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 20
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313
KEZARVILLE.
Next is the house of John Huntoon, originally a farm-house, being once the property of John Kezar, father of Mrs. Huntoon. It is now enlarged and beautified, and makes an attractive and much sought for home for summer and even winter boarders, which is crowded to its fullest comfortable capacity every season.
Further on, down the other slope of the hill, is the Daniel Hardy place, once owned by Simon Kezar, an original settler. This place was also for many years the residence of Hon. Reuben Porter.
A little below the Prospect House, on the oppo- site side, and close to the pond shore, are two houses, one owned by J. Mark Felch, and the other for the last forty years by Charles H. Kohlrausch, of Billerica, and used by the family for a summer residence.
A portion of the Felch house was built many years ago by Jonathan Nelson, on the west shore of the pond, and was after some years drawn over by oxen in the winter on the ice.
Close to the spot where this house was built, on the west shore, another beautiful house has, within a few years, been built,-the Penacook House, a summer hotel also. The situation is very romantic, being on a little promontory jutting out into the pond, and commanding a fine view of water and mountain.
From the Daniel Hardy place a cross road strikes out and climbs King's hill, and a branch from this road passes the Penacook House, and follows the shore all around the west and south sides of the pond, till it brings the tourist again to the North Village on its eastern shore.
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
The potash factory, which once stood on the pond shore near the school-house and which was burned down about 1830, was built by Joseph Bart- lett, Esq., father of Hon. Levi Bartlett, of Warner. Mr. Bartlett was a merchant and business man in Warner before there were any stores in Sutton, and was a man of much enterprise. In this factory the Bartletts, father and son, sometimes worked, and made " salts," which were converted into potash. Mr. Bartlett was well known to the people of Sut- ton, many of them doing their trading at his store in Warner, where he was in business about thirty years.
BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
The charter of Perrystown, granted by the Masonian Proprietors of the New Hampshire lands, contained their customary stipulation that the gran- tees should, within a specified time after receiving it, erect a meeting-house and settle a minister, which things the Perrystown proprietors by their acceptance of the charter, knowing its conditions, certainly covenanted to do. The Indian wars which followed immediately after, by preventing the settlement, of course prevented the carrying out of all the specifications regarding time. But after the renewal of the grant and during the progress of the settlement years afterwards, neither early nor late did they fulfil their obligations concerning minister or meeting-house. They had, however. made but little money out of their purchase. Much hard work had to be done; some roads must be made and some streams bridged in order to make settlement possible, even after they had offered a bounty to settlers to go there. Taxes were heavy and their burdens were great. If they shirked what they could, it is scarcely to be wondered at.
What they did to promote the settlement was of course done to enable them to sell their lands, and really the settlers did not have from them much to be grateful for. The School Right of land and the Minister Right (so called), which have been of so
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
much benefit and help for so long a period of years, were not the gift of the Perrystown grantees. The Masonian Proprietors who gave the grant, in their wise foresight reserved those rights for public use.
It is said that at an early period some of the inhabitants of Perrystown erected a rude log struct- ure which was used for public worship for a few years. It was in what is now Mill Village. Itin- erant ministers were occasionally in this region, of whom Belknap says, in his History of New Hamp- shire,-
In some of the new towns where the people were not able to sup- port a minister, it was the custom for clergymen of the older towns to make itinerant excursions of several weeks, to preach and bap- tize. Such itinerations have always been acceptable, and served to keep up a sense of religion in the scattered families.
But it is believed that to the Warren Baptist Association of Massachusetts Sutton is indebted for her first resident clergyman, Elder Samuel Am- brose.
In 1786, two years after incorporation, the town voted to build a meeting-house and to raise £30 to be laid out on said house this year. Voted Daniel Messer, David Eaton, Samuel Bean, Caleb Kimball, and Thomas Wadleigh, shall serve as a com- mittee to see to the building of said meeting-house, and to provide such things as shall be wanting for the building of said house upon the town's cost.
This vote does not seem to have been acted upon, and in the warrant for the annual meeting, March, 1792, is the following article :
To see if you will vote to build a meeting-house the present year, and if voted, to see what method you will take to build the same. Voted to build a meeting-house. Voted to see whether it is best to
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BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
build more than one meeting-house in town or not, and to appoint the place or places where said houses shall be set. Voted that Moses Hills, Capt. Pressey. Caleb Kimball, Silas Russell, Francis Whittier shall serve for the above mentioned Committee.
