USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Warren > The history of Warren; a mountain hamlet, located among the White hills of New Hampshire > Part 14
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We have been thus particular in mentioning these two men, high functionaries of the royal province of New Hampshire, be- cause to the bravery of the one and the faithfulness of the other is
1
164
HISTORY OF WARREN.
due the creation of our little dependant democracy- Warren. They stood godfathers at the birth of our mountain hamlet, and must not be forgotten.
Some men act from principle and sink self, the motive that actuates them being purely philanthropic; but like angels' visits they are few and far between. Selfishness is generally the ruling motive. Thus Governor Wentworth and his precise secretary saw a golden opportunity before them and interest whispered that it must be improved. Dreams of how they could make a howling wilderness blossom as the rose; broad intervals and rich hillside pastures covered with flocks and herds; nice farm houses, great barns filled with hay and grain, and an industrious population ex- ceedingly eager to pay a large sum in quit rents, burst upon their vision, and they were not slow to take advantage of the oppor- tunity.
While the discussion was going on, and the governors of New York and Massachusetts were considering the case, Governor Wentworth, as we have already intimated, commenced the grand work of giving titles to the land. He secretly gathered together all the surveyors of the surrounding country and set them at work to survey the richest portions of our great wilderness. On each side of the Connecticut river three tiers of townships were laid out, and before the worthy rulers of the neighboring provinces were aware of it the sections had nearly all been granted to intelli- gent and enterprising men, who were making every effort to settle and cultivate the same.
We cannot stop to tell of the mighty wrath that waxed hot in royal bosoms when the acts of Governor Wentworth were report- ed; how Massachusetts finally relinquished her claim, and how New York by fraud established hers; nor how the rough back- woodsmen on the borders and among the Green mountains con- tended with the avaricious "Yorkers," who were encouraged by old England, for long years, until they established their indepen- dence and Vermont became a State by itself. We leave such things to graver and more prosy historians.
Governor Wentworth, thrice happy, thrice blessed, now made himself a great favorite with all his people-for a short time. All the wild moss-troopers, all the heavy infantry that had served in
165
OUR DAYS ARE AS THE GRASS.
the old French and Indian wars, all who had money in their pock- ets wherewith to pay good round fees, were now suddenly enriched by the good governor. All they had to do was to draw up a peti- tion, get the requisite number of signers, go to the governor with a nice bag of gold, and a charter was sure.
Our respectable secretary had a hard time of it, writing out all the charters and recording them in the book kept for that pur- pose, but many a weary day he toiled on for fees which were great and for reservations which were greater. Their coffers were well filled, their purses were heavy, and their broad domains extended on every hand. Our royal governor reserved for himself five hun- dred acres of good land in every township, and his diligent secre- tary's name always appeared in the list of grantees. Then there were the quit-rents of money and numerous ears of corn, stipula- ted to be paid in all coming time. And the governor and his worthy secretary longed for the day when they should revel in their palaces on the shores of the silver lake Winnepisseogee, and with fleet horses and baying hounds follow the deer, or with costly equipage roll along busy and prosperous thoroughfares. What vistas of joy and grandeur opened on their delighted vision.
Wild contentions with the "Yorkers," and the envious avarice of others, destroyed their bright air castles. But all these and many other things were necessary to bring our little mountain hamlet into existence.
CHAPTER III.
WHAT JOHN PAGE, ESQ., DID, OR HOW HE PROCURED A ROYAL CHARTER OF OUR MOUNTAIN HAMLET, WARREN, CONFERRING MANY GLORIOUS PRIVILEGES, AND ONLY A FEW CONDITIONS, VERY EASY TO BE COMPLIED WITH.
NOT far from Portsmouth, the residence of " Old King George's" royal governor, Benning Wentworth, is the little town of Kingston .* One of the most prominent persons of the latter town was John Page, Esq. He was a man of intelligence, of ex- tensive acquaintance, and always prompt to take advantage of the times. In personal appearance he was nearly six feet tall, broad, square-shouldered, and would weigh one hundred and eighty pounds. He had a square-set face, keen grey eyes, light hair and sandy whiskers. His dress was neat and he wore short breeches, long stockings, and on Sundays silver shoe and knee buckles.
