USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Swanzey > The history of Swanzey, New Hampshire, from 1734 to 1890 > Part 9
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The increase of inhabitants in Swanzey during a number of years previous to 1784 must have been quite large as shown by the follow- ing certificate :
" SWANZEY, DEC. 10th, 1783.
We the Subscribers do hereby Certify that According to the Best of our knowledge there is in the town of Swanzey one hundred and eighty-two Male Polls of twenty-one years of Age and upwards, pay- ing for themselves a Poll Tax.
ISAAC HAMMOND, -
DAVID BELDING, JR., S
Selectmen of Swanzey."
From 1784 to 1792 New Hampshire had a temporary constitution, and under it the chief executive of the state was styled President.
The first town meeting in Swanzey under this Constitution was held March 2, 1784, at which time Samuel Hills was chosen moderator.
Votes for President of the State :- Meshech Weare, 10; George Atkinson, 21; John Sullivan, 2.
For two Senators for Cheshire County : Thomas Applin, 14 ; Dan- iel Newcomb, 2 ; Calvin Frink, 27 ; John Bellows, 5 ; Daniel Jones, 5 ; Simeon Olcott, 5 ; Benjamin Bellows, 1.
Voted to grant 48 shillings to the Rev. Mr. Goddard as a reward for his service as a member of the late Convention for forming a Con- stitution for this state.
Fifteen shillings were voted to Samuel Hills for a like service.
Salmon and shad ascended the Ashuelot river before dams were built across it. When the people found that their yearly supply of these fish was cut off by these dams there was much complaint, and doubtless there were those who were willing unlawfully to engage in making free passage-ways for the fish through the dams. The Gen- eral Assembly was petitioned during several years for redress in this matter, and January 15, 1789, an act was passed requiring a sluice to be kept open in every dam on said river in the towns of Hinsdale,
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HISTORY OF SWANZEY.
Winchester, Swanzey and Keene, between the 10th day of May and the 20th day of July in any year.
At the annual March meeting in 1785 it was "voted to raise 12 pounds for the purpose of trimming the burying ground."
March 7, 1786. "Voted to raise 4f., 13s., 1d. to complete the fenc- ing of the burying ground."
"Voted to sell Lt. Dan Guild a piece of the common adjoining and lying south of the burying-yard between said yard and Mr. William Wright's."
At a legal meeting held Oct. 30, 1786, a plan for emitting paper money by the General Court was read. The vote was unanimous against approving the measure. A committee for suggesting altera- tions in the plan was chosen, consisting of Roger Thompson, William Grimes, Wyman Richardson, Abraham Randall, Elisha Whitcomb, David Belding, jr., and Ebenezer Hills.
Nov. 13, the committee made the following report :- "That twenty thousands be emitted on the same plan that the General Court pro- posed to emit the ten thousand pounds, with the addition to have it a tender for all debts due in this state; and in lieu of the forty thous- and pounds that the General Court proposed to emit on land security ; that the state notes be called in, and the holder in lieu of said notes to receive certificates of the same sum in lieu of the same, so that the interest of said notes may cease and the certificates to be received in all outstanding taxes. Dated at Swanzey the 13th day of November, 1786.
Signed in behalf of the Committee,
ROGER THOMPSON."
Seventeen persons voted in favor of this report and two against it.
Dec. 4 a meeting was called to see if the town would agree with some person to pay the last state tax by the first of January and repay such person in cattle or any other way agreed upon.
"Voted, That the Selectmen be impowered to agree with Mr. Nathan Capron who has undertaken to pay said tax for the town."
"Voted, That the Selectmen, together with Maj. Elisha Whitcomb, Maj. Jonathan Whitcomb, Lt. Samuel Wright and Mr. David Beld- ing, jr., be a committee to examine into the requests of several con- stables respecting such assessments in their hands against such persons as they have not had opportunity to collect, and make such an adjustment and abatement to such constables as they shall judge equitable."
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GENERAL OUTLINE HISTORY.
The foregoing votes show the financial condition of the town at that period. It was similar to that of other towns. The war for Inde- pendence had been successfully prosecuted, and their independence had been achieved; but there had been no well matured plans adopted for a state or a general government. The finances of the country were in a deplorable condition ; taxes were heavy in consequence of the war ; the people were without money, and to pay their taxes was almost an impossibility.
Jan. 8, 1788, Maj. Elisha Whitcomb was chosen a delegate to a convention to meet at Exeter, Feb. 2, to consider the federal con- stitution. He was also chosen in 1791 to a convention for the revision of the state constitution.
