USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Warner > The history of Warner, New Hampshire, for one hundred and forty- four years, from 1735 to 1879 > Part 3
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CHAPTER III.
PROPRIETORS' RECORDS-A NEW START-FIRST SAW-MILL-THE INEVITABLE TAX.
NDER the sanction of the king, the loyal gov- ernment of Massachusetts has made a grant of township Number One, in the line of towns, and the proprietors of said township are fairly in possession of the premises granted. Now the question presses, " What shall be done with the prize ?"
Full of courage and expectation, these proprietors set themselves to work. There were among them di- versities of gifts, but, for a time, the same spirit. It is evident that they held one meeting or more, of which there is no record in existence. Of the second or third meeting there is a record. It was held in the year 1736. From an old and torn leaf in the rec- ord-book of the proprietors, it appears that, at a meet- ing held some time in 1736, David Ring, Benjamin Tucker, Timothy Colby, Joseph Jewell, and Isaac Chandler were chosen a committee to lay out sixty- three lots of forty acres each,-one lot for each pro- prietor, one for a school-lot, one for the first minister,
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
and one for a parsonage. That committee proceeded to the wilderness on their mission. They found no white inhabitant above Penacook. From there to Number One there was not so much as a "blazed" path ; but they reached their destination, and did their work. They brought in a return of their do- ings at a meeting of the proprietors, held in Amesbury, Nov. 25, 1736. The record of said meeting is in the following words :
"A meeting of ye township Number One, Nov. ye 25th, 1736, Mr. Pain Wingait was chosen moderator for said meeting ; ye committy brought in a return of 1 that they had laid out 63 lots of 40 acres to each lot in 4 ranges which was received in and voted on ye firmative."
There was some wrangling at this meeting. Disa- greements crept in, so soon. A part of the proprietors deemed all the proceedings thus far illegal. They contended that nobody had been properly authorized to call the first meeting, and some plain talk was in- dulged in. Words ran high. Jarvis Ring bluntly said to Rev. Paine Wingate, " You're college larnt, I know ; but there's men here that can beat you in and out on the law."
This Paine Wingate was a graduate of Harvard, and the settled minister in Amesbury. He had a son by the same name, who settled in Stratham, New Hamp- shire. This second Paine Wingate and John Langdon
43
A NEW START.
were the first two senators from New Hampshire in the Congress of the United States.
A NEW START.
All the proceedings of the proprietors and of their committees up to this time fell. The lots which the committee had laid out were thrown up, and a new start had to be made. In fact, before the committee for laying out lots had returned from Number One and reported, certain of the proprietors, who believed that so far all that had been done was illegal, went to Boston for relief. They were successful, for,-
"At a great and general court held in Boston, the 24th day of November, 1736, the following vote pass- ed the two houses, and was consented to by the gov- ernor, viz. : Voted that Deacon Thomas Stevens of Almsbury, be and hereby is empowered to assemble the grantees of township Number One, lying in the line of towns between the rivers of Connecticut and Merrimack, giving timely notice to the said grantees admitted into said township by the committee of this court, to meet and assemble at some suitable place, in order to choose a moderator and proprietors' clerk, and a committee to allot and divide their lands, and to dispose of the same, and to pass such votes and orders as by them may be thought conducive to the speedy fulfilment of the conditions of their grant, and also to agree upon methods of calling of meetings for 4
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
the future. Provided none of their votes concerning the dividing or disposing of their lands that shall be passed while they are under the care and direction of the committee of this court, shall be of force before they are allowed of by the said court."
Under this act of the Massachusetts authorities, our proprietors started again. Dea. Thomas Stevens call- ed a meeting at Amesbury, April 25, 1737. There was a full attendance, every member being present in person or by a substitute. Below is an exact copy of the records of this meeting :
"By order of ye Grate and General Court to Dea- con thos stevens the proprietors of ye township Nom" one Met to Gether on Aprl ye 25th 1737 att ye same Meeting Jarvis Ring was chosen Moderator for said meeting. Att ye same meeting Jonathan Blaisdell was Chosen proprietors Clarke and sworn before Or- lando Bagley Justice of ye Peace. Att ye same meet- ing voted to Chouse three Men to be a Committy to Lay out and Divide sd township as thay shall Receve order from ye proprietors of sª township.
"Att ye same meeting voted to allow sª Committy eight shillings a day expended in laying out sª Land.
