USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Derry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 11
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Londonderry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 11
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" March 24, 1721-2.
" The committee being met, and having cast up how many dayes they have set upon the public affairs of this town, and finding it to be 20 dais to six of said committee, and ten dais to Joseph Simons. And the committee agreed to take their pay in work from the town."
It appears from the records of the town, that there were three grand divisions of its lands, and that each proprietor received a lot in each of these separate divisions.
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
The individual who undertook the finishing of the meet- ing-house, was one Jeremiah Osgood, and, as it appears, he found it a losing job.
" At a town meeting, March ye 5, 1722. Voted, that Jeremiah Osgood shall have a tract of land allowed him, in the common lands in this town, as a consideration for his loss in his work about the meeting-house in this town."
" Voted, that the said Jeremiah Osgood shall also have one hundred acres in satisfaction for his work."
"On the said day the town voted, that the fairs and mar- kets shall be held at the meeting-house."
" Voted, that the pound shall be made by the meeting- house ; that it shall be built this spring, before June next ensuing."
" At a town meeting, October, 1723. Voted, that all per- sons who shall do any work for the town, shall be allowed two shillings and sixpence, and no more, per day.
" Voted at the above meeting, that the select-men shall have power to take what methods they shall think fit, for the secur- ing the fishery at Amoskeag."
As lumber for building was much needed by the settlers, they took immediate measures to have a saw-mill erected. A fall in the stream issuing from Beaver Pond, very near the centre of the town, afforded sufficient water power, and formed a good site both for a saw-mill and a grist-mill.
Accordingly, on the seventeenth of June, 1719, " The town ordered a saw-mill to be built on Beaver River, and the tenor of their agreement with the undertakers, viz. Robert Boyes, James Gregg, Samuel Graves, and Joseph Simonds, is as followeth : the above named have obliged themselves to build a saw-mill upon Beaver river, to be ready some time in the month of September, and that the said stream is granted to the above named men, and a lot of land to them and their heirs forever, only the above named James Gregg shall have full privilege to build a grist-mill upon the said
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CIVIL HISTORY.
stream, that is to say, upon Beaver river; and that the said Samuel Graves, Robert Boyes, Joseph Simonds, and James Gregg, shall have the prevelidge of the said stream from the foot of the falls to the upper end of beaver pond." This privilege of a mill stream was subsequently confirmed in the charter " particularly, to James Gregg and John Goffe, for their good services in promoting the settlement of the town."
The next year, 1720-1, the committee intrusted with the management of the public affairs of the town, " being peti- tioned to by William Aiken, John Bell, Andrew Todd, John Wallis, James Aiken, and Benjamin Wilson, for the grant of a stream or brook, which commonly goes by the name of Aiken's brook, in order to the setting up of a saw-mill there- on, and also one acre of land adjoining to said brook, that will be convenient for a yard to said mill. The committee having taken it into consideration, and thinking that it may tend to the publick good of this town to have more mills set up in it, granted their request, and by virtue of the power and trust committed to them, secured to the petitioners the said stream or brook, on the condition that what boards they should have to dispose of, the inhabitants of this town shall have the refusal of, at the rate of thirty shillings per thou- sand, and sawing, at fifteen shillings per thousand."
This mill was on the site of the one now occupied by Mr. Horne. In the following year, a grist-mill was erected by James Gregg, in what is now the lower village, and a lot of land secured to him in consequence by the town, of which we have the following minute in their town records. "The town voated that Mr. James Gregg shall have his grist-mill lot laid out to him upon the south side of beaver river."
A few years after, another grist-mill was erected on the stream which empties into Beaver Pond, near its mouth, and which for more than a century has been owned and improved by the descendants of John McMurphy, Esq. Until the erection of these mills, the inhabitants were subject to great
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
inconvenience in obtaining their meal. Oxen and horses not being yet common among them, many were obliged to carry their grain upon their shoulders, a distance of some miles, to be ground. In some families, the hand-mill, of which we read in Scripture, was used. The stones are now occasionally seen among the relics of the ancient dwellings. They were usually turned, as in Judea of old, by two women.