In 1793 it was voted to allow Mr. Moses B. Williams six shillings for warning sundry persons out of town ; and the same year an allow- ance was made John Whitcomb, jr., for a similar service. This "warning out of town" was a common practice in those days. When persons came into a town to reside who were likely to become depen- dent upon the town for support it was customary for the selectmen to issue an order to a 'constable to force such persons to leave the town.
A constable was quite an important officer during this period of the town's history. When town meetings were called the legal voters were personally warned to attend by a constable who had received his orders from the selectmen. The collecting of the taxes was also a part of the constable's official duty.
At the annual meeting this year the following was passed : "Whereas Mr. John Harvey and others, inhabitants of Swanzey, have requested said town that they would vote that they and their lands may be an- nexed to the town of Marlborough, representing that they live much more convenient to Marlborough meeting-house than to Swanzey, etc., the town having considered the said request, think the same to be reasonable ; therefore voted that Messrs. John Harvey, Kimber Har- vey and Samuel Stearns, and the land whereon they dwell, and the land belonging to Mr. Timothy Harvey be set off from the town of Swanzey and annexed to the town of Marlborough ; said tract of land lies in the northeastwardly part of said Swanzey, and is the most northwardly part of that gore of land which was set off from Rich- mond to Swanzey ; and is bounded as follows : viz. : Beginning at a heap of stones, being the southeast corner of the town of Keene, then runs on said Keene west 8 degrees north, 32 rods to the old corner of Swanzey ; then runs south 34 degrees west on Swanzey's old line, 418
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HISTORY OF SWANZEY.
rods to a white pine tree ; then runs east 20 degrees 30 minutes south on common land 212 rods to a stake and stones in the patent line; then runs on the patent line north 9 degrees 30 minutes east 418 rods to the first mentioned corner ; containing three hundred and five acres." This vote was sanctioned the same year by the legislature. The fol- lowing is the plan of the foregoing described piece of land :
W. 8º N. 32 rods.
S. 34° E. 418 rods.
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305 acres.
N. 94° E. 418 rods.
E. 20° S. 212 rods.
In 1812 a small section on the N. E. part of the town was annexed to Keene ; and in 1842 another section, a part of the Richmond Gore, was annexed to Marlborough.
In 1815 a portion, about three miles south of the last-named sec- tion, was taken to form the new town of Troy, leaving the eastern boundary of Swanzey very irregular.
A movement was commenced as early as 1794 to have a new meet- ing house built, larger and more imposing than the old one on the hill. The population of the town had become too large, too wealthy and were too well united in supporting gospel ordinances that were in har- mony with the Congregational creed to make it proper to continue to worship in the old house. The result of the movement was the erec- tion of the meeting house on the plain, the same building which has since been remodelled into the present town house. The house was
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GENERAL OUTLINE HISTORY.
built nominally by the town, and a large part of the work was proba- bly done in the year 1796.
It is not known how the building of the house was managed as the town's records during the period in which it was built are lost. A list of the taxes paid during these years for other purposes has been pre- served but it does not show that anything was raised for building the meeting house. The inference is that a committee had the manage- ment of raising and applying the taxes for building the house. A large part of the cost was ultimately met from the sale of the pews. As a rule the most desirable pews were secured by the most promi- nent men in the town.
The raising of the meeting house was a great event for the times. To do the work men were picked in Swanzey and in the neighboring towns. The work of raising commenced in the morning. Previous to that time a whole broadside had been put together. When all was ready for raising the huge broadside, the master workman took his position upon the frame from which place he gave his orders until the structure had been raised to a considerable height. At the close of the first day the body of the house had been raised. When the men assembled the second morning one of them exhibited his nerve by passing from one side of the building to the other upon one of the suspended beams to which other timbers had not been connected. It took three days to raise the building including the belfry. For a de- scription of the building see Chapter V.
Many men settled in town between the years 1777 and 1793. Had a list of the tax payers been preserved during these years it would have shown nearly the time when their settlement was made. The first tax list that is now found is of the year 1793.
The following list is intended to include such persons as settled in the town between 1777 and 1793 :
Abner Aldrich,
Amos Bailey,
Amasa Aldrich,
Nathan Capron,
Uriah Aldrich,
Otis Capron,
Jacob Bump,
Alpheus Capron,
Jeremiah Battles,
Joseph Cross,
Thomas Battles, jr.,
Thomas Cross,
Edward Beverstock, Daniel Beverstock, John Beverstock,
Salmon Chandler,
Daniel Cummings,
Timothy Clark,
Amariah Curtis,
A bijah Brown, William Bolles,
Luther Curtis,
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HISTORY OF SWANZEY.
