USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Fitzwilliam > The history of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, from 1752-1887 > Part 10
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
her marriage used to say that her first calico dress was a pres- ent from her father, and cost sixty-two and a half cents a yard. The date of this must have been about 17SS. At this time very little cloth of any kind was used except what was of home manufacture. For outside garments tow cloth for summer and woolen for winter wear constituted the dress of all, while for underclothing a coarse linen cloth was worn the year round. So almost every house had its great wheel for spin- ning wool, its little wheel for flax, and its loom for weaving the eloth. And not only was the cloth of home manufacture, but to a very great extent the garments were made at home also.
There was an early tradition here that before Monadnock No. 4 was settled at all beavers had cleared the trees from quite a meadow in the eastern part of the town upon Scott Brook, where a fine crop of grass was annually produced ; and it was added that a gentleman residing in Lunenburg, Mass., who knew of this meadow sent up his farm help from that place, who cut the grass and carried the hay to Massachusetts-a story that plainly should be received with considerable allowance.
The opening alluded to was doubtless what was generally called a natural meadow, and there are supposed to have been a number of others in the township, though less in size. A much higher value was placed upon the meadow than upon the more elevated farming lands, as the meadow required no clear- ing up. At a very early date " the Great Meadow" on Scott Brook was divided among many owners.
In the following notice of the first settlers of Fitzwilliam no pains have been spared to make the dates and all other partieu- lars as aceurate as possible. The early records of the propri- etors, of the town, and of the church have been appealed to, in every instance, for all the aid they could afford, while family records have brought to light many facts not obtainable from any other quarter. The memoranda of the late Dr. Cum- mings, though of themselves of a very fragmentary nature, have furnished a multitude of faets which, supplemented and completed from other sources, have been of great value. The fullest use has been made of his papers, as well as of those of Mr. Charles Bigelow.
DATE OF SETTLEMENT OF MONADNOCK NO. 4. 117
As will always happen in such collections of incidents, some points are left obsenre, and fuller explanations from the lips of those who preserved them would have added greatly to the interest and valne of these narratives. The first settlers con- mitted but very little to writing.
Dr. A. M. Caverly, in preparing his " History of Troy," which was printed in 1859, was very laborions and remarkably successful in obtaining and collating the history of the first settlers in that town, and deserves high commendation for his faithful work. After the lapse of nearly thirty years it would be impossible to-day to make such a collection of faets as lie was able to present, for nearly all the aged, upon whom he depended for information, have passed away.
As a considerable portion of Troy (something more than four thousand acres) was until 1815 a part of Fitzwilliam, Dr. Caverly's chapters upon the early settlers embrace many of the most important facts respecting the families that origi- nally occupied the northern section of our town.
In many, perhaps in a majority of cases no descendants of the first settlers are now inhabitants of Fitzwilliam ; in other cases the descendants now living in the town are through the female line of the families, and the family name is extinct, as is true of the Townsend, Brigham, and Davidson names.
In setting forth what can now be learned of the history of the early settlers it has been impossible in all cases to observe the exact order of time in their coming, for very often the pre- cise years of their arrival cannot be determined. Not infre- quently a young man would come from Massachusetts and begin the clearing of a piece of land, but return, after a few months, to his home. Sometimes, in such cases, many months would elapse before he would return and become an actual settler, and occasionally he would not return at all.
The New Hampshire Gazetteer, published in 1823, states that
the first settlement was made early in 1760 by James Reed, John Fassett Benjamin Bigelow, and others,
which is plainly a mistake, as it is certain that no one of them came as early as the date named.