In warrant for town meeting Apr. 1, 1793. To see if the town will vote to build a meeting-house in said town, and if voted, to see what method they will take to effect the same. Voted in the nega- tive.
In warrant 1794, March 17.
To see what provision the town will make for the building of a meeting-house in the centre of said town. Voted not to build a meeting-house the present year.
In warrant for town meeting May 28, 1795.
To see if the town will vote to support a petition now in the Gen- eral Court, praying for a tax to be laid on all the lands in said town for the purpose of building a meeting-house in said town.
At the meeting held in pursuance of the above warrant, Voted to support the petition.
The petition was granted, and the town author- ized to collect the Cent Tax, so called.
In warrant for town meeting Sept. 2, 1795. To see what method the town will take to lay out the Cent Tax so called. Voted that the Cent Tax shall be equally divided and laid out upon the two meeting-houses. Voted to choose a committee to run out the lines between the Lord Proprietors' land and the other lands adjoining said Lords' land, on consideration of the inhabitants living on said Lord Proprietors' land paying all the cost of running out said lines, and fixing the bounds of the same. Committee chosen were Amos Pressey, Obadiah Eastman, Thomas Wadleigh.
Copy of the petition, praying for the tax on lands to assist in building a meeting-house.
State of N. H. and County of Hillsborough.
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives at Concord convened Dec. 26, 1794.
Your Petitioners humbly show in behalf of the town of Sutton that they labor under many and great inconveniences by not having a meeting house in Sutton. We would beg leave to inform your
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
Honors that the proprietors of said town obligated themselves to build a meeting-house in a certain time, which contract was never done in the least tittle. And our town being seven miles and eighty rods in length, and but five miles in width, being mountainous and extremely broken, which causes the repair of our roads to be a great cost, and the centre of said town being so inconvenient, the land poor and broken for two miles each way, not fit for settlements, nor no leading road by said centre, so that said house would be useless for a great part of the year.
There are two main roads already laid out, leading through each end of the town, which serve the country and the inhabitants of the town better to build two meeting houses one on each main road which we think will better accommodate the inhabitants. And upon this consideration we have gone forward to build two small meeting houses : and we think when they are completed they will raise a higher value on all the lands in said town.
Therefore we beg leave to inform your Honors that whereas there are some Gentlemen that own large tracts of land in said town who never gave away any part of their lands for settling, who are non- residents, and the inhabitants have been making farms by their lands, and making roads through their lands, raising the value of their interest by our industry, and have undergone great fatigues and distress in settling said town, being poor, Therefore we pray your Honors would take into your wise and prudent consideration our case, and empower said town to lay a tax upon all the non- improved lands of three pence per acre, to be laid out upon building said meeting houses, to be equally divided between them; or any sum you in your wisdom shall think proper. And your humble petitioners in duty bound shall ever pray.
Thomas Wadleigh Moses Hills Selectmen.
Asa Nelson
THE SAME PETITION MODIFIED.
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the State of New Hampshire convened at Concord Dec'r 26, 1794. The Petition of the Selectmen of Sutton for and in behalf of the inhabi- tants of said town Humbly show that the proprietors of said town obligated themselves to build a meeting house in said town which
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BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
was never fulfilled we are therefore still destitute of a meeting house ; and the town is so situated, being seven miles in length and five in width, and the centre thereof so mountainous and broken that a meeting house built in the centre never could be accommodated with any road, nor the inhabitants be accommodated thereby ; and there are two roads through, one at each end of said town, which have been made with great expense to the inhabitants, and without any assistance from the Proprietors ; the inhabitants have agreed to build two meeting houses, one on each road, which will if completed accommodate all the inhabitants of said town. But they have been so burdened by making roads through said town that they do not feel themselves able to complete said houses without some assistance from the proprietors whose lands will be more valuable if they be completed. Therefore we pray your Honors to take our case into your wise consideration, and grant us leave to assess all the land in said town (Public Rights exempted) with three pence per acre, for one year, to be applied to the sole use of building said meeting houses, to be divided equally between them, and such regulations as you shall think proper. And we etc.
Third form of the same petition:
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the State of New Hampshire in General Court convened at Concord the 1st day of January 1795.
The Petition of the Selectmen of Sutton in said State for and in behalf of the Inhabitants of said town Humbly showeth. That the Inhabitants of said town have for a long time been grievously oppressed by heavy State, County, and Town taxes.
And large tracts of land in said town have contributed towards the same but very little, and having been destitute of any house for public worship through all our hardships, through the neglect of the proprietors of said town who promised in their Charter to build a Meeting House within a certain time therein stated and agreed on which has been neglected ; and as the value of the lands in said town owned by non-resident proprietors is greatly increased by our labor. We therefore pray your Honors to grant a tax of three pence per acre upon all the land in said town Public Rights and eighteen shares reserved by the Masonian Proprietors excepted, to be appropriated to the sole use of building a meeting house in said
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
town, as said proprietors have not complied with their contract in said Charter. And we &c.,
Sutton, Dec. 30, 1794.
Moses Hills
Selectmen
Thomas Wadleigh for
Asa Nelson Sutton
It will be apparent to the reader that the object of these three petitions is the same: they all pray for a tax on some portion of the lands in town to aid in building the meeting-houses. Though not worded precisely alike, the real difference is as to what portion of the land in town shall be assessed.
The first one prays for a tax of three pence per acre " or any sum you in your wisdom shall grant" to be laid on all the non-improved land in town, which would, of course, include all the rights of the Maso- nian proprietors, which, by a provision of the charter they gave to Perrystown proprietors, were to be exempt from taxation till sold. The second petition prays for leave to assess all the land in town, public rights excepted; while the third petition asks for a tax on all the lands in town, Public Rights and the eighteen shares reserved by the Masonian proprie- tors excepted.
These three petitions were found bound up together among the papers of Mr. Harvey, the representative for that year, to whom they had been entrusted, probably with discretionary power as to which one of them he should attempt to carry through the " General Court."
Enclosed in the same package is a remonstrance against the proposed tax by some of the citizens who were opposed to it, and also a letter from Thomas Wadleigh, Esq., which will serve as a sort
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BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
of explanation to the Remonstrance. A copy of his letter is here presented with the wish that it were possible at the same time to present a copy of this gentleman's neat penmanship and really elegant autograph:
To Deacon Harvey,
Sir. After my regards to you I would inform you that I understand that about thirty of our inhabitants are preparing to send in a remonstrance against the petition which the town voted to sup- port at our last town meeting, praying for a tax to be laid on the lands in said town for the purpose of building a meeting house in said town. I understand they have set forth in their remonstrance that said meeting was not legal, because it was kept secret from them so that they did not hear of it till it was past.
I cannnot think they will prepare to make any opposition against said petition, but if they should, I herein send you the Warrant which the Selectmen gave Mr. Robey to warn said meeting, and also the Warning that Mr. Robey put up, which may be some help to you.
I am Sir you Humble Servant
Thomas Wadleigh
Sutton June 6, 1795.
THE REMONSTRANCE TO THE TAX.
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives for the State of N. H. in General Court convened at Hanover the 13th of June 1795
The Petition of the subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Sutton in the County of Hillsborough, and state aforesaid. Humbly showeth that whereas the General Court at the Sessions holden at Concord in December last grant a day of hearing on a Petition preferred by the Selectmen of Sutton, praying for liberty to assess all the lands in said town Public Rights excepted with three pence per acre for the purpose of building meeting houses in said Sutton ; and they have since had a kind of Muggletonian meeting in a private man- ner, and voted to build two meeting houses in said town (which is very poor) contrary to the will or wish of a majority of the inhabi- tants (who were not notified of said meeting) we pray that your 21
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
Honors will not grant the prayer of their (so private) Petition. And as in duty &c.