He had served as selectman, had represented his town in the general court, and had also engaged in trade and speculation. He was a man who would act when occasion presented itself, and now when speculation in land was rife he was wide awake for his share of the profits. It was an easy thing for him to draw up a petition, and it did not bother him much to get sixty odd men possessed of means to sign the same. No less than eight men of his own name-including John Page, Jr., a son of course; Colonel Jonathan Greeley, mine host who kept the village inn, with his relatives, Jonathan Greeley, 2d, Andrew Greeley and Joseph Greeley, Esqrs., also Moses Greeley, of Salisbury, Mass .; True- worthy Ladd, who kept the country store; the Hon. Dr. Josiah
* Since divided into Kingston and East Kingston.
167
THE CHARTER GRANTED.
Bartlett,* afterwards a member of the Continental Congress ; John Hazen, John Parker, George Marsh, and Thomas Pierce, four val- iant captains who had commanded companies in the old French war, were among the petitioners.
Armed with this petition, and carrying in his saddle-bags a little purse, containing a hundred pounds or more in gold, he mounted his dark bay horse one fine morning, just as many other men at that time who wanted grants of land were doing, and rode to Portsmouth. He had no difficulty in gaining access to His Honor the Governor, and when he had shown his petition, signed by the best of the king's subjects who lived in Kingston, and had jingled his little purse of gold in the gubernatorial ear, His Excel- lency, was delighted to grant a charter. He could not find it in his heart to refuse such honorable men, and withal so brave sol- diers. How wonderfully does gold grease the wheels of all enter- prises.
"My secretary shall write you a charter immediately," said His Excellency, and the Hon. Theodore Atkinson, Jr., was called and directed to proceed with the work. Theodore, the secretary, smiled as he said to John Page, Esq., that he would be delighted to place his own name among the list of the honorable grantees. Esquire Page could only reply that he would be most happy to have him, and then the governor rang the bell and directed the servant to bring three bowls of rich punch, in which they were all very much pleased to drink each others' health.
In the meantime the charter was duly written out, signed by Benning Wentworth, the great seal affixed, handed to a clerk to be recorded, and John Page, Esq., bidding the governor and his secretary good day, mounted his horse and went home.
Warren then had a legal existence. It had been marked on the map and named nearly two years previous, and was then polit- ically conceived. The 14th of July, 1763, was its birthday.
John Page, Esq., told his friends the grantees what he had done and promised them, as the governor had him, that they
* Josiah Bartlett was a physician, born at Amesbury, Mass., in November, 1729. He commenced practice in Kingston, N. H., became an active politician, a member of the provincial legislature, also of the committee of safety, in 1775, and at the close of that year a member of the continental congress. He was afterward a judge and then governor of New Hampshire, and died in May, 1795. He was at one time a Colonel.
168
HISTORY OF WARREN.
should have the charter in a few days. But they were destined to wait. They could not burry the governor, and his secretary, "The Rt. Hon. Theodore Atkinson, Jr.," had so much business on hand that neither he nor his clerks could possibly find time to complete the work of recording the charter of Warren until the 28th January, 1764. The original was then forwarded to John Page, Esq.
That night he met his friends the associate grantees at Colonel Jonathan Greeley's inn .* He showed the prize, and they all seemed exceedingly well-pleased. It was written in a nice round hand, the parchment was excellent, a blue ribbon was attached, and the great seal of the royal province gave it regal dignity and legal consequence .;
* Four roads meet in East Kingston, N. H., one pair running north and south, the other east and west. On the latter, one-fourth of a mile west of the four cor- ners was the Colonel's hotel. It stood on the north side of the road. In front undulating fields sloped up to the top of the low wooded hills in the south, while to the north they gradually declined a mile away to the low bottom land. For fifty rods in front of the house the road is level, beginning to descend to the eastern valley by the great rock on the left, and to the western by the old burying-place. On this road our old proprietors tried the speed of their horses after town meet- ings. West of the house was the orchard. The house itself was a large two-story building, eaves to the road, built in the style peculiar to those days. Two square rooms in front - the south-east one the bar room-a long dining-hall or kitchen in the rear, and behind was a dairy and cook room. There was a long unfinished hall up stairs, over the dining room, filled with beds for lodgers, and in front two fur- nished chambers. The bar room and dining hall were ceiled with white pine boards, but the parlor and chamber walls were " hung with rich paper." The house was built over about twenty years ago, but the same materials were used, and to-day the doors, the windows, the casings, are all the same as when Colonel Greeley, Jolın Page, Dr. Bartlett, and Jeremy Webster first assembled at the propri- etors' meetings. In the back room is an old chest of drawers, and a cupboard; also the "Dairy" used by Colonel Greeley's family.
