USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hillsborough > The history of Hillsborough, New Hampshire, 1735-1921, Volume 1 > Part 2
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It is "high ground" at "the Centre," where it pleased some of the earliest comers to believe the spot was to be the hub around which the township was to revolve. In truth this place was the capital for many years, until the coming of a new power dis- mantled the old and the rumble of the factory wheel proclaimed the building of a rival hamlet. If the early builders were dis- appointed in their dreams, none of the beauties of the landscape went with the changing current of population, so the scene has not lost a star in its firmament nor a rock from its broken slopes. Going eastward towards Henniker the country winds over hills that afford a sightly cyclorama of country. On a clear day in summer the horizon is fret-worked by a circle of hills and moun- tains, beginning on the northeast with the Blue Hills of Strafford, Pawtuckaway Mountain of Deerfield, and Nottingham, Unca- noonucs, the twins of Goffstown, the Deering Hills, Pack Monad- nock and Crotchet Mountain in the southwest, Gibson's and
23
NATURAL RESOURCES.
Hedgehog highlands, Lovell's Mountain in Washington, Suna- pee's long blue ridge, Kearsarge's great dome, Cardigan's bald head, Mount Carr's arched bow, Franconia's lofty sentinels over- watched by the Old Man of the Mountains, while above all of these and hundreds of lesser peaks Mount Washington lifts in the white haze of the distance its snowy forehead.
The lowest altitude in Hillsborough is the valley a little east of Bridge Village, known in the early vernacular as "Falls Vil- lage"; the highest is Stowe Mountain; the mean altitude of the town one thousand feet.
Like all New England towns the soil of Hillsborough varies according to altitude and presence or lack of water. Along the rivers and smaller streams are frequently found an alluvial soil, but there are no level tracts of any size, and little pine or light land in town. The early settlers had generally a keen eye for the most promising sections suited to cultivation, and many of their farms were laid out on the fertile side hills. As a rule the soil is hard to cultivate, but it yields a reasonable return. Among the grains, corn, wheat, oats, barley and rye have been successfully raised, while potatoes and garden vegetables thrive well. It lies in a good apple belt, and much of the early growth of timber consisting of rock maple there have been large sugar orchards in town, but these have nearly vanished now.
The flora of this vicinity was not unlike that of the neighbor- ing towns, and consisted of mixed growthsof hard and soft woods. Foremost among the latter, and one of the greatest assets of the town, was the pine, the last specimens of these "noblemen of the forests" disappearing long since, while their descendants are being too closely pursued by the modern sawmill to ever rival their ancestry either in size or quality. The magnificent monarchs of the woods, as well as attracting the pioneer, appealed to the greed of the king of England, though it proved a thorn in the flesh rather than a blessing to him in his turbulent fortunes. In the days of the early settlers hemlock, spruce, fir balsam, several kinds of oak, beech, ash, elm, several specimens of birch and as many of maples abounded. Then there were the butternut, cherry, with a dozen of smaller growths, not the least to the Indian being the sumach. Here and there an aged sycamore-a sycamore is always
24
HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH.
aged-lifted its depleted crest high into the air a suitable pillar for some owl to make its perch, while it doled forth its weird greeting to the coming night.
The poplar was quite common on the rocky slopes of the highlands, a companion of the hornbeam and lever wood, while along the banks of the streams and in the swampy places the wil- low and alder abounded, the first heralding the coming of spring with its white tassels and the latter marking the advance of the seasons into the days of frost by its red clusters of ripening buds. An occasional apple tree, more than any other of the forest people, foretold the coming of the new order of men.
Besides the charm of flowers that was bestowed upon many of the trees both in the seasons of buds and fruits, there was a liberal gift of wild blossoms which gemmed the hillsides and low- lands, the daffodil modestly illuminating some sunny spot even before the snow had vanished from the shady dell, the trailing arbutus with its pink buds and fragrant flowers, the violets that adorn our fields with a gentle beauty, the wake robin, the anemone or wind flower, the strawberry beautiful in its flowering period and the days when its rich, luscious fruit gives it first rank among the wild kindred of the fruit and flower. Less favored with notice is the checkerberry with its fragrant leaf and round red globes of fruit. More beautiful and fragrant than these is the swamp pink, while later comes the queen of her season the water lily, followed by the cardinal flower, the arrow head, the iris, called frequently blue flag, until the autumn is made gay and cheerful by the golden rod and aster, till the frost weed with its gorgeous flowering stalks lends the final touch to Nature's round of leaf and blossom. So through our valleys and on our hills, each vested with its own peculiar grace --
"Everywhere about us they are glowing, Some like stars to tell us spring is born ; Others their blue eyes with tears o'erflowing, Stand like Ruth amid the golden corn."
