USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Warner > The history of Warner, New Hampshire, for one hundred and forty- four years, from 1735 to 1879 > Part 6
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EARLY SETTLERS.
Stephen. Currier was a brother to Benjamin. He also lived on Pumpkin hill, but further on towards the mountain. He was both farmer and tailor. Only one of his sons (Robert Davis Currier, of Bedford) is now living.
David Hardy, the father of Dea. Jesse, was from Amesbury. He settled in Joppa, where his grandson, Josiah C. Hardy, now resides.
Stephen Hardy was from Bradford, Mass. He set- tled near Hardy Springs. His sons were Joseph, Daniel, and Solomon.
Daniel Watson lived in Joppa. Capt. George Wat- son was his son, and the sons of George were Alfred, Daniel, George, and perhaps others.
Abijah Watson lived in the corner of Salisbury. He was a farmer and a minister. His sons were Elder Joseph (whose home was where John Shepherd Davis resides, near Bradford pond), Nicodemus, Abijah, David, and Jonathan.
Caleb Watson was a brother to Abijah, and the two lived in the same neighborhood. The sons of Caleb were Ithamar, Safford, Moses, Caleb, and per- haps others.
Ephraim Rand was from Rye. He built the house at the Lower village which stands across the old Hen- niker road from the yellow store. He was the father of J. Noyes Rand.
Nathaniel Page was from Weare. He settled in
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
the westerly part of Warner, where his son Samuel followed him, and the latter's son, Nathaniel, followed him.
Paul Page, a relative, came from Derry, and bought the Samuel Morrill farm. He removed, in his old age, to Warner village, and there died a few years since.
Oliver Hall was from Hollis. His old farm is now in possession of one or more of the sons of Cyrus Colby.
The Badgers,-Benjamin and Stephen (brothers),- were sons of Obadiah Badger, of Amesbury, who served fourteen years in the French and Revolution- ary wars. They came to Warner not far from 1785, and settled near together, and not far from the resi- dence of Ebenezer S. Badger. The sons of Benjamin were Elliot C., Stephen C., and the aforesaid Eben- ezer S.
Stephen Badger served in the Revolution, was taken prisoner, carried to England, and confined in' Dartmoor prison. When called on, with others, to swear allegiance to the king in order to secure re- lease, he gave what might be called a profane answer, but one that did credit to his patriotic blood. When the officer in charge said to this mere boy (for he was little more than that), "Sir, are you ready to swear allegiance to the king?" the young hero replied, " Begad, I don't know your king!" The king pro-
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EARLY SETTLERS.
nounced him " an obdurate boy," but ordered his release.
Eliot Colby was from Amesbury. He settled on the road between the Parade and Kimball Corner. His sons were John (who lived through life on the old homestead), Ezekiel, and Stephen. Elliot and his son Stephen were Revolutionary soldiers. .
Gideon Davis was from Amesbury,-a brother to Capt. Francis Davis. He settled near the "Great falls," on the Moses Davis farm. His sons were John (the carpenter), Robert, Gideon, and Moses.
Moses Mirick was born in Newburyport in 1773; came with the family to Boscawen in 1780; settled, first, on becoming of age, in Henniker, and then in Warner, where his youngest son, William, resides. Edmund Mirick, of Henniker, is another son of his, and Henry E. is a grandson. The family have, in recent years, changed the orthography of the name to Merrick.
The Emersons,-Eliezer and Ithamar (brothers),- came from Concord, N. H., in 1795. They bought two adjoining farms near Waterloo. Eliezer had a son by the same name, who occupied the old home- stead till 1845, when he went, with his family, to Wis- consin. He died there in August of the same year, aged 50.
Ithamar had one son (Jonathan), who lived to ma- ture age, and occupied the old homestead the larger
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
part of his life. His only son (Reuben) died in the war, and his only living daughter is Mrs. William G. Andrews.