+ CHARTER :
Province of New Hampshire, George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, gc. .
To all persons to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Know ye that we of our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, for the due encourage- ment of settling a new plantation within our said province, by and with the advice of our trusty and well beloved Benning Wentworth, Esq., our governor and com- mander-in-chief of our said province of New Hampshire in New England, and of our council of the said province, have upon the conditions and reservations hereinafter made, given and granted, and by these presents for us our heirs and successors do give and grant in equal shares unto our loving subjects, inhabitants of our said province of New Hampshire and our other governments, and to their heirs and assigns forever, whose names are entered on this grant, to be divided to and amongst them into seventy-two equal shares : All that tract or parcel of land situ- ate lying and being within our said province of New Hampshire, containing by ad- measurement twenty-two thousand acres, which tract is to contain almost six miles square and no more; out of which an allowance is to be made for highways and, unimproved lands by rocks, ponds, mountains, and rivers, one thousand and forty' acres free; according to a plan and survey thereof, made by our said governor's order and returned into the secretary's office and hereunto annexed, butted and bounded as follows, viz: Beginning at the northwesterly corner of Romney, thence running north twenty-four degrees east five miles and three-quarters of a mile; thence turning off and running north fifty-eight degrees west, six miles and one half mile to the southeasterly corner of Haverhill; thence south twenty
169
THE TEXT OF THE CHARTER.
In the manner of the most standard novelists we would here pause and invite the gentle reader to look with us over the shoulders of John Page, Esq., Col. Jonathan Greeley, and their numerous friends the grantees, at this mighty instrument:
rovince of new Hampshire .
George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Brit- ain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c.
Such was its heading; and we must remember that they lived in good old provincial times and that George III was their king. How glad they are that Governor Wentworth has been so good to them. He has given them thirty-six square miles of territory, and
degrees west five miles and three-quarters of a mile; then turning off again and running south fifty-nine degrees east six miles to the corner of Romney begun at; and that the same be and hereby is incorporated into a township by the name of WARREN, and the inhabitants that do or shall hereafter inhabit the said township are hereby declared to be enfranchised with and entitled to all and every privilege and immunities that other towns within our province by law exercise and enjoy ; and further, that the said town as soon as there shall be fifty families resident and settled therein, shall have the liberty of holding two fairs, one of which shall be holden on the [ ], and the other on the [ ], annually ; which fairs are not to be continued longer than the respective [ ] following the said [ ]; and that as soon as the said town shall consist of fifty families a market may be opened and kept one or more days in each week, as may be thought most advantageous to the inhabitants; also that the first meeting for the choice of town officers, agreeable to the laws of our said province, shall be held on the second Wednesday of Febru- ary next, which said meeting shall be notified by John Page, Esq., who is hereby also appointed the moderator of the said first meeting, which he is to notify and govern, agreeably to the laws and customs of our said province; and that the annual meeting forever hereafter for the choice of such officers for said town shall be on the first Wednesday of March annually : To have and to hold the said tract of land, as above expressed, together with all privileges and appurtenances, to them and their respective heirs and assigns forever, upon the following conditions, viz :
1st. That every grantee, his heirs or assigns, shall plant and cultivate five acres of land within the term of five years for every fifty acres contained in his or their share or proportion of land in said township, and continue to improve and settle the same by additional cultivation, on penalty of the forfeiture of his grant or share in said township and of its reverting to us our heirs and successors, to be by us or them regranted to such of our subjects as shall effectually settle and culti- vate the same.
2d. That all white or other pine trees within the said township fit for masting our royal navy be carefully preserved for that use; and none be cut or felled with- out our special license for so doing first had and obtained, upon penalty of the for- feiture of the right of such grantee his heirs and assigns to us our heirs and suc- cessors, as well as being subject to the penalty of any act or acts of parliament that now are or shall hereafter be enacted.
3d. That before any division of the land be made to and among the grantees a tract of land as near the centre of said township as the land will admit of shall be reserved and marked out for town lots, one of which shall be allotted to each gran- tee, of the contents of one acre.