The list of herbs and plants that are useful and valuable for their medicinal qualities are the pennyroyal, mints, spikenard, sarsaparilla, lobelia, cohosh, called by the red man papoose root, elecampane, with others quite as worthy of mention.
DENIZENS OF THE FOREST. 25
In the days of "the forest primeval" wild animals were numerous in this vicinity, the most lordly of these being the moose, whose flesh was highly esteemed as food. More common was the deer, the one creature of the denizens of the wildwood that the pioneers sought to protect on account of its value as meat for the table. Common at the outset and remaining after many of the other animals had disappeared was the bear, sometimes troublesome and anon retreating into the deeper forest as the settlers enlarged their clearings. They were especially dangerous to cattle and sheep, often slaughtering whole flocks during the season. The region about Stowe Mountain was noted as a rendezvous for them. From hence also came the wildcat much dreaded where there were children. Bounties were paid for the destruction of these stealthy vindictive marauders of the woods until within about a hundred years. Among the out- laws of the wilderness and more hated than any of the others was the wolf, whose hunger call was feared by the unarmed and belated traveler. On his head, too, a bounty was paid until the last of his kind had vanished.
Pleasanter types of animals were the otter and the beaver both of which must have been plenty in the days of yore. Loon Pond might just as well and as appropriately been called Beaver Pond, so numerous were these industrious creatures in that vicinity, where traces of their work are still to be seen. In build- ing their curiously constructed dams, ponds were frequently brought into existence where none had existed, while those that already rested like mirrors on Nature's breast were enlarged by them. The openings called meadows by the early settlers which afforded such rich pasturage for their neat kine were made by them. The mink and the muskrat lived along the streams, a few of their descendants being with us to-day, while the fox is another denizen of the early scenes that has outlived the shifting years to still fly over our hills before the fleet-footed hound of the hunter as his ancestors fled in early days before some dusky Robin Hood. Other dumb inhabitants of the woods, which are conspicious to-day, are the grey, red, striped and flying squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks and the lowly hedgehog.
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26
HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH.
The eagle frequently seen in those days, and easily the king of the air, has practically vanished, though its far-removed cousin the hawk, still haunts the sky occasionally, especially if there is a yard of well fed chickens under its range of vision. The crow was here when the white man came waiting for his planting of corn, finding the new-comer less generous than the Indian who gladly set apart certain allowances for this dark-hued visitant of the silent wood and open sky. The partridge drummed its wel- come to the earliest pioneer as it had played its symphony to the race already here. The owl was the bird of wisdom to the red man, figuring conspicuously in many a council of war or treaty of peace. The wild bee, of all the insects, afforded the Indian the greatest satisfaction in yielding up its stores of honey. The noblest of all the feathered denizens of the wilderness, living shyly in its thickets, was the wild turkey. When in full plumage he was remarkably beautiful, and it was a grand sight to see the leader of a flock of a dozen or more, an old gobbler that may have seen a decade of summers and winters, marshal in single file his brood along some forest aisle, forever on the alert for danger and at a single note of alarm sending his followers into covert in the twinkling of an eye. Often weighing between thirty and forty pounds, next to beaver tail, the most delicious meat obtainable in those days, small wonder he and his flock were hunted with zeal by the Indians. These, with wild ducks, swans and geese that nested and brooded by the shores of the pristine sheets of waters, disappeared almost before the coming of the whites. This short catalogue included practically all of their kind, and among them all the nearest approach to a songster was the whip- poor-will, sending up its mournful monotone from near some stagnant water at the close of a summer day.
