The history of Weare, New Hampshire, 1735-1888, Part 30

Author: Little, William, 1833-1893. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Lowell, Mass., Printed by S. W. Huse & Co.
Number of Pages: 1240

USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Weare > The history of Weare, New Hampshire, 1735-1888 > Part 30

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Joseph Felch, who lived at a place south of Sugar hill, had a large, fat dog; a pack of the hungry wolves got after him, chased him down by Bog hill, where they killed and ate him. Felch found blood on the ground next day and the dog's bones, well gnawed, scattered about.

Daniel Gove, in the west part of the town, procured several stout, steel traps, and with them, some bloody meat and a stout club in his hands, took a walk about his premises. The wolves followed in his track; he set the traps, caught several and killed them with the club.

Thomas Follansbee, who lived by the Piscataquog, was coming home from Oil Mill one night, where he had been at work in the

* 1764: " Whereas wolves have of late come down in great numbers on several towns in this province and have destroyed many sheep, Resolved and voted that the bounty to be paid for every grown wolf killed after this date shall be £7 10s. on and above the 50s. before given and those claiming the bounty shall make solemn oath that the wolf or wolves were killed in this province."-Provincial Papers, vol. vii, p. 35.

257

GAME : WOLVES.

1784.]

saw-mill, when a wolf jumped out of the woods at him. Quick as a flash he sprang to the fence and broke off a large stake with a loud snap, which so frightened the wolf that it cleared out. Mr. Follans- bee said that many times that year he saw the wolves come into the clearing near by where he lived, and that he had to yard his sheep to preserve them.

Every night, through the long autumn, the wolves made the hills echo with their howling. Parents used to take their children to the door at evening to hear the weird music. Ira Gove's mother, born in 1777, said she listened to it many a time.

John Hodgdon then lived on the north side of a branch of the Peacock ; his sheep pasture was on the hill to the south of it. One day there came a great autumn rain, the brook rose rapidly; at night it was so high the sheep could not cross it, and they had to lie out. Hodgdon had a large dog, strong and courageous. In the evening he grew very restless, whined and barked to go, and when they refused to let him out, flew to the window, bit the sash and seemed determined to break through. They opened the door, and he disappeared instantly in the darkness. He did not come home. The next morning they went to look for him, crossed the swollen stream and found near by, in the pasture, twenty sheep torn and bleeding, five wolves slain, and the faithful dog lying dead on the ground, seeming to have died of wounds and exhaustion after the unequal combat.

At a special meeting, held Dec. 9th, the town voted to give a bounty for wolves' heads, in addition to that given by the state. But there is no record that they paid any.

In the winter the wolves got so hungry that they broke into barns and killed sheep and swine, and at night they would put their noses against the window-panes of some of the lonesome cabins, and look in at the family seated around the great kitchen-fire.

In the spring of 1785 they were still plenty. Elijah Gove sent his eldest daughter, Hannah, to the pasture to catch the horse; while she was gone he heard, as he first thought, dogs barking on the hills, but as it drew nearer, he found it to be wolves. He then started in great haste, fearing they might kill her, but found her coming, leading the horse.

That day, for some hours, the barking, growling and snapping of teeth continued on all sides. Late in the afternoon the wolves seemed to be going to the south-west. At night there was a terrible

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HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1784.

howling. It was last heard on Candlewood hill in Francestown. It ceased before dawn, and at morn the great pack of wolves was gone from Weare forever.

MOOSE were often found in the early times before the Revolution. Hunter Chase, with a friend, once started one in Moose bog, near Henniker line. The snow was deep, the moose had to wallow, and the men were on snow-shoes. They chased the huge animal into the west part of the town, then back over Chevey hill, down into the valley of the Piscataquog. They fired at it several times, wounded it, and when they came near the river, Chase got in front of it. It reared up to strike with its hoofs; he caught it by the ears; leaped upon its back; the animal plunged into the stream, and Chase, slipping forward close to its head, held its nose in the water and drowned it. Hunter John boasted of this exploit as long as he lived. It is said he caught many other moose in Weare.

DEER, as has been told, were once exceedingly plenty in Weare, and great numbers were killed. They used to come into the sugar- orchards in spring and drink out of the sap troughs. One came into Follansbee's on Barnard hill. They tracked it in the light snow, over the Piscataquog, but it was no use to follow it. Robert Johnson had fleet-footed hounds. One autumn, when the first snow had fallen, he started two deer in the valley. His dogs brought one to bay before they got down to Raymond cliff. Johnson tried to shoot it, but his gun was wet; then he got a dead pine stub and knocked it on the head. The hounds chased the other south to Lyndeborough mountain, then followed it back the second day. Johnson heard their baying in the cool, crisp air, the sweetest music that ever falls on the hunter's ear, waited for them at a place he knew they would pass, and shot the deer.