Timothy L. Dowlin came from the old country, and settled at the Amaziah Hall place in Bradford. He was the grandfather of John H., Timothy Leavitt, Mrs. Moses E. Gould, and others.
Jere Wheeler, the father of Moses D., came from Dunbarton to Warner. He built a blacksmith shop at Kimball Corner, but afterwards was at the village.
Zebulon Flanders, of South Hampton, married Han- nah French, of Kingston, settled at the North village, where Capt. Timothy and Walter M. Flanders now reside, and had children by the following names : Nathaniel, Ezekiel, Zebulon, Benjamin F., Levi, Tim- othy, Hannah, John, and Washington.
Moses Flanders, the father of Ezekiel, Amos, John, and Col. William G., was a brother to Zebulon. He came from South Hampton.
Henry Johnson, the father of Capt. John H., Moses, Capt. Stephen B., and Henry, came from Sutton, and settled in School District No. 10.
Caleb Kelley was from Amesbury, or that vicinity. He settled, first, on the main road, above Waterloo, and " Kelley hill" takes its name from him. He went from there to the north side of the Mink hills. His son Caleb occupied this latter place till his death, when the remnant of the family moved to Wisconsin.
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EARLY SETTLERS.
Samuel Brown settled on Bible hill, where his youngest son, John H., resides. The rest of the sons have departed this life. Two of them, Capt. Newell and Jeremiah, died in Ohio.
Isaac Day lived in the south-west corner of the town, on the main road from Bradford to Henniker. He was a large farmer, a taverner, and a manufac- turer of gravestones; besides, he sometimes preached. The little horn-pout pond in that quarter received its name from him. He had a large family. One of his sons is now in Bradford and another in Tennessee, but most of his numerous descendants are on "the unseen shore."
Jacob Whitcomb was born in Stow, Mass., in 1743. He came to Henniker in 1770, and to Warner about 1780. He settled where his son John died a few years since. His wife was Olive Wetherby, also of Stow. He was usually called Doctor Whitcomb, be- cause he could pull a tooth or set a broken bone quite successfully, though he was neither dentist nor surgeon. He was a leading farmer.
Farrington Hawks came from Hudson, and com- menced in the wilderness of Warner on what is known as the Jonathan Straw place. After remaining there two years, he made a second start in the un- broken forest. This was near Bradford pond, on the farm now occupied by John Shepherd Davis. Mr. Hawks built a log house here, and made a good be-
1
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
ginning. Having no barn, he threshed his grain on a ledge, and carried it on his back three or four miles, through wood-paths, to Hoyt's mill (since Melvin's.) He remained on this farm a few years, and then made his third start. He bought of Joshua Pierce, of Ports- mouth, one of the Masonian proprietors, a hundred- acre lot in the western range of Warner, on Bible hill. He cleared fourteen acres on this lot, and then sold it to Enos Collins, of Burnt hill, who took pos- session about the year 1802, and erected the first frame house on that road. This place is now owned and occupied by J. Herbert Ewings. Mr. Hawks, for his fourth and last move, simply crossed the highway, and took possession of a lot in Bradford. Mrs. Nathan Marshall and Mrs. Timothy Dowlin were his daugh- ters, and Colburn and David were his sons. Colburn occupied the old homestead during his lifetime.
Daniel Sanborn was born in Raymond in 1767. He married Betsey, daughter of Jacob Whitcomb, and settled in the chestnut region of Warner. He had a large family of children, now all dead. The names of the sons were Jacob, Moses, Daniel, John, and Ste- phen. The old homestead is now occupied by the widow of John, and Warren, her son.
Nathan Colby was from South Hampton. He set- tled on the place now owned by Samuel Sargent, on the Slaughter Brook road. His sons were Barnard, Jacob, Mark, Nathan, and Cyrus.
Quisam
Handy
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EARLY SETTLERS.