About the time of the advent of the white man upon his new . possessions the wild pigeon came in mighty flocks, seeming to number thousands upon thousands, flying in great clouds across the sky, miles wide and so dense that the sunlight would be shut out for hours together. These were migratory birds, coming from the southland, and keeping up their annual visitations for about a hundred years, when they abruptly ceased their summer calls, having followed man westward in his march of civilization. They were caught by wholesale in nets and made good eating.
27
ORIGIN OF THE NAME.
As singular as it may seem, nearly all of the birds with us now came with or since our forefathers, a few early comers hav- ing departed from our midst, as if they did not like our company. The most noticeable of these being the bobolink, as he was fraternally called.
A long list of the creatures of field and forest, earth and air, might be given, but in this respect Hillsborough does not differ materially from her surrounding towns, and it does not seem necessary to enlarge upon this subject in a work of this kind.
The town gets its name from that of its founder, Col. John Hill of Boston, and was not christened as the county was for the Earl of Hillsborough, England. The name was originally spelled without the s-Hillborough. In written and spoken language the name has been variously rendered as Hillsburg, Hillsberry, Hills- bury, Hillborough and finally Hillsborough. A few years ago, in answer to a petition sent to Washington, the government sanctioned the omission of the last three letters, so in the postal directory it became Hillsboro. The railroad had already recog- nized this form of spelling, but the name has never been legally changed so on all official documents it is given as Hillsborough, and in this form it is a better balanced word.
CHAPTER II. IN THE DAYS OF THE COLONISTS.
New Hampshire Colonists of Four Nativities-None Related to the Others-The London Fishermen, Who Came First to This Province -The Puritans, the Massachusetts Bay Colony-The Yorkshire Farmers, Who Settled in the Merrimack Valley-The Scotch-Irish, Founders of Londonderry, N. H .- Pioneers of Hillsborough From the Last Two Classes-Crowded in the Wilderness !- The Gardner Survey-A Descendant of the Surveyor Living in Hillsborough -- King Philip's War-A Hundred Years of Conflict-King William's War-Queen Anne's War-Indian Warfare-Scouting Parties- The Contoocook Valley Scout-Its Memorial, Lovell's Mountain- Lovewell's War-"Peace of Boston"-Boundary Dispute-Grants of Townships-From the Merrimack to the Connecticut-Two Tiers of Towns Twelve Miles Wide-List of Grants-Frontier Line Across the State-Hillsborough on the Border-Only Hunters and Indian Scouts in This Vicinity-Contoocook a Favorite Retreat- The Lost Legion-Indian Relics Found Here-Pompanoosick, Last of His Race-Original Records of the Town's Settlement Lost- Colonel Hill's Grant-The Isaac Little Deed-Church Deed to Joseph Mason-Rival Factions Seek to Govern New Hampshire- Origin of the Name-Provincial Government-After This Local History.
Colonization in New Hampshire came from four sources, each independent of one another and entirely dissimilar. Con- temporary with the settlement by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, if not earlier, came certain hardy colonists from London and Central England, who established themselves on the coast at the mouth of the Pascataqua River, soon pushing their way inland until they had effected permanent colonies at Dover, Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth), Hampton, Exeter, and elsewhere, laying to a considerable extent the foundation of New England's civic and military power. Of this party the history of Western New Hampshire, including especially Hillsborough County, has very little association. Neither do the Pilgrims figure to any extent in her colonization.
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29
THE EARLY COLONISTS.
Fifteen years following the wintry advent of the Pilgrims began to appear upon the scene about Boston and northward a body of men and women who styled themselves "The Massachu- setts Bay Colonists," better known as "The Puritans." Within a few years yet another class, with no distinctive designation or real grievance at heart as an incentive to found homes in the wilderness of a new country, entered the field of conquest. This honest company, seeking to improve its social and fiancial con- dition, for the want of a better name might be called "The York- shire Yeomanry," as it came largely from that district.
Coming later than any of the preceding bodies, and flying before such civil and religious persecution as seldom falls to the lot of men, were a goodly number of immigrants with a Scottish lineage but acknowledging Ireland as their birthplace. These pioneers began their colonization in New England in 1718, nearly a hundred of them coming to Londonderry, N. H., in the spring of 1719. To distinguish these people from those coming from Southern Ireland, the historian has designated them as "Scotch- Irish." In writing the history of Hillsborough these sturdy settlers and their descendants occupy a first place, with the Yorkshire husbandmen coming a good second, followed by a few of the Puritanical faith.