The signers to this Remonstrance were Jonathan Rowell, Thomas Rowell, Dudley Kenrick, Jonathan Colburn, Peter Peaslee, David Peaslee, Benjamin Williams, Abner Chase, William Lowell, Benja- min Evans, John Peaslee, Daniel Emery, Stephen Richardson, John Philbrick, Benj'n Philbrick, Philemon Hastings, Ezra Jones, Jr., Ezra Littlehale, Ezekiel Davis, Joseph Johnson, Isaac Peasley, Leonard Colburn, Samuel Peaslee, Abraham Peaslee, William Scales, Benjamin Kenrick, Jona. Stevens, Thomas Walker, Peter Cheney, John Emerson, Jr., Hezekiah Parker, Ezra Jones, Daniel Colburn.
In town-meeting, Sept. 2, 1795, three of the above remonstrants, viz., Peter Peaslee, Daniel Emery, and Stephen Richardson, were, by a vote then taken, freed from paying any part of said tax.
The selectmen for 1795 were Thomas Wadleigh, Caleb Kimball, and Moses Hills. A letter of the last named is found in the package with the other papers. It is as follows:
To Deacon Matthew Harvey at Hanover.
Sir, After compliments I would inform you that I understand there are some ill-minded persons who are about sending a remon- strance to the General Court against that Petition for the Penny Tax, and Capt. Wadleigh has informed me that they have set forth in their Remonstrance that the meeting held to see if the town would vote to support the Petition was not legal.
Therefore to prove that it was legal he has sent you the Warrant we directed to the Constable, and the notification which the Consta- ble posted up. If you want any other help, or assistance of any kind send me word, and I will make you all the help I possibly can. Excuse errors and weakness. From yours &c.,
Moses Hills.
Sutton June 6, 1795.
N. B. This Remonstrance they have kept very secret. I knew nothing about it till very lately.
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BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
Mr. Harvey seems to have had the full sympathy and support of those who had commissioned him to do his utmost to carry to its successful accomplish- ment the scheme in which they were all so ardently engaged.
To help him show that the town proprietors had failed to do their part of the contract, they fitted him out with the following depositions. They were found enclosed in the certificate of Bond Little, Esq., the justice before whom they were sworn to.
This certificate is directed to the "clerk of the Honorable General Court of the State of New Hampshire sitting at Hanover the first week in June, 1795."
Sutton May 29, 1795.
Then Ephraim Gile, Samuel Bean, and Benjamin Wadleigh per- sonally appeared, and made Solemn oath to the enclosed depositions, by them signed, to be the truth and nothing but the truth.
Before me-Bond Little, Justice of the Peace.
The Deposition of Benjamin Wadleigh of Sutton in the County of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire of lawful age testifieth and saith that he was one of the first settlers in Sutton and he has no knowledge that ever the proprietors of the township of Sutton ever did anything towards building a meeting house in Sutton.
Benjamin Wadleigh.
The deposition of Ephraim Gile is to the same effect. That of Samuel Bean is as follows:
The deposition of Samuel Bean testifieth and saith that he has lived in Sutton three or four and twenty years, and he has no knowledge that ever the proprietors of the township of Sutton ever did any thing towards building a meeting house in Sutton.
Samuel Bean.
The idea of taxing Proprietors' lands for public needs was not a new one. In 1782 the legislature
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
imposed what was termed the "Penny acre tax" upon wild lands for support of the war. Some of the non-resident proprietors disregarded this tax, and their lands were sold by the collector at a very low figure in some of the towns.
It will be noticed that in Esq. Moses Hills's letter he speaks of this cent tax as the Penny tax. People had as yet scarcely become accustomed to the change from English money to Federal money because the change was so recent. Cents were first issued in 1793, and gold and silver money in 1794, by the United States. This new tax was spoken of both as the Cent tax and the Penny tax.
SOME VOTES CONCERNING THE CENT TAX.
In Warrant for town meeting following the granting of the Peti- tion Sept. 2, 1795, To see what method the town will take to lay out the Cent Tax so called. Voted that the Cent Tax shall be equally divided and laid out upon the two meeting houses.
At annual meeting March 7, 1796, Philemon Hastings chosen Constable and Collector. Voted that said Hastings shall have two pence 2 farthing on one pound for collecting the taxes in this town the present year. Voted that said Hastings shall not have anything for collecting the non-resident Cent tax.
At annual meeting 1797, Voted that Moses Hills and Daniel Page shall serve as a committee to make a final settlement with Ichabod Roby and Philemon Hastings, being Collectors for said town on account of the Cent Tax committed to them to collect.
