USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Sutton > The history of Sutton, New Hampshire : consisting of the historical collections of Erastus Wadleigh, Esq., and A. H. Worthen, part 1 > Part 16
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Received per Nahum Baldwin County Treasurer.
Amherst, Oct. 7, 1779.
Received of the Constable of Perrystown by the hand of Capt. Stephen Harriman £6-0-42, it being their proportion of a County Tax raised April 1779.
Per Nahum Baldwin County Treasurer.
STATE TREASURER'S RECEIPTS.
Treasury Office State of N. H.
Exeter May 29, 1779.
Received of Mr. Daniel Messer, Sixty three Pounds, fifteen shillings, in part for the State and Continental Tax for the present year, 1779
Per Nicholas Gilman
£63. 15.
Exeter, Dec 6. 1779
Treasury Office New Hampshire S
Received of Mr. Daniel Messer Constable of Perrystown, One Hundred and Eighty-Seven Pounds and seven pence half penny In Full for the Balance of the present year, 1779. Also the Sum of Forty-seven Pounds eleven shillings and five pence, in part pay- ment of the second Continental Tax for the present year, 1779.
Nicholas Gilman Treas'r.
187 : 0:73 47: 11 : 5
242: 12:03
Treasury Office New Hampshire S
251
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
Exeter, Jan. 31, 1780.
Received of Mr. Daniel Messer, Constable of Perrystown, Four Hundred and three Pounds, sixteen shillings, and eight pence 3. In Full of the Balance of the last Continental Tax of said town for the year 1779. per. Nicholas Gilman.
403 : 16 : 83.
N. B. The foregoing heavy taxes were paid in war time. The following receipt, dated ten years later, shows a great reduction of tax.
Treasury Office
New Hampshire S
Exeter Feb. 12, 1793.
Received of Mr. Daniel Messer (per Mr. Levi Harvey,) Eleven Pounds, eleven shillings & five pence In full for the Tax of Sutton for 1790. J. T. Gilman, Treas'r. £11-11-5.
MONEY SCARCE.
During the later years of the last century so lit- tle money was in circulation that almost all trade was carried on by barter, and contracts for labor and its remuneration were frequently written out, with every specification, and with such minuteness of detail as seems to us, at this day, needless and almost absurd. The following is a sample of this kind :
Received one swine of Matthew Harvey supposed to be worth 5 dollars, and for said swine, I, Jacob Gile, promise to break and swingle all the flax said Harvey raised in the year 1789, the best way and manner of doing flax fit for combing. And said Harvey is to find said Gile food while he is doing said flax, two meals the day, dinner and supper or breakfast ; and said Gile is to eat as Har- vey's family eat, and when they eat. Said flax is to be completed at or before the last day of March 1790, and if I fail of fulfilling my promise by that time, I, the said Gile, promise to make said Harvey good from damage. As witness my hand,
Jacob Gile.
Sutton, Nov. 4, 1789.
Witness, Hannah Clough.
252
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
Sutton, Sept. 8, 1794.
For value received I promise to deliver to Elizabeth Quimby or order, one two-year-old a coming in three, a heifer that shall be middling likely, in good order and expects to be with calf,-and if she shall fail, to make her as good as to girt four feet, eleven inches, and a half inch. To be delivered at my dwelling-house at or before the first day of Nov. next.
Witness my hand,
Jacob Davis.
Sutton, Sept. 21, 1787.
For value received I promise to pay to Robert Presson or his order six dollars and a half, to be paid in labor at the common price on demand.
Sutton, Oct. 6, 1794.
For value received I promise to pay to Jeremiah Emerson or order, 12 bushels of Indian Corn, 3 bushels potatoes, half a bushel of peas, and a peck of beans, with Interest till paid.
Sutton, Oct. 17, 1789.
This is to testify and show that I do hereby promise to work out Jacob Hadley's Penny-Acre Rate upon 50 Acres of land, it being by virtue of a note of hand.
Sutton, April 3. 1792.
Benjamin Critchet, Sir, Please to pay to Daniel Messer three shillings in Rie at four shillings per bushel, it being for value Received.
As elsewhere stated, the meeting-houses were built by individual subscriptions, each man giving his note to the amount of his subscription, to be paid in " Indian Corn, or Neat Stock, or good mer- chantable Rie," but here, at last, is evidence of a money transaction.
Sutton, Jan. 23, 1796.