Jonathan Hardy came from Bradford, Mass., and settled at the Marden Seavey place, on Tory hill. His sons were Thaddeus, John, Paul, Silas, and per- haps there were others. Among his grandsons are Darius, John A., Bartlett, Sylvester, Orin, and Ori- son.
ORISON HARDY (a grandson of Jonathan) was born at Warner, Nov. 30, 1823. The Hardys came from England. Thomas Hardy, or Hardie, was one of the first twelve who settled in Ipswich, Mass. This oc- curred in 1633. Joseph Hardy settled at Salem in 1634. His son James (a mariner) married Ruth Marsh, and had a large family. His son Joseph mar- ried, in 1648, Mary, a daughter of John Grafton, “a man of repute."
John Hardy, a brother to Joseph, the first, of Salem, settled there in 1634. He was selectman of that town in 1647, and perhaps for several years. He died in 1652. He had a son John, who settled in Bradford, Mass. This John had a son Thomas, and this Thomas a son John, who is believed to have been either the father or the grandfather of Jonathan, who came to Warner and settled on Tory hill.
Silas Hardy, one of the sons of Jonathan, married Rhoda, daughter of Abner Harvey. He was a famous school-teacher in his day, and also a teacher of sing- ing. The names of his children are as follows: Leon- ard, Sylvester, Almina (Mrs. William R. Sargent), Jo-
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
seph Warren, Rhoda, James, Orison, Nancy (Mrs. Levi Sargent ), and Andrew J.
Orison Hardy, at the age of 20, became a clerk in the store of his uncle, Ira Harvey, and thus remained for a period of five years. In 1848 he went to Man- chester, engaged in the West India goods business, and carried it on successfully about nine years, when his health failed. He then sold out, and in the sum- mer of 1857 travelled extensively in the West, with a view of settling there. On returning home to make arrangements for following the " star of empire," his oldest child died, and his wife, broken in health, per- suaded him to remain near the graves of his kindred. In 1859 Mr. Hardy became the travelling salesman of Dorr, Proctor & Co., of Boston,-a business at that time almost in its infancy. He remained the faithful agent of this firm about 15 years, and till its dissolu- tion, when he took a like position with the firm of Briggs & Shattuck, which he now holds.
Mr. Hardy joined the Baptist church at Warner in 1843, and was elected one of the deacons of the First Baptist church of Manchester when but 32 years of age, which office he still continues to honor. He married Dolly A. Campbell, of Manchester, November, 1846. Their children were Charles Augustus, Ellen F., and Frank Herbert. Only the latter is living. Mrs. Hardy died in 1870, and in 1871 Mr. Hardy married, for his second wife, Miss Frances Brown, of Boston.
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EARLY SETTLERS.
It will be seen that most of these emigrants came from Amesbury and that vicinity. The road which they generally travelled led through South Hampton, Kingston, Hawke, and Chester ; passed by the " Devil's den," on the east shore of the Massabesic; thence on through Pembroke, Concord, and Hopkinton, to the point of destination. Some bore further to the right : leaving Kingston, they passed through Poplin, Ray- mond, Deerfield, and on to Pembroke. Just before, during, and immediately after the Revolution, emigra- tion was brisk, and humble adventurers were often seen plodding along these thoroughfares. They made no display. Nothing like pagentry attended them on the toilsome journey. They came with ox teams ; they came on foot; they rode double, on horse-back, and sometimes the patient woman had a child in her arms, and the steady old horse jogged along with three on his back. They had no money to spend at " tavern houses," for either victuals or drink. In most cases they took their commissary supplies for the journey from the homes they left. While no very great prospect was before them, they generally felt assured that brighter days were in store, and while they were sad, they were cheerful.
. All these have passed away. They have joined
" the innumerable caravan." While many of them were prospered in life according to reasonable expec- tation, others, alas! were called by the tide of un- 8
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
toward events to stand over the grave of many an early dream.
BOAT ON THE CONTOOCOOK.
