USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Derry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 8
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Londonderry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 8
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
Their signal exemption from savage hostilities, may also, in Divine Providence, be ascribed to the fact of their securing, through Colonel Wheelwright, a fair and acknowl- edged Indian title to their township, which will be more particularly noticed.
The first company of settlers were soon joined by many of
47
CIVIL HISTORY.
their countrymen who had emigrated with them to America, and had dispersed through the country, awaiting the selec- tion of a township; so that before the close of the first year, the number of families was very considerably increased. As the account of their settlement, and the privileges they here enjoyed reached their friends and fellow-sufferers in Ireland, many were induced to follow them to this land, and join their community. And although many obtained with difficulty the means of transporting themselves and families, - some even binding themselves to a term of labor after their arrival, in order to pay for their passage to this coun- try,- yet they were soon able, on coming to this town, to obtain a comfortable support. No price was paid for the land, it being a free grant by the king to these, his loyal subjects of the old country, many of them, as we have seen, faithful champions in the famous siege and defence of Lon- donderry in Ireland, an event which contributed so directly and powerfully to the establishment of his throne. Each settler had allotted him one hundred and twenty acres, a home-lot, and an out-lot of sixty acres each. Being a very hardy, industrious, frugal people, and favored from the first with moral and religious institutions, they soon became a thriving, prosperous, and respectable community.
Their dwellings were at first of logs, and covered with bark. The first framed house in the town was that of the Rev. James MacGregor, their pastor, erected soon after his settlement. It is yet standing and in good repair, and is now occupied by Mr. Joseph Morrison. The second framed house was erected by John McMurphy Esq., and is now inhabited by his great-grandson, Mr James McMurphy.
For a time, they necessarily endured many privations and hardships. Their habitations were not only rude, but " their food was meagre in kind and not abundant in quantity." Being without beasts of burden, much of their provision, during the two first years of their settlement, was brought
48
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
by the men upon their shoulders from Haverhill, and from Andover, Mass.
In consequence of their vicinity to the falls of Amoskeag, they were enabled to provide themselves with fish. They were first directed to these falls by an Indian who visited their settlement. Taking Mr. MacGregor to an eminence, and pointing to a tall pine at a distance, he informed him that they were in that direction. Aided by this, he was enabled with his compass to mark out a course to the falls, to which he, with a few of the settlers, immediately repaired, and, with the scoop-net which they had provided, readily secured a supply of salmon and shad, with which the Merri- mack abounded. This, for a long time, was to the inhab- itants of Londonderry a most valuable resource. Being within a few miles of this important fishing-place, they could with little inconvenience and labor obtain an annual supply of fish, which constituted an important article of food, espec- ially before their fields became productive. Subsequently, and for many years, they lived mainly upon potatoes, bean- porridge, samp, and barley-broth. It was long before the use of tea and coffee was introduced among them. They were happily strangers to these debilitating drinks, which now constitute, in most families, an appendage to almost every meal.
Their hard labor and homely fare contributed much, no doubt, to that robust health, great strength, and longevity, by which they were as a company distinguished. In the labor of subduing and cultivating the soil, the women vied with the men. " Being," says Dr. Belknap, in his History of New Hampshire, " a peculiarly industrious, frugal, hardy, intelli- gent, and well-principled people, they proved a valuable acquisition to the province into which they had removed, contributing much, by their arts and their industry, to its welfare."
They introduced the culture of the potato, which they
49
CIVIL HISTORY.
brought with them from Ireland. Until their arrival, this valuable vegetable, now regarded as one of the necessaries of life, if not wholly unknown, was not cultivated in New England. To them belongs the credit of its introduction to general use. Although highly prized by this company of settlers, it was for a long time but little regarded by their English neighbors : a barrel or two being considered a supply for a family. But its value as food for man and for beast became at length more generally known, and who can now estimate the full advantage of its cultivation to this country ! The following well-authenticated fact will show how little known to the community at large the potato must have been.
.