By means of the saw-mills, which were soon in operation, the people were much aided in procuring materials for building. The log huts in which they had at first resided, soon gave place to substantial framed-houses, many of them two stories high. They were usually after the same model, and by no means in accordance with modern notions of economy in the saving of fuel, or of convenience in the performance of household labor. The Rev. Mr. MacGregor's house was the first erected ; it is now standing, and is a fair representation of the style of the better class of their dwelling-houses; two stories in front and one story in the rear. The internal con- struction was uniformly the same. There were two large front rooms, the kitchen was back, extending nearly across the house, with ample " dressers," and a sink at one end, and a bedroom at the other.
The fireplace in the kitchen extended nearly a third of the length of the room. It was four or five feet high, with jambs sufficiently spacious to contain logs two or three feet in diam- eter, and eight feet long. Back in the corner of the fireplace was a capacious oven, while in both corners, under the chim- ney, was room for benches, which were the usual seats for the children.
These large kitchens, none of which remain in their orig- inal form, contributed much to the domestic enjoyment of the early settlers. Not only the members of the household, usually large in those days, but the collections of neighbors, which were then frequent, would form an evening circle around the blazing hearth, productive, perhaps, of more sub-
W" AAnderson J! Del.
FIRST FRAMED HOUSE IN LONDONDERRY
BEN Thayer & CN Lith
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CIVIL HISTORY.
stantial (if not equally refined) pleasure, than is now expe- rienced in social parties. The one-story framed buildings, resembled in all respects those just described, except in the want of the two square front-chambers.
In their out-door arrangements, their barns, out-houses, fields, and fences, the early settlers manifested a negligence, a want of skill, taste, and good husbandry, rarely to be witnessed in the town at this time. In all these particulars there has been a very marked advance. They felt not the need of agri- cultural improvements. The soil was rich and productive, their wants comparatively few, and their time necessarily oc- cupied in making their first clearings, laying out and fencing their fields and roads, and rendering their situation comfort- able. They labored - others have entered into their labors.
Being now duly organized as a township; their lots as- signed, and many of them under improvement ; a meeting- house well finished, and an able and acceptable pastor settled over them ; the settlement rapidly rose in character, in num- bers, and importance. The population increased not only by births but by emigration.
The first person born in Londonderry was Jonathan Mor- rison, son of John and Margaret Morrison ; who was born Sept. 8, 1719. The second, was James McKeen, Jr. Their births were not far apart, " and there was much anxious expectation," says a venerable man, now living, Judge McKeen of New York, who personally knew the rivals, " which mother's son should obtain the prize of a farm or lot of land, which was to be assigned to the first-born son of Londonderry."
John Morrison removed after a few years to Peterborough, and became the ancestor of many of the more distinguished characters who have originated from that town, among whom was the Hon. Jeremiah Smith.
His son Jonathan, to whom we have referred, became dis- tinguished as a mechanic, being the first, and for a consider-
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
able time the only one in Peterborough. He was, as stated in the centenary discourse delivered in that town, " a mill- wright, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a house-joiner, a stone- cutter, a gun-maker, and had the reputation of being really a workman at all these trades. He was a man highly gifted, distinguished for quickness of parts, great ingenuity, and generous in the extreme. He removed from Peterborough to Vermont, and died about the year 1778."
The first marriage in Londonderry was that of John Walis and Annis Barnard, by the Rev. Mr. MacGregor, May 18, 1721.
The second, was that of John Barnett and Joan Seaford, (?) by Mr. MacGregor, Nov. 2, 1721.
John Crombie and Joan Rankin, were married on the 17th of Nov. 1721.
The first person who died in the town was John Clark, January 13, 1720-1.
The next whose death is recorded is Mary Leslie, the wife of James Leslie, who died April 8, 1722.
The spot selected by this company as the last resting-place on earth for themselves and their descendants, was the lot which has ever since been occupied as a cemetery. Here reposes the dust, not only of those who first took possession of the township, but of five generations who have followed them to the house appointed for all the living. " A walk," says a late visitor of the place, "through its crowded grave- yard, through the moss-covered stones, marking the spots which contain the remnants of men of former days ; the fre- quency with which the same name occurs, as in long lines of tomb-stones families seem to repose together, shows that this people have dwelt alone, and not mingled with others." This remark applies to the earlier generations.
The land thus occupied as a graveyard, together with the Common, on which the meeting-house stands, was conveyed as a gift to the town, by Robert MacGregor, for these pub-
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CIVIL HISTORY.
lic purposes, in 1729 .* As death multiplied its trophies from one generation to another, the place originally assigned for the dead, containing about three acres, became too limited for their reception, and was enlarged in 1816, and again in 1846; so that the inclosure now contains twice the original area.
On October 29, 1729, there was an earthquake, the severest ever known in New England, causing the earth to quake with a terrible noise, and producing the greatest imaginable terror. It happened at ten o'clock in the evening. The heavens were clear, the atmosphere perfectly calm, and the moon was shining in her brightness. Mr. MacGregor, feel- ing for his beloved flock, at once arose and prepared to go among them. He was reminded that his family needed his presence at home. "O," said he, " I have a still greater fam- ily, which I must care for." As he was hastening to their dwellings, he met numbers of them simultaneously flocking to his own house, that they might receive from him counsel and consolation in the hour of alarm. The shock extended several hundred miles, its greatest force being displayed at Newbury, Mass., only twenty miles from Londonderry, where the earth opened in several places. A general seriousness followed. In many towns, numbers were awakened and hopefully converted, a reformation of morals was visible, fam- ily prayer was more generally attended, and great additions were made to many churches.
The settlement continuing to receive accessions from Ire- land, and elsewhere, was so increased in its population, that, as early as 1730, but eleven years from its commencement, a petition was presented at a town meeting, by sundry per- sons in the westerly part of the township, " to be set off, as a parish, for the better enjoyment of religious privileges."
The petition was at this time refused, but being from time to time renewed, the request was, in 1735, granted by the
* See Appendix.
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
town, and about sixty families became a distinct religious society, known by the name of the West Parish of London- derry, in distinction from the original society, afterwards usually styled the First, or East Parish.
Previous to this division of the town into parishes, or about the time of it, a meeting-house was built on the hill, near what is now usually termed " the old graveyard." No account of the erection of this house appears on any town or parish records. The probability is, that it was built by certain indi- viduals, in anticipation of the formation of a new parish, and as a means of securing that object. It was also supposed by those engaged in its erection, that this would be the central point in the new parish, and the place of worship. But cir- cumstances occurred which served to fix the location else- where. Rev. David MacGregor, son of the first minister, about this time received license to preach the gospel. He possessed distinguished gifts, and gave high promise of future acceptableness and usefulness as a minister of Christ. The second parish had selected him, in case of their organization by the General Court, as their future pastor. A number of families in the east part of the town, from strong attachment to Mr. MacGregor as the son of their first minister, to whom, also, many of them were relatives, and being not fully satisfied with Rev. Mr. Davidson, who had been recently settled as pastor of the first religious society, made application to become members of the new parish, and were received. Residing, as they mostly did, east of the old or first meeting- house, their influence was such as to induce the West parish to locate their house of worship at the Aiken's Range, more than a mile east of the house which had been built for that purpose.