Before 1766, people, in coming to or going from Warner, found much difficulty and suffered much de- lay at the Contoocook river. There was no bridge there, and no proper ferry-boat. Rafts made of logs were improvised, to. carry horses, cattle, and other heavy freight over the stream, and a small dug-out stood tied at the bank to carry over the people.
At a legal meeting, held in Hopkinton, May 28, 1766, Lt. John Putney was chosen moderator, and the following votes were passed:
" Voted to Buld a Boat at Controock river as Big as Deacon merrill's fary Boat is at Concord.
" Voted to buld the Boate By the first of July in suing the Date.
"Voted that sª Boate Shall becept whare they now pass over Controocook River from hopkinton to New amsbury.
" Voted that mr. Enoch Eastman Capt. matthew Stanlay Be the Commity to Buld the Boat and take kear of it till our next annuel meting.
"Joshua Bayley, Town Clerk."
The ferry where this boat plied was about a third of a mile below the bridge at Contoocook. The road
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SECOND SAW-MILL.
from Hopkinton to Warner, coming down Putney's hill, bore to the right, and struck the river at this place. Here the first bridge was made, and the old abutments are yet distinctly to be seen. The road passed on through the Paul R. George intervale to Davisville, and thence onward, substantially where it now is. There was then no house at Contoocook vil- lage, no bridge there, and no road leading from there to Warner.
The above action of the town of Hopkinton was important to the inhabitants of Warner, who in the early history of the town were compelled to go below the Contoocook river for a store, a blacksmith shop, or a physician. After this, they had a boat on which to cross and recross the river, as big as Deacon Mer- rill's at Concord; and they and the new comers found what they called " liberal accommodations" at this place.
SECOND SAW-MILL.
At a meeting of the proprietors, held in Amesbury, August 30, 1763,-
" Voted that Bartholomew Heath and Francis Da- vis be a committee to build a saw mill on the site of the one that was burned ; that said committee have 4 shillings lawful money per day for their time, and other hands 3 shillings and 4 pence (if they earn it), while they work on the mill ; that said mill be com-
T
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
pleted by the 15th day of the next October, and that Dr. Nehemiah Ordway, Capt. William Rowell, and Deacon Stephen Sargent, be a committee to provide Iron-work for said mill, to warn meetings and do any other business to forward the settlement of the town."
At another meeting in Amesbury, holden October 11, 1763,-
"Voted and made Choice of Joseph Jewell, Francis Davis, and Stephen Morrill, a committee to Make sale of any Delinquent Rights according to law to Defray the charges that has aris."
At a meeting January 3d, 1764,-
" Voted that each proprietor pay $4 towards defray- ing charges of building the mill."
April 9th, 1764, the proprietors met and received report that the committee had " finished the mill, and had sawed in her, and had employed Mr. Annis and Mr. Jewell to tend her."
" Voted, at said meeting, to tax each right six shill- ings in addition to what had already been raised, to defray expenses of building a dam."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE RYE GRANTEES-RECORDS OF AMESBURY PROPRIETORS- FIRST MEETING-HOUSE-HEDGED IN-THE POTASH-THE OLD TAVERN- FIRST GRIST-MILL.
ROM 1749 to 1767, the township of Warner was, technically, in possession of the Rye grantees ; but there is nothing to show that those grantees ever organized and kept records, or that they ever made surveys in or around the township or any efforts to advertise their property. Only two or three settlers ever came from Rye at all, and none of these were grantees of the town. That the Rye people never perfected their title to the township is evident from the fact that they did not convey it, finally, to the Salisbury and Amesbury proprietors. The Masonian proprietors, ignoring the Rye grant, did this them- selves. And yet the Rye proprietors gained some sort of a foothold in the township. A lot of one hundred acres was set off to Andrew McClary, of Ep- som, one of those proprietors. The records of Hills- borough county show that Daniel Annis, on the 23d day of August, 1762, bought of John McClary (a
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
brother to Andrew), for £150, lawful money, “one certain lot of land lying and being in the township granted by the Masonian Proprietors to Richard Jen- ness, and others, known by the name of Jenness- Town ; said lot being No. 32, in the 4th range of lots ; it being the original right of Andrew McClary."
