USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Warren > The history of Warren; a mountain hamlet, located among the White hills of New Hampshire > Part 18
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Then he constructed a sled and took a journey " down country " to sell the rich product of his hunting. Necessaries pur- chased and he returned to his cabin in the wilderness.
It is winter now. Joseph Patch is alone in a great forest. His nearest neighbor is a Mr. Davis, who lives in that notable. tract of country, since inhabited by a proud, good-feeling people, called after our royal governor, Wentworth. Alexander Craig* lived in Romney - now called Rumney on account of the immense amount of " good rum," said to be "excellent for sore eyes," kept and drank by the jolly roisterers who have inhabited that fair region. There was quite a settlement at Plymouth-not the Ply- mouth of Cape Cod Bay, where pious ministers with vinegar faces preached to witch-hanging congregations-but Plymouth,
* Ephraim Lund built the first saw and grist mill in Plymouth, near where Cochran's mills now are. Mr. Dearborn says that in 1765 James Heath, from Can- terbury, Daniel Brainard, Esq., and Alexander Craig made settlements in Romney. Soon after a Mr. Davis moved into Wentworth, and Joseph Patch into Warren. He says that he knows that these were the first settlers in these towns, but will not be positive as to the year they made their entrance .- Powers' Hist. of Coos, 172.
"March 1, 1775. This may certify that Joseph Patch is entitled to one hundred acres of land in the township of Warren, by his settling in said town, agreeably to a vote of the proprietary of said township in the year 1773. We agree that he shall have lot No. 19 in the 9th range in the second division in said township for the same.
P. WHITE, EBENEZER STEVENS,
Committee in the year 1774 to lay lots for settlers."
Jan. 18, 1787. " Voted that Joseph Patch have liberty to pitch one lot in lien of that he formerly pitched in said town for a settler's lot, which happens to be in Coventry by the running the last lines."
June 28, 1787. " Voted that Joseph Patch have lot No. 14 in the third range of lots laid out for settlers' lots, and for lots taken into other towns by a new line; it being in lien of one that was taken into Coventry that was given him for settling in said town."
See Proprietors' Records.
JOSEPH PATCH'S FAMILY RECORD.
He married Anna Merrill. She was born Dec. 28, 1756. Daniel, born February, 1778, Jacob, born August 13, 1786.
Joseph, Jr., born April, 1780. David, born 1782.
Anna, born 1784. Thomas.
William. [He was a lame man and taught school on Pine hill.] Stephen, born August 2, 1796.
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HISTORY OF WARREN.
N. H. Daniel Cross and Mr. John Mann had founded the mighty town of Orford, sometimes vulgarly called Oxford, owing proba- bly to the huge oxen raised there. The Roots, Crooks, and Daleys had set down in the territory named Piermont, which ex- tends westward quite to the Varsche, or fresh, or Connecticut river, as the Dutchmen call it. There were numerous families squatted on the rich meadows of the Coosucks, but not a human being lived in old Coventry-the land where blueberry hills abound-or in Peeling, or in Trecothick, great wilderness regions beyond the eastern mountains. Patch was veritably alone. Yet , the solitude was not so terrible as it was a year before. True he heard the howl of the wolves every night, except when the tem- pest was so loud as to drown it. Catamount tracks were seen in the snow, and he bolted his door and fastened his one shutter tightly when in the darkness its terribly human cry, freezing the blood, came sounding through the forest. There were yards of wild deer on the hills and in the ravines from which the spring torrents rushed, and Joseph Patch also saw yarded by the Asquam- chumauke great wild beasts, or moose, which John Josselyn, Gent., describes as "Creatures, or rather if you will, Monsters of superfluity." "A full-grown moose," to use his own language, "is many times bigger than an English oxe, their horns, as I have said elsewhere, very big, (and brancht out in palms ), the tips whereof are sometimes found to be two fathoms assunder, (a fathom is six feet, from the tip of one finger to the tip of the other, that is four cubits ), and in height from the toe of the fore- foot to the pitch of the shoulder twelve foot, both of which has been taken by my sceptique readers to be monstrous lyes. If you consider the bredth that the beast carriethi and the magnitude of the horns you will be easily induced to contribute your belief." One of these "monsters of superfluity" our first settler killed for the sake of the meat, and a shot now and then furnished delicious venison, equal to any procured from an English park. He buried the greater part in the snow, to remain frozen for future use, and dug it out when wanted. One night his dog, lying by the fire on the hearth, barked. He listened and heard out in the woods the howl of a pack of wolves coming. They were famished and food they must have. They growled about the house, snapped at the
213
THE WOLVES AS FORAGERS.
