USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Warren > The history of Warren; a mountain hamlet, located among the White hills of New Hampshire > Part 19
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And now came the tug of war- the great struggle of life and death for the proprietors, whether or not they should get a new
* JOHN AND SARAH ( Marston) WHITCHER'S FAMILY RECORD.
He was born at Salisbury, Mass., June 19, 1749. She was born October 14, 1748. Married, Dec. 6, 1770.
Joseph, born Nov. 10, 1772.
Reuben, born Dec. 30, 1773.
Obadiah, born Oct. 11, 1784. Batchelder, born Aug. 3, 1787.
John, born Aug. 10, 1775.
Obadiah, 2d, born April 23, 1789.
Betty, born Oct. 3, 1778.
Jeremiah, born Jan. 29, 1790.
Sarah, born, Oct. 17, 1779.
Rebecca, born Dec. 19, 1795.
Henry D., born Oct. 30, 1782.
4
222
HISTORY OF WARREN.
charter, as we have before shown. To succeed they must make strong, desperate efforts; settlers must be procured faster and other improvements for a new settlement must be pushed rapidly on. Accordingly the grantees of Warren made the king's high- way broader; laid out a new road over the Height-o'-land to Hav- erhill Corner, and discontinued the old route by Wachipauka pond; a new division of lots was located; large bounties* were offered for settlers, and even to those who would only "fall trees" in town; and it was proposed to give thirty pounds to any one who would erect a saw-mill and supply the inhabitants with boards. But all this was to no purpose, for the settlers did not come. Three years went by before another family sat down in Warren.
OBADIAH CLEMENT came from Sandown, N. H., in the year 1772, and settled on the northwesterly side of Runaway pond val- Jey. Mr. Clement, in after years a militia colonel, was a large, stout man, about five feet ten inches in height, would weigh one hundred and eighty pounds, and was as quick-motioned as a cat. He was born at Kingston, N. H., the 19th day of February, 1743, O. S., and married Sarah Batchelder, Aug. 27th, 1765 .; He was
* March 25, 1771. " Voted to give each family that shall settle in town this pres- ent year sixty acres of land, agreeably to the vote of last year."
At the same mecting, " Voted to give to each person as shall fall trees in the township of Warren this year half a dollar per acre."-See Proprietors' Records. "Voted that Phillips White and Mr. Samuel Page be a committee to agree with .settlers."-Do.
+ OBADIAH AND SARAH ( Batchelder ) CLEMENT'S FAMILY RECORD.
He was born at Kingston, Feb. 19, 1743, O. S. She was born June 30, 1747. Mar- ried Aug. 27, 1765.
Anna, born at Sandown, Apr. 19, 1767. Job, born Dec. 13, 1768. Mehitable, born Feb. 27, 1771. Daniel, born March 7, 1773.
Obadiah, born in Warren, Feb. 28, 1775. Obadiah, 2d, born Feb. 10, 1776.
Batchelder, born Feb. 15, 1782. Moses H., born Feb. 12, 1784.
Married Sarah Baker, of Suncook, Sept. 9, 1788, who was born Aug. 26, 1750, O. S. Sarah B., born Sept. 9, 1789. Joseph B., born May 8, 1794. Joseph, born Oct. 25, 1798. Batchelder, born June 30, 1791. Lovewell, born April 13, 1793.
Col. Obadiah died, aged 87, in 1829. Sarah Batchelder, his wife, died Jan. 1, 1786. Obadiah, first child of that name, died Lovewell, died May 22, 1793. Joseph B., March 26, 1795.
March 25, 1775. Batchelder, died Jan. 24. 1786.
April 20, 1772. " Voted to give every man that moves into town this year one hundred acres of good land."
" Voted to give half a dollar per acre for every acre of trees that shall be fell in Warren this year."
"Phillips White, Esq., Col. Jonathan Greeley, and Ebenezer Tucker were chosen a committee to agree with settlers."