BEARS were very plenty. A woman, on Sugar hill, going after her cows, met one in the path; it would not turn out. She caught up a hemlock knot, struck the bear in the nose, knocked it over and killed it.

Jedediah Dow, who settled near Weare Center, was following along the blazed path, one rainy day, to his near neighbor's, hat down over his eyes, and axe in his hand. Not far from his house he felt something strike his broad-brim, and, looking up, saw a bear directly over his head, on the low branch of a tree. A well-directed blow brought bruin to the earth, where Dow quickly despatched it.

Daniel Gould, on Barnard hill, was east of the Abraham Melvin

259

GAME : BEARS.

1784.]

place, one spring day, a small dog with him. The snow was deep, and there was a hard crust. The dog began to dig in it, and Gould thought he would see what was there. He struck down with his axe, and a bear sprang right up in his face. Gould was taken by surprise, and before he could recover himself, the animal slid down the steep hill-side on the glare ice and escaped.

One autumn night, while husking, Daniel Gove, who lived just east of Clinton Grove, heard bears breaking the limbs of beech trees to get the nuts. He got hunter John Chase to set a trap, and they soon caught one. When they went to it, the bear seized Chase's dog with its fore paws and made it yell bitterly. Gove was excited, pitied the animal, and cried out to Chase : "Why do n't thee rap the bear ? he'll kill the little dog !" Chase was cool and said, "Oh ! no, he won't hurt him, he'll let him go pretty quick," and, at the same instant, hit the bear on the nose and killed it.

John Blake had been hunting on Mount William. He had a bag of game and his gun, but no ammunition. Coming home he met a bear, which rushed directly upon him. He grabbed a pitch-knot and thrust it in the bear's mouth. They clinched, rolled over and over down the hill, Blake getting badly scratched, but all the time keeping the knot " where it would do the most good." At the foot they got separated, the bear ran away as fast as it could, and Blake, recovering his game and gun, hurried home.

Some children discovered a bear near Center Square. The men, in the neighborhood, with a small dog, followed it north into Moose bog. Matthias Puffer was there, with others, splitting out oars. The bear was passing directly by them, when Puffer struck his axe into its side. The animal reared upon its haunches, struck back, broke Puffer's arm and then made its escape.

About the first of the present century, Winthrop Clough, Jabez Felch and Robert Johnson, one Sunday in the spring, found one at East Weare. They followed it to Dunbarton hill and shot it in a sap-orchard, just as the folks were coming out of meeting. After the bear was shot, the man who owned the orchard came out with his great dog, which began smelling at the seemingly dead animal. All at once the bear raised his head, snapped his teeth through the dog's throat, and the dog bled to death. " There," said the owner, " that dog has helped kill seven bears, and now is himself killed by a dead bear."

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HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1800.

Benjamin Felch was going home from school on Sugar hill, by a path that led through some bushes, and met one. Bruin sat erect and would not budge. Felch went round it, keeping his face towards it all the time. When the young man got into the path on the opposite side, he made lively tracks for home.

A party of men chased one from near Felch brook to Dunbarton, where they came up with it. Jabez Felch threw an axe and hit it square in the head. Then a Frenchman, by the name of Duke, who was gathering sap, struck it across the nose with an ox-goad and killed it. He was very proud of his exploit, "Sure," said he, " it takes a Frenchman to kill a bear."

Stephen Breed, while viewing his crops one Sabbath day, came suddenly upon one. As soon as it saw Mr. B., it sat up on its haunches, with its fore legs, like arms, akimbo. Breed hurried to the house for his family to come out and see the animal, but when they reached the place it was gone. It crossed the highway be- tween Ebenezer and Josiah Gove's, and made for the woods.

Ira Gove was standing in his barn door, one Sunday, and saw one in a field near by.

Joseph Jones caught three bears in a figure-four log trap, and Benjamin Felch helped kill them.

Hundreds of other bears were killed in the early times of Weare, as the years went by, but the account has not been preserved. There was a small crop of them every year ; they seemed to come down from the northern woods. The last wild one was seen in 1824.