closed door, and mounted by the snow bank upon the bark roof. Patch thought there was danger they might come down the chim- ney, so he piled his morning wood on the fire, making the smok- ing flue a difficult place of ingress. All at once there was a sharp bark, a howl, then a hurry, then growling, snapping, snarling like hungry dogs, and the man in the cabin knew that his visitors were making most free with his moose meat and venison. He was content, for he was aware that when that was gone he would get a clean riddance of his ravenous friends, the wolves, and then with his long barreled gun he could easily replenish his stock of provisions. The next day however, as a matter of precaution, he strengthened his roof .*
Thus the weeks went by, with plenty to eat and nothing to do but chop his firewood, or hunt up the valley or on the mountains for a day, accompanied by his faithful dog, or a trip to Plymouth now and then, to learn the news and to obtain supplies, which he drew to camp upon a hand-sled; with an occasional visit from his distant neighbors in the wild bordering regions, or a call from some northern traveller,-thus passed the winter. The spring came with its warm sun, melting snows, wild mountain torrents, roaring river, expanding buds, green grass, bright woodland flowers, and then-road-committee, surveying, lot-locating party, and last, though best of all, cheering neighbors, as the next chap- ter will show.
* Samuel Merrill's statement ; said he had heard Patch tell this story often.
Joseph Patch moved to the north bank of Patch brook and had his house on the east side of the old Coos road. His son, Joseph Patch, Jr., built the house now [1870 ] occupied by Jonathan Eaton, and lived in it until he sold it to Mr. Eaton.
CHAPTER III.
HOW EIGHTEEN FAMILIES AND TWO SINGLE GENTLEMEN CAME TO WARREN TO RESIDE AND AMUSED THEMSELVES BUILDING CABINS, CLEARING LAND, HUNTING MOOSE AND DEER ON THE HILLS, AND FISHING IN THE CLEAR RAPID TROUT STREAMS.
AND now the solitary places shall be made glad, and the wilderness shall blossom like a rose. How it all happened, who came to do it, the order of their coming, and the time when they came, will constitute the unity of this most welcome chapter of Warren's history.
We have seen how our worthy proprietors in the spring of 1768 began to put forth the most prodigious efforts to save their well-timbered lands up among the hills. We remember how at the annual meeting it was voted to give each individual who should settle in town prior to October 1st, 1768, fifty acres of land and six pounds in money ; how the road-clearing committee came up to Warren, how they were to lay out the twenty-five lots of land in such place as they thought proper, and how each family who should settle as above should have one of the lots, the first settler to have his first choice, and so each in his order.
This was the tempting bait. It had the desired effect. Dan- ger of losing everything was why it was thrown out, and persons wishing to become real estate holders as well as pioneers on the frontier, eagerly caught at it.
I have heard my uncle * say, and he was well versed in such matters, that the first family that settled in Warren was from Portsmouth, N. H. He said that in the spring of 1768, before the
* Benjamin Little,
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THE FIRST FAMILY SETTLED.
snow was hardly gone, MR. JOHN MILLS, with his wife and their son John, several other children and Mr. Mills' sister, with one horse on which they rode by turns and on whose back was borne a decidedly small stock of household furniture, and also driving a cow along with them, came journeying up the bridle-path to Warren. The proprietors had offered the land and Phillips White had persuaded Mr. Mills to come on as a settler.
His was the first choice of lots. He chose one that was bounded west by the Asquamchumauke, and through the meadow on the east flowed Patch brook. On the ridge which once formed a part of the second of the three geological terraces in the Asquam- chumauke valley, just south of the river bridge in the lower vil- lage, and east of the great railroad bridge, he selected the site of his cabin. It was a frail habitation, erected on the very day of his arrival, but it served as a shelter during the summer. Upon one side he built a stone fire-place, and a chimney of small sticks and mud. Household furniture he had next to none, and he was under the necessity of manufacturing some.