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
BENJAMIN BIGELOW and Elizabeth, his wife, were from Lunenburg, Mass., and they must have come to Monadnock No. 4 as early as 1762. Mr. Bigelow was, without doubt, the first settler. Probably he entered the territory by the old military road from Winchendon, as he came bringing his wife and goods in a cart doubtless drawn by oxen. This cart, turned up against trees, was the shelter of his family till a log- house could be built, and under it the first white child, native of Fitzwilliam, was born, May 10th, 1762. Opinions vary with regard to the exact locality of this event. One tradition is that the child Beulah was born near the dividing line be- tween Massachusetts and New Hampshire, while another sup- poses that the worthy couple had already arrived at the spot west of the Pinnacle where their house was afterward erected. That the birth of this child occurred as here stated is unques- tionable. Beulah Bigelow was the only child of her parents who lived to maturity, and she became the wife of Ezekiel Gates, of Stow, Mass., and had a family of eight children. A letter from Artemas Gates, son of Ezekiel and Beulah, informs us that one of the eight had nine children, another eight, an- other seven, two five each, one six, and another four, while the other died young ; and he adds that as to his " mother's being born under a cart is more than I can vouch for ; but my father used to plague her about it, but she denied it." Mrs. Gates was hardly a competent witness in this case, and the uniform tradition will not be set at naught by her testimony. Mrs. Beulah Gates died at the age of seventy-two.
Benjamin Bigelow was one of the six members of the church at its organization, March 27th, 1771. Three or four years before he had been the agent of the proprietors to hire the first minister, Mr. Parker, and he was one of the committee that obtained, as a candidate for settlement, the first pastor, Rev. Benjamin Brigham. He aided also in fixing upon a site for the meeting-house and cemetery, while he was active in clearing the first roads in the township. May 3d, 1771, Mr. Bigelow was drowned at Winchester, in the Ashuelot River, while attempting to cross it on the ice, as he was returning to his home on foot with provisions for his family. His body
119
GENERAL JAMES REED.
was not recovered till many days after, when it was found in the Connecticut River at or a little below Northfield, Mass. His death was a severe loss to the church and entire commu- nity, as he was universally respected, confided in, and loved. After the birth of Beulah Mr. and Mrs. Bigelow had two other children-viz., Ruth, who died June 24th, 1770, and Sampson, who died five days later. After the death of her husband Mrs. Bigelow removed to Stow, Mass., which is sup- posed to have been the place of her birth, and died there.
JAMES REED was doubtless the second to settle in Monad- nock No. 4, and the only one of the original proprietors that actually resided in this township. In the latter part of his life he was usually styled General Reed, having been commissioned as a brigadier-general during the Revolutionary War. Ile was a native of Woburn, but removed to Fitzwilliam from Lunenburg, Mass. In a deed executed March 4th, 1765, he is called " James Reed of Lunenburg," doubtless for the good reason that since the final grant to the proprietors of Monad- nock No. 4 was not made till after the date given above, he could not legally have been described as belonging in this place. He built the second house (the first framed house) in the township, and it stood on the old military road about half a mile from the home of Benjamin Bigelow, and but a little distance from that lately occupied by Mr. Gilbert C. Bemis. It had two large square rooms, beside a kitchen and bedroom on the lower floor. It was two stories high, and had several lodging-rooms upon the second floor. This house was kept by General Reed and others for several years as an inn.
Many of the proprietors' meetings were held in it, and it seems to have been the place where most of the religious services of the settlers were maintained during the years that elapsed before the meeting-house was in a condition to be oc- cupied. The ordination of the first minister, Rev. Benjamin Brigham, took place March 27th, 1771, under that roof, unless the best traditionary evidence is in fault, though it should be noted that a single report comes to us that the public services on that occasion were held in the shop of Asa Johnson, which
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
was near General Reed's, while the dinner for the council was laid at the inn.
The military history of General Reed will more properly have a place among the records of Fitzwilliam in the Revolu- tionary War.
He was a man of ordinary height, well built, and very active, care-taking, and energetic.
James Reed was moderator of the proprictors' meeting, November 14th, 1769, which was the first meeting held in Monadnock No. 4, and proprietors' clerk from that time till 1776. His name appears as a member of all the most impor- tant committees that shaped the action of the people in estab- lishing their civil and religions institutions. While in the army in 1776, during the prevalence among his troops of small- pox, dysentery, and malignant fever, General Reed suffered severely. He was then at Crown Point, and Dr. Cummings suggests that through malpractice-of course not intentional- his eyes were so seriously affected that his sight was practically and permanently destroyed. While sick he had orders from General Washington to join him at headquarters, but it was impossible for him to comply with the wishes of the com- mander-in-chief, and he was soon obliged to retire from active duty on half pay. The close of the war found him in Keene, and it is thought that he was there for medical attendance. " The Annals of Keene" say :
This Gen. Reed, whose ordinary place of residence was Fitzwilliam, is remembered here as an aged blind man, and as almost daily seen after the elose of the War walking up and down Main Street, aiding and guided by Mr. Washburn, who was paralyzed on one side ; he received a pension.
The description is pathetic, the blind man led by but sup- porting a cripple.
After a few years' residence in Keene, General Reed re- turned to his home in Fitzwilliam, where everything was so familiar that he could walk in safety without a guide ; but later he went to Fitchburg, where he died. He was an officer in the army toward the close of the French and Indian War, and was
121
GENERAL REED'S FAMILY.
about fifty years old when he entered the service of his coun- try in the war of the Revolution.
His first wife, a Miss Abigail Hinds, is represented as a smart and capable woman, able to do anything, and keeping her husband's financial matters in a good condition. His second wife was a daughter of Major John Farrar, of Fitzwilliam.
His sons, Sylvanus, James Jr., and Hinds were in the Con- tinental Army, and the two eldest received pensions.
In his old age General Reed is reported as saying that his children were spoiled by his being so long absent in the army while they were young. (See the chapter upon the Revolu- tionary War, and also the genealogical records which comprise the latter part of this volume. These records may be consulted in all similar cases.)
After Chapter X. of this work and the foregoing sketch of the life of General Reed had been written, the committee in charge of this history received from Amos J. Blake, Esq., of Fitzwilliam, a biographical sketch of General Reed, from which they have directed such extracts to be made both here and in Chapter X. as give additional facts respecting him, and are deemed by them appropriate for this volume. Mr. Blake's sketch is understood to be the substance of a paper which he prepared for the New Hampshire Historical Society and read before that body.
James Reed " first settled in Brookfield, Mass., and afterward in that part of Lunenburg now Fitchburg. His dwelling stood upon the site of the present City Hall."
His military life commenced in 1755, when he served in the campaign against the French and Indians, commanding a company of provincial troops under Col. Brown. In the same capacity he served with Gen. Abercrombie, in 1758, at Ticonderoga, and with Gen. Amherst, in 1759. He was employed in various public services until the peace of 1763. In the French and Indian War he received the Commission of Lieutenant- Colonel. The lapse of time has hidden from view the detailed account of his services in those campaigns, but his early selection by his country- men for the command of a regiment at the beginning of the Revolution indicates that his military career was creditable to liimself and valuable to his country.
Upon the tidings of the battle of Lexington, he raised a Company of Volunteers, and marched at their head to Medford. His ardor in the
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
cause did not permit him to remain idle. He continued to enlist volun- teers, and soon had four companies enrolled under his standard, the greater portion of whom were from Cheshire County. He was appointed Colonel of a Regiment by the New Hampshire Provincial Assembly on the first of June, 1775.
He remained with the army in the vicinity of Boston after its com- mand was assumed by General Washington, being posted upon Winter Hill, and upon the reorganization of the forces on the first of January, 1776, his regiment was ranked second in the Continental Army.
The evacuation of the British troops on the 17th of March concluded the siege of Boston, and Colonel Reed accompanied the army in its movements to New York in the following April. On the 24th of April he was put into the 3d Brigade, under General Sullivan, and was soon after ordered up the Hudson to relieve the force under Arnold.
The following receipt, given on his departure from New York, serves to illustrate the confidence reposed in Colonel Reed :
New York, April 29, 1776.
Then received from Gen. Washington three boxes, said to contain three hundred thousand dollars, to be delivered to Gen. Schuyler at Albany.
(Signed) James Reed.
The money above alluded to was doubtless for the payment of Schuy- ler's army.
General Sullivan's command passed over the ground which was familiar to Colonel Reed by his campaigns in the previous wars, as far as the mouth of the river Sorel.
Here they met the retreating army, and Gen. Sullivan assumed the command. The retreat reached Ticonderoga on the 1st of July, 1776. A worse foe than the enemy at this time attacked the American army, for disease, the unfailing attendant of hardship and exposure, now broke out and prevailed to an alarming extent. Small-pox, dysentery, and malignant fever rapidly thinned the ranks of the patriot army. Col. Reed was attacked with fever at Crown Point, and, perhaps for want of proper medical treatment, suffered the loss of his sight, which of course retired him from the service. On the 9th of August, 1776, and during this illness he was appointed by Congress a Brigadier-General, on the recommendation of Gen. Washington.
