USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Derry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 28
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Londonderry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 28
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
26*
306
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
donderry. William was killed by the blasting of a rock. Mary married Peter Patterson, of Londonderry, and had two sons and three daughters. 3. William, son of James Wallace, helped to survey and lay out the town of Henniker, held various offices of trust, and was a prominent and useful citizen. He left four sons and four daughters. But two of his children survive ; James, who lives in Lynn, Mass., and Mary, (Mrs. Gove, of Deering, N. H.) 4. James died a few years after his settlement in Henniker, leaving a son and two daughters, all of whom are dead. 5. Elizabeth married Thomas Patterson. For her children, see notice of the Patterson families.
Besides the three Wallace families which have been noticed, there were two other families of Wallaces, of whom but little information has been obtained. The ancestors of these two families were two brothers, Joseph and John Wal- lace, who emigrated from the north of Ireland, and settled in Londonderry, about the year 1726. Jean Wallace, who married Thomas Wallace, was their sister.
JOSEPH WALLACE married in Ireland, and came to America with his wife and one son, William, who was then. about five years of age. After his arrival in this country he had several other children, of whom, however, but little is known.
William married Mary Burns, who, with her parents, had emigrated from Ireland in company with him and his parents, and in 1755, settled in Milford, N. H. He had five children, as follows: 1. Joseph, who married Letitia Burns, settled in Milford, and had several children; of whom the eldest was Dr. William Wallace, late of Bedford. 2. John who married Mary Bradford, and had ten children ; among whom were Dr. John Wallace, of Milford, deceased, formerly senator and councillor, and Andrew Wallace, Esq., now. living at Amherst, N. H. 3. Mary, who married Israel Burnham, of Lyndeborough, N. H., and had one child, who
307
GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES.
is now living. 4. William, who died unmarried. 5. Jan es, who lived in Milford, married Betsey Kimball of Amherst, and after her death, a Miss Tuttle, of Littleton, Mass. By his first wife he had several children, one of whom is Elisha F. Wallace, Esq., of Syracuse, N. Y ..
JOHN WALLACE married Janet Steele, and had six daughters, as follows : -
Jane married David Jennings.
Mary married Samuel Miller.
Elizabeth married Solomon Todd.
Margaret married Samuel Gregg.
Janet married Hugh McCutchins.
Ann married Samuel Cherry.
THE FAMILY OF JOHN WOODBURN.
JOHN WOODBURN came to this country from Ireland a few years after the settlement of Londonderry. Little is known of him previously to his emigration. He was accompanied by his brother David, who was drowned some years after, leaving a wife and two daughters.
John Woodburn was married first to Mary Boyd, after- wards to Mary Taggart. His first location was east of the old Graveyard Hill, on the farm recently occupied by Robert Craige. He subsequently removed to the High Range, and lived the remainder of his days in a log-house that had been used as a garrison for protection against the assaults of the Indians. He died in 1780. By his first marriage he had four daughters.
Nancy, the eldest, married James Anderson, of whose descendants was the Rev. Rufus Anderson, late of Wenham, Mass., and his son, Rev. Dr. Anderson, of Boston, Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M.
Margaret married Edward Aiken, who took part in the settlement of Windham, Vt.
Sarah married John Wallace, of Bedford, from whom are
· 308
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
descended many of the Wallace and Patten families of that town. The Rev. Cyrus Wallace, of Manchester, is one of their descendants.
Mary married General George Reid. Mrs Reid was well adapted to the circle in which she moved. Possessing a strong and vigorous intellect, retentive memory, a bland and cheerful disposition, with great equanimity of temper, she exerted a powerful and happy influence over the more excitable and strong passions of her husband, whose military life had served to give prominence to those traits of charac- ter by which he was distinguished. He was, in his more public life, much indebted to her wisdom and prudence in his domestic arrangements, which happily illustrated the Divine encomium of the prudent wife, that "her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the rulers of the land." Those who knew Mrs. Reid, regarded her as a pattern of female excellence. She lived to an advanced age, and died respected by the community.
By his second marriage, Mr. Woodburn had two sons and five daughters. Mrs. Woodburn survived her husband, and lived to a very advanced age.