"Att ye same meeting Joseph Jewell, Jarvis Ring and timothy Colby was chosen a Committy to Lay out said Land as soon as may be, and to proseed to vew sª township and Lay out ye Entervail or flood Land to Each proprietor in Equal proportion in Quan-
45
A NEW START.
tity and Quality, and al so a Division of Lots of up Land to each proprietor where it may be thought most Convenant by them for a settlement in Quantity and Quality.
"Att ye same Meeting voted that as soone as ye Committy hath Laid out sª Lots thay have power to warn a meeting to Receive thair Return by posting it up on ye two Meeting houses in Almesbury and on ye west Meeting house [Rocky Hill] in Salisbury.
" Att ye same Meeting voted to have our Anuell Meeting on ye third wednesday in March Anually."
The proprietors had now started on the right track. They were energetic men, and were ready to grapple with the difficult problem of surveying, dividing up, and settling a township in the wilds of a new country. They hardly forecast the nature of the experiment, and it is well that they did not. Without doubt they felt assured that they had a good thing. All the ac- counts that came to them from this region were flatter- ing. One report said,-" The soile is rich and Deap, the Trees are verry large and the Brookes are stocked with fish."
This second committee to "lay out and divide said township" also went promptly to the discharge of its duty. Two of its members, viz., Joseph Jewell and Timothy Colby, had been on the former commit- tee, and were therefore acquainted with the ground. They attended to this work in the early autumn of
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
1737, adopting the survey of the first committee, to a great extent. They now found a bridle-path, which the proprietors of Hopkinton had cleared, running from Penacook over Dimond's hill, and on over ground where Hopkinton village now stands, to the top of Putney's hill. They crossed the Contoocook river on a raft of logs constructed by themselves. They re- mained in township Number One less than a week, as their stock of provisions failed them. But they re- turned to Amesbury with exaggerated accounts of the richness of the new country.
In January, 1738, the proprietors held their next legal meeting. The record stands thus :
" Att a Meeting of ye proprietors of ye Township No. one January ye 21, 1738 Mr. Stephen Moril was Chosen Moderator of this meeting.
"Att ye same meeting voted to Chouse a man or men to clear a way from Contoocook River to ye meeting house Lot in ye township.
" Att ye same meeting samuel straw Gideon Rowell was chosen to clear said way or Rhod as a fore s'd at 8 shillings per day."
The "meeting-house lot" was at the old cemetery where the first church edifice stood, and also the second. But as here was the original Parade of the township, the locality will be designated by this name hereafter. The ferry over the Contoocook, from which this " way" was to be cleared, was at the "still
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FIRST SAW-MILL.
water," about a third of a mile below the present bridge at Contoocookville.
FIRST SAW MILL.
·
" Att ye same meeting voted to Bild a saw mill by ye last Day of August Next in ye town ship No. one.
"Att ye same Meeting Jonathan Barnard was chos- en to a Gree with a man or men to build said saw mill and Iron work and bring in an accompt of what it will Cost at ye anual meeting in March next for Revisal or Refusal."
No record of an annual meeting in March, 1738, is in existence, and the presumption is, that, if such meeting was held, no business of importance was transacted.
A meeting was held in June, 1738, when the com- mittee appointed in April, 1737, to lay out lots, made their report. They had laid out sixty-three house- lots, of five acres each, on the plain between Charles P. Sawyer's and Tom pond. The committee had probably acted under the direction of the proprie- tors ; and these lots had been thus laid out contig- uous to each other, that the inhabitants might be in a situation to defend themselves against any attacks from the Indians, who were hovering about with hos- tile demonstrations. The plan was, that each settler, or family, should have one of these house-lots to live on, and at least a forty-acre lot elsewhere for a farm.
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
But such a scheme could hardly be made practicable in any case, and in this case it fell. These house-lots were all abandoned, and absorbed in subsequent sur- veys.
At the annual meeting, March 21, 1739, Thomas Rowell was chosen moderator, and Jonathan Blaisdell proprietors' clerk. At the same meeting, voted to pay Orlando Colby, Joseph Jewell, and John Challis, Jr., 120 pounds in Province bills, old tenor, for build- ing a good and serviceable saw-mill in the township, on the "Falls called Blackwater River," by the last day of August next, the said workmen to find iron- works and all other materials for said mill, according to contract. Each proprietor was to pay his due pro- portion to defray the cost of building the mill, or for- feit his right in the township.