WILD-CATS, the bay lynx and the loupcervier, at times, have been quite plenty in Weare. They would destroy poultry, lambs, and thin out the small, wild game. John Chase was on Mount William, once, hunting. His dogs made a great outcry. He went to them and found them facing a large wild-cat. He never carried a gun, but he got a stout club and killed it. Rufus Marshall was hauling wood one winter with his oxen ; snow deep. He met a wild-cat in the path as he was crossing the Piscataquog on the ice. The animal would not turn out, and Marshall killed it with his ox-goad. Wil- liam Favor, who lived on Barnard hill, was a great hunter. With his brother Nathaniel he drove a wild-cat into Wild-cat ledge, three-fourths of a mile east of Mount William pond. Mr. Favor, gun in hand, crawled in after the cat, soon found it, could see its eyes shine and he fired right between them; the report almost

261

GAME : WILD-CATS ; FOXES.

1830.]

stunned him, the cat screeched and snarled, and Favor backed out. as fast as he could. He then got a birch withe, went in again, twisted it into the cat's fur and pulled it out. It was not so much injured but that it fought the dogs savagely before they killed it. At another time they were out " cooning "; their dog started some- thing near Peaslee's ledge; it ran round and round in the woods ; they knew it was not a fox; soon it got tired and " treed." They lay till morning, when they had the pleasure of shooting two "bob- cats," as they called them. They were at Raymond cliff one day with their dogs, and found the large track of a cat. The hounds followed, tore out its bowels and killed it. They got another cat the same day, out of a hollow tree. Almon Favor was on, White Oak hill, hunting foxes. His dog drove a large cat up a tree. Favor only had a small partridge charge in his gun, but he fired, and the cat, stung and maddened by the small shot, backed down and came at him on the run. The dog tackled the animal, it turned to fight, and the hunter killed it with a club. David D. Hanson drove a loupcervier into Wild-cat ledge, crawled in after it, got it by its fore paws and the back of the neck, so it could not bite, dragged it out and killed it. Nathaniel and Thomas Favor were hunting on Peaslee ledge. As they were sitting on a rock they saw a fisher-cat looking from a hole in a tree. They fired, and it sprang out. Their dog chased it into another tree, where they shot it. Jonathan Felch shot a big wild-cat in a swamp near Hog-back hill, in the north-east part of the town.

Fox hunters have always been plenty in Weare. Jacob Follans- bee said he had caught over three hundred. The second he ever killed, he started in a pasture, followed it about four miles into a swamp and lost its track at the foot of a great, leaning hemlock. He hunted for it a long time, then looked up in the branches. An old crow's-nest was there, more than forty feet from the ground ; he stepped back a little, looked again, and saw the ears and tail of a fox just showing above the edge. Reynard was hiding in the nest. There was a heavy charge in his gun ; he fired, and his game came tumbling to the earth. The hunter said his gun kicked so bad it made his nose bleed. Mr. Follansbee got the most of his foxes by " still hunt," but often run them into Cunningham ledge and Caldwell ledge, where he caught them with steel traps when they came out.

With his friend, David Eaton, and their hounds, he once followed a black fox, all one day. It ran straight away to the north. It had

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HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1830.

a red companion. The next day Simeon Cilley found the track, and followed it, with a hound, into Hopkinton. The third day an- other man followed it to Salisbury, where it went into a hole in a ledge. A trap was set, and it was caught.

The Favors caught hundreds of foxes. At the first snow-fall they would go out with their hounds to White Oak hill and start one. It would run round and round the little mountain, the dogs in full chase after it, while the men would wait at some convenient place to shoot it as it passed. The snow sparkling in the sun, the fox flying fleet as the wind, the baying hounds waking the echoes, the blue sky above all, made an exciting scene, and it was fascinating sport for the hunters. The Favors often ran foxes round Mount William, the same way. John Chase, Jr., was present at one of their hunts and was so excited when the fox came past, the hounds yelling behind it, that he fired in the air.

Samuel Worthen saw a fox front of his house. He chased it down the road to the bridge over the Piscataquog. It took to the field; the snow was so deep it could not run, only jump up and down. Worthen caught it in his arms and carried it home.

Robert Peaslee and his brother, with their hounds, were chasing an old fox in Hopkinton. They were close upon it. It came to a deep, sharp ravine, across which was a great log. A fresh fox had just gone over ; the tired fox went half way across, then jumped thirty feet down into the light snow at the bottom and climbed out on the opposite side. The hounds followed the fresh fox, and the hunters saw the tired one resting itself on the top of a great rock, too far off for a shot.