This of course greatly disaffected many who resided west of this spot. They therefore withdrew. from the new, and reunited with the old parish. Hence the act of the General Court, incorporating the second parish, which was not ob-
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CIVIL HISTORY.
tained until 1740, contained a clause authorizing forty families, who lived within the bounds of the East parish, to be taxed for the support of the gospel in the West parish, and an equal number in the West, to be taxed in the East parish. This continued in force until 1778, when, at the request of the town, the clause was repealed, and these families were confined in the payment of the ministerial tax to the parish within whose bounds they resided ; although many continued to worship as they had before done, until the causes of the division were removed by the erection of a new house of worship in a more central part of the West parish .*
The first store of foreign and domestic goods in the town, was opened by Elder, or as he was more usually called Major, John Pinkerton. He was born in Ireland, and came with his father to this country when he was about four years of age. He commenced business quite early in life, carrying a variety of lighter goods in a pack upon his back, and re- ceiving in exchange for these articles, linen cloth and thread, which were carried by him into different parts of New Eng- land, and disposed of with profit, the manufactures of this town being in high demand. Having in this way accumu- lated a small property, he opened, about the year 1750, a store of goods. It was kept in a room in his dwelling-house. This he continued nearly fifty years, and by his judicious management and economy, united with strict moral principle and conduct, he secured the full confidence and the patronage of the community, and accumulated a very large estate, thirty thousand dollars of which he devoted to the interests of the town, in support of its religious institutions, and the endow- ment of an academy which bears liis name.
His brother, Elder James Pinkerton, a few years younger, adopted a similar course, and opened the second store in the town. This he also sustained until advanced age, and like
* See Appendix.
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
his brother was successful in business, having to contend at that day with but little competition. For a long period, Londonderry and the neighboring towns were supplied principally by the Pinkertons with merchandise. They were both men of more than ordinary financial ability, ยท "uniting in their character Scotch prudence and stability, with Yankee enterprise." To the donation made by Elder John Pinkerton for founding an academy, his brother James added a sum which now amounts to three thousand dollars.
These two brothers, thus distinguished by their strict moral and religious principles and habits, and their industry and success in business, afford an example to young men at the present day, which they would do well to imitate, - to be satisfied with slow and steady gains, and not to hasten to be rich, -and especially "to seek first the kingdom of heaven, and its righteousness."
They both sustained the office of ruling Elder in the church, and offices of civil trust and respectability in the town. They frequently represented it in General Court. They were not only the principal merchants, but chief bankers, of those days. Persons wishing to hire money usually went to them, and from one or the other, would gen- erally obtain the desired loan, provided they could furnish the security requisite. In this they were particularly care- ful. If but one indorser was offered, the Major, who was the principal loaner, would usually reply, "a threefold cord is not easily broken ; you may give me another name."
A striking contrast is presented between the stores of that day and those of the present. A small room in a dwelling- house, was then usually deemed sufficiently spacious to con- tain the variety of West India and English goods, necessary to meet the calls of the public.
Shortly before the Revolution, another store was opened in the East part of the town, by James MacGregor, Esq., son of Rev. David MacGregor ; since which period stores have
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CIVIL HISTORY.
been multiplied and the business increased in the town. In 1741, another religious society was formed in the south part of the town, which was, the next year, incorporated as a parish with town privileges, taking the name of Windham, from a place of that name similarly situated in relation to Londonderry in Ireland.
In 1751, the town of Derryfield was incorporated. It was composed of a part of Chester, a part of Londonderry, and of lands not before granted to any town, and contained nearly the same territory now embraced in the charter of Man- chester.
The times preceding the American Revolution were, in respect to the infant settlements, full of anxiety, trouble, and peril. Many of them suffered severely from the incur- sions of savage foes. The year 1744 was rendered memora- ble by a renewal of hostilities between France and England, which was a sure precursor of war in America, between the French and Indians on the one hand, and the English col- onies on the other. This war continued with little abate- ment about fifteen years, and has been long denominated the "old French war."
During these scenes of alarm and of cruel massacres, experienced by many of the frontier settlements, London- derry was happily exempt from the assaults of the Indians ; yet its inhabitants were as patriotic and as prompt in defence of the country, as any body of citizens whatever. At the call of government, a number from this town, mostly volun- teers, joined the noted expedition against Cape Breton. This was one of the most bold and fortunate attempts during this long and distressing war.