The question as to whether the town would vote to build a meeting-house came up in town-meeting several times in the ten years following incorpora- tion.
In Warrant for annual meeting March 1792. To see if you will vote to build a meeting house the present year, and if voted, to see what method you will take to build the same.
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BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
Voted to build a meeting house.
Voted to choose a committee to see whether it is best to build more than one meeting house in town or not, and to appoint the place or places where said house or houses shall be set.
Voted that Moses Hills, Capt. Pressey, Caleb Kimball, Silas Rus- sell, Francis Whittier shall serve for the above mentioned com- mittee.
In Warrant for town meeting April 1, 1793. To see if the town will vote to build a meeting house in said town and if voted to see what method they will take to effect the same. Voted in the negative.
And the question does not appear again on the records. The town in its corporate capacity did not build the meeting-houses. Recognizing the fact that in order to accommodate all the people two houses must be built, the great expense was deemed more than their means would warrant.
The people of the two sections of the town, the north and the south, each forming themselves into a society for the purpose, went to work to build their own house. Individual subscriptions and contribu- tions in labor, or in corn and grain, were almost universally made by the people, and accepted by the building committee of the society. Very little money was contributed, for very little money was in circulation in town or state at that time. The committee who received the corn and grain could exchange a portion of it for money, perhaps, but mostly for material to go into the house-glass, nails, hinges, paint, etc. Many of those things were purchased, as some of the old bills yet in existence show, at Hopkinton, of Benj. & Timothy Wiggin, and of Joseph Towne, who were almost wholesale dealers at that time.
The timber was of course plenty at home, and it
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
is said that the frame of the North meeting-house was the product of the ground it stands on. Both houses were handsomely underpinned with hewn stone, for which, also, there was no need to send out of town.
Each section of the town raised its separate build- ing fund, and elected its own building committee. The building committee for the South meeting- house were Thomas Wadleigh and probably Mica- jah Pillsbury and Daniel Page. The Record-book of the South meeting-house has not been found, but some papers left by Esq. T. Wadleigh indicate that these gentlemen were the committee. For the North meeting-house the committee were Samuel Bean, Matthew Harvey, and John King. The indi- viduals subscribing to the building fund gave their notes to the committee to the amount of their sub- scription. The following are specimens of those notes :
Sutton Sept. 22, 1794.
Upon demand for value received I promise to pay twelve shill- ings to the Committee in Rye at 4/ or Indian Corn at 3/ per bushel, or work at 3/ if called for, for building a meeting house at the lower end of Kezar's pond, so called. As witness my hand Thomas Walker.
For value received I promise to pay to the Committee Samuel Bean, Matthew Harvey, and John King, the sum of four Pounds lawful money, to be paid in Neat stock, or good merchantable Rye, or Indian Corn. To be paid the first day of October 1795.
Benjamin Wells, jr.
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BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
SUBSCRIPTION LIST (NORTH).
The sum of money each man has subscribed for the purpose of building a meeting house in the North part of Sutton at the lower end of Kezar's pond, so called.
Daniel Messer
$11.34 William Bean $6.08
Cornelius Bean
5.00 Matthew Harvey 15.00
Ephraim Gile
6.67 Eliphalet Woodward 1.00
Hezekiah Parker
5.34 John Emerson 1.00
George Walker
3.34 Simon Kezar
8.34
Jonathan Davis
4.00 James Eaton
3.00
Francis Whicher
1.67 Theophilus Cram
1.00
Stephen Nelson
2.00 John Harvey 2.00
Francis Whicher, Jr.
3.34 Benjamin Fowler
3.00
Jacob Mastin
5.00 Jacob Davis
5.00
Reuben Gile
10.00 Joseph Chadwick
2.00
Isaac Mastin
4.00 Jacob Bean
4.00
Thomas Walker
2.00 Benjamin Wells
3.34
John Emerson
2.00 Moses Bean
2.00
Ezekiel Flanders
8.67 Stephen Woodward 2.00
Joseph Pearsons
3.34 Philip Sargent 6.67
Peter Cheney
2.34 Moses Hills
3.34
Moses Davis
3.34 Amos Pressey
3.00
Josiah Nichols
1.00 Aaron Davis
3.34
John King
6.08 Willard Emerson
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