David, the eldest son, inherited the paternal estate. He married Margaret Clark, the granddaughter of a Mrs. Wil- son, whose history was a subject of interest to the early set- tlers. In 1720, a company of emigrants, on their passage from Ireland to this country, were taken by pirates, and while in their hands, Mrs. Wilson was delivered of her first child, which so moved the pirate band, and particularly the captain, who had a wife and family, that he permitted them to pursue their voyage, bestowing upon Mrs. Wilson some valuable articles of apparel, among which was a silk dress, pieces of which are still retained among her descend- ants as memorials of her peril and of her deliverance. The captain of the band obtained from her the promise, that she would call the babe by the name of his wife. The company
309
GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES.
of emigrants arrived safely, and were among the early set- tlers of this town. Their signal deliverance was commem- orated by the annual observance of a day of thanksgiving, during that generation. The child was named Mary, and became the wife of James Wallace. Mrs. Wilson, after the death of her husband, married James Clark, whose son John was the father of Mrs. Woodburn.
David Woodburn and wife were the maternal grand- parents of the Hon. Horace Greely, the well-known and dis- tinguished editor of the New York Tribune; and to the mother of Mr. Woodburn - Granny Woodburn, as she was fa- miliarly called -he attributes his earliest intellectual awaken- ing. In a letter to a friend, published in the Business Mens' Almanac, he says, "I think I am indebted for my first impulse toward intellectual acquirement and exertion to my mother's grandmother, who came out from Ireland among the first settlers in Londonderry. She must have been well versed in Irish and Scotch traditions, pretty well informed, and strong minded ; and my mother being left motherless when quite young, her grandmother exerted a great influence over her mental development. I was a third child, the two pre- ceding having died young, and I presume my mother was more attached to me on that ground, and the extreme feeble- ness of my constitution. My mind was carly filled by her with the traditions, ballads, and snatches of history she had learned from her grandmother, which, though conveying very distorted and incorrect ideas of history, yet served to awaken in me a thirst for knowledge, and a lively interest in learning and history." "Mr. Greely," says another of her descendants, " has not mistaken the character and intellectual qualities of this remote ancestor. She lived to see her chil- dren's grandchildren ; and the stories, ballads, and facts which her experience and memory had treasured up, were the principal historical training which many of her posterity obtained."
310
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
David Woodburn, by his first marriage, had several chil- dren, only three of whom survive.
John, the younger son, married Martha Clark, and was among the early settlers of Londonderry, Vt. They had a family of three sons and five daughters, many of whose descendants now reside in the towns of Windham and Lon- donderry, Vt.
Of the five remaining children of John Woodburn, Senior, one was never married, two were married to husbands of the name of Thompson, and removed to Grafton, Vt.
Betsey was married to William Aiken. They were among the pioneers in the settlement of Deering, N. H., several of whose children and grandchildren reside in that town. Among the grandchildren of William and Betsey Aiken, are Thomas W. Gillis, of Nashua, N. H., and David Gillis, of Manchester. N. H.
Hannah, the youngest of John Woodburn's family, mar- ried Robert Dickey. They had eleven children; six sons and five daughters, all of whom lived to form connections in life, and with one exception were settled within a few miles of their paternal home; and all of whom except one are still living, the youngest being about fifty years of age. Mrs. Dickey was well known to the inhabitants of the parish in which she so long lived, and was highly esteemed as a mother in Israel .. She possessed strong and valuable traits of char- acter. She was distinguished for her industry and economy in the management of her domestic affairs, but not less so for her firm adherence to evangelical truth, and her anxious desire and efforts that her children, grandchildren, and great- grandchildren whom she lived to see, might all become the decided followers of Christ, and be seen walking in the truth. She died in 1845, aged ninety-two.
Like many of the pioneers in the settlement of London- derry, the descendants of Mr. Woodburn attained to great age, many of them living to the age of eighty, and several to
311
GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES.
that of ninety and upwards. They were an athletic race, capable of great endurance. They were strong in their attachments, and fond of social intercourse. They were noted for retentive memory, retaining in advanced life an uncom- monly vivid impression of the events of their youthful days.
John Woodburn, grandson of the first settler by his son David, still inherits the paternal homestead in the High Range, and with his brother James, living in Windham, are the principal branches of the family that retain the name. Of their four sisters, Margaret is the wife of John Dickey, and still lives in the town. Mary was married to Zaccheus Greely, and is the mother of Horace Greely, and four other children, who reside in the State of Pennsylvania. Sarah was married to Dustin Greely, brother of Zaccheus, who had six children. Subsequently, she became the wife of Clark Simonds. Mary Ann married Benjamin Dwinnels, and lives in the State of New York. The children of this early settler are numerous, and contribute largely to con- stitute the hundred thousand who are supposed to have descended from the early settlers of Londonderry.