This day Received of the Building Committee of the North Meeting-house Five Silver Dollars In Full of all demands upon said Committee from the beginning of the world to the present day. As witness my hand.
Samuel Messer.
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MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
RESOLUTIONS AND VOTES PASSED IN TOWN- MEETINGS.
1806. Drift Roud. Voted. That the road which leads from Emery's Hill to the road that leads from Mr. Kezar's to Esq. Hills' be a Drift Road four months in the year.
1811. Motion being made, Voted, To allow Mr. Jona. Roby his highway tax to lay out on the Drift Road leading from his house out to Mr. Ichabod Roby's house.
1817. Voted, Mr. William Wadleigh be allowed his highway tax to lay out on his drift way out to the road, under the direction of the Surveyors.
Voted. David Davis be allowed his highway tax to lay out on his Drift Road out to the road.
The term " Drift Road" seems to signify, usually, a road which the town was not obliged to keep open through the winter, being a man's private road from his own buildings and through his own land out to the public road. But in the first case quoted,-the one under date of 1806,-there was apparently a public road, but its location was so greatly exposed to wind and storms that it would probably " be a Drift Road four months in the year," with or without the vote of the town, and it was considered too difficult to try to keep it open through the severe weather. The individuals who were accommodated by the road could keep it open if they chose, and be allowed their share of the public highway tax for doing so.
Two years before this, in 1804, this same piece of road was the subject of special legislation.
In warrant for town-meeting, Aug., 1804, is the following article:
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
To see if the town will vote to discontinue the road that leads from the top of Emery's Hill, so called, on to the road that leads from Mr. Kezar's to Esq. Hills', or let it be kept as a Drift Road. Voted, not to discontinue.
SUPPLIES FOR MUSTER DAY.
1815. Voted, That each non-commissioned officer and private soldier enrolled in the train-bands of this town be furnished at the next general muster with one pound and one-fourth of good boiled beef, one pound of fine bread, one gill of rum, and one-fourth pound of powder,-the whole [i. e., the company] to be furnished with one barrel of good cider. All to be carried on to the field of parade. Musicians, and such as do not bear fire-arms, are not to be furnished with the one-fourth pound powder each.
Mr. Samuel Kendrick contracted to furnish the above for the next general muster for $39.
1819. Soldiers on Muster Day to be furnished 25 cents in money, or the usual provision as they choose. Moses Nelson con- tracted to furnish the same.
Hogreeres. Chose the following,-they having all been married during the year preceding. Benjamin Putney, Stephen Johnson, Henry Adams, Ezra Littlehale, John Littlehale, Thomas Davis, Asa Nelson, Moses Pillsbury, Abraham Peaslee, Benjamin Bean, Isaac Bailey, Jonathan Woodward, Benjamin Lovering, Joshua Wright, and Smith Downing, were severally chosen, all being eligible to and duly qualified for that office, they having been married the year preceding.
The above record was made by Hon. Jonathan Harvey, he being town-clerk that year.
The custom of appointing to this unimportant of- fice those men who had been married during the year preceding each annual town-meeting was con- sidered a good-natured joke, and was not taken offensively by the victims; in fact, they would have felt a little slighted if this customary allusion to their recent marriage had not been made.
255
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
Burying-Grounds. Motion being made, roted, that two persons be appointed to take the care and keep the keys of the meeting- houses, and to dig and fill all the graves. And they are to have the privilege of pasturing all the graveyards with creatures that will not injure said yards. ['They were granted leave to pasture sheep in the graveyards, not altogether for economy's sake, but because the easiest way to keep the yards clear of bushes was to let the sheep feed them down. ] Joseph Peaslee undertook the care of the South meeting-house and graveyard for the ensuing year at $4. Philip S. Harvey took the North for the same price.
Motion being made, roted, that no person being the owner of any horses, cattle, or sheep, shall suffer any of them to run at large within one mile of either meeting-house.
March 11, 1840. Incorporations. Resolved, by the legal voters of the town of Sutton, in town meeting duly holden, that our repre- sentatives in General Court be instructed to vote against incorpora- tions of every description whatever, and that the above resolution pass.
March 9, 1842. Voted, that it shall be the duty of the several sextons to keep the fences around the graveyards,-to cut the bushes (except the ornamental) and shovel paths in case of deep snows. Isaac Peaslee bid for the South at ten dollars,-Tappan Sanborn, for the Centre at two dollars and fifty cents. John C. Little bid for the North at four dollars and fifty cents,-Israel A. Palmer, for the Gore at seventy cents per grave.