A few of the settlers had passed the winter previous to their establishment here, in Andover, Mass. On taking their departure from one of the families, with whom they had resided, they left a few potatoes for seed. The potatoes were accordingly planted ; came up and flourished well ; blossomed and produced balls, which the family supposed were the fruit to be eaten. They cooked the balls in various ways, but could not make them palatable, and pronounced them unfit for food. The next spring, while ploughing their garden, the plough passed through where the potatoes had grown, and turned out some of great size, by which means they discovered their mistake.
These settlers also introduced the art of manufacturing linen of a superior quality, the materials for which they brought with them ; and as soon as their lands would admit of its cultivation, the flax was considered among the most valued articles of produce. 'The spinning-wheel turned by the foot, and which came into general use, they first brought into the country, and it proved of essential service to this cominunity. To the hand-card, the foot-wheel, and the loom, the common implements of manufacture in almost every
5
50
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
family, was the town principally indebted for its early pros- perity and its wealth.
Of such superior quality was the linen, the thread, and the other fabrics manufactured in Londonderry, that they com- manded not only a more ready sale, but a higher price than those produced elsewhere. Hence many were induced to impose upon the public, by selling as Derry manufacture that which was produced in other places.
To prevent this fraud, a town meeting was called in 1748, " To appoint proper and fit persons to survey and inspect linens, and hollands, made in this town, for sale, so that the credit of our manufactory be kept up, and the purchasers of our linens may not be imposed upon, with foreign and out- landish linens, in the name of ours ; and any other method that may be thought proper and necessary for that end as. may be agreed upon. It was accordingly voted, "that the selectmen purchase seals to seal all the linens that are made. in said Londonderry, and that John McMurphy Esq., and John Wallace, yeoman, be sealers and inspectors of the hol- lands and linens that are made, or to be made, in our town ; whether brown, white, speckled, striped, or checked, that are to be exposed for sale ; and the said sealers and inspectors shall seal any of the aforesaid linen, with a stamp in each end of the piece of cloth, with the words 'Londonderry, in New Hampshire,' and give a certificate to the persons that are owners of the cloth, of their so doing; for which stamp, inspection, and certificate, they shall receive from the owners of said linen sixpence, old tenor, for each piece." It was also voted "To petition the General Assembly of the province, for a special act, to guard against any fraud that might be perpetrated in the aforesaid affair, or any other thing nec- essary for the intended good purposes."
ยท
Weaving, in the earlier periods of the settlement, was per- formed by men, and not, as subsequently, by women. It was regarded as among the more respectable employments,
51
CIVIL HISTORY.
the art being had in high repute, and carried by many of this people to a degree of perfection then unequalled in the country. Of this, the following fact affords an illustration. John Montgomery emigrated to this town in 1747, and established himself here, as a weaver. He married the daughter of Colonel George Knox; she had lived some years in the family of Rev. David MacGregor, to whom she was related. He subsequently removed to Andover, Mass. During the revolutionary war, Mr. Montgomery received from Congress forty pounds and a diamond ring, as a pre- mium for linen woven for Washington and the officers of the army. This ring he gave to his eldest daughter Jane, the wife of John Clark, Esq., of Salem, N. Y., and it is now in the hands of a granddaughter, as a memorial of the interest- ing fact. The sale throughout the New England, and some of the Middle States, of the thread and linen here manufac- tured, became to those who engaged in it a lucrative business. Many were thus constantly employed. Two of the largest estates accumulated in the town, and to which the inhabi- tants are much indebted for the support of their religious and literary institutions, were commenced and advanced in this way. The Pinkertons, John and James - names to be had in grateful remembrance by the people of Derry and Londonderry - began business as venders of these articles of liome manufacture.
The females among the early settlers were distinguished for habits of industry. Rarely would one enter a dwelling without hearing the hum of the wheel, or the stroke of the loom. All articles of clothing in those days were of domes- tic manufacture. The wool and the flax were carded, spun, woven, colored, and made into garments, at home. To use foreign goods was considered great extravagance. For sev- eral years their woollen cloths were not even fulled.