Calvin Curtis, Phinehas Dodge, Rufus Dexter, William Dival, Jotham Eames, Daniel Flint,
Amos Richardson, Salmon Richardson, Abraham Randall, Levi Randall,
Matthew Robley,
William Ramzey,
Peletiah Razey,
Peter Robinson,
John Franklin, Joel Foster,
Samuel Stearns,
Shubael Seaver,
Nathaniel Foster, Dan Guild,
Nims Smead,
Stephen Gibson,
Richard Stratton,
William Hunt,
William Stephenson,
Phinehas Hamblett,
Ebenezer Stone,
Josiah Hamblett,
David Sherman,
Asaph Lane,
David Sherman, 2d,
John Marble,
Israel Sawyer,
Josiah Marble,
William Town,
Paul Moore,
Nicholas Trask,
Joshua Prime,
Stephen Trask,
Leonard Pemberton,
Thomas Trowbridge,
Joshua Parker,
Thomas Trowbridge, 2d,
John Pierce,
Abner Twitchell,
Stephen Prouty,
Jonas Twitchell,
Benjamin Parsons,
Amariah Patridge,
Seth Pomroy,
David Tenney, John Usher, Isaac Woodward,
David Read,
Ichabod Woodward,
Timothy Read,
Richard Weeks,
Joel Read,
Joseph Weeks,
John Read,
Timothy Warren.
Wyman Richardson,
The following is a list of the names of persons who first appear as tax payers in the following years :
1794.
William Abbott, Aaron Darling, Daniel Flint,
Farnum Fish, Jonathan Holbrook, V Simpson Hammond,
Moses Farnsworth,
John Farnsworth, Jonathan Field,
Ivory Snow,
Joseph Smead,
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GENERAL OUTLINE HISTORY.
Reuben Lord, John Richardson, Aquila Ramsdell,
Andrew Sherman, Joseph Taylor, Zenas Ware.
1796.
Ziba Aldrich,
Peter C. Hunt,
Benoni Benson,
Thomas Harris,
Nathan Cross,
Jonathan Jilson, Stephen Jilson,
Moses Codwell,
Francis Goodhue,
Jonathan Lamson,
Peter Holbrook,
James Pierce,
Peter Holbrook, 2d, John Hix,
Ezra Thayer, Samuel Wilson.
1798.
John Holbrook, Y
John Potter,
Stephen Potter,
Thomas Bigelow,
Moses Pratt,
Moses Butler,
John Richardson,
Fisher Draper,
James Severance,
Parker Dudley,
James Severance, 2d, Josiah Usher.
1799.
Levi Maxey, Micaiah Norwood,
Barzilla Streeter, Zopher Whitcomb.
1800.
Seth Holbrook, V Edmund Munyon.
Lot Aldrich,
Richard Auger,
Richard Danforth,
Robert Gilman,
Peter Holbrook, 3d, John Jackson, Benjamin Phelps, Ebenezer Stockwell.
The foregoing lists are names of persons that moved into the town and the year when they were first taxed therein.
Generally they came to the town the year before they were taxed. Thus we consider that those persons who were taxed for the first time
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Arad Hall, Asaph Hall, John Learned, Daniel Learned,
Ebenezer Billings, Levi Blake, Daniel Goodhue,
1801.
Ebenezer French,
Benson Aldrich, Eli Boyden,
Stephen Brown,
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HISTORY OF SWANZEY.
in 1801 became residents in 1800. Young men who reached their majority in the town and were sons of fathers who had been taxed in the town are not included in the lists. What we have intended to show is the time when different families moved into the town.
But a small number of persons had settled in the town previous to 1800 except to engage in clearing up land for a farm. At this time nearly all the land in the township had passed into the hands of men who wanted it for such a purpose.
Probably there was as large a number of farms in the town in 1800 as there has been at any period in the town's history. Large num- bers of cellar holes can be seen in different parts of the town where some one about this period or previously had built a house and cleared off some of the adjacent land, with the view of residing there perma- nently as a farmer.
Nearly all the land in the town when first cleared was quite pro- ductive. Fields that long since were abandoned for farming once produced stout grass, and upon many hills that are now covered with timber was once excellent pasturage.
The course of the settlements in the town was from the Centre (at which place they were mostly confined for the first twenty years), down the Ashuelot river and up the South Branch. Settlements were early made on the east side of the South Branch opposite the Centre and be- tween there and the Keene line. Some were made upon the hills quite early ; but most of the hills were not settled until nearly all the low lands had been appropriated.
