The history of Weare, New Hampshire, 1735-1888, Part 65

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 65

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Aaron Ray took the place of Lieutenant Bowman, Nov. 14, 1809, and he was succeeded by Thomas Bartlett, who rode the route a long time till stage coaches were put on the road. Mr. Bartlett was a genial, witty man, and among the boys was known as “Sam Bartlit." He used to tell them how he was captured by the Indi- ans once, who were going to kill and scalp him, but finally told him if he would spell his name without putting a letter into it they would give him his liberty. He thought a moment and then said, " Devil-dam spells Sam, hawk and spit spells Bart-lit," and they at once set him free.

The government all the time also had post-riders on the route from Concord to Keene, the last one, Enoch Selley, being appointed in 1840 .*

The first post-office in Weare was established June 1, 1813, at the

* POST-RIDERS IN WEARE.

Silas Harthorn, 1811. John Bowers, 1816. Mical Tubbs, 1826.

John May, 1812. James McColley, 1818. Enoch Selley (Cilley), 1840.

" Mr John Robie to Mical Tubbs Dr to the Newhampshire Patriot and State Gazett from Jan 1st 1826 to Jan Ist 1827 inclusive $2.00 Received Payment MICAL TUBBS"

" Weare January 7th 1812 Recv of John Robey Esq too Dollars Infull for newspa- pers up to this Date JOHN MAY"

" Red of John Roby Esq one Dollar and thirty two Cents for the N HI patriot up to No 90 Ware Jan 28 1811

SILAS HARTHORN"

1825.] .

POST-OFFICES AND POSTMASTERS.

571

Center, and Dr. Samuel Peterson was appointed postmaster by the president, James Madison. The first year he received a salary of $13.62. The office has been continued ever since, and it has had sixteen different postmasters. Hugh Jameson held it for the short- est term, one year, Hiram Simons kept it nine years, and Israel Hoag was postmaster for over twenty years, the longest term .* The post-office was kept first at Dr. Peterson's house, and after- wards at one of the village stores or taverns.

Elder Hezekiah D. Buzzell thought they should have a post-office at South Weare as well as at the Center. So a petition was sent to Washington, stating the inconveniences they now suffered and the advantages they would enjoy, and Jan. 11, 1825, the South Weare post-office was established. President Monroe appointed Elder Buz- zell the first postmaster, and he held the office some over three years. South Weare has had thirteen postmasters .; William D. White served less than seven months, and James Wallace was postmaster fifteen years. The office has been kept in the following places : at Elder Buzzell's house, at Wallace's store and the stores which have since occupied that site, and at Moses Dearborn's shoemaker shop, near Dearborn's tavern.

Enos Merrill married a daughter of David Cross. He kept a store; was a cooper, a potash and pearlash maker, carried on much other business, and had a large correspondence. He had to go to Weare Center for his letters, and it was quite inconvenient. So he procured a petition, forwarded it to the post-office department. and Jan. 30, 1828, a post-office was established at East Weare. Mr. Merrill was the first postmaster appointed by President John Quincy Adams, and held the office over eight years. Robert B.

* POSTMASTERS AT WEARE (FIRST CALLED WEARES).

Name. Appointed.

Samuel Peterson. .June 1, 1813.

William Whittle. .Feb. 24, 1820.

Samuel Sawyer. . April 8, 1822.

Cyrus E. Woods . May 2, 1849.

Simeon J. Bard .June 9, 1824.

George Simons. . Feb. 19, 1853.

Hugh Jameson. . March 8, 1828.

Israel Hoag. . April 12, 1861.

James Peterson .Jan. 15, 1829.

Charles E. Hoag .June 3, 1881.

Daniel Paige, Jr .. .March 29, 1832.

Leonard Wilson .. Nov. 25, 1884.

Nathan C. Downing. .Dec. 11, 1835.

Benjamin T. Jameson. . Dec. 2, 1885.

POSTMASTERS AT SOUTH WEARE.

Name. Appointed.

Hezekiah D. Buzzell.

Jan. 11, 1825.

Daniel Bailey. . Sept. 25, 1828.

James Wallace. .June 17, 1837.

Jonathan Buxton. .June 20, 1852.

George C. Carpenter Aug. 13, 1877.

William D. White.

. March 20, 1861.

Charles W. Buxton. . Aug. 21, 1879.

Almus W. Morse July 13, 1885.

Alonzo Hadley. . Oct. 4, 1861.

John H. Page. June 10, 1862.

Jonathan Hoag. May 9, 1864.

Jonathan Buxton. .Feb. 2, 1866.

Moses Dearborn. .Aug. 7, 1854.