The manufacturing enterprise in this country has produced in this respect an entire revolution in our domestic habits.
52
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
The wheel and the loom are no longer seen in our dwellings, and the young women would be unprepared to use them, if possessed. Yet, with all this improvement in manufactures, it is still a question, whether it will prove conducive to the true interests of the community. By the astonishing improve- ments in the arts of manufacture within the present century, there is an immense saving of time and toil in the production of the necessary articles of clothing ; but are there not accom- panying evils ?
It has been justly remarked by one, " that many of our young women, the future mothers who are to form the char- acter of the next generation, are not educated, as in former days at home, where the mind had leisure to mature, and the affections to expand, and where they were required to engage in that kind of exercise most invigorating to the sys- tem, - but at an early period leave home, work together in large companies, breath an impure air, and board in crowded houses. And though highly commendable provision has been made by the proprietors of our large manufacturing establishments for the improvement of those employed in them, and though many are thus brought under the most salutary influences, yet, is there not danger that too many of them will become disqualified for the private and domestic duties of life, - that their intellectual and moral interests will be neglected ? Their bodies may be decked with more costly attire, yet their minds may be robbed of their best affections and their highest hopes. Never shall we witness a class of females distinguished by physical strength and energy, domes- tic virtues, mental vigor or moral and religious principles, such as characterized the female portion of this community, not only at its earliest settlement, but during successive generations. They most happily exemplified the portrait of the housewife drawn by the inspired pen.
In securing a valid title to their township, the first settlers of Londonderry experienced no little embarrassment. They
53
CIVIL HISTORY.
at first supposed that their settlement fell within the province of Massachusetts bay, and therefore applied to the general court of that province for the confirmation of their former grant : but the court decided that they were not under their jurisdiction.
They therefore, in September 1719, applied to the general court of New Hampshire for an act of incorporation, and the enjoyment of town privileges. The following is a copy from the original petition now among the collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society.
" The humble petition of the people late from Ireland, now settled at Nutfield, to His Excellency the Governour and General Court assembled at Portsmouth, Sept. 23, 1719, - Humbly sheweth : -
" That your petitioners having made application to the General Court met at Boston in October last, and having obtained a grant for a township in any part of their unap- propriated lands, took incouragement thereupon to settle at Nutfield about the Eleventh of April last, which is situated by estimation about fourteen miles from Haverel meeting- house to the north-west, and fifteen miles from Dracut meet- ing-house on the River Merrimack north and by east.
" That your petitioners since their settlement have found that the said Nutfield is claimed by three or four different parties by virtue of Indian deeds, yet none of them offered any disturbance to your petitioners except one party from Newbury and Salem. Their deed, from one John, Indian, bears date March 13, Anno Dom. 1701, and imports that they had made a purchase of the said land for five pounds. By virtue of this deed they claim ten miles square westward from Haverel line; and one Caleb Moody of Newbury, in their name, discharged our people from clearing or any way im- proving the said land, unless we agreed that twenty or five and twenty families at most should dwell there, and that all the rest of the land should be reserved for them.
5*
54
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
" That your petitioners, by reading the grant of the crown of Great Britain to the Province of Massachusetts Bay, which determineth their northern line three miles from the River Merrimack from any and every part of the River, and by advice from such as were more capable to judge of this affair, are satisfied that the said Nutfield is within his majesties province of New Hampshire, which we are further confirmed in, because the General Court, met at Boston in May last, upon our renewed application, did not think fit any way to intermeddle with the said land.
" That your petitioners, therefore, embrace this opportu- nity of addressing this Honourable Court, praying that their township may consist of ten miles square, or in a figure equiv- alent to it, they being already in number about seventy fam- ilies and inhabitants, and more of their friends arrived from Ireland, to settle with them, and many of the people of New England settling with them ; and that, they being so numerous, may be erected into a township with its usual privileges, and have a power of making town officers and laws. That, being a frontier place, they may the better sub- sist by government amongst them, and may be more strong and full of inhabitants. That your petitioners being descend- ed from, and professing the faith and principles of the estab- lished church of North Britain, and loyal subjects of the British crown in the family of his majesty king George, and incouraged by the happy administration of his majesties chief governour in these provinces, and the favourable inclination of the good people of New England to their brethren, adven- turing to come over and plant in this vast wilderness, hum- bly expect a favourable answer from this Honourable Court, and your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray, etc. Subscribed at Nutfield, in the name of our people, Sept. 21, 1719, by
" JAMES GREGG,
" ROBERT WEAR."