As inconsistent as it may be and seem, within five years of their arrival the colonists of Massachusetts Bay began to com- plain of being crowded! With a view of enlarging their planta- tion, a survey of the Merrimack River was made in the summer of 1638, and the first rude plan of the inland country returned to the courts of Massachusetts by John Gardner, who had a descen- dant living in Hillsborough, which fact links the history of our town very clearly with the early colonization of the state. The people began to look northward for homes, and actual settlers pushed as far north as Old Dunstable, when an outbreak with the Indians checked the advance. This struggle became known as King Philip's War, and lasted from 1662 to 1678, in which the Indians of Southern New England were so completely crushed that they never rallied sufficiently to offer further resistance. This was a purely colonial struggle between the incoming white man and the outgoing red man.
30
HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH.
However, if the outcome had been highly satisfactory to the Puritan and Pilgrim, the strife had only been begun. In the north a new element entered into the conflict, prolonging it for more than three-fourths of a century, making the entire warfare, with brief intervals of peace, one of a hundred years' duration. One explanation for this is the fact that during the long period England and France were almost continually at war, and without failure these quarrels were transmitted to their colonies in America. Thus the colonists of Canada or New France, and New England were constantly pitted against each other, with the unsophisticated red men as the targets of war.
The beginning of the conflict between the French and the English in this country was better known as "King William's War," though often referred to as "St. Castin's War," from the fact this French leader had aroused the English colonists by his steady and persistent encroachments on their territory. At this time the Governor of New France began to systematically organ- ize and train the so-called Christian Indians to wage a predatory warfare upon the colonists of New England. This war ended with the peace of Ryswick, September 20, 1697, without actually settling any of the mooted points between the Old World nations.
Less than five years of restless peace followed, when May 4, 1762, England declared war against France and Spain, and what was known in Europe as the "War of Spanish Succession" ensued. In America this struggle was styled "Queen Anne's War," and it lasted until the "Peace of Utrecht," in April, 1713. By the terms of this settlement Great Britain obtained New Foundland, Acadia and Hudson Bay Territory, and it was be- lieved permanent peace had been secured.
If the European Powers had succeeded in closing the drama of arms for a time, the colonists in America continued to wage their intermittent warfare upon local issues. On the one hand was usually a dispute relative to some boundary line, as witness the cause of King William's War. Not so inclined to make for themselves permanent settlements as the English, with a wonder- ful ability to cover a vast extent of country with a few numbers, the French established their outposts and claimed nearly half the territory now included in the United States. The fisheries of the
3I
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS.
Atlantic coast was a bone of contention long after the earlier quarrels had been adjusted. Then, there was the rich fur trade, a matter of no slight interest, and which both the French and the English wanted to monopolize. In order to accomplish this pur- pose, the French built their forts in the distant wilderness, and sent their voyageurs on long journeys into the pathless regions of "summer snows," until checked in a measure by that mighty corporation of the English known as "The Hudson Bay Com- pany." Last, but not least in its sinister influence among the colonists, was the difference in religious views. With all of these influences at work it is not strange if the two parties were ever lying in wait for each other, and always the unfortunate red man, his untutored mind embittered with real and fancied wrongs, was the uncertain and disturbing element hovering over the scenes like a shadowy Nemesis.
So, while the Old World bivouacked her armies, the colonists of New France constructed their missionary strongholds in the wilderness, and encouraged their dusky neophytes to carry terror to the hearts of the Pioneers of New England by a series of attacks upon their defenseless homes, applying the torch to their dwellings and slaying the tender and bleeding and helpless in cold blood, or bearing them away to a fate worse than death. Driven to frenzy by these repeated cruelties, which if not checked would result in complete disaster, the English from time to time sent numerous-over twenty-scouting parties over the great belt of country lying between the warring factions, now and then bringing back bloody trophies of the wartrail. One of these ex- peditions passed down the valley of the Contoocook through the present territory of Hillsborough, where then the only beacon light was the signal fire of the dusky enemy, and gave the name of the leader to Lovell's Mountain.