4th. Yielding and paying therefor to us our heirs and successors, for the space of ten years to be computed from the date hereof, the rent of one ear of Indian corn only, on the twenty-fifth day of December annually, if lawfully demanded; the first payment to be made on the twenty-fifth day of December, 1763.
5th. Every proprietor, settler, or inhabitant shall yield and pay unto us our heirs and successors yearly, and for every year forever from and after the expira- tion of ten years after the above said twenty-fifth day of December, namely, on the twenty-fifth day of December which will be in the year of our Lord, 1773, one shil-
170
HISTORY OF WARREN.
divided it into seventy-two equal shares. The number of acres is twenty-two thousand, all good and excellent land. By the way, they have never seen it yet, but then certainly most of it must be good, for has he not made an allowance for highways and unim- proved lands, by reason of rocks, ponds, mountains, and rivers, one thousand and forty acres free?
How accurately it is bounded. Romney is its southeast cor- ner, and Haverhill its northwest corner; so we know that both Romney and Haverhill have been already located and surveyed.
ling proclamation money, for every hundred acres he so owns settles or possesses and so in proportion for a greater or less tract of the said land, which money shall be paid by the respective persons abovesaid their heirs or assigns, in our council chamber in Portsmouth, or to such officer or officers as shall be appointed to receive the same, and this to be in lieu of all other rents and services whatever.
In testimony whereof we have caused the seal of our said province to be here- unto affixed. Witness Benning Wentworth, Esq., our governor and commander- in-chief of our said province, the 14th day of July, in the year of our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three, and in the third year of our reign. [L. S.] B. WENTWORTH.
By His Excellency's command, with advice of Council - T. ATKINSON, JUN., Secretary.
Province of New Hampshire, Jan. 28th, 1764.
Recorded in the Book of Charters, No. 3, pages 78, 79.
T. ATKINSON, JUN., Secretary.
THE NAMES OF THE GRANTEES OF WARREN :
John Page, Esq.,
Samuel Page,
Ebenezer Stevens, Esq.,
Jona. Greeley, Esq.,
Moses Page,
Dier Hook,
James Graves,
John Page, Jun.,
Philip Tilton,
Joseph Blanchard, Esq., Capt. John Hazen,
Enoch Page,
Andrew Greeley,'
Ephraim Brown,
Benj. French, Jun.,
Aaron Clough, Jun.,
Samuel Dudley,
Belcher Dole,
Silas Newel,
Joseph Tilton,
Reuben True,
David Morrill,
Francis Batchelder,
Stephen Webster,
Nathaniel Currier,
Joseph Greeley,
John Darling,
Benjamin Clough,
John Batchelder,
Capt. John Parker,
Henry Morrill,
Jacob Gale,
Jona. Greeley, 2d,
Jacob Hook, Esq.,
Abraham Morrill,
Enoch Chase,
Josiah Bartlett,
Jeremy Webster,
Lemuel Stevens,
Joseph Whitcher,
Abel Davis,
Reuben French, Samuel Osgood,
Nathaniel Barrel,
Ebenezer Morrill,
Thomas True,
Samuel Graves,
Trueworthy Ladd,
David Clough,
William Whitcher,
Daniel Page,
Ebenezer Collins,
Peter Coffin, Jun.,
Ebenezer Page,
James Nevins, Esq.,
William Parker, Jr., Esq., Capt. Thomas Pierce,
Moses Greeley, of Salis- bury, Andrew Wiggin, Esq.,
His Excellency Benning Wentworth a tract of land to contain five hundred acres, as marked B. W. on the plan, which is to be accounted two of the with- in shares. One whole share for the incorporated society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts. One share for a glebe for the Church of England, as by law established. One share for the first settled minister, and one share for the benefit of a school in said town forever. Province of New Hampshire, Jan. 28th, 1764.
Recorded in the Book of Charters, No. 3, page 80.
T. ATKINSON, JUN., Secretary.
* 1 N. H. Hist. Col. 282.
Ephraim Page,
Nathaniel Fifield,
Jacob Currier,
Joseph Page,
"The Rt. Hon. Theodore Atkinson, Jun., Esq.,"*
Capt. George Marsh,
John Marsh,
171
MAP OF THE SAID TOWNSHIP.
The next fact that meets the eye is, " That the same be and hereby is incorporated into a township by the name of
WARREN : "
HAVERHILL.
MOOSEHI
PEELING
COVENTRY.
WACHIPAUKA P.