55
CIVIL HISTORY.
The petition is indorsed as follows : -
" James Gregg and Rob't Wear. In behalf of a company of Irish at Nutfield, to be a township. Sept. 24, 1719, read, - minuted and suspended, - read again April 29, 1720, and minuted."
This petition, drawn up with so much clearness and sim- plicity, presents some interesting facts as to the infant settle- ment, particularly the rapid increase of the population. It commenced in April, with sixteen families. In September of the same year, there were seventy families.
The lieutenant-governor of the province, declined making an actual grant, as the tract of territory including this and other townships was, at that time, in dispute between the crown and the heirs of one Allen; but by advice of council he gave a protection, and extended to them the benefits of gov- ernment, appointing James McKeen, a man of distinguished probity, ability, and intelligence, justice of peace, and Robert Weir, sheriff. This commission of Justice McKeen, as he was afterwards more usually styled, dated at Portsmouth, April 29, 1720, and signed by Governor Shute, is now in possession of Rev. Silas McKeen, as are also, it is believed, most of the papers left by his great-grandfather.
Although James McKeen was the first acting justice in the town, it appears from certain facts that John McMurphy, Esq., who joined the settlement the year following, held a commission of a prior date, having received it before leaving Ireland. Notwithstanding they now enjoyed the protection of government, and were thus encouraged to proceed in their settlement, still, the settlers of Londonderry were unwilling to possess themselves of lands, once the undisputed property of the aborigines, without a fair purchase of their claims.
Being informed that Col. Jolm Wheelwright, of Wells, Me., had the best Indian title to this tract of country, derived from his ancestor, the Rev. John Wheelright, and supposing
56
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
this to be valid in a moral point of view, they deputed a com- mittee, consisting of Rev. Mr. McGregor and Samuel Graves, to wait upon Col. Wheelright, and secure, if possible, his title to the land. The committee were successful, and obtained of him a deed of land, ten miles square, in virtue of a grant, dated May 17, 1629, and approved by the then existing authorities, made to his grandfather, a minister of the gospel, and to others named in said grant, by sundry Indian chiefs, with the consent of their tribes .*
It appears that the Rev. John Wheelright, and others of Massachusetts, proposing to form a settlement in the neigh- borhood of Piscataqua river, assembled a council of Indians at Exeter, and, by fair purchase, obtained a deed from the four principal sagamores, of all the territory lying between the river Piscataqua and the Merrimack, bounded by the Atlantic ocean on the east, on the south by the Merrimack to Pawtucket Falls, thence by a line north-west, twenty miles to Amherst Plain, thence by a line running north-east to Piscataqua river, thence down the river to the ocean.
It must be truly satisfactory to the inhabitants of London- derry, that the soil on which their fathers erected their habi- tations, and which they now cultivate, was not wrested from the original and rightful owners by force, as in too many instances was the case, in the settlement of our country.
The following testimony to the authenticity of this ancient deed of a tract of land, from Wehahnonaway and other In- dian chiefs, to John Wheelright and others, is from a paper filed in the records of the ancient Norfolk county court.
"I, John Wheelright, pastor of the church of Salisbury, doe testify, that when I, with others, first came to sit down at Exeter, we purchased of the Indians, to whom so far as we could learn the right did belong, a certain tract of land about thirty miles square, to run from Merrimack river eastward,
*See Appendix.
57
CIVIL HISTORY.
and so up the country ; of which land we had a grant in writing signed by them.
" JOHN WHEEL WRIGHT." " April 15, 1668.