"Voted to defend the proprietors or others who may settle under them in making improvement on the disputed lands in said town."
See Proprietors' Records,
223
THE FIRST HOTEL IN WARREN.
a cooper by trade, and worked at the business more or less during . his whole life. He lived for a short time in Sandown, N. H., and while there speculated somewhat in saw-mills, as a sort of recrea- tion. He bought his land of Col. Jonathan Greeley, and by him was induced to come to Warren. He built a large cabin at the forks * of the bridle paths, where one ran west over the Height-o'- land and the other north by Wachipauka or Meader pond. He took great pains building it, hewed the logs down smooth, made it twice as wide and twice as long as any other cabin in town, had two good large rooms, with bedrooms, cupboard and pantry along- side, and in the rear a shed made of poles and bark. The chim- ney had two capacious, cavernous fire-places, all built of stone, one in each room. There were four bed rooms in the garret, parted off or separated from each other by a frame-work of poles covered with spruce bark. The house itself was covered with long, shaved shingles. It had doors of hewn boards, a floor of square hewn logs, firm and solid, and each room on the ground floor was lighted by a small window, the five-by-seven glass for the panes having been brought up from down country on the back of a horse. When the cabin was finished and furnished a hotel was opened, and Obadiah Clement was Warren's first landlord.
My great-grandfather ; used to tell what a mighty fine build- ing Col. Clement's hotel was, which grew up so suddenly in the wilderness. The old gentleman related how he travelled up the bridle-path one afternoon to see the landlord and get some of the good things with which his bar was always well stocked. Enter- ing the little clearing, which seemed a sort of island in the woods,
* At first they only had a spotted line over the Height-o'-Land to Haverhill Corner, and Col. Chas. Johnson and others lost it one night, as they attempted to follow it through by feeling the spots on the trees, and had to lie in the woods until morning. Rev. Grant Powers says : "It was not the expectation of the people of Coos that they should ever have a road through to Plymouth for loaded teams, but their hopes rested on Charlestown for heavy articles ; and the first time an ox-team went through it was effected by a company who went out expressly for the purpose with Jonathan McConnell at their head. The expedition excited much interest with the inhabitants at home, and the progress of the adventurers was inquired for from day to day; and when they were making Haverhill Corner upon their return, the men went out to meet and congratulate with them, and as they came in the cattle were taken possession of in due form, and conducted to sweet-flowing foun- tains and well-stuffed cribs for the night. Their masters were served in the style of lords, and their narration of the feats of ' Old Broad' at the sloughs, the patient endurance of ' Old Berry' at the heights, and the stiff hold-back of ' Old Duke' at the narrows, were listened to by their owners with the liveliest demonstrations of joy."-History of Coos, 118.
t Joshua Copp, Esq. .
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HISTORY OF WARREN.
he sat down on the trunk of a tree to cool and rest himself. Even to him, a rough backwoodsman, there was much of beauty in the place. The green fields lying so peacefully in the forest, which in one place pushed forward its scattered trees, in another retreated, here sprinkling them out thinly, and there hanging their masses of dark foliage over the low-roofed buildings. The cabin, so' quiet too; a few wild-flowers, crane's-bill, and honeysuckle grow- ing by the door and open window ; a flock of geese cropping the grass, and the cows coming home out of the forest to be milked, the bell on the leader, slung to her neck with a leathern strap and buckle, sounding so quaint and woodland-like, made all ·resemble some bright land of the poets, full of Arcadian beauty. Then there was a ringing of steel-shod hoofs, and as two travellers on horseback winding out of the woods by the bridle-path proceeded across the field, he looked up and saw the low stone chimney of the cabin smoking, and the shadows stretching out longer from the top of the mountain across the grain and the grass land and over the forest. "But the best of all," said the good old man, " Obadiah Clement treated me handsomely that night."