In 1800 many of the farms were large and productive and the owners in affluent circumstances. Large houses had been built and were sur- rounded by commodious buildings. The oldest type of the best houses that were built in the town was a two-story house in front, and one story at the back part. The plan was to have two good-sized front rooms on the lower floor, and to have two good-sized chambers on the second floor. The centre of the rear part contained a large kitchen and at the ends of it bedrooms, pantry, cupboards, entries, etc. To accommodate the three large rooms on the lower floor and the two front chambers a very large chimney was built in the centre of the house. Another type, and from which a larger number was built than from the first, was to have the same construction upon the lower floor, but without the second story in front. A fashionable type for the best houses at a later date was to build with two stories and with a four-cornered flat roof. If it was built with two rooms upon each floor, it had usually a chimney at each end of the house. If it contained
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GENERAL OUTLINE HISTORY.
four rooms upon each floor the chimneys were built between the front and rear rooms.
A log house was common where a new settlement was made for a few years, but as there were saw mills in the town most of the time from the first settlement, and plenty of timber, these were soon re- placed by framed houses as most of the settlers were enterprising men.
To feed a family one depended mostly upon the production of his land and the stock which he kept upon it. Very little dependence was made upon purchasing provisions outside of the town. Large quantities of rye were raised upon the newly cleared land, and upon the plains by cultivation. Indian corn was regarded as the most im- portant crop of all that was cultivated. The principal bread used was brown bread made from rye and Indian meal. Hasty pudding was a standard family diet. Boiled Indian pudding frequently made with suet, was a common article upon the farmer's table. Johnny-cake of- ten was substituted for brown bread. Wheat was cultivated to some extent, but it was too uncertain a crop to be relied upon to constitute the daily fare of most families. Beans were extensively raised, and used largely for making bean porridge. Potatoes, turnips, pump- kins, pease, cabbages and beets were all raised to help make a yearly stock of provisions for a family.
Farmers, as a rule, produced their own meat. In the fall of the year or early winter, enough fatted cattle and hogs were slaughtered to make a supply of fresh meat for the winter and salt meat for a year ; veal was the principal fresh meat used in the summer, and mut- ton in the fall.
A much larger quantity of milk was used then than at present. In many large families of children brown bread and milk and Johnny- cake and milk constituted a large part of their food. Farmers who had any number of cows generally made a quantity of cheese for a year's stock, to be used daily in the family. Butter was perhaps less used than it is at present. Very little income was expected from the cows in the winter. The milk of one cow in the winter was all that most farmers cared to have.
The amount of fish obtained from the rivers was an important item in the supply of provisions for many families. Those fish which are now common to our rivers and brooks were then much larger and more abundant than they are at the present time. At the time the town was first settled salmon and shad made their annual visits to its rivers in large numbers.
The occasional killing of a deer furnished some venison ; wild tur-
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HISTORY OF SWANZEY.
keys were frequently killed ; pigeons were more plentiful than they are at the present time ; partridges were as numerous as at present, and perhaps more so.
The principal article of food consumed, not produced upon the farm or obtained from the rivers or forests, was salt fish purchased in the Boston market.
The clothing of both men and women was almost entirely home- spun. Flax and wool were the principal materials from which it was made. For working flax, men were skilled in the process of rotting it, after it had been harvested. This was done by spreading it on the ground, exposed to rains and dews, until the woody part became brit- tle and could be cleaved from the fibre by the use of the break and swingle. ; After the men had done their part of the work upon the flax the fibre was handed over to the wives and daughters. They, by the use of the hatchel, the spinning-wheel and the loom, made it into cloth. When men had sheared the wool from the sheep, women, by the use of the hand cards, spinning-wheels and looms, made it into cloth. The art of dyeing yarn and cloth was confided to the women.
Grazing was depended upon almost entirely for keeping horses and cattle through the summer, and most of the hogs were kept in a pas- ture or run in the highway during the summer, and grass and roots constituted a large part of their feed.
A well arranged farm, to meet the requirements of a family, had pastures for cattle and horses, a sheep pasture, a hog pasture, hay fields, a field of corn, of rye, wheat, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, beans, turnips, pease, flax, and a good-sized garden.
The production of cider appears to have been regarded as an im- portant part of farm operations. Seldom do we find an old cellar hole, where there was once a farm, that there are not to be seen more or less old apple trees.