He made a rustic table, but a good one as my uncle testified, by splitting a large ash tree into several thin pieces, smoothing them with his axe, and then pinning them side by side to two other pieces which ran in opposite directions in the form of cleats. This he fastened to one side of the cabin, supporting it by small posts driven into the ground for legs. But he had a more novel method for making chairs, and it was the one generally practiced by the first settlers. The top of a spruce or fir tree was selected, upon which several limbs were growing; this was split through the middle, the limbs cut off the proper length for legs, and after smoothing to suit the fancy the chair was complete. Sometimes the body of the tree was cut nearly off, and then quite off at a proper distance, the wood split down and quite a comfortable back left. These made durable chairs, and the instances were rare in which it became necessary to send them to the cabinet maker for repairs - especially to have the legs glued in.
Bedsteads were made by boring two holes into the log walls of the cabin, about six feet apart. In these were driven two sap- ling poles, the ends of the same being supported by posts. For cords elm bark was used.
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HISTORY OF WARREN.
A little, hard-meated, leathern-sided, wiry man, with gray eyes and grizzly hair, was John Mills. His son John also was as tough as tripe, and taken both together they were just the men to make a settlement in the wilderness.
Almost the first thing they did after erecting their rude cabin was to tear out the logs in the beaver dam and drain the pond. Here wild grass grew, which, together with a few turnips, eked out with birch and hemlock browse and such other rough fodder, was sufficient to keep the horse and cow during the winter. All summer their little stock pastured on the banks of the river or browsed in the woods. Then the men cleared a few acres of land to the south and east of their cabin, where they planted corn, turnips, and pumpkins, and a large quantity of beans, which served as the basis of that favorite dish, bean porridge, with which they so often regaled themselves. The seed was almost all obtained at Plymouth and Haverhill.
John Mills was proud of his little farm. His field was then, and is now, a place of beautiful springs, of swift and crystalline brooks. Above them dances in the fresh June breeze, frisky and festive,-warbling, chirping, singing - the little black - backed, white-breasted, gay and jolly bob-o'-lincoln, making all the time music sweet and loud enough to burst his slender throat. In the trees that hang over the waters, and upon the banks, the thrush and the robin build their nests, and send out over the green sward the merry song, or at evening their long plaintive carol, while in autumn the hill and mountain eastward burst into a crimson blaze of beauty.
Mr. Mills also changed work with Mr. Patch, by helping the latter clear and plant, while our hunter-settler, with a rifle which he bought the last winter, paying for it in furs, procured moose meat and venison for his neighbor .*
Now it so happened that there was journeying northward to find a home in the forest a certain Irishman recently from the Emerald isle, named James Aiken. With his wife and two child- ren, one night in May, he stopped at our public hotel on the west
* The old settlers used to tell how the wolves howled about John Mills' house the first winter he lived in town, and looked into his only window, putting their noses against the window-pane, and staring at the family as they sat by the great fire-place in the evening; but Mills' folks were not to be frightened by such visitors.
217
AN ACCIDENTAL NEIGHBOR.
bank of the Asquamchumauke. The next morning the sun came up hot and the weather was sultry. Nevertheless the family shouldered their packs and began their journey. For a time they got along well, for the tall trees through which the path ran afforded an agreeable shade, and the rippling of the river and Black brook-the Mikaseota-made mellow music in their ears. But when they arrived on the ridge between the brook and the river the trees were more scattered, and the sun, which had got higher, shot his vertical rays directly upon their heads, making the day intolerably hot. "Be jabers," said James Aiken, " in faith I can't stand this; " and the rest of the family being some- what of the same mind, and also slightly foot-sore, they came to a halt near the present site of Warren depot. The river looked pleasant and the meadow beyond inviting, and our traveller thought he might journey to the world's end and not find a better place or a more pleasant home. But the fact that he did not own a foot of the land made him hesitate. But in a moment it was all right, "For," said he, " an' surely we shan't be seen here in the woods, if we only get a good distance from the path."
Resuming their packs, they left the old Indian trail, crossed the river, climbed out of the meadow half a mile to the east, and on the second plateau or terrace, just beside a clear babbling brook, they chose a spot for their cabin. It was built that very day of posts and bark, and served as a shelter till the frosts came and the leaves fell, when they erected a strong cabin of hewed logs, better than any they had ever had in old Ireland. The cellar that they dug, though now nearly filled up, is yet to be seen.
The next morning Aiken climbed up on to the ledgy hillside east of his cabin, as my old uncle * told me, where he could get a good prospect, and was greatly surprised to see a blue smoke curl- ing lazily out of the forest, and floating away above the trees half a mile to the south of him. "Be jabers ! I have got neighbors," said James Aiken, and being a genial soul he was not long in making their acquaintance.