Chevey Chase saw a fox leisurely approaching him; he stepped behind a boulder, out of sight. When the animal was passing, Chase sprang at it with a terrific yell, which so terrified it that it lost its power of locomotion, and he easily captured it.

Josiah Gove was noted for his success in trapping foxes. He usually had more than a dozen pelts to sell every spring. One fall he found his trap sprung and thrown out of the bed, for three suc- cessive mornings. The fourth night he set it top down. The next morning it was gone. Looking about, he soon saw a fox trotting away, apparently carrying it off in his mouth. Gove gave chase and found that the fox was really fast in the trap's mouth. The wily animal had put his nose under it to throw it out and spring it, and in that way was caught.

263

1885.] GAME : OTTER ; RACCOONS ; WOOD-CHUCKS ; RABBITS.

THE OTTER is the most valuable of the fur-bearing animals now . trapped in Weare. They were very plenty in the early times. Richard Hadlock, a noted trapper, who lived by Otter brook, caught a great many. Jacob Follansbee caught an otter, by the Piscata- quog, Jan. 15, 1885. It was four feet, ten inches long, and it weighed eighteen pounds. The skin was sold for $8. There were two other otters living with the one he caught. They had a slide, for a play-ground, down a bank, ten feet long. When the leaves were falling they kept it swept clean by sliding down into the water.

HEDGEHOGS are not plenty now, in town. They used to abound at Peaslee ledge.

RACCOONS are taken in Weare every year. The town has plenty of " coon hunters" of its own, but parties from the cities also come hunting. It is wild sport, the night-fire blazing in the woods, the coon-dog barking, the game crouching in the shadows of some great tree top, to be shot at dawn, when it gets light enough to see. It generally takes six quarts of fluid bait, carried by city fellows in a large flask, to catch one "coon."

WOODCHUCKS, by the score, are annually caught; and many more than that when there was a bounty of ten cents on each. The early settlers used to roast and eat them, and a fat one made a fine dish. This animal delights to burrow in clover fields, and often makes havoc with the mowing.

A RABBIT stew is a toothsome morsel for some. Judy Wadleigh, who lived near Rockland, was very fond of it. She employed the boys to catch rabbits for her, and would give them a gallon of cider for each one they would bring. One day the boys were very dry, but they could not get a rabbit; so they killed a cat, skinned it, cut its tail off, and she gave them the cider. She cooked it, and the boys, to show how well they too liked rabbit, tried to hook pieces out of the stew-pan, but she drove them off, saying they could not have any ; " it was all for her own tooth."

There are two kinds of rabbits : the great northern hare and the brownish-red cony, which is a little more than half as large as the first. The little cony will kill the great rabbit. It grabs him round the neck with its fore paws, hugs him tightly and digs his bowels out with its hind feet.

MINK, MUSQUASH, WEASELS and SKUNKS are yearly caught for their fur, and sometimes they command a high price. Jacob Fol-

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HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE. · [1840.

lansbee said he caught forty-five mink in two autumns, for which he received about $200; that he caught them in " dead-falls" or cul- heags, baited with silver eels, and in steel traps, set in their run- ways, without bait ; that one of the best places to catch them was at the Honey-pot, near the Piscataquog, west of East Weare. GRAY SQUIRRELS are shot, and RUFFED GROUSE snared, and both are sent to be cooked and eaten in city restaurants. Often a black squirrel is found. Josiah Danforth shot one, and Mr. Follansbee once saw a black chipmunk. Black squirrels were plenty fifty years ago.

PIGEONS used to fly by the millions, and many were caught in Weare. Pigeon beds were made, a net set to draw over them, and a bough house built to conceal the man who manipulated it. Josiah Gove caught great numbers of them, getting several dozens at each haul of his net.

Jacob Follansbee said that when he was a boy he counted seventy flocks of pigeons one morning before breakfast, and there was at least a million in a flock. After the western country was settled its immense wheat fields gave them more abundant food, and most of them left us.

WILD TURKEYS were frequently captured by the early settlers. They were very shy and wary, but the Goves got a large number near Weare Center; the great rock is shown where Daniel Gove shot one, east of Clinton Grove. Hunter Chase fired at one at a distance of forty rods, on Chevey hill, broke its wing and chased it down into Hodgdon's meadow before he secured it. One was shot on the road from East Weare to Dunbarton, and the tree from which it fell was shown for many years. The bird weighed twenty- four pounds, and it was so fat that it burst open when it struck the ground.

Josiah Gove was a crack shot. One bright, Sabbath morning, in June, a large hen-hawk was seen soaring high in air above his house, now and then uttering its peculiar cry, so terrifying to poultry and small game. Gove's attention was called to it, and he raised his large fowling piece to fire. A friend, standing near, said, " It is too far off, you won't get it." Gove fired, and the next instant the friend ejaculated, " Well, you have!" and down came the bird to the ground. A hundred years previous, Edward Gove, the first an- cestor to come to America, of all the Goves in Weare, was fined five shillings and costs of court for shooting a hawk on the Sabbath day, as the records of the Norfolk county court show.

265

SCHOOLS.

1777.]

TROUT afforded the fishermen of Weare great sport in the last century. The hill streams once swarmed with the finny game. A few are caught each spring, at the present time. PICKEREL have been taken from the Piscataquog, that would weigh four pounds each, and as large ones have been caught in the ponds.

EELS of immense size once lived in Mount William pond. Jesse Woodbury, trader, formerly a sea-captain and commander of a pri- vateer in the time of the Revolution, used to tell what huge ones he had seen there. His stories were so large no one believed them. For verification Woodbury got Jesse Blake to go and fish for him one night. The captain waited on the shore while Blake went out to bob for eels. Soon he had a bite that pulled him into the water; he put the line over his shoulder and in that way pulled his game ashore. They found he had an eel. They rolled it in the sand so they could handle it, carried it home, and it weighed eleven pounds. Woodbury exhibited it at his store, and was greatly pleased that he had caught one bigger than his stories. An eel was caught from Center brook that weighed twelve pounds. Elijah Johnson and many others vouched for this eel.

WILD BEES have always been plenty in Weare. The woods, fields and pastures abound with flowers, in their season ; many farmers raise much buckwheat, and gardens have ever been numer- ous all over town. Worthley, the third settler, found a swarm almost as soon as he came, and the many bee-hunters since have had excellent luck. Jacob Follansbee says he has taken up more than a hundred wild swarms during his life (eight in 1886), and got from them thousands of pounds of the most delicious honey.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

SCHOOLS.

SCHOOLS ceased in Weare when the war began. The best citizens knew it was wrong and soon tried to revive them. They rallied at the annual town-meeting in 1777. They voted that " all districts should Imploy masters or mistresses to Sute them Selves and when they had so done to apply to the selectmen for their part of the School money "; and any district which did not maintain a school

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HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1779.

should forfeit their share to the town ; and then they voted to raise £75 for schools this year. Now the youth shall be educated.

But the poor tax-payers thought this was hard. The town was raising volunteers, putting in substitutes, giving large bounties, and the citizens were paying two or three war taxes each year. They paid up their war expenses as they accrued and did not pile up a mountainous war debt to burden the future, as did a subsequent generation.

So the opponents of schools rallied, they had a town-meeting July 29th, and voted not to raise any school money and not to have any school the present year.

In 1778 the town had no schools and for the same reasons, and some of the voters in 1779 wanted none. No vote was had on the matter at the annual town-meeting, but at a special meeting, March 29th, they voted to raise £300 for "Schooling Children for the present year "; that "Every Destrick Shall hire School Masters or mistresses to teach their Children and that all Delinquent Destricts that Neglect or Refuse to hire masters or mistresses shall forfeit their proportion of the school money to the town." The money was raised, and schools were kept in all the districts.

The names of but few of the early teachers have come down to us. Mrs. Elijah Brown taught school at South Weare. She was well liked and was employed for several years. Master Robert Hogg, a famous teacher, taught on Sugar hill. He came to Weare in 1772, opened a school in his own house, and when not employed to teach for the town, kept a private school. He was a strict dis- ciplinarian and pretty severe. It is told that to punish one of the large girls who had offended him, he made her ride "pig-back," as it is called, on the shoulders of one of the boys, and when he thus had her fast, raised her dress and gave her a severe spanking. Refined people thought this was very indecent, and Master Hogg was severely criticised.

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The history of Weare, New Hampshire, 1735-1888, Part 30

Author: Little, William, 1833-1893. cn Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Lowell, Mass., Printed by S. W. Huse & Co. Number of Pages: 1240

Author: Little, William, 1833-1893. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Lowell, Mass., Printed by S. W. Huse & Co.
Number of Pages: 1240