" Mr. Edward Colcord testifieth to all the above written, and further saith, that one northly bound mentioned in our agreement with Wehahnonaway, the chief sagamore, was the westerly part of Oyster river, which is about four miles northly beyond Lampereele river.
" Sworn before the court, ye 14th, 2d mo. 1668. " THOMAS BRADBURY, Rec."
In consideration of the deed obtained from Col. Wheel- right, he, and also Governor Wentworth, were to receive certain lots of land in the township of Londonderry. These lots included some of the best farms now in town.
The government of New Hampshire, apprized of the strength and benefit which the then weak province were likely to derive from this company of emigrants, were par- ticularly attentive to them, and did much to patronize and encourage them. Especially did the lieutenant-governor labor to encourage and assist the infant colony, and thereby merited and received an expression of their gratitude and esteem, as appears from the following record on the town book.
" The people of Nutfield do acknowledge with gratitude the obligations they are under to the Hon. John Wentworth, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire. They re- member with pleasure, that His Honor, on all occasions shewed a great deal of civility and real kindness to them, being strangers in the country ; and cherished the small beginnings of their settlement, and defended them from the encroachment and violence of such as, upon unjust grounds, would have disturbed their settlement; and always gave them a favorable ear, and easy access to government; and
58
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
procured justice for them, and established order, and pro- moted peace and good government amongst them; giving them always the most wholesome and seasonable advice, both with respect to the purity and liberty of the gospel, and the management of their secular concerns ; and put arms and ammunition into their hands to defend them from the fears and dangers of the Indians; and contributed liberally, by his influence and example, to the building of a house for the worship of God; so that, under God, we own him for the patron and guardian of our settlement, and erect this monu- ment of gratitude to the name and family of Wentworth, to be had in the greatest veneration by the present generation and the latest posterity."
This document is alike honorable to their patron and ben- efactor, and to those who adopted it. It not only shows their exposed and harassed situation during the early period of their settlement, but evinces that generous, high-minded feel- ing, and that lively sensibility to every expression of kind- ness conferred upon them, which so strongly marked their character. A favor bestowed upon them, was not soon or easily forgotten.
In speaking, in this address, of the encroachment and vio- lence of such as upon unjust grounds would have disturbed their settlement, and from which they were kindly defended by the governor, there is reference more particularly to attempts, by a party on the borders of Massachusetts, to dis- possess them, by artifice or by force, of their township. It appears that certain persons in Haverhill, and its vicinity, laid claim to these lands, by virtue of a deed of but about twenty years date, from an Indian sagamore named John, whereas the Indian title which the proprietors of London- derry claimed, was obtained more than sixty years before, and signed by all the principal chiefs who had any right whatever to the territory in question. Weak and unjust as was the claim of these individuals, they endeavored to press it, hoping
59
CIVIL HISTORY.
that, as these settlers were foreigners, if they could not by persuasion, they would by menaces, be induced to abandon their settlement. Hence they came from time to time in armed bodies, threatening violence if the settlers upon these lands did not remove. But they knew not the men whom they thus assailed, men of tried courage and noble daring. Satisfied of the justness of their title, and determined to maintain it at the peril of life, if called to the encounter, the inhabitants of Londonderry went forward with their settle- ment, heedless of the menaces they received. It is related, that on one occasion a large party from Haverhill, led by a man named Herriman, came fully armed for an encounter, unless these settlers would yield to their demands, either paying them for the township or at once quitting it.
It was on Friday, and the men with their families were assembling under a spreading oak, their house of worship not being as yet erected, to observe, according to the good old Presbyterian custom, the service preparatory to the com- munion, which was to be administered on the following Sab- bath. The assailants, on making known their purpose, were requested to desist from all acts of violence, until their reli- gious services were over, which they consented to do. Hav- ing listened attentively to the discourse addressed to his flock by the venerated pastor, and struck with the firm and un- daunted appearance of the men, and with the spirit and solemnity of their devotions, Herriman said to his followers: " Let us return; it is in vain to attempt to disturb this people, for surely the Lord is with them."
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.