Col. Clement had the most fertile farm in town, and on his open meadow, which gave evidence that the Indians had burnt it over and planted it long years before, he cut hay enough to keep his cow and yoke of steers. He got corn at Haverhill, and salt and such other necessaries at Plymouth. These he brought home on his back. Fortune favored him in procuring a supply of meat. Opening the door one morning before the rest of the family were stirring, he saw a moose feeding among the black stumps of his little clearing. He had a gun, plenty of powder, but not a bullet in the house. Yet he did not hesitate long. An old military coat that some friend had worn in the French war furnished great brass bell buttons, and he rammed home three of them. Priming the old "queen's arm" he took deliberate aim and fired. One of the buttons pierced the heart and the moose running a few rods fell dead. Col. Clement was standing in his door at the time, and the loud report woke up in great fright the whole family, till then sound asleep; but they soon ascertained what was the matter. That morning they had the choicest morsel, the under lip, for breakfast, and all winter long they rejoiced over the happy shot.
225
NEW ACCESSIONS.
Col. Clement's younger brothers came on and worked for him during the summer, and the next year, 1773,-
JONATHAN CLEMENT* came to Warren as a settler. It was Enoch Page, one of the proprietors, that furnished him a home in our mountain hamlet. He gave Mr. Clement the lot of land lying between Col. Clement's and 'Squire Copp's, and he built his cabin a short distance northwest of the spot where the road from Pine hill did intersect with the old turnpike. In September Mr. Clem- ent went down country, got married, and moved his young wife home. Dolly, his first child, was born Nov. 4, 1774, in Warren.
REUBEN CLEMENT, the other brother, lived with Jonathan many years. Reuben was the tallest of the three, standing six feet in his stockings, and was an active, athletic man, but sometimes a little crazy. When the fit was on him he would stalk through the woods from cabin to cabin, carrying a cane as high as his head, stout enough for a lever and with the branches partly left on, for all the world like the one borne by the witch Meg Merillies. On such occasions he would dress himself in his best, a suit brought
* JONATHAN AND HANNAH (Page) CLEMENT'S FAMILY RECORD.
He was born Jan. 3, 1753, at Sandown, N. H. She was born Dec. 23, 1756. Married Sept. 24, 1773.
Dolly, born Nov. 4, 1774; died Nov. 18, Jonathan, Jr., born Aug. 23, 1776 ; died Sept. 23, 1777. 1779. Page, born May 1, 1787; died Aug. 11, 1789. John, born April 30, 1789. Page, born Aug. 29, 1790.
Hannah, born Feb, 20, 1778; died Oct. 30, 1779.
Dolly and Eleanor, July 25, 1792.
Sally, born June 20, 1794.
Jonathan, 3d, born Oct. 12, 1780.
John, born July 17, 1796.
Hannah, born Jan. 27, 1783.
Benjamin, born Nov. 25, 1798.
Ephraim, born Feb. 12, 1785.
Daniel, born Dec. 3, 1801.
" Wentworth, Oct. 21, 1796. This may certify that Jonathan Clement, of War- to former votes. Accepted and allowed. ren, is entitled to Lot No. 8 on which he now lives, for settling the same, according PHILLIPS WHITE, ENOCH PAGE, Committee."
Oct. 20, 1786. " Voted that Enoch Page, Esq., have Lot No. 2, laying sontlı of the No. on which Jonathan Clement now lives, in consideration of a lot lie drawed for said Clement to settle on."
See Proprietors' Records.
April 29, 1773. " Voted that such private ways as Phillips White, Esq., Capt. William Hackett, and Ensign Enoch Page shall think proper to be cleared this present year, shall be done at the charge of the proprietary."
" Voted to give 100 acres of land to each of ten families who shall actually set- tle in town the present year."
Joseph Patch claimed his land under the above vote, as it was the best offer that had been made.
"Voted that the said committee to clear out private ways be a committee to lay out lots for settlers, and the family that first moves into town to take his first choice, and so as they move in."
See Proprietors' Records.
Joseph Patch did not settle on and never lived on the lot of land he got, as will be seen by examining the Proprietors' Records,
O
226
HISTORY OF WARREN.
from down country. His glittering knee-buckles, which fastened his short tight breeches to his long stockings, his bright silver shoe buckles, his coat slung on his arm, his long jacket unbuttoned, the collar of his linen shirt loose and flowing, his long hair stream- ing in the wind, and his bright eye, restless and flashing under his cocked up hat, made him seem some weird man of the woods. Reuben Clement had a friend and familiar companion who came to Warren along with him.
SIMEON SMITH was the man, -and all of his neighbors as long as he lived believed that he was an adept at the black art. Of him it was alleged, "That some gloomy night, like those chosen by magicians to invoke spirits, he had called up the devil at the cross roads where four roads met in his native town, and to obtain superhuman powers had sworn to be his liege man, and had then kissed Satan's cloven hoof." Wonderful were the feats he could perform. Sometimes, from sheer malice, he would saddle and bridle one of his neighbors, and ride and gallop him all over the country round. Then turning jack-o'-lantern, with counterfeiting voice he would call some loitering person through woods, around marshy ponds into tangled thickets, and leave him lost in the cold damp swamp. The butter would not come, and he was in the churn ; the cat mewed and jumped wildly about the house, and he was tormenting her; the children behaved strangely, and he had bewitched them. Smaller than a gnat, he could go through the key hole; larger than a giant, he was seen at twilight stalking through the forest. He could travel in the thin air, and mounted on a moonbeam could fly swift as the red meteor over the woods and the mountains.
Without doubt all this was pious scandal, worthy of the old Puritans, for Simeon Smith was a good man, and in spite of their superstition compelled the respect of his neighbors. He came to Warren in February, 1773, bringing his family and worldly effects in a one-horse vehicle, known among farmers as a "jumper." He settled on Red Oak hill, and lived for a time with that restive little backwoodsman, Mr. John Morrill. Mr. Smith was likewise a small-sized man, smart to work and quick-motioned. He had a large family, two or three boys old enough to help, and before another winter he had a comfortable cabin of his own.
227
THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.
EPHRAIM LUND was the next settler. He came from Ply- mouth, N. H., where he had built the first saw-mill for the pro- prietors of that township, and he erected a cabin and cleared a few acres on the south shore of Tarleton lake. The place where he lived was long known as Charleston, but why it was so called no one has ever been able to tell. It rained a few days after he first came to Warren, succeeded at night by a thick fog. A little past sunset he was startled by the wildest cry he ever heard. It seemed as if some one lost in the woods was hallooing in despair. He got his gun and starting towards the lake discharged it several times, that the report might guide the lost one to his cabin-but no person came. Who was it? What had happened? A few days after he heard the hallooing again, and going through the woods to the rocky shore he learned that the sound that startled him so was the cry of " the great northern diver." He had never heard or seen the bird before, and was now perfectly satisfied that when told that any one could "halloo like a loon" that such person's voice must be most loud and terrible, especially if it was heard by a man solitary and alone, on a foggy night, and in the dark woods.
JOSEPH LUND, his brother, came shortly after, and settled near him. He was a good-natured, kind-hearted man, and it is said that he was of middle stature, broad-shouldered, rather bandy- legged, brown-complexioned, carroty-bearded, hairy-bodied, big- bellied, and fiery-red-nosed. Dame Rumor has it that he loved good milk toddy and was not averse to whisky punch. He wore a long, home-made frock, coming down half-way from his knees to his heels, and he was accustomed to girt a half-inch rope, twice drawn tightly around him, as some said to keep his well-filled belly from bursting. Then he talked loud on some occasions, but at times his tongue was rather thick, and it bothered people to understand him. He was a good shot, and when he travelled in the woods always carried his gun with him. .