He died at Fitchburg, Feb. 13th, 1807, aged eighty-three years, and was buried with military honors. In the old burying-ground at Fitch- burg stands his monument, quite elaborate for the times, which bears the following inscription : In the various military scenes in which his country was concerned from 1755 to the superior conflict distinguished in our history as the Revolution, he sustained commissions. In that
123
JASON STONE AND FAMILY.
Revolution, at the important post of Lake George, he totally lost his sight. From that period to his death he received from his country the reward allowed to pensioners of the rank of Brigadier-General.
JASON STONE came from Framingham, Mass., soon after the arrival of General Reed, and was doubtless the third settler. He was the son of Samuel Stone, and was born December 28th, 1737. His wife was Deborah Goodnow .* The exact time of the arrival of this family is uncertain, but they had a child born here as early as October 18th, 1765, and this was the first birth entered upon the records. This family had a son Thaddeus that died from being scalded, and was buried April 30th, 1769. This was the first burial in what has been ever since the cemetery of Fitzwilliam ; and the grave was in the south- west corner of the lot as afterward laid out and ac- cepted by the proprietors for a burying-ground. Probably the location of the cemetery had been substantially settled in the minds of those most interested before this first grave was opened. The burial of this child is the first that appears upon the long record that covers the space of one hundred and seventeen years.
Mr. and Mrs. Stone were peculiar people, and many anec- dotes respecting them have come down to us by tradition, most of which are not worth repeating.
Dogs were numerous in those days, considering the small number of the families, and the sight of a dog vexed the soul of Mr. Stone. After the meeting-house was so far completed that it could be used for public worship, the dogs had a pro- pensity to attend. Mr. Stone carried with him on all ocea- sions a stout whip or heavy cane, which he used effectually to put a stop to this nuisance, so that the sleepers in the meeting- house had no chance for rest while a dog remained in the sane- tuary. Mrs. Stone always rode on a pillion behind her hus- hand ; and if she was not always good-natured, he was not uniformly very accommodating. Incompatability of temper in the household is not wholly a modern evil.
* Mr. and Mrs. Stone " owned the covenant" in the Framingham Church, August 17th, 1766 and three of their children are recorded as having been baptized in Framing- ham, probably after their removal to Fitzwilliam-viz., Deborah, Thaddeus, and Re- becca.
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
TIIE MELLEN FAMILY.
The father of this family, which was closely identified with the early history of Fitzwilliam, was
DANIEL MELLEN, who removed from Framingham to Hol- liston, Mass., in 1750. Of the original proprietors of Monad- nock No. 4, no one did more to promote its settlement and general prosperity. He was here very often, and took an active part in all the affairs of the township, though he never resided in the place permanently. He built and set in operation the first saw-mill, which was located east of the house where Mr. Nahum Hayden has since lived. This mill was built in the spring of 1767, and Mr. Mellen was aided in building it by a vote of the proprietors that they would pay Colonel Sampson Stoddard from their treasury "twenty pounds, on condition that he should deed to Daniel Mellen two lots of land to en-
courage him to build a saw-mill.'' Mr. Mellen built also a house on the hill where Sylvester Drury now lives, on the old Troy road. This house he designed for the home of his son, John Mellen. Daniel Mellen was associated with James Reed and Benjamin Bigelow on the earliest committee chosen by the proprietors to lay out roads, and of this committee he was the chairman. This appointment was the first made by the proprietors of which we have any record. At the next meet- ing of this body the same three men were chosen as a com- mittee to locate a meeting-house and lay out a lot of land for a burying-ground, and of this committee Mr. Mellen was also chairman. He held the same position on the enlarged com- mittee of later date that actually fixed upon the site for the church edifice and cemetery. He was also the first collector of taxes in the township. Indeed, during the early history of Fitzwilliam Daniel Mellen was called to fill alinost every office that required the best judgment and the greatest amount of honesty and energy ; and he may well be styled " one of the fathers of the town."