[The following communication in relation to the origin of most of the families residing in the present town of Londonderry, from an intelligent friend in that town, was received by the Editor after the preceding chapters of this work had gone to press. It is here inserted, in the belief that it cannot fail to be interesting.]
" For many years after the settlement of Londonderry, there was a marked distinction between the Scotch Irish inhabitants and those of English origin. This was a natural consequence, as they were the representatives of two nations, distinct as are the English and the French. The ' Yankees ' possessed the characteristics of the English people, modified by the residence of their ancestors, during the preceding century,
312
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
in the wilds of New England; while the first settlers of Londonderry claimed to be the possessors of the better qualities of both the Scotch and the Irish. The two races had inherited a mutual dislike from their ancestors, and it is not strange that a little of the old bitterness should remain when they became neighbors: As the English race multi- plied in the town, and as time wore away, this clannish spirit gradually softened, and has, at length, nearly disappeared. While this feeling of dislike prevailed, very few instances of intermarriage occurred, and the consequence is that the two classes are pretty distinct at the present day.
" The following are the names of the principal families now in Londonderry, of Scotch Irish descent: Macgregore, Moor, Adams, Karr, Aiken, Dickey, Watts, Mack, Holmes, Nevins, Boyd, Dana, Boice, Conant, Alexander, McAllister, Patterson, Anderson, Morrison, Humphrey, Campbell, Dun- can, Woodburn, Nesmith, McClearey, White, Clark, Willson, McDuffee, McMurphy, Martin, Fling, Wallace.
"Many family names, which were once common, have become extinct. Over half a century ago, a pretty ex- tensive emigration took place from Essex county, Mass. The Savory and Tenny families came, about sixty years since, from Bradford, and subsequently the Barker and Hardy families, from the same place. The Crowells and Plummers came from Rowley. The Towns and Dwinnells originated in Topsfield. The Gilchrist family were from Methuen. The Batchelder family from Beverly. In Essex county, also, originated the Goodwin, Corning, Annis, Avery, Leach, Greeley, Kimball, and Whittier families, etc. The Manter, Ripley, and Sampson families were from the town of Duxbury, Plymouth county, Mass. In later years, the Burbank, Coffin, Wallace, and Peabody families have come from Oxford county, Maine. The Hurd family were from Charlestown, Mass., the Dinsmoors from Boston, and the Chases from Brentwood, N. H."
AMOSKEAG FALLS
REFERENCES.
MANCHESTER
1. Presbyterian . Meetinghouse Derry 2 Presbyterian . Meetinghouse Londonderry
3. Conga Meetinghouse Perry A. . Methodist . Meetinghouse Derry
3. Baptist Meetinghouse Londonderry
Brook
. 6. Site of DE. Morrisons H.H.Londonderry
7. Site of Hill grave yard &. Hertinghouse.
AUBURN
8. Pinkerton . trademy
9. . Ianis Female . Academy
10. First Settlers "Common Field."
Lattie
Londonderry
Voyer Shields And
Manchester Smobies And
Lower Shari's Part
SANDOWN
LONDONDERRY
9
DERRY
HAMPSTEAD
1
LITCHFIELD
Highrange
Mammoth Hond
1
Lowrli
--
WINDHAM
HUDSON
Hond
Cobbit's Pand
SALEM
Pond
Pohe!
Sprach River
PELHAM
Drawn 800 mods per Inch, by William Anderson
J E Buffont & CN LALA
OLD TOWNSHIP OF LONDONDERRY.
Merrimack
Town luu, --
Beaver Bronk
Railroad
Turnpike
ATKINSON
Town une
LONDON DERRY
NASHUA
Cohank
Brook
CHESTER
OLD TOWNSHIP OF LONTANAEnnIT
L
APPENDIX.
TOPOGRAPHY OF LONDONDERRY - MEMORIAL TO GOV. SIIUTE - WHEELWRIGHT'S DEED - CHARTER OF THE TOWN - JUSTICE M'KEEN'S COMMISSION - AN EARLY PARISH TAX.LIST - MEMO- RIAL TO THE GENERAL COURT - ASSOCIATION TEST - SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION -PETITION FOR AN ACT REGULATING PARISH VOTERS - ROBERT MACGREGOR'S DEED OF THE COMMON AND GRAVEYARD -LISTS OF REPRESENTATIVES AND TOWN OF- FICERS - LAWYERS - PHYSICIANS -GRADUATES.
TOPOGRAPHY OF LONDONDERRY.
THE town of Londonderry, including Derry, is situated in lat. 42° 54' north, and in long. 5° 45' east, from Washington. It is bounded on the north by Manchester, Auburn, and Chester, a distance of twelve and one-half miles; on the east, by San- down, Hampstead, and Atkinson, four and one-half miles ; on the south, by Salem, Windham, and Hudson, fourteen miles ; and on the west by Litchfield and Manchester, seven miles. The town is thirty-seven miles north of Boston, twenty-five southeast of Concord, and thirty-five southwest of Portsmouth. Its loca- tion is highly favorable for communication, not only with our principal seaports, by means of a railroad which passes through it, but with the several large manufacturing and business places which have arisen in its vicinity. Manchester, Nashville, Nashua, Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill are all within sixteen miles of it, and some of those towns are much nearer. It thus possesses advantages for trade and marketing, superior to those of most country towns.
Its soil is generally strong and productive, covered in its natu- ral state with various kinds of hard wood, intermixed in some parts with the white and yellow pine. The butternut, chestnut,
27
314
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
and walnut trees formerly abounded here, and gave to the town its early name, Nutfield.
The" town is traversed by three leading roads running in a northerly and southerly direction. The first on the west is the road leading from Manchester to Nashua, passing through the High Range. The second is the Mammoth road, made in 1831, and designed to be the leading road from Concord to Lowell. It was for a few years the great thoroughfare, until the Concord railroad superseded it in 1842. The third is the Londonderry turnpike, built in 1807, and for some years one of the most travelled roads in the vicinity. Various changes and enterprises contributed, at length, to divert the travel from the road, and in 1838, it was thrown by the proprietors upon the towns through which it passed, and became a free road. The Manchester and Lawrence railroad, opened in 1849, runs in nearly the same di- rection. There are various roads from the west, leading from Moor's, Read's, and Thornton's ferries, and from Nashua, which intersect those before named, and, converging, meet at Derry Village ; while on the east, are those leading from Chester, Ex- eter, and Hampstead, which meet in the same place.
The surface of the township exhibits gentle swells, without any high hills or precipitous cliffs. The whole extent of the west side, bordering on Litchfield, for a mile in width, is level, and was until recently a nearly unbroken forest, known as the back woods. But the late demand for wood and timber in the manu- facturing towns on the Merrimack, and its vicinity to the river, gave to it an unexpected value. Much of this tract has, within twenty years, been stripped of its growth and converted into pasture land.
Next to this range of flat land is a tract well adapted to agri- culture. It is divided into well-cultivated farms. The southern part is termed the High Range, an extensive swell of excellent land, well suited to tillage. Its neat dwellings, undulating roads, and gentle slope to the east and south, render it one of the most pleasant locations in town.
A mile east is Moose Hill, so called from the fact that, in the early settlement of the town, a moose was there taken. Its west- erly side is mostly covered with wood, but on the east and south are some valuable and highly cultivated farms. In the vicinity of this spot, and on the Mammoth road is the site of the Presbyte- rian meeting-house in Londonderry. About a mile from Moose Hill, in a northeasterly direction, is Ministerial Hill, thus termed · from a lot of land, on its westerly side, having been set off by the
315
APPENDIX.
parish for the use of the minister. It is principally covered with wood and timber. A little farther north is Canada, or Bartley's Hill. Around its base are many productive farms, although the soil is difficult of cultivation. From this point eastward, all along the northern border of the town, is a wide extent of woodland, interspersed with here and there a farm-house, but with no com- pact settlement.
A little more than a mile eastward from Moose Hill, is the Graveyard Hill, having near its summit one of the earliest burying-places in town. A meeting-house was formerly erected here for the Rev. David MacGregor, but, owing to the erection of one soon after in Aiken's Range, and certain changes in the par- ish, it was not occupied and soon went to decay.
A little farther east, separated by a deep valley, is Craige's Hill. From this hill there is a partial view of the Lower village, and a distinct and delightful view of Aiken's Range, the Upper village of Derry, its meeting-house, and most of its buildings, forming in the season of summer foliage one of the most beautiful land- scapes on which the eye can rest. Derry Lower village is situated in the valley of Beaver Brook, about a mile southwest of Beaver Pond. Here are the Congregational and Methodist meeting-houses, the Pinkerton Academy, a grist-mill and saw-mill, several me- chanic shops, and two stores. It contains from forty to fifty families.