The climax in these warlike marches was reached, when Harmon at the head of his scouts in the summer of 1724 routed the religious garrison of the French at Norridgewock, near where now stands the town of Farmington, Me., and completed their work by killing the insistent missionary, Father Rasle. This crushing blow was followed by Lovewell's memorable expedi- tions, the third and last of which culminated May 5, 1725, in
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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH.
the life and death struggle with the Sokoki Indians on the shores of Uncannebe in the valley of the Saco River not far from the site of the town of Fryeburg, Me. This battle, while disastrous to the immediate parties engaged in it, brought about "The Peace of Boston," signed by certain Abnaki chiefs, and giving to the English the longest cessation of hostilities they had ever enjoyed.
As if their other troubles were not sufficient, a dispute had arisen between the colonists of Massachusetts and New Hamp- shire in regard to the boundary line. It had been stated in the charter of the Massachusett Bay Company that the northern boundary of its grant should be a line three miles north of the Merrimack "as the river runs in any and every part thereof." As far as the early surveyors had penetrated the river had flowed from the west, and that was the reason it was supposed to be its continuous course. When it became evident that a mistake had been made, rather than yield to its sister province, towards whom there was anything but a kindly feeling, east was made to stand for north, and Massachusetts claimed all territory to the west of the river and a strip three miles wide on the east, continuing to three miles north of the head of the stream, "wherever that might be." This claim was stubbornly fought in and out of the courts for nearly a hundred years, and it was pushed with renewed activity the moment the difficulties with the French and Indians had been checked.
Aware that her demands upon the debatable country lying to the west of the Merrimack River was to be seriously combated by the court of New Hampshire, and believing in the old saying that "possession is nine points in law," Massachusetts began to grant townships and homesteads in that section to those who would promise to become actual settlers. In doing this she gave two reasons : One was to form a cordon of settlements on a more northern frontier than before, as a protection against any possible uprising from the Indians in the future, and the other excuse was to reward her soldiers in the previous wars. Acting upon this assumption a belt of territory three miles wide and six miles long was granted in April, 1735, to the survivors and heirs of that body of troops led by Capt. William Tyng in the winter of 1702- 1703 known as the "Snow-shoe Scouts," the grant made under
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STEEL BRIDGE, HENNIKER ROAD.
Photograph by MANAHAN.
NORTH BRANCH, CONTOOCOOK RIVER.
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GRANT OF THE TOWNSHIP.
the name of Tyng Township. Another township on the east side was granted to Lovewell's men under the title of "Lovewell's Town." The first grant is now included in the City of Man- chester, and the second in the Town of Pembroke.
On the west side of the Merrimack the lower province was more ambitious, as she was supposed and had need to be. In this direction she caused to be mapped out two tiers of towns between the above-named river and the Connecticut, the northern line running from Penacook, now Concord, to the "Great Falls" of the last river, and now known as Bellows Falls. This band of wild country was twelve miles in width, the townships being each six miles square. The names and dates of the grants of the lower section is as follows:
Bow, May 10, 1727; Amherst, as Narragansett, No. 3, December 18, 1728; Boscawen, as Contoocook, Dec. 8, 1732 ; Goffstown, as Narragan- sett, No. 4, Feb. 9, 1733-4; Bedford, as Narragansett, No. 5, February 12, 1733-4; Lyndeborough, as Salem-Canada, June 19, 1735 ; Dunbar- ton, as Starkstown, June 19, 1735; Weare, as Beverly-Canada, June 19, 1735; New Boston, January 14, 1735-6.
In the second tier eight towns were granted in the succeeding order:
No. 1 Warner, January 16, 1735-6; No. 2, Bradford, January 16, 1735-6 ; No. 3, Walpole, November, 1736; No. 4, Alstead; No. 5, Hop- kinton ; No. 6, Henniker; No. 7, Hillsborough; No. 8, Washington ;- all of the five last-named granted January 16, 1735-6.
The frontier line at this period if drawn from east to west would have extended from Rochester through Barrington to Boscawen, then known as Contoocook, Concord, then called Rum- ford, through Hopkinton, Henniker, Hillsborough and Peterbor- ough to Swanzey, Keene, Winchester, and Hinsdale. The entire northern and western country to the valley of the St. Lawrence was an unbroken wilderness, save for a few families located upon the "Great Meadows" of Westmoreland or near the garrison at Number Four, now known as Charlestown.
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