This land was near Tom pond, on the west side of it ; but subsequent surveys have obliterated the lines of the lot, and its exact locality cannot be determined. Nor can it be determined how McClary came into possession. He may have visited the town and cleared out bridle-paths, or made some surveys. Or this lot may have been assigned to him by the Rye proprietors (of which he was one), in the expectation that he would interest himself (he being a man of character and influence) in advertising the town, and inducing people to go in as settlers.
Andrew McClary was the major in Col. Stark's regiment at the battle of Bunker hill. He was a gallant officer. He was tall, of fine personal appear- ance, and, in the words of a brother officer, " the hand- somest man in the army." He fought bravely in the battle of the 17th of June, and escaped its perils, but was killed, as he was returning from examining the position of the enemy on Bunker hill, by a chance shot from a British ship in the river.
Meetings of the Salisbury and Amesbury proprietors were usually warned by notices posted in public
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RECORDS OF AMESBURY PROPRIETORS.
places by a committee annually elected for that pur- pose. Below is the usual form :
"These are to notify and warn the Proprietors of the Township No. One, in the line of towns, called New Almsbury, in the Province of New Hampshire, to meet at the Widow Esther Colby's house, Innhold- er in Almsbury, the 28th day of March, instant [1765], at one oclock P. M. to act on the following particulars :
First, to choose a Moderator-
Second, to choose a Proprietors' Clerk-
Third, to choose a committee or Selectmen-
Fourth, to choose a committee to rectify the bounds of the 40 acre lots, and lay out a lot to each Pro- prietor, if thought proper :
Fifth, to empower some suitable person or persons to employ the saw mill for the benefit of the Pro- prietary :
Sixth, to choose a Collector or Collectors, or do any other business that shall be thought proper to be done when met.
Dated at Almsbury, March 11, 1765.
Nehemiah Ordway ( Proprietors' Stephen Sargent Committee."
According to this warning, the proprietors met at the time and place designated, and chose Theodore Hoyt, moderator, and Nehemiah Ordway, clerk. 1
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
At the same meeting, voted that Deacon Nathan Currier, Deacon Stephen Sargent, and Nehemiah Ord- way should be selectmen (or committee), for the year.
At the same meeting, voted that the selectmen be collectors to gather the money that is already voted by the proprietors, or shall be voted this present year, and also a committee to pay out the money to those that the proprietary are indebted to, and the said selectmen are also empowered to make sale of delinquent rights or lands, and give deeds of them in behalf of the proprietary.
At the same meeting, voted that Deacon Nathan Currier, Increase Morrill, Barnard Hoyt, and Theodore Hoyt be a committee to go and rectify the former bounds of the 40-acre "settlers' lots," and renew the bounds round the town ; also lay out 80 or 100 acre lots to each proprietor, and employ some suitable person or persons to employ (run) the saw-mill for the benefit of the proprietors: then the meeting was dismissed.
At a meeting held Oct. 10, 1765, at Amesbury,-
Voted to raise eight shillings on each right to pay charges of laying out the 80 acre lots.
At this meeting, the committee, consisting of Cur- rier, Morrill, and the two Hoyts, brought in their re- turn of the laying out of the first division of eighties for the proprietors. Then the drawing of the lots
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RECORDS OF AMESBURY PROPRIETORS.
took place. Said committee also reported that they had run a line around the town, but they gave no points of compass, no distances, and no details what- ever. It was really no survey at all.
Without a correct map of the town, with the ranges, divisions, lots, and numbers plainly marked thereon, no proper idea can be obtained concerning these particulars. No such map is in existence.