The proprietors seem to have labored under a mis- apprehension, at this time, in regard to the location of Blackwater river ; but the error makes only this sin- gle appearance.
At a meeting of the proprietors the September fol- lowing, at Amesbury, Jonathan Blaisdell and Jona- than Barnard were chosen "to go up to township Number One, and view the saw mill there in process of building, and the highway cleared to said township; and also to select the place, and agree with a man or men to build a dam for said mill." These men were to be paid eight shillings a day each, from the day of
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THE INEVITABLE TAX.
leaving home till the day of their return. Eight shillings paid all the bills, for service, for travel, and for subsistence. Their manner of travel was on horseback.
THE INEVITABLE TAX.
There is a saying that " nothing is sure but death and taxes," and the proprietors of Warner were not left without witness that taxes were sure enough. In March, 1739, a tax of forty shillings to a right was assessed upon these proprietors. It was the first reg- ular tax, and the same names appear in this tax-list as are found on the roll of grantees on a former page. It is hardly probable, however, that all these men had lived and held their rights up to this time, though it had been but a few years. The assessors placed the tax, in each case, to the name of the original owner ; and the holder of the right, whoever he might be, had to foot the bills. This tax amounted, in the aggregate, to £120, or $400.
CHAPTER IV.
FIRST MEETING IN THE TOWNSHIP-DAM AND FLUME-FIRST
PROPOSALS TO SETTLERS - TROUBLES ACCUMULATE - NEW HAMPSHIRE APPEALED TO-NO RELIEF-INDIAN DEPREDA- TIONS-THE MASONIAN PROPRIETORS-FURTHER ENCOURAGE- MENT TO SETTLERS-GRANT TO RYE.
T the annual meeting of the proprietors, March 19, 1740, John Hoyt was chosen moderator, and Jonathan Barnard, clerk. The meeting then adjourned to May the 12th ; and at this second meeting,-
" Voted to adjourn this present meeting up to said township No. One, at the Old Camp, near the saw mill, Monday, the 28th day of this present May, at 12 o'clock on said day."
It is not known how many of the proprietors made the long journey to attend this meeting at the old camp, but there were certainly as many as four in attendance, and perhaps twice that number. It was in the charming month of May that this meeting occurred. Every tree was clothed in a foliage of green, every blossom was scenting the air, and the whole earth was adorned in beauty. It is not strange
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FIRST MEETING OF THE TOWNSHIP.
that this little company returned to Amesbury enthu- siastic in the praises of their new inheritance.
The record of this meeting is as follows :
" At a meeting of the proprietors of Township No. One in the line of towns, May 28th, 1740, held by ad- journment from Jonathan Barnard's, Inholder in Alms- bury, at the old camp, near the saw mill in said Town- ship, Joseph Jewell was chosen Moderator, and Eze- kiel Morrill, Clerk."
" At the same meeting, Isaac Chandler and Henry Currier were chosen a committee to view the said mill, and take delivery thereof, if finished according to contract."
The committee reported the same day " that they had viewed said mill, and received her for the Propri- etors' use."
" Att ye same meeting voted to ad jorn that same meeting Back to the house of Jonathan Barnard in Almesbury aforesaid on the 11th day of June next."
This mill was at the great natural fall where the Davis mills now stand. The old camp, where their agents and workmen all "put up," was near the spring at the stone watering-trough. The water from this spring was represented as being " clear as crys- tal, and very cold." It was a fine spot for one to rest and refresh the " inner man." The camp stood on dry ground, forty feet above the bed of the river, and commanded a pleasing view of the valley. No plow
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
had turned the soil, no axe had felled the trees, of this primitive region. The subsistence, whether victuals or drink, of those who tarried here, was brought from below. Their shelter was rude and inexpensive ; their bed, the luxuriant boughs of the hemlock and the pine.
Joseph Jewell, who has now a family representative by the same name in Warner, had the honor of being the first man ever elected to office on our soil. His constituency, to be sure, was not large, but no doubt it was "eminently respectable."
DAM AND FLUME.
The following is an exact copy of the next record of the proprietors :
"June ye 11th 1740, by adjournment of ye meet- inge of ye proprietors of Township No. one in the line of towns Joseph Jewell beinge moderator again open- ed ye meetinge, att ye same meetinge voted and Re- solved to Give to Ezekiel Morrill sixty pounds in Bills of Credit for Bildinge a dam and floom att ye saw mill in the Township No. one to be paid at the finishinge of said dam and floom accordinge to the Condition of the Bond Baringe date with these presents which said Morrill giveth to the proprietors."
They also voted at this meeting that the said Mor- rill should "have the improvement [use] of each pro- prietor's part of the mill till said proprietor should
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TROUBLES ACCUMULATE.
pay in his share of 20 shillings for building dam and floom."
FIRST PROPOSALS TO SETTLERS.
At a meeting in Amesbury, August 29, 1740, Voted to give to the first five families that would settle in the township 20 pounds each, provided they would "fulfill the Court Act" by building a house and clear- ing five acres of land by the 15th day of the next June, each settler to receive 5 pounds within one month from the time he first moves his wife and fam- ily to said township, and 5 pounds a year for three years after, in case he remained so long.
At the same meeting, Capt. Thomas Rowell was chosen to prepare a petition to the Great and General Court of Massachusetts for a longer time for comply- ing with the requirements of their charter respecting the settling of the township.
These grantees had now been in possession more than five years, but not a solitary settler had planted his foot on the soil of Number One.
TROUBLES ACCUMULATE.
The last two foregoing votes were passed after the royal decree, that Massachusetts had no jurisdiction in the premises, had been issued. The territory of the township had been adjudged to be in New Hampshire, and not in Massachusetts. But the proprietors did
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
not relinquish their undertaking: they persevered : they still sought to stimulate settlement, and get pos- session of the soil. They felt that no government would drive out bona fide settlers, or impose new bur- dens upon them. In this they were right : but men are naturally timid and cautious. Before taking grave responsibilities and burdens upon their shoulders, they want to be assured that there are no insurmountable obstacles in the way.
Meeting after meeting of the proprietors was held, but settlers did not appear. The General Court of Massachusetts was appealed to again, but no relief came from that quarter. Discouragement ruled the hour. Some of the grantees proposed to sacrifice what they had done, and surrender the claim, but the majority thought otherwise. Time rolled on, and at last the harassed proprietors supplicated another "throne."
NEW HAMPSHIRE APPEALED TO.
At a meeting held at the house of Jonathan Bar- nard, Innholder, in Amesbury, Feb. 1, 1741, “ Voted, that Capt. Thomas Rowell, and Lt. Joseph Jewell, be a committee to prepare a petition in the name of the proprietors, to the Governor and Council of the Prov- ince of New Hampshire, to obtain orders and direc- tion in relation to bringing forward the settlement of the Township-and that each proprietor pay 5 shill-
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NEW HAMPSHIRE APPEALED TO.
ings to the said committee on or before the 4th in- stant, to enable them to perform the duties required."
In pursuance of this vote, the committee acted, though not in great haste. In May, 1742, they pre- sented the following petition to the government of New Hampshire. It is here copied without alteration :
"To his Excelli Benning Wentworth Esq" Govr in Chief in and over his Majesty's Province of New hampshire : to the honbl his Majesty's Council
" The humble petition of Capt. Thomas Rowell and Joseph Jewell in the name and by order of the pro- prators of a Township called No. One, in the Line of Towns from Rumford to Connecticut River, Humbly shewing : That whereas the Province of the Massa- chusetts in the year 1735, granted severall Townships and laid them out from Rumford to Connecticut Riv- er, among the Rest your Petitioners for services done, obtained a Grant of a Township of six miles square : Since which time your petitioners have laid out Two Divisions of Lots and Built a Saw mill thereon and cleared considerable of their Lots and done consider- able in order for settling; But so it is, that by the de- termination of his Majesty in Council upon the Boun- dary Line between the Province of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the said Township lieth to the Northward of the sª Boundary Line, and in the Gov- ernment of New Hampshire :
" Wherefore we your Excelys and Hon's most Hum-
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
ble Petitioners looking upon ourselves as suitable objects of favor and compassion as any of his Maj- esty's subjects, would therefore humbly pray your Excely and Honors to take our case into your most wise and just consideration and alow and confirm unto your most Humble petitioners the aforesd Town ship and give us such suitable and conven- ient time for bringing forward the setelment as your Excely and Hon's in your great wisdom shall judge most fitt and convenient ; and your petition- ers as in Duty bound shall ever pray.
" Thomas Rowell " Joseph Jewell
" Essex Almsbury
"May the 12; 1742."