Nov. 4, 1844. Capital Punishment. To take the sense of the meeting on the question, "Shall capital punishment be abolished ?" On motion, Voted, to poll the house to take the sense of the legal voters of said town, and there appeared eighty-two in favor, and ninety-eight against its abolition.
In warrant for town meeting, March 12, 1844, the following article was inserted upon petition of Hiram W. Savory and others. "To see if the town will instruct the selectmen not to grant li- censes for the sale of ardent spirits to be used as a beverage.
Voted, to pass over the article.
Sexton at Mill Village for 1844. The office being set up at auction, considerable underbidding followed the first proposal, till the price offered became ridiculously low, when Mr. Joel Stone, perhaps in joke, offered to undertake it "for nothing." It was immediately struck to him, "he being the lowest bidder,"-as the record has it.
256
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
The playful spirit in which all this was done and recorded is, however, painfully contrasted with the record that was made before his year was out, viz., the death of Mr. Stone. He was a blacksmith at the Mill Village.
In 1845 the sextons were,-at the South, John Brockway; at the North, John Harvey; at the Mills, Tappan Sanborn; at the Gore, Moses Page.
March 10, 1846. Voted, to have the expenses of said town and its disbursements printed in detail, and have the same a standing vote till otherwise ordered.
March 9, 1847. ""Shall the Militia Bill prepared by the com- mittee of the Senate of the Legislature become a law ?" For the bill to become a law there appeared thirty-five votes ; against the same. one hundred and forty-two.
March 11, 1848. Wilmot Proriso. The following resolution was introduced and passed :
WHEREAS, we, the citizens of the town of Sutton, having full faith in the justice and expediency of the doctrine set forth in the Wilmot Proviso, and also in the doctrine that the people have a right to instruct their public servants,-therefore, be it
Resolred, by the citizens of the town of Sutton, in town meeting assembled, that our representative in the General Court of the state of New Hampshire, this year, be instructed to use his influ- ence and advocate the principles set forth in that Proviso.
Same date. Prohibition of Liquor Selling. "Is it expedient that a law be enacted by the General Court, prohibiting the sale of wines and other spirituous liquors except for chemical, me- dicinal or mechanical purposes ?" Voted, sixty-two in favor, seven- ty-three against.
1852. Voted, that no horses, cattle or sheep be allowed to feed or range within any of the burying grounds in town. Sexton at the North, for $8.50, was Warren W. Davis ; sexton at the South, for $9.00. was Jonathan H. Nelson ; sexton at the Mills, for $4.50, was Samuel T. Trumbull ; at the East or South-east, referred to the selectmen.
March 13, 1849. Liquor Selling again. A resolution was introduced and accepted by vote of the town, viz. :
257
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
Resolred, That the selectmen be requested not to license the sale of spiritnous liquors for the ensuing political year, for any consider- ation or purpose whatever.
Nov., 1852. To take the sense of the legal voters by ballot upon the following question, to wit: "Is it expedient that the Bill entitled ' An Act for the suppression of drinking houses and tippling shops' be enacted into a law ?" Motion being made, that the article be passed over, a vote was taken and decided by the moderator in the negative, on which vote a poll was requested by seven legal voters, before proceeding to any other business, and the moderator proceeded to poll the voters present,-and there appeared in favor of passing over the article, forty-two voters, and against passing over the article, seventy-three voters : so the motion did not prevail. On voting, it appeared that eight voted for the bill, and seventy-five against the bill.
Nov. 8. 1853. " To see what the town will do to more effect- ually protect the interest and welfare of the town and individuals from the deleterions effects of intoxicating drinks."
1859. Voted, That the money we draw from banks as literary funds be divided in town according to the number of scholars in each district.
1860. Voted, That the town purchase a hearse and build a house to keep it in. Voted, That the same be kept at Mill Village.
1861. Voted, That any person wishing to use the hearse can do so, paying damage to the town if injured. Agent appointed to take care of it.
1860. Toted, To appoint no liquor agent.
March, 1861. Voted, That the town furnish Dodge's map of New Hampshire and keys for every school district in town.
1869. Benjamin F. Pillsbury elected overseer of the poor ; Reuben B. Porter Superintending School Committee.
1871. "To see if the town will vote to authorize the moderator to prohibit smoking in town meeting, under penalty of removal from the hall, and $5 fine." Voted, To pass over the article.