There was great irregularity in the laying out of the township. The first surveys of the proprietors were in 1736, when 63 forty-acre lots were laid out. The same number of five-acre lots were laid out in 1738. Sixty forty-acre lots for settlers were surveyed in 1763. The first division of eighties was surveyed in 1765 ; after that, the first division of sixties.
In these surveys but little regard was paid to the lines of the town, nor were the several surveys made with any apparent reference to each other. The con- sequence is, the town is full of gores and irregular lots, of all forms and dimensions. Another thing which laid at the foundation of these irregularities was the changes which the proprietors were allowed to make in their lots. When they drew, as they many times did, lots of little value, surveys of other lots, in lands not yet appropriated, were made for them.
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
FIRST MEETING-HOUSE.
At the meeting of Oct. 10, 1765, last referred to,-
" Voted to give Mr. Ferrinton six shillings on each right to build a Meeting House, in the township;
" Voted, also, to provide preaching once a Quarter for the inhabitants in said Township at the Proprie- tors' cost." 1
Under this vote, a log meeting-house was built in the south end of the meeting-house lot in 1766. The meeting-house lot headed on the Gould road, or Bart- lett road, or Waldron's Hill road, and stretched back northward, across the river. This log house stood not far from the south-east corner of the old cemetery, as it now is. To go to the exact spot where it stood, one should enter the gate on the Gould road, and go directly back at right angles with the highway some four or five rods, and there, on the little knoll which is now occupied by those who have "fallen asleep," the humble edifice was erected.
At first the services in this house were like angels' visits, " few and far between." Preaching once a quarter was all that the proprietors provided for, and the inhabitants of the town at that time could hardly put in so much as the "widow's mite." They had but a trifling amount of this world's goods of any kind, and no money.
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FIRST MEETING-HOUSE.
Timothy Walker, of Concord, was the first preacher, and Nehemiah Ordway, Jr., of Amesbury, the second, but neither of them was settled. Mr. Walker was a son of Rev. Timothy Walker, the first minister of Concord. He graduated at Harvard college in 1756. He preached, more or less, in Canterbury, Rindge, Warner, and probably elsewhere, but he was never settled over any church. During the Revolutionary war he went into civil life, where he attained honor and distinction. He was a member of the council, and chief-justice of the court of common pleas.
Nehemiah Ordway, Jr., was a son of Dr. Nehemiah Ordway, of Amesbury, one of the proprietors of the town, and for many years their clerk. Nehemiah, Jr., was born in Amesbury in 1743. He graduated at Harvard in 1764, preached a while in Warner (at this time generally called New Almsbury), was ordained at Middleton, N. H., in 1778, where he preached a few years. He was then in East Haver- hill, Mass., from 1789 to 1794, when he went to Raymond, N. H., where he preached till 1797. A daughter of his had married Dr. John Pillsbury, and as advancing years came on, he went to live with the Doctor in Candia, and last in Pembroke, where he died in 1836, aged 93.
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
HEDGED IN.
At a meeting of the proprietors, held in Amesbury Oct. 29, 1765,-
"Voted to pay Barns Jewell fifty dollars to build a possession fence round the town."
As this is the only record of that meeting which appears, the inference is that nothing beyond the above vote was transacted then and there. But what is a possession fence, and what did those men mean ? We have been led to regard the proprietors of War- ner as rational, considerate people, but this action of theirs fails to justify such regard.
A little calculation will show the distance around Warner (without the Gore) to be more than 25 miles, and therefore more than 8,000 rods. Fifty dollars would be a small price for building so much fence. It would be only two thirds of a cent to a rod ! No picket fence, or post and rail fence, or common board fence, or stone wall, could be built for any such money. The proprietors must have meant a hedge fence, but that, even, would cost more than two thirds of a cent to a rod, and more than five times that sum, as the workmen would be compelled to " live out," and find themselves !
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