used to put up sixty barrels every good year. Hon. Jacob A. Potter says that his father, Richard, and uncle Ephraim often laid in one hundred and twenty barrels. So free was the use of cider that the whole quantity would be drank up before the ensuing fall - scarcely enough left for vinegar ! In old times - and those times coming down to 1828, and still later - there were in every neighborhood noted cider topers, who would guzzle down a quart without stopping to breathe, and, smacking their lips, hold out the mug for one drink more ! Such fellows would go from house to house, and call in just to get a drink of cider- carrying, wherever they went, a bloated, red face, and pot-belly. Of one such I have heard it said he " would get drunk on cider-emptyings !"
A favorite and very common drink in old times was flip, which was made on this wise : A mug was nearly filled with malt beer, sweetened with sugar ; then a heated iron, called a " logger- head," was thrust into it, which produced a rapid foam. In- stantly a quantity of the "ardent," (a half pint of rum was allowed for a quart mug,) was dashed in, a little nutmeg grated on the top, and the whole was quaffed off by two men or more, as they could bear it, which had the effect often to set them at " logger-heads." Mr. Nathan Stickney says, that when a young man, in his father's tavern, he has drawn out, on public occasions, two barrels of beer a day, and made it into flip. The price of a quart mug of flip was twenty or twenty-five cents.
523
ANCIENT MATTERS.
Another drink was toddy, which was made of rum and water, well sweetened. A stick, about six or eight inches long, flattened at the end, for crushing the sugar and stirring it up, was called the " toddy-stick." It was celebrated for the ringing music it made against the sides of a glass tumbler in olden times.
Another favorite drink was egg-nog, which was composed of an egg beaten and stirred together with sugar, milk and spirit, or with cider and sugar. The stick used for this purpose was split at the end and a transverse piece of wood inserted, which was rap- idly whirled round, back and forward, between the palms of the hands. Skilful men made graceful flourishes with " toddy " and " egg-nog" sticks, in those days. Still another mode of drink- ing intoxicating liquor, was, to mix it with the juice of certain strong herbs, as tansy, spearmint and garden wormwood, with a little water and sugar. This was drank before breakfast, to cre- ate an appetite !
From the year 1760 to 1830, rum, brandy, gin and wines of different kinds, were used as a common beverage, more or less in every family. Every taverner and store-keeper in town was licensed to sell. The bar-room of taverns was furnished with spacious shelves, or open cup-boards, where liquors of every variety were displayed in decanters. Every store had one end of a counter appropriated to drinking customers. On this stood decanters, glass tumblers, with water, sugar, spoon, and toddy stick, all ready for use. In the families of the more wealthy and fashionable, spirits of various kinds were arranged and displayed on an elegant side-board, and every visiter was invited to drink. Farmers carried well filled bottles of rum into the field, both summer and winter, and for harvesting usually laid in from ten gallons to a barrel, under the idea that the use of it was indis- pensable. In 1827, when the temperance reform commenced in Concord, the writer ascertained, by careful investigation, that the whole quantity of ardent spirits sold in town in one year (not including wine) was about four hundred hogsheads, or forty-six thousand gallons ; and, as estimated by the traders themselves, the amount sold to the inhabitants of the town was not less than fifteen thousand gallons ; or, on an average, about four and a half gallons a year to every man, woman and child in the town !
524
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
The cost of this liquor to the consumers was not less than nine thousand dollars, which was more than twice the amount of taxes the year previous, for town, county and State expenses, and for the support of schools. One fact alone shows the extent of the temperance reformation in Concord since that time, viz. : The use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage is now as universally proscribed and relinquished as formerly it was allowed and prac- tised. There is but one place in the whole town where ardent spirits of any kind can be lawfully sold, or where they can be safely bought, and that is by special license only " for medicinal and mechanical purposes."*
The oldest form of drinking vessel was a noggin, made of wood, largest at the top, with a wooden handle on one side. This varied in size, from one to four quarts. Afterwards pew- ter, or earthern mugs, were used. On the table were wooden plates and platters, or, at a later period, pewter basins, porrin- gers and spoons, plates and platters. When not on the table these were displayed on an open cup-board, or shelves in the room. Specimens of these are still preserved in some of the ancient families. Sarah and Lois Abbot, sisters of Nathan K., at the family mansion, west of Long pond, have a large pewter platter - bright almost as silver, bearing on the back of it the stamp of a crown - which has come down to them from their great grand-mother, Mercy Wheeler, of Rowley, and must be at least two hundred years old. They have also a wooden platter, in a good state of preservation, which their grand-mother inherited from her ancestor, Thomas Abbot, of Andover. Formerly this was used as a dinner-dish for vegetables, but in later times - that is, for eighty years -it was used for brown bread.
George Abbot, Esq., has a large armed chair, which belonged to Thomas Abbot, of Andover, 1728, and an ancient wine bottle, owned by his grand-mother, who died 1769.
As a specimen of those good old times I can state, on the authority of Mr. Nathan K. Abbot, that the house which his father (Daniel Abbot) first built, just south of the present one, was one story, with only one room and a chamber, which was
* See History of Temperance Reform in Concord, in a discourse by Rev. Mr. Bouton, De- cember 10, 1843.
525
ANCIENT MATTERS.
reached by a ladder. The room was about sixteen feet square, with a fire-place, which would take in wood eight feet long. In this one room eleven children of Mr. Abbot's were born and lived in close union. During a part of the time, also, he accom- modated his neighbor, Jonathan Emerson and wife, as boarders, whose first child was born in the same room ! Mr. Abbot built, but only partly finished, the two story house where Nathan K. and his sisters reside ; but with the first occupancy of it is asso- ciated the death of his wife, on the birth of her twelfth child ; both dying and were buried together - the babe lying in its mother's bosom. Jonathan Emerson's house, west of Mr. Abbot's, where Isaac Emerson now lives, remained several years after he built it, without any windows.
The common ancient dress of the men was a woolen coat, striped woolen frock, tow frock, and woolen, velvet, tow, or leather breeches. The breeches, with long stockings, were fast- ened at the knee with a buckle ; in winter, they wore woolen or leather buskins, and thick cow-hidc shoes, fastened with buckles on the instep. The best hats, as worn on the Sabbath, were what are now called cocked-up hats, with three corners, and the more noted men wore wigs. Cocked-up hats continued to be worn by aged, venerable men, till within the memory of some of the present generation. Those distinctly remembered as wearing them were Rev. Mr. Walker, Rev. Mr. Evans, Capt. Reuben Abbot, Capt. Joshua Abbot, Capt. Joseph Farnum, and Col. Thomas Stickney. Col. Stickney had a hired man, named Levi Ross, who would also put on his dignity, and march with his cocked-up hat to meeting every Sabbath.
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.