JOHN MELLEN, better known in the latter part of his life as Esquire Mellen, was a son of the above-mentioned Daniel Mellen, and removed to Monadnock No. 4 as early as 1767,
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THIE MELLEN FAMILY.
and probably a little earlier. As already noticed, his father had built a house for him in which he lived for a number of years. This place being consumed by fire, he afterward lived in a house which he owned, and that stood a little south of the parsonage recently occupied by Rev. John Colby. This house was where there is an old cellar and a clump of aged apple- trees before we descend the hill toward the Hayden place. In the early years of the town he owned the land on which the south part of the village now stands, while Colonel Sylvanus Reed owned the north part. Esquire Mellen was a man of great influence in laying the foundations of society, and, like his father, was called upon to fill many important and responsi- ble offices. It was with him that Rev. Benjamin Brigham boarded while preaching as a candidate for settlement.
Outside of Fitzwilliam Mr. Mellen was called to transact a large amount of public business, and was plainly regarded as one of the most energetic and reliable men of Cheshire County. In 1780 he was appointed collector of beef for the Continental Army, and had the entire county for his field of operations. At another time he was associated with Colonel David Web- ster, by the appointment of the Committee of Safety, to visit every town in the district and to look after all the deficiencies in furnishing the full quota of beef cattle required by the State government. This was at a time when it was very diffi- cult to obtain anything like adequate supplies of food for the Continental Army.
John Mellen was the representative from the district com- posed of Fitzwilliam and Swanzey in 1777 and 1779.
He died of a nervous fever July 25th, 1784, aged forty years.
In the history of Framingham, Mass., we are informed that John Mellen, Esq., married Sarah Fisher, of Medway ; but the name of his widow, who became the wife of Rev. Benja- min Brigham, was Puah, not Sarah. It is possible that this lady, who survived Esquire Mellen, was a second wife ; but this is not at all probable, as we have no record of such a mar- riage, or of the death of a first wife.
In the autumn of 1770 a little daughter of Mr. Mellen about three years old wandered away from home and was lost
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
in the woods, which then covered nearly the entire territory for miles in every direction. Missing her and not finding her in the immediate neighborhood, the family became alarmed and messengers were sent into every part of the settlement for help. Night came on while men, women, and children were searching the forest. Pine torches were lighted, and the search was still continued, but it was not till toward morning that the child was found. She was discovered by David Perry sitting under the body of an upturned tree, with the little dog that had followed her by her side. The sound of the horn as the signal of success soon relieved the almost distracted par- ents, and being repeated through the forest, recalled the peo- ple from the pursuit, and in a short time they were all gath- ered at the house of Mr. Mellen. Mr. Brigham, who was then preaching here as a candidate and who boarded at Mr. Mellen's, led the devotions of the assembled people in a fer- vent prayer of thanksgiving to God, which was followed by songs of praise, and then all partook of the best refreshment that the house afforded. This lost child carried the effects of this fright all through her life. She died February 13th, 1861, aged ninety-five years.
DANIEL MELLEN, JR., was another son of the Daniel Mellen already mentioned. Born in Holliston, Mass., he came to Monadnock No. 4 at the age of nineteen years. The early records of the proprietors show that he too, like his father and brother John, was a man of worth, and ready to do his part in every public service and enterprise. He was comparatively a quiet man, but with a fair capacity for business. Beginning life in Fitzwilliam as a farmer, he continued such till the end of his days, dying, at the advanced age of ninety-eight years, January 7th, 1847. His home was on an old road to Troy, the house standing upon the site of the late residence (recently burned) of Mr. Gilbert C. Bemis.
REV. JOHN MELLEN, a brother of Daniel Mellen, Sr., and about seven years his junior, never resided in Monadnock No. 4, but in 1768 was
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JOHN FASSETT-THE TOLMAN FAMILY.
Earnestly Desired at ye Cost & Charge of this propes to Repair to Portsmº as soon as his pleasure suits & make application to the General Court of New Hampr for a Confirmation of the meetings of the Proprs of this Town & for a full power to be Given to the sd Prop's to sell Delinquents Lands for non Payment of Taxes.
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