INDIAN TRAIL.
WARREN.
PIERMONT.
IVER
QUAMCHUMAUKE RIVE
11.
S
As
ORFORD.
GLEN PONDS
TRECOTHICK
WENTWORTH.
ROMMEY.
John Page, Jr., must here have asked his venerable sire why it was so called. Tradition has it that John Page, Sr., replied that he had conversed with the governor about the origin of the name, and that His Excellency informed him that the surveyors of the "King's Woods," who had visited the township to estab- lish the lines, reported that it was a beautiful land, full of rabbits, where nature had seemingly appropriated a piece of ground to their breeding and preservation.
Dr. Josiah Bartlett, who was learned in Indian as well as medical lore, interrupted and said he supposed it must be a place granted by the Gitche Manito, the Indian god who had his home
172
HISTORY OF WARREN.
on the summits of the lofty mountains round about, to the red sons of the forest in which to keep all their " beastes," fowls, and fish; "For," said he, " all the jolly hunters say that the woods are full of moose, deer, bear, and other game, that wild ducks swim on the rivers and ponds, and that every stream is alive with the speckled trout and golden salmon."
John Page, Esq., further said that His Excellency told him that he was also influenced to bestow the name, Warren, upon this tract of wild, mountainous country, out of respect for his friend, Admiral Warren, of "Louisburg notoriety." He wished to honor the admiral, because he had greatly aided the New Hampshire and Massachusetts troops in wresting that almost impregnable fortress from the French.
Now we desire to caution our readers against putting too much faith in the above very plausible traditions. We have a pretty theory of our own in relation to the matter, and it is but natural that we should want to give it a place in this most ambi- tious history. It is this: Old England has a borough named Warren, and there was then a town of Warren in nearly every other royal province, and it was and is extremely fashionable to bestow this beautiful name, signifying a rabbit borough, upon a handsome and fertile tract of country ; therefore His Excellency, imitating the mother-land and the royal governors of other loyal provinces, named this beautiful and fertile grant, given to John Page, Esq., and sixty-five others- Warren.
We cannot conclude this subject of etymology without notic- ing the opinion of the learned Deacon Asa McFarland, so long the able editor of the New Hampshire Statesman, and a member of the New Hampshire Historical Society. He gravely asserts that the town is named for and after General Joseph Warren, who fell a martyr for his country at Bunker Hill .* But as General Warren was but a stripling in 1761, and probably unknown to our good governor, and as the battle of Bunker Hill was not fought until fourteen years after Benning Wentworth had retired from office, and even his loyal successor had taken French leave of his most royal province, we can but conclude that our most wise editor was entirely correct in the matter, and would_enjoin upon our
* See files of the New Hampshire Statesman.
173
THE PLEASURES OF HOPE.
readers to put the utmost confidence in the learned deacon's opinion.
Having thus profoundly shown how the name of our little hamlet originated, we will proceed to examine with John Page, Esq., and the numerous other grantees, into the further mysteries of their great and mighty instrument, the charter.
The next fact learned is that the future inhabitants of said township-once called in the charter " a new plantation "-are hereby declared to be enfranchised with and entitled to all and every privilege and immunity that other towns within " our prov- ince " exercise and enjoy.
This was kind. But His Excellency, the geographer, was determined to do more for John Page, Esq., and his friends than was customary. The governor loved them exceedingly ; they had been so good as to bring a larger bag of gold than was usual. He therefore ordered "The Rt. Hon. Theodore Atkinson, Jun., Esq." to insert the provision, "That as soon as there shall be fifty fam- ilies resident and settled in town they shall have the liberty of holding two fairs." This would make the land sell better.
It was a glorious privilege, and all the grantees imagined- and some of them had excellent imaginations-how like old Derryfield or the fairs of England and Ireland, or like the Olym- pic, Pythian, Isthmian or Nemean games of classic Greece, their semi-annual gatherings should be held, when the farmers could sell and swap horses, run horse and foot races, wrestle and box, climb slippery poles, and pursue greased pigs ; while at even-tide the youths and maidens should dance on the village green, or wit- ness the wild acts of improvised athletes, and listen to the sweet songs of wandering minstrels.
That there might be no doubt concerning the governor's sin- cere friendship he also caused to be inserted the authority "That a market may be opened and kept one or more days in each week, as may be thought most advantageous to the inhabitants."
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