North of Beaver Pond is the English Range, situated on a beautiful and fertile swell of land, rising with a gentle ascent from the pond, and forming one of the most pleasant agricultural neighborhoods in the town. On the south of the pond the land rises in an even and magnificent swell, on the summit of which is the Presbyterian meeting-house, occupying the original site se- lected by the first settlers. Extending from it, to the east and south, is the village, including the Adams Female Academy, two stores, and a number of handsomely finished dwellings. The farms in this part of the town are unsurpassed in productive- ness, and many of them present specimens of agricultural taste and industry. About a mile southwest from the meeting-house is the Double Range, where was formed the earliest settlement in town.
The more southerly part of the town, though not so compactly settled, contains many excellent farms. The land is much diver- sified with hills and valleys, but is less stony and hard, particular- ly that portion of it which borders on Beaver Brook, than the northern part of the town.
The eastern side of the town, bordering on Sandown and
316
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
Hampstead, is less even in its surface than some other parts. Though undulating, it is not rough and broken, but most of it is susceptible of cultivation, affording good tillage as well as pastur- ing. Here are many good farms and orchards, with valuable wood-lots.
In the southeast corner of the town is Island Pond, an extensive sheet of water, in the middle of which is a large island, improved as a farm. The east line of the town passes through this pond. It is well supplied with fish, and is often visited by those who are fond of angling.
The soil of the township is well adapted to the production of grass. Indian corn, oats, and potatoes, of an excellent quality, are easily raised. The pear, peach, plum, cherry, and quince thrive well. Apples are produced in abundance, and most of the orchards are composed of grafted fruit-trees.
Beaver Brook is the most considerable stream in the town. It . issues from Beaver Pond, and, running in a southwesterly direc- . tion through Pelham, empties into the Merrimack at Dracut.
Beaver Pond is a beautiful body of water, nearly in a circular form, and about three hundred rods in diameter. It is in full view of the Upper village, and, being surrounded by well culti- vated farms, adds much to the delightful scenery there presented. Three miles northwest from this pond are three other ponds, Scoby's, and upper and lower Shield's. Small streams issuing from these unite and fall into Beaver Brook, on which are, for some miles, extensive and valuable meadows. In the westerly part of the town are also several streams sufficient for mill pur- poses, which empty, after a short course, into the Merrimack river.
The population of Londonderry by the census of 1767, was 2,389 ; by that of 1775, was 2,590 ; by that of 1790, was 2,622 ; by that of 1800, was 2,650 ; by that of 1810, was 2,766 ; and by that of 1820, was 3,127. By the census of 1830, the population of Derry was 2,178, and that of Londonderry was 1,469. By the census of 1840, the population of Derry was 2,034, and that of London- derry was 1,556. By the census of 1850, the population of Derry is 1,850, and that of Londonderry is 1,563.
Some idea of the comparative wealth of the town may be formed from the proportion of State taxes it has paid.
By the apportionment of taxes made in 1820, of every one thousand dollars of public taxes, Londonderry paid $13.27. By the apportionment of 1829, Derry paid $7.54, and Londonderry $5.17; by that of 1832, Derry paid $7.94, and Londonderry
317
APPENDIX.
$5.17 ; by that of 1836, Derry paid $8.80, and Londonderry paid $5.32; by that of 1840, Derry paid $8.43, and Londonderry $5.08; by that of 1844, Derry paid $7.84, and Londonderry $5.14 ; and by that of 1848, Derry pays $7.00, and Londonderry $4.97.
The decrease in the proportion of taxes paid is to be attribut- ed, mainly, to the growth of several large manufacturing places in the State, and not to a diminution of the wealth of the town.
COPY OF THE MEMORIAL TO GOV. SHUTE.
[The original manuscript, from which the following copy was taken, was presented to Mr. Daniel MacGregor, of the city of New York, by the late Alden Bradford, Esq., who was for many years Secretary of the State of Massachusetts.]
To His Excellency the Right Honourable Collonel Samuel Suitte . Governour of New England.
We whose names are underwritten, Inhabitants of ye North of Ireland, Doe in our own names, and in the names of many others our Neighbours, Gentlemen, Ministers, Farmers and Tradesmen Commissionate and appoint our trusty and well beloved Friend, the Reverend Mr. William Boyd of Macasky to His Excellency the Right Honourable Collonel Samuel Suitte Governour of New England, and to assure His Excellency of our sincere and hearty Inclination to Transport our selves to that very excellent and renowned Plantation upon our obtaining from his Excellency suitable incouragement. And further to act and Doe in our Names as his Prudence shall direct. Given under our hands this 26th day of March, Annoq. Dom. 1718.
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.