The practices of the times were such that an ordinary farmer pro- vided most of the food and clothing for his family from the produc- tion of his land and the labor of himself and family within the bounds of his own possessions.
To pay for such articles of food and clothing as could not be pro- duced, to pay for work done by a carpenter, by a blacksmith, a tan- ner, a shoemaker, and to pay taxes required that a considerable amount of something should be disposed of to meet such payments. The mechanics, as a general thing, had farms and lands that they were clearing up. This enabled the mechanics and farmers to exchange labor for their mutual benefit. The income most relied upon to raise
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GENERAL OUTLINE HISTORY.
money was from the sale of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs. The land was new and productive, which enabled the farmers to dispose of a considerable amount of stock annually.
Large numbers of the farmers went once a year, at least, to Bos- ton or some other place where there was a good market, with the sur- plus production of their farms and some goods of domestic manu- facture, and made purchases of some of the principal articles that would be needed the coming year. The loads carried to market were largely made up of a few hundred pounds of pork, a few tubs of but- ter, a number of cheeses, a box or two of poultry, a web of frocking and a piece of flannel. The return load would consist of a few bushels of salt, several gallons of rum, a few gallons of molasses, a quantity of tea, a jack-knife for each of the boys, a piece of goods to make the wife a dress and sonie trinkets for the girls. Large numbers of these loads were drawn by a single horse, some by two horses, and in some cases, oxen were brought into requisition.
The farmers that went to market in this way had to exercise con- siderable economy that their expenses might not consume too large a portion of the products sold. A large part of the food eaten while gone was taken with them from home, and some of the grain to be fed to the team, was also carried from home. It was considered no impropriety in those times for a person going to market to eat his own lunch or to feed his own grain to his horses at a public house. The tavern keeper was satisfied if he furnished the hay, liquor and lodging.
Quite an amount of goods was transported upon horses by the use of panniers. These were a pair of baskets suspended one upon each side of a horse. Some men made a business of going to market with what could be carried in a pair of panniers. Mr. John Whitcomb came to the town about the year 1763 from Bolton, Mass., with a wife and three small children. He rode one horse and brought such articles as he could ; his wife rode another which carried a pair of panniers. In each of the baskets a child was placed, the other the mother brought in her arms.
Wheeled carriages for people to ride in were but little used at the period of 1800. Riding horseback was the usual mode of travelling when people rode. It was common for two persons to ride upon one horse. Men took their wives and daughters to church upon their horses behind them. A young man would gallant a lady friend upon his horse behind him with as much pride as one does now in a nice carriage. A pillion was placed behind the saddle, and fastened to it for the person to sit upon that rode behind.
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HISTORY OF SWANZEY.
For a long time one of the most travelled thoroughfares in Cheshire county was the road that passed through the centre of Swanzey. The road passed south from the Centre and then turned to the southeast and passed up over the hill into what was then Fitzwilliam, now Troy. A large part of the teaming from Cheshire county, and much of that of Vermont going to Boston, passed over this road.
This travel made business for public houses at the Centre and for one on the hill in that part of Swanzey which is included in Troy. The one on the hill was a noted house. It was first kept by Henry Morse and then by Francis Goodhue.
A man fashionably dressed wore a ruffled shirt bosom, short breeches, long stockings, knee buckles, a powdered wig, and a cocked hat.
The women's clothing was mostly made from homespun, woollen and linen goods ; but nice silk dresses were not uncommon. Most women in comfortable circumstances had a scarlet woolen cloak made with a hood. These cloaks were made from imported goods.
The following named persons became residents of Swanzey and were taxed in the town for the first time in the following years :
Phinehas Field, Garinter Hastings, Cornelius Hines,
1802. Solomon Matthews, William Newcomb, Uriah Parmenter.
1803.
Abraham Aldrich, David Bennett, John Fitch, Richard Gale,
Selah Smead, Sibley Taft, Levi Whitcomb, Gideon G. Willis.
Benjamin Barrett, John Guild, George Hill, Wid. Hannah Kelley,
1804.
Abraham Stearns, Abijah Stearns, Noah Stevens.
1805.
Nahum Baldwin, Nehemiah Bennett, James Brewer, Eleazer Franklin,
James Sibley Taft, Josiah Whitcomb, Reuben Worcester.
James Cummings, David Dwinnell,
1806. Joseph Emerson, William Fairbrother,
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GENERAL OUTLINE HISTORY.
Eleazer Loveland, Joel Mellen,
John Perry, Timothy Smith.
Lot Bingham, Reuben Britton, Luther Chapman,
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