A foot-path blazed through the wood to the proprietors' high- way, and another to John Mills', were the only roads ever built to the Irishman's cabin.
* Benjamin Little.
218
HISTORY OF WARREN.
JAMES AIKEN was thus the third settler in Warren; and Mr. John Mills had still another neighbor just to the north of his own location.
JOSHUA COPP, EsQ., the fourth settler, came to Warren from Hampstead, N. H., the last of May, 1768. He chose a lot laid out by the committee, and built his cabin on the southerly slope of Red Oak hill, forty or fifty rods north of Martin brook, which runs at its base.
Copp was broad-shouldered, square-built, with an open, intel- lectual countenance, and was always a man of much influence. He was energetic and hard-working, and that summer would often come home to his dinner of bean-porridge, from the woods where he had been burning a piece, with his short frock and long-legged breeches crusted with ashes, and his face smirched with coals. His table, around which gathered his wife and five children, besides himself, was made of a single board, which he hewed from an immense pine tree. Often there was but one disli upon it. a large wooden bowl, which he also made, and it would hold ten quarts. This was filled with bean porridge-the best meal of victuals in his shanty. Furnished each with a wooden spoon, the whole family would eat out of it at once .*
In Mr. Copp's house Joshua Copp, Jr., was born, February 25th, 1769,- Warren's first white son. But we never heard that Mrs. Copp, his mother, ever received a lot of land or other bounty, as was customary in those times .;
* The settlers made bean porridge by boiling the beans very soft, thickening the liquor, and adding a piece of salt pork to season it. A handful of corn was sometimes put in. It is said-I do not vouch for its truth-that when the good man was going away with his team the woman would make a pot porridge and freeze it with the string in, so that he could hang it on his sled-stake, and when he wanted to bait he might cut off a piece and thaw it.
t JOSHUA AND SALLY ( Poor ) COPP'S FAMILY RECORD.
He was born in Hampstead, May 11, 1741. She was born in Rowley, Oct. 27, 1741. Married, Sept. 19, 1758.
Molly, born July 15, 1759. Mehitable, born May 15, 1773.
Elizabeth, born April 14, 1761.
George Washington, born August 26, 1776.
Moses, born Feb. 22, 1763.
Eliphalet, born Feb. 27, 1765.
Samuel, born Aug. 9, 1778.
Sarah, born March 25, 1767.
Benjamin Little, born Sept. 12, 1780.
Joshua, Feb. 25, 1769. Nat aniel Peabody, born June 23, 1783.
Susannah, born March 29, 1771.
William Wallace, born April 3, 1786.
Benj. L. died November 23, 1798.
Oct. 19, 1797. "Voted that Phillips White, Esq., have a lot marked on the plan, ' Phillips White, N,' adjoining on lot No. 13, laid out to the right of Belcher
219
ANOTHER BEAVER POND DRAINED.
Esquire Copp drove a cow into the wilderness. During the summer she could live well enough, feeding by the brook and in the woods, but in the winter she must have hay. His neighbor, Joseph Patch, told him there was a beaver pond on the Mikaseota or Black brook, and around the sedgy shore wild grass grew in great abundance.
It was a June day when he went to the valley of Runaway pond, where was the little tarn of the beavers. He left the pro- prietors' road, which ran some forty rods to the west, and pro- ceeding noiselessly through the woods came to the water's edge. A wood duck with her brood was swimming on its surface; sand- pipers, uttering their querulous " weet, weet," ran through their reedy haunts ; a blue heron was watching for fish at the outlet, and by the head of the pond, on the blasted peak of a great pine, an eagle stood out against the sky. He saw the long row of beaver huts opposite, and a single beaver, watching him, sank in the water and disappeared, leaving scarcely a ripple. Following along the shore a wild-cat sprang across his track; the blue heron at the outlet flew away; the duck with her brood dove and rose farther off toward the head of the pond, then dove and rose again still further away, and the eagle screaming soared aloft in mighty circles till lost in the deep blue. For a moment only he paused; . then with his axe he cut a lever, pried out some of the logs in the dam-the gurgling water rushing through assisting him-and before night the beaver pond was gone forever. In August he cut a large quantity of grass upon this made meadow, stacked it, and with the help of his neighbors drew away upon handsleds the ensuing winter what the moose and deer did not eat.