It is told how returning home from Wentworth one day in the fall he saw a large bull moose drinking from the river, near the foot of Red Oak hill and not far from the present south line of the town. He immediately fired at the animal, but the ball only stag- gered it. Instantly recovering itself it dashed out of the water,
228
HISTORY OF WARREN.
leaped up the opposite bank, and disappeared in the thick woods. Mr. Lund hastily reloaded, rushed through the river, saw that it was stained with blood, and following the easy trail for a few rods met the moose, which had turned to face him. Again he fired and again the animal fled. This continued till he had lodged six bullets in its body, when he succeeded in dispatching it. It was a prize, and supplied meat for both of the Mr. Lunds all winter.
Mr. Lund was also an excellent trapper as well as hunter, as the following strictly historical anecdote will show. Tradition relates that he drove a few sheep to Warren, the first ones ever kept in town, but he found it rather an unprofitable investment, for the reason that the bears killed so many of them. They had to be yarded every night, and during the daytime they would fre- quently come running to the house pursued by these black-coated gentry. One afternoon he found the remains of one that had been killed, and wishing to take revenge he gathered and placed them by the end of a hollow birch log. Inside the log he sat the gun in such a manner that when the bear began to eat the mutton he would discharge the gun and receive the contents in his own head. Mr. Lund heard the report of his old queen's arm in the night, and rising early the next morning he went to learn the result. He found a very large bear lying dead a short distance from a heap of half-roasted mutton, while the log was a pile of burning coals. Among these was the gun, minus the entire wooden fixtures, with the barrel, lock, and ramrod essentially ruined. This was a great loss to him, but he often reconnted with much glee the inanner in which he swapped his gun for a bear .* South from the Lunds, and on the eastern shore of Eastman ponds,-
THOMAS CLARKt began a settlement. He was tall of stature, fair-complexioned, with black hair and a keen black eye, his aspect between mild and stern; of few words, slow in speech, not easily provoked, and soon pacified. Another man, just his oppos- ite in appearance, for contraries love companionship, came to Warren with him.
* Mr. Stephen Lund's statement.
t Voted, Oct. 19, 1797, that Phillips White have a gore of land running on Pier- mont line, marked on the plan " Phillips White," in consideration of his settling Thomas Clark .- Proprietors' Records.
229
YOUNG WHITCHER CLIMBS MOOSEHILLOCK.
ISAIAH BATCHELDER was broad-faced, of a ruddy complexion, rolling eyes, with a large belly, and a lover of fat living. He built a log hut for himself south of Mr. Clark's, but did not move into it with his family till the next season. These two men received their land from Warren's most energetic proprietor, at that time living, Mr. Phillips White.
CHASE WHITCHER came next. He was born in Salisbury, was a relative of Mr. John Whitcher, who was as yet our only settler on Pine hill, and although a mere boy he took possession of a lot of land in the north part of the town, fell a few acres of trees, and built himself a log camp covered with bark. He was sent by the proprietors, they observing that he was a resolute youth, that they might if possible fulfill the to them terrible first condition of the charter.
Chase, the boy settler, was a tall, bony, raw-built fellow, with a spare face, red hair, and a hard head, and he could hunt as well as the best of them. Mink, muskrat, and otter he caught by the foamy, roistering Oliverian ;* beaver he trapped at Beaver-meadow ponds, the head waters of the wild Ammonoosuc, and his sable lines ran here and there upon the sides of the mountains. Then it is said he was fond of the occupation indicated by his given name-that in autumn he loved the chase. The cry of his old hound-dog in the woods was music to him, and following a moose one day he climbed over Moosehillock, being the first settler that ever stood on its bald summit.