NO RELIEF.
Here the case is intelligibly stated, and the petition is warmly pressed, but the government of New Hamp- shire has no authority, and cannot act. The propri- etors called for a fish, but New Hampshire could not give even a stone, and they were turned away empty. Township Number One was found to be within the domain granted to Capt. John Mason in 1629. The title to the soil was claimed by Mason's heirs; and the prospect of finding them, and making any favor- able negotiation with them, was very distant. So here was another bitter disappointment to the Salis- bury and Amesbury proprietors.
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INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
But this is not all : the old adage, that "Curses never come singly," seems to have been repeatedly verified in the case of the grantees of Warner. Be- sides what has already been stated, the first French and Indian war came on about this time, or a year before, greatly retarding settlements in all frontier towns, and depreciating the value of unsettled lands. The war continued, with more or less violence, for six or seven years, hostilities being terminated by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, October, 1748.
Hostilities were renewed, however, in 1752, and were continued till 1760. In this second Indian war the colonies changed their policy from a defensive to an aggressive warfare, with the best results. The en- emy were conquered and dispersed. After this, settle- ments went forward all along the line of the frontier with rapidity, and with but little molestation.
INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
Warner was never the seat of any Indian tribe, though the red men roved through our forests and sojourned by our waters. On the banks of Warner river, on the shores of Schoodac brook, in Harriman meadow, and probably elsewhere, Indian relics have been often found.
A particular mention of some of the Indian depre- dations committed in the neighborhood of township
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
Number One, shortly after 1745, will be both proper and interesting.
In April, 1746, the Indians made a descent on the settlers in Hopkinton, and carried away eight cap- tives. Among this number was Mary, daughter of David Woodwell. After a detention of six months among the French, at Montreal, she returned to Al- bany, and soon after to Hopkinton, Mass., her native place. She was twice married, but died a widow, among the Shakers at Canterbury, in 1829, in the one hundreth year of her age.
In May, the Indians killed two persons in Boscawen, and carried away one captive. In August, two more captives were taken in the same town. In the same month, five men were killed and two captured, in Concord. The scene of this tragedy is marked by a stone monument on the Hopkinton road. About this time many persons were killed or taken captives in Claremont, Charlestown, Keene, Hinsdale, and other places. In Warner, no persons were killed or taken captive : none were here: but the Indians burnt the rude saw-mill, which had been built in 1740, at Davis- ville, and been accepted for the "proprietors' use."
In 1753, Nathaniel Meloon, living at the Meloon meadow, near Smith's Corner in Salisbury, was cap- tured by the Indians, together with his wife and three children, viz., Sarah, Rachel, and Daniel. Another son of Mr. Meloon, a lad of twelve years, discovered the
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INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
Indians approaching the house, sprang for the woods, and made good his escape.
Mr. and Mrs. Meloon and the three captured chil- dren were carried to Canada, and sold to the French at Montreal. Another son was added to the family dur- ing its residence with the French, who was baptized Joseph Marie. After a residence of four years and a half with the French, Mr. Meloon, with his wife, returned to his farm in Salisbury. His house was on the upper Warner road, a little west of Smith's Corner, and near Warner line. One daughter died with the Indians. The other daughter (Rachel), who was nine years old when she was captured, returned to the fam- ily after eight or ten years, having acquired the hab- its and manners of the Indians, and become much attached to them.
Many meetings were held by the proprietors in 1741, 1742, and 1743, but nothing worthy of note was transacted: nothing really could be.
At their annual meeting, March 21, 1744, they commenced a renewed effort for relief. Emulating the example of the old gentleman who removed the boy from his apple-tree, they proposed to try more effectual remedies than those first resorted to : they proposed to drop epistolary correspondence, and put in a personal appearance before the New Hampshire authorities. The following vote is found in the rec- ords of this meeting : 5
T
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
" Voted that thomas Rowell and Joseph jewell be a committee to Goe down to the Governor of New Hampshire to receive orders and instructions respect- ing ye settlinge of ye sª Township."
The seat of government was then at Portsmouth. It was but a short journey from Amesbury there, and without doubt this committee performed the journey ; but how futile their efforts were, and must of neces- sity have been ! New Hampshire was as powerless to afford the assistance which they needed, as Massachu- setts herself. Neither had the slightest authority over the matter in hand.
THE MASONIAN PROPRIETORS.
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