MR. EPHRAIM TRUE came from somewhere down country, but from what town never could be learned, even from the oldest
Dole, with a gore of land lying near unto said lot; and a lot No. 17, in the first range of lots laid out, for those lots which were cut off by the late lines, and drawn to the right of William Parker, Esq., for a lot he the said White gave to Joshua Copp, Esq., for settling in the town."
Joshua Copp died in Warren about 1804. He was buried near the outlet of Runaway pond, beside the old Indian trail. The precise spot is unknown. There let him rest in an unmarked grave " till the last trump shall call him back to life." William Wallace Copp, youngest son of 'Squire Joshua, was a very smart man. He became a merchant in Montreal and imported his goods. He went on a sailing vessel to England and no tidings were ever received from him afterwards. He is said to have been the best-looking man in the country, had a fine intellect, and was given to theological discussions. He wrote a powerful pamphlet on predestination and free agency. His death has always been a mystery.
220
HISTORY OF WARREN.
inhabitants. He settled a short distance north of Mr. Aiken, in a place long known to the villagers of our mountain hamlet as " over the river." Mr. True was a strong, stalwart man, and had a large family, his wife being much more prolific than the red-headed spouse of his neighbor Aiken. I have heard my grandmother say that her mother told her-and there is no doubt of the truthful- ness of the story, for my great-grandmother was a most excellent woman-that once upon a time she went to Mr. True's a-visiting. On her arrival she found no one at home, Mr. True and his good dame being at work in the woods clearing. Seating herself upon a stool she soon heard a slight noise, and looking carefully about she saw some half a dozen flaxen, towy heads, peeping from under the bed watching her, but not one could she coax to come out. Mrs. True coming in shortly after, excused herself and child- ren, saying, "Lor! they see people so seldom they are as wild as partridges." One man, after listening to this anecdote, was heard to say that the fact afforded food for the contemplation of serious and pious persons, as to whether man, like the ass, kept in soli- tude, would not quickly return to his naturally wild state. We may add that these children afterwards made smart men and women.
This season the proprietors' committee was in town, clearing the road, and also running the lines about the lots. Travellers journeying to and from the northern settlements were plenty, and . our five settlers often travelled to Plymouth or Haverhill for sup- plies, carrying them to their homes on their backs. Thus passed the time, and this year no more settlers came.
In the winter of 1769, at a meeting of the proprietors, it will be remembered that a vote was passed to give to each of ten set- tlers "who shall move into town this year fifty acres of land and six pounds in money, or one hundred acres of land without the money, as they may choose," each making his selection in the order of his settling. A committee, consisting of Col. Jonathan Greeley, Lieut. Joseph Page, and Mr. Enoch Page, was chosen to lay out the lots and agree with settlers. The proprietors also began to talk much about building a saw-mill, to supply the inhab- itants with boards, thus making them as comfortable as possible. This had the desired effect, and two more brave men came to town.
-
221
A SINGLE GENTLEMAN ARRIVES.
JOHN WHITCHER, the sixth settler, came from Salisbury in the spring of 1769. He was unmarried, and was travelling about the world in search of his fortune. Some say that Moses Greeley, of Salisbury, persuaded him to come on and make a settlement in order that the most possible might be done to fulfil the first condi- tion of the charter. But this don't matter; all that we care for is the fact that he really came. He was a red-haired man, with light blue eyes, muscles of steel, a heart as brave as a lion, and just the fellow to fell trees and commence a wilderness settlement. He located himself on Pine hill, built a cabin, and in the fall went back down country to see his sweetheart, Miss Sarah Marston .* The proprietors afterwards gave him the lot he chose by direct vote.
JOHN MORRILL was a friend of Mr. Whitcher, and he came to Warren along with him. Mr. Morrill had a family, and being of a speculative disposition, he bought out 'Squire Copp. The latter had procured the lot containing his beaver meadow, and he imme- diately erected a cabin there and moved into it, being the first settler in the valley of Runaway pond. John Morrill was a lively genius, and was sure to create a wide-awake neighborhood. In short he was a sturdy, obstinate, bustling little man, and it was lucky he moved into the woods, for he always managed to keep every one about him on the qui vive. He also had a good store of worldly goods, which he contrived to bring to Warren by making sundry down country journeys. This property was well taken care of, for he was of a saving turn, as evidenced by his always wearing an old greasy pair of moosehide breeches for the sake of economy. As we have before intimated he was continually given to trade, and before he had been in town a year he swapped farms with another settler.
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