1878. Tramps. WHEREAS, by an act to punish tramps ap- proved August 1, 1878, authorizing and requiring selectmen to appoint special constables, whose duty it shall be to arrest and prosecute tramps, we, the selectmen of Sutton, do appoint for that office, James Whidden, Enoch P. Davis, William Flint.
March 12, 1878. Meeting called to order by Benj. F. Pillsbury, 17
258
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
first selectman. [This was perhaps Mr. Pillsbury's last official act in Sutton, as he removed to Minnesota the same year.]
Nov. 5. 1878. [Under the new constitution.] To choose a board of supervisors of the check list. Those chosen were John Pressey, who had 193 votes, George C. Eaton, 194, and Benjamin Johnson, 191.
July 31, 1878. Motion to approve Act to purchase maps of New Hampshire for each school. Indefinitely postponed.
March 9, 1880. Voted, To apply what money accrues from the taxation of dogs, over and above the sum required for their damages to domestic animals, for school purposes.
Nov. 2, 1880. Supervisors of check list .- George C. Eaton, who had 133 votes, Benjamin Johnson, 134, and Charles S. Watson, 130.
1884. Whole number of votes for Representative, 276
Nov. 5. 1878. 66 66 Representative, 283
March 10, 1846. "
Governor, 289
66 66 66 Councillor, 294
66 66 66
Register of Deeds, 295
66 66 66 County Treasurer, 295
66
66 66
Senator, 292
Of the votes cast for senator, Asa Page had 172.
In 1859, the whole number of votes for Representative was 367.
Aug. 21, 1862. Bounties. The town votes to pay Bounties to enlisted men of $125 each; also Voted, To pay to parents of en- listed men who are minors, according to the law of 1861, if depend- ent on said enlisted men. Voted, To pay this to all credited to Sut- ton, under the call for 600,000 men. Voted, The selectmen be au- thorized to hire money at the credit of the town to pay bounties and families according to vote passed.
Sept. 26, 1863. Voted, To authorize the selectmen to hire money to pay $300 to men who are or may be drafted, or their substi- tutes.
Nov. 30, 1863. Voted, That the selectmen be authorized to hire such sums of money on the credit of the town as may be necessary to advance all bounties now offered by Government, both state and national, and also to pass such sums additional as may be found necessary to hire men or volunteers or substitutes enough to fill the quota of this town under the last call of the President for soldiers,
259
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
and also that the selectmen be instructed to hire the quota of this town as soon as practicable, or as soon as they deem it for the best interest of the town.
June 11, 1864. At a legal meeting, duly notified and holden, at Nelson's Hall in Sutton, Moses Hazen, selectman, presiding, chose, by ballot and majority vote, Charles A. Fowler, moderator, who, being present, took the oath prescribed by law. Voted, That the selectmen be authorized to pay such bounties as shall be neces- sary, not exceeding $1500, to each recruit or volunteer who may enlist to fill the quota of this town under any future call for men for the service of the United States, and that the selectmen be au- thorized and empowered to hire such siuns of money on the credit of the town as may be necessary for the foregoing purpose.
Voted, To choose an Agent whose particular business it shall be to procure volunteers and fill the quota of this town under any call that may be made. Chose Benjamin P. Burpee for agent.
Voted, That the selectmen be discharged from further duty of procuring volunteers and hiring money, and that the agent be authorized to hire such sums of money, on the credit of the town, as shall be necessary to procure the volunteers to fill all the calls that may be made for men for the service of the United States.
Benjamin P. Burpee took the oath of office as prescribed by law.
Aug. 6, 1864. Town offers $100 for one year, $200 for two years, and $300 for three years men; also, voted to pay $200 for every drafted man.
Sept. 2, 1864. Voted, To raise and pay as bounty to each man who may be be drafted and mustered into the United States service from this town to fill its quota under the last call of the president for 500,000 men, the sum of $200 for each year's service, and to each inhabitant of this town, who may have heretofore or who shall hereafter be duly mustered into the military, naval, or marine ser- vice of the United States, and counted on the quota of this town under the said last call of the president, the sum of $800 for one year, $1100 for two years, and $1400 for three years.
Voted, To aid the families of all persons, residents of this town, agreably to a law approved July 16, 1864.
March 10, 1868. Public Library. Voted, To establish and maintain a Public Library, and raise money therefor, and choose the necessary officers as agents to establish and manage the same.
Voted, To raise $50 for Public Library.
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
Voted. That Moses Hazen, Erastus Wadleigh, Johnson Colby, be a committee to carry out the provisions for the library.