The place was strongly fortified, yet its reduction was effected by Col. William Pepperell, a merchant, at the liead of a body of husbandmen and mechanics. The New Hamp- shire troops, animated with enthusiastic, if not religious ardor, partook readily and largely of all the labors and dan-
:
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
gers of the siege. They were employed during fourteen successive nights, with straps over their shoulders, and sinking to their knees in mud, in drawing cannon from the landing-place to the camp, through a morass.
Pepperell, as stated by several writers, consulted with the celebrated George Whitefield, who was then in America, in regard to the expedition. He encouraged the measure, and gave it the appearance of a crusade, by proposing, as a motto for their flag, the words " Nil desperandum, Christo duce," a motto truly appropriate to any Christian enterprise, where success is to be attained not by carnal but by spiritual weapons ; but of its application to such a warlike measure as this, we may well doubt.
Dr. Matthew Thornton, of Londonderry, subsequently one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, served in this campaign, as surgeon.
On the renewal of hostilities in 1756, between the French and the English, in which the infant colonies of New Eng- land were more seriously threatened with total extirpation than they had ever before been, Londonderry again promptly bore its full share in their protection and defence. A regi- ment having been raised in New Hampshire, to assist in an attempt upon Crown Point, and it being distinguished for hardihood and adroitness in traversing the woods, three companies of rangers were selected from it, and placed under the command of the celebrated John Stark (afterwards briga- dier-general in the army of the Revolution), William Stark, and Robert Rogers. The three captains and many of their soldiers were from Londonderry. Capt. Rogers, a brave and skilful officer, was soon after promoted to the rank of Major, and under his command, the three companies of rangers performed active and efficient service during the war.
To encourage its citizens to engage in the enterprise, the town voted " that every soldier that should enlist in order to the reduction of Crown Point, shall receive thirty pounds
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CIVIL . HISTORY.
bounty." A company of men was here enlisted under the command of Capt. Jolin Moor, an active and enterprising officer, and, joining the regiment from New Hampshire, penetrated with much difficulty and suffering into Canada, and aided in the reduction of those provinces, and their subjection to the British crown.
Quebec having fallen into the hands of the English, the consequent surrender of all the French possessions in Can- ada, brought again the prospect of a settled tranquillity to the northern colonies, and was inexpressibly cheering to those who had so long borne the heat and burden of the day. For many years the " father had not cultivated his field in safety, nor had the mother committed her infant charge to rest, but with the most distressing apprehensions." But now every- thing was encouraging to the view of the colonists. They were exempt from the fear of a lurking enemy ; while their hardships and exposures had rendered them bold and enter- prising. In marching to and from the theatre of war, they had become acquainted with the fertile parts of the interior of their country, and the young men pressed onward with ardor to take possession of the wilderness, and to convert it into a fruitful field.
Londonderry, by the rapid increase of the early settlers and continued accessions of their countrymen from abroad, soon became populous, and sent forth many colonies to form new settlements in the vicinity, and in more remote parts of the country, now open for cultivation. A large number of the pioneers of civilization in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York, and Nova Scotia, were from this town. Of some . of these settlements, by Londonderry emigrants, a more particular, but brief account, will be given.
The first company which left, was in 1737. They passed over the Merrimack river and settled in Bedford, and were in succeeding years joined by others from their native land and from Massachusetts. A number of families from London-
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
derry removed to Merrimack, adjoining Bedford, which had been a short time before settled by a company from Massa- chusetts. In Bedford, the Scotch-Irish influence predomi- nated ; in Merrimack, the English.
The one class of settlers was strongly attached not only to the doctrines, but to the discipline, of the Presbyterian church ; the other, as strongly to the Congregational mode of discipline. While a Presbyterian church was formed in Bedford, a Congregational church was organized in Merri- mack. Consequently, a number of the inhabitants of Merri- mack united, for several years, with the people of Bedford, in religious privileges, while sundry others, of Bedford, united with the people of Merrimack.
In 1741, an emigration of a number of families to the valley of the Mohawk west of the Hudson river, took place, and the settlement of Cherry Valley was thereby commenced.
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