At another time he was chasing a wild buck, which ran down on the rocky crest of Owl's Head mountain. Whitcher heard the baying of his old bloodhound in the distance, at regular intervals, each time coming nearer, and cocking his rifle got behind a rock, thinking to shoot the stag as he passed. He did not have to wait long. The deer burst out of the thin woods fifty rods away, too far off for a shot, and bounded towards the edge of the precipice. He whistled to the old dog following closely behind, whose three wild yells rang out regularly upon the clear moun- tain air, but could not make him hear. Neither deer nor hound
*" In regard to naming Oliverian brook I have no legal knowledge. Tradition says that in early times a man named Oliver and another person were crossing the stream, that the first fell in and the other gave the alarm by crying ' Oliver's in.' Hence the name, Oliverian."-Hosea S. Baker.
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HISTORY OF WARREN.
heeded where they were going, and when they reached the brink of the mountain, in the excitement of the moment the hunter held his breath, as he saw the buck unable to stop, and the great black hound, intent ouly on his prey, both leap far out over the edge of the precipice, then falling swift as lightning disappear in the abyss a hundred fathoms down.
In an hour the young man had climbed down through the woods by a roundabout way to the foot of the mountain, where he found the deer dead, and his hound with one leg broken and otherwise terribly bruised. The dog had lighted on the top of a great pine, which broke the force of his fall. In time he got well, but could never again be induced to run another deer on the top of Owl's Head mountain.
Mr. Whitcher lived in his camp but a portion of the time. The rest he spent at Mr. John Whitcher's, and down-country, till 1777, when he married Miss .Hannah Morrill,* built him a nice cabin of hewn logs, and moved his young bride home.
WILLIAM. HEATH lived in town about this time, but had no particular place of residence. He was one of those curious, non- descript sort of persons, to be found in every back settlement, and there is no country village but has his prototype. He would work out a few days here and a few somewhere else, and then would fell trees on a lot he had selected, saying he was going to settle down. He delighted to hang round Obadiah Clement's bar-room, and he would spend a whole day at any place where he thought they would give him a drink. He had sharked it about the world picking up a living without paying for it, and by long fasting at times had become a tall, lank, hungry looking sort of fellow, swift of foot and long-winded. He had the wolf-skin cap and
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* CHASE AND HANNAH ( Morrill) WHITCHER'S FAMILY RECORD.
He was born Oct. 6, 1753, at Salisbury, Mass. She was born June 19, 1758, at Ames- bury. Married July 6, 1777.
Levi, born Sept. 22, 1779.
Jacob, born June 22, 1791.
Dolly, born Jan. 22, 1781. Miriam, born March 18, 1794.
William, born May 23, 1783. Hannah, born March 16, 1796.
Molly, born April 16, 1785.
Martha, born July 18, 1798.
Chase, Jr., born Sept. 5, 1787.
David, born Jan. 15, 1803.
Levi, 2d, born Aug. 31, 1789.
William Whitcher, son of Chase Whitcher, was the father of Ira Whitcher, Chase Whitcher, Daniel Whitcher, and other sons, all now living at North Ben- ton. His family were all tall in stature, of more than ordinary intelligence, and the sons active and influential business men. "There were more than a hun- dred feet of Whitchers in William Whitcher's family."
231
WILLIAM HEATH COMES TO GRIEF.
short frock of the settler, but his belt, leggins, and moccasins, gave him an Indian look, and his hair hanging straight in gallows locks made him look more sharky, so that in appearance he was an ugly customer to deal with. It is told however that he chanced one day to meet at Col. Clement's tavern our mettlesome little settler, Mr. John Morrill, and being well pickled-or in plain English drunk-he managed to get up a fight, and Mr. Morrill being sober gave him a good beating as he deserved.
When William Heath sobered off his chagrin was great to think he had been vanquished, and he immediately left the settle- ment and buried himself for a month in the deep woods. When he came back, to take off the edge of his absence, he said he had been a hunting. But the two combatants were soon friends again. Thus William Heath passed his life, and when the Revolution broke out he was one of the first off to the wars.
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