March 9, 1869. Chose the same men to be directors of the library for the ensuing year.
April 18, 1868. Voted, The library be kept at Erastus Wad- leigh's the ensuing year.
Voted, Nov. 3, 1868. That the town of Sutton accept the Sutton Social Library according to a vote of said (old) library.
In the by-laws of the new library; "Proprietors of the old libra- ries, not residents of Sutton, shall have a right to take out books that they own a share in, subject to the regulations of the town library."
March 8, 1870. Town Library. Report that not much has been done owing to the financial embarrassments of the town which admonish the directors not to ask a further appropriation at this time. Private contributions solicited.
,
THE POOR-HOUSE.
There was no poor-house in Sutton till 1837. Previous to that time those who became dependent on the town were boarded in families, the town paying the expense, the contracts being made from year to year at the annual town-meeting. The board of each one separately was put up at auction and struck off to the lowest bidder, due regard, of course, being had to the reliability and general character, as well as to the house conveniences, of the person so contracting; for the town stipulated that these poor should be made comfortable in sick- ness and in health, if possible. If any of them were able to perform any labor, the contractor had the right to demand a reasonable amount from them; and if any thought themselves not well treated, they had, at any time, the right of appeal to the selectmen.
Here, perhaps, is as as good a place as any to make the statement which common justice requires, namely, that not all of those whose names are found on the records as being provided for at the annual meeting by the town were actual and abso- lute paupers. It sometimes happened that a man owning a farm became too old to work it profitably, and relinquished it to the town, which, assuming the ownership of the property, became, at the same time, responsible for his support. Those who took
262
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
this course certainly could not, with justice, be con- sidered paupers; they became simply the wards of the town.
This was the case with Jacob Davis, whose chil- dren became insane after reaching manhood, and when he was too old to work his farm any longer without their help. He conveyed his farm to the town, and the town took care of him. His farm is the one several times named in the town records as the " Town farm or Davis farm," and concern- ing which there was some legislation about the time the project of having a poor-house became a subject of discussion.
The same is true also of Francis Como. He lived to become very aged. He had sons, but they had all removed to Canada and settled there. He gave up his farm to the town, and the town took good care of him till his death.
Soon after 1825, the question of having a poor- house arose, it having become known that the experiment had been tried in some other places, and was considered satisfactory. In town-meeting, March 15, 1826, a committee, consisting of John Harvey, Robert Lane, and Benjamin Wadleigh, was chosen "to examine into the best modes of supporting panpers, and report thereon."
The following is their report:
The committee appointed by the town of Sutton to examine into the cheapest and most effectual mode of supporting town paupers, having attended to that duty, ask leave to make the following report :
They have made inquiry from various sources in this state and in Massachusetts, and find that the evil of pauperism is the common lot of towns, although the burden presses more heavily on some
263
THE POOR-HOUSE.
places than on others. We find also that the general method of their support has hitherto been similar to the long established mode in the town of Sutton, which is to set them up at auction, at their annual town-meeting, to the lowest bidder ; and the person who takes them is entitled to all the profits of their labor. But to this general rule we find exceptions, which we believe to be a great im- provement on the old system. Some instances of this we will name. In the old town of Haverhill, Mass., which for many generations has been burthened with a heavy pauper tax, they have within a few years purchased a small farm, with suitable buildings, to accommodate their paupers, and have employed an overseer to superintend the same. This establishment is now in successful operation, so that they have lately enlarged the farm by the pur- chase of numbers of acres, and calculate that instead of a tax it will soon be a source of profit to the town. The town of Chester, this state, has adopted a similar method with success.
In several other towns that have adopted the method of mantain- ing their paupers on a farm, the expense has been reduced nearly one half, and in some cases to nothing.
When we take into view the enormous tax which the town of Sutton has paid for the support of paupers, amounting to the sum of more than 1800 dollars for the last four years, we believe that one half might have been laid out on a farm and poor-house, and the other half would have supported the paupers, which, if our es- timates are correct, would have saved to the town a clear gain of a house and farm in four years.
We are authorized to state that in several towns that have adopted the poor-house plan, the wholesome discipline of these es- tablishments has evidently had a salutary influence on the morals of the idle and intemperate of those places. It operates as a peniten- tiary on such characters, while it affords a comfortable and perma- nent residence for those who are simply unfortunate.
Under these considerations we do not hesitate to recommend to the town of Sutton to provide a farm and poor-house for the main- taining of the paupers.
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