Hiram Simons. .Nov. 15, 1836.

Abel B. Cram. . Nov. 5, 1845.

572

HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE. [1845.

Caswell held the office for the shortest term, less than a year, and Albert B. Johnson* the longest, more than twenty-one years. There have been thirteen postmasterst at East Weare, and the office has been kept at the houses or stores of the postmasters, and for the last twenty-two years at the depot.

The people who lived at Oil Mill had very poor postal facilities. There were in 1845, three post-offices in town, distant, respectively, four, six and seven and one-half miles; and the post-office at Goffs- town was three miles away, where many letters were sent to be mailed and some received. James Priest, who was then a leading business man at that place, sent a petition to the post-office depart- ment for an office at Oil Mill, but no notice was taken of it. In 1846, he petitioned again, got Hon. Mace Moulton, member of con- gress, to intercede for it, had Eliphalet Richards, Jr., mail-carrier, send an agreement that he would carry the mail to it without pay, and forwarded a plan of the town and documents showing the situation. This time the petition was attended to, and Feb. 4, 1847, Oil Mill village post-office was established. David C. Rich, at the suggestion of Mr. Priest, was appointed first postmaster, and held the office a little more than one year. Oil Mill has had fourteen postmasters and one postmistress, Emma Richards, who held the office seven months. Abner Frost was postmaster fifteen years, the

* ALBERT BURTON JOHNSON, son of Moses and Zillah (Cross) Johnson, was born in East Weare, April 22, 1839. He attended the academies at Hopkinton, Thetford and Newbury, Vt., and tanght school five winters in Wcare and Bath. He also worked on his father's farm and in his lumber mill, and when he was fourteen years old he got in and sawed out two hundred thousand feet of lumber. The first business he did for himself was to hire the Robert Peaslee saw-mill at site fourteen, and the Bassett mill at site twenty-seven, and operated the latter about four years. In 1862 he en- gaged in trade in the depot at East Weare, and has continued the business to the present time. He has also been station agent, express agent and postmaster sinee 1862. He has carried on the homestead farm for the last fifteen years; cuts from seventy-five to one hundred tons of hay each year, and keeps a large stoek.

Mr. Jolmson has been moderator several years; one of the school committee from 1880 to 1885 inclusive, supervisor eight years, represented the town in the legislature in 1876 and 1877, and has been agent for the management of the town funds for the last four years. For the past twenty years he has acted as a justiee of the peace.

He took his first degrees in Masonry at the Aurora lodge in Henniker about 1867. He has been senior deacon, senior warden, and master eight years. In the chapter at Manchester, he has been sojourner and high priest several years, and is also a member of Mount Horeb chapter and Trinity commandery.

Mr. Johnson married Harrict A. Clement, daughter of Jesse Clement, Feb. 1, 1872, and to them has been born one son, Albert B., Nov. 4, 1879.

t POSTMASTERS AT EAST WEARE.

Name. Name. Appointed. Edmund H. Smith. .Jan. 2, 1852. Enos Merril Appointed.

.Jan. 30, 1828.

Amos W. Sargent. Feb. 4, 1836.

Robert B. Caswell. Dec. 8, 1855.

Paltiah Brown . . April 25, 1839.

Rufus Fellows ... . Nov. 17, 1856. Leonard Kimball. . May 18, 1841.

Albert B. Johnson .Nov. 18, 1863. Elbridge A. Bailey .JJuly 7, 1843.

Daniel JJohnson. June 2, 1876.

John Johnson .. .July 6, 1844.

George W. Haskell

Aug. 5, 1850.

Albert B. Johnson March 19, 1878.

573

POST-OFFICES AND POSTMASTERS.

1850.]

longest term. The post-office has been located at the postmasters' houses, sometimes in the store, and once in the depot .*

The railroad was opened to North Weare in 1850. Business

The usual increased, and better postal facilities were required. steps were taken, a new post-office established Dec. 23, 1852, and Moses A. Cartland made postmaster. For some reason the office was discontinued April 4, 1854, but the people soon found the inconvenience of this, and it was re-established in less than a year, with Peter C. Gove postmaster. William H. Gove was post- master about nine years, and Oliver D. Sawyert sixteen. The post- office has been located most of the time in the store of the post- master.

For many years mail-carriers from Oil Mill to Deering had left letters and papers in boxes provided for the purpose near Moses A. Hodgdon's, and at Clinton Grove in the west part of the town. In 1874 the people at the last place thought they ought to have a post- office. They easily secured one. It was established June 22, 1874, with Amos Breed as postmaster.# It did not prove a very profit- able enterprise, and it was discontinued June 15, 1875, because no one could be found to take charge of it for the pay it afforded.

The amount of mail matter received and sent away from the post-offices of a town, shows to a certain extent the intelligence and civilization of the people. About fifty thousand newspapers, peri- odicals and miscellaneous matter, and one hundred thousand letters, are annually transmitted through the mails of Weare; an amount as large if not larger than that of any other town of its size in the state.

* POSTMASTERS AT OIL MILL VILLAGE.

Name.

Appointed.

Name. Appointed.

David C. Rich

.Feb. 4, 1847.

Lucian Richards .Jan. 31, 1862.

James Priest .

. Aug. 3, 1848.

Emma Richards .. .Nov. 30, 1865.

Ezra Clement. May 4, 1849.

True D. Moulton .June 22, 1866.

James Priest. . Sept. 17, 1851.

Abner Frost. .July 28, 1868.

Flanders Walker .July 6, 1855.

Herbert D. Smith. April 15, 1874.

Perry Richards. April 16, 1856.

Lucian Richards.

June 1, 1858.

Harry H. Simons. June 28, 1886.

POSTMASTERS AT NORTH WEARE.

Name.

Appointed.

Name. Appointed.

Moses A. Cartland.

.Dec. 23, 1852.

William H. Gove. .Dec. 18, 1860.

Discontinued.

. April 4, 1854.

Oliver D. Sawyer .Feb. 23, 1869.

Re-established

.Jan. 27, 1855.

George F. Simons . Oct. 27, 1885.

Peter C. Gove.

.Jan. 27, 1855.

# POSTMASTERS AT CLINTON GROVE.

Name.

Appointed.

Name.

Appointed.

Amos Breed.

.June 22, 1874.

Re-established . March 15, 1887.

Discontinued. .June 15, 1875.

Amos Breed. . March 15, 1887.

Abner Frost. April 6, 1877.

Richard E. Harvey May 31, 1861.

574

HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1775.

A TOWN "CHIST" was purchased in 1775 for six shillings, after much opposition.

A "TOWN BOOK," also, for eight shillings, which seemed to some extravagant.

DEPRECIATION. As the money depreciated in the time of the Revolution, the price of all commodities rose enormously. The state tried to prevent it, and a convention was held at Concord to fix the values of various articles. Weare was invited to send a delegate, but none was sent. The General Court previously had passed an act to accomplish the same thing, and our town held a meeting July 27, 1777, to consider the matter. Article three in the warrant was to see " if the town will choose a committee to settle and affix the prices in said town, agreeable to a late act of the General Court, passed April 10, 1777." It was " voted not to choose a committee to affix the prices of said town."

The town had a lively sense of what was right. Early in the Revolution they hired some money of Simon Perkins, and in 1781 the currency had become worthless rags; so at a meeting held Oct. 2d, that year, it was " voted to make up the fall of money to Simon Perkins that John Worth hired of him for the town's use."

"TWO BOLES OF TODDY and some bread and chease" for the selectmen in 1778, were considered indispensable and were not opposed.

PLAN OF GOVERNMENT. 1782, "Voted, That Capt. Sam- uel Philbrick, Col. Samuel Page, John Hodgdon, Nicodemus Wat- son and John Worth be a committee to examine the plan of government and make their report upon it."

April 9, 1780, the town chose a committee to examine the bill of rights and make report on it. Then they voted to alter the eighth article, and Sept. 11th, to accept the last address of the plan of government.

April 19, 1792, "Voted on the amendments to the state constitu- tion, article by article, for and against."

THE ALLEN PROPRIETORS. In 1786 the proprietors of Gov. Samuel Allen's estate laid claim to a large portion of the un- appropriated lands in the Masonian grant. The people were greatly excited, and the towns sent delegates to a convention held at the house of Job Dow, in Goffstown, to consult on the matter. Those from Weare were John Hodgdon, Samuel Caldwell and Samuel Philbrick. But the convention did not set the matter at rest. In

575

LAWSUITS, ETC.

1787.]

1794 Maj. Joseph Blanchard, of Amherst, was authorized by the Allen proprietors to prosecute Tristram Johnson and Thomas Shaw for trespass on lot sixty-four, range three, in Weare, or to settle with them as he saw fit. Shortly after, Blanchard sold to Shaw fifty acres on the north end of the lot for $22, and the rest of the lot to Johnson for £15. Both men were in possession at the time.

BANK. Sept. 6, 1786, " Voted, that the General Court emit a certain Bank of paper money. Chose Lt. Caldwell, Jacob Tux- bury, Timothy Worthley, Elijah Purington, Jonathan Dow, Johnson Gove and Ebenezer Peaslee a committee to report on what footing it shall be Emmetted," and they reported that it should be "on land security to answer for a lawful tender."

PERAMBULATING the town lines has to be done once in seven years, for the law so directs. In 1787 John Hodgdon and Ithamer Eaton run the east and south lines, and were paid for it fifteen shillings each.

LAWSUITS. One of the early suits in which the town was engaged came off in 1787. Col. Nathaniel Fifield sued Mathias Puffer, and the town voted to take up for the defendant, and chose Samuel Philbrick, Nathaniel Weed and James Hogg to act for the town in behalf of said Puffer.

Two years after, 1789, the town engaged in another pleasant bit of litigation. Abraham Melvin, of that generation, sued Jonathan Peaslee and Joseph Webster, the town's agents, for "a pair of Cart whiels, which is supposed to be Ephraim Hadley's." The defendants were beaten in this suit, and the town had the pleasure of paying £16 7s. to satisfy Mr. Melvin's execution.

The town sued or complained of Ephraim Hadley this year (1789). There was a little pauper in the play : one Ephraim Emerson. The court had ordered said Hadley to pay sixteen shillings a month towards the support of said Emerson, and the town tried to hold. the above-named cart-wheels as Hadley's against Melvin, who claimed them. It was a very entertaining case, and the church had something to do in the matter. John Hodgdon attended court at Amherst in these cases, and John Pickering was counsel for the town.

Daniel Clough, an old soldier, sued the town for services in the Revolution. He demanded near $3000, but the town finally settled the action by paying $30, -a very judicious arrangement.

The town, in 1805, had its great lawsuit with Priest Cayford

576

HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1839.

about one of the ministerial lots, and won it, as has been told. The priest had to move off and pay costs.

In 1839 began an interesting series of cases which lasted nearly thirty years. If roads were not good, they were indicted; if not laid out and built as wanted, the court's committee, in olden times, -the county commissioners at a later date, - were invited to lay them.

The first indictment was of the river road at Oil Mill. Mr. Gale had raised his dam at site twenty-two, flowed the road and badly washed it, up as far as James Emerson's. To settle it, the town raised $100 to repair the road, and chose John Page, John Hodg- don and Jonathan Worthley to do it. The town voted that, if Mr. Gale would not cut a sufficient sluiceway through his dam and obli- gate himself that the dam shall not again be raised to the damage of the town, they would prosecute him. Mr. Gale agreed to do so, but in 1810 the town, at its annual meeting, had to again threaten to prosecute to make him fulfil his agreement. The above com- mittee to repair were directed to prosecute.

Ebenezer Peaslee, in 1814, got the road indicted that led from Hopkinton, by Peaslee's mill, to William Whittle's, at Weare Center. There had been much trouble to get it laid out, and now the town would not keep it in repair. The town settled the matter by expending $150 on it.

The next year, 1815, there were several indictments of roads, petitions to the court to have new highways laid out, and efforts on the part of the town to have others discontinued.

The year 1822 brought two interesting suits for the town. The first was a pauper case, brought by the town of Hanover, as has been already told, and the second related to the boundary line be- tween Weare and Henniker. A Henniker man claimed that the south line of that town should be the south line of Hopkinton pro- duced. Weare claimed it should be seven rods north at its east end and seventeen at the west. The Henniker man sued the adjoining land-owner in Weare for trespass, and the question was, What and where was the boundary line ? As has been said before, Weare prevailed, because first surveyed and laid out; but she had to pay $22 for the expense of her committee and $24 for witnesses.

The road from Cross' mills, East Weare, through " Boston," to Peaslee's mill, was indicted in 1826, and the town chose Josiah Danforth and Abraham Morrill to defend.

577 -

LAWSUITS.

1827.]

A petition, in 1827, was presented to the town for a road from Hill's bridge in Hopkinton, down the valley of Choate brook, to Bassett's mill, below East Weare; and the town voted that the selectmen might build it, or not, as they thought proper. They did not conclude to build it, and there was a hard struggle in the court. The selectmen delayed it till 1832. This year James Wallace and Daniel Paige were chosen agents to oppose it. There was a long, full hearing, and in 1833 the court's committee decided that the road should be laid out and built. The town again delayed the matter in the court; in 1835 it was "voted to oppose that road from Hill's bridge to Bassett mill." But the town was beaten at all points, and in 1836 the selectmen were instructed to build the Bas- sett mill road as laid out by the court's order. When built, it was not the great thoroughfare from the north to the market towns below, as some thought it would be, although there was considerable travel over it.

Another petition was for a road from Henniker to North Weare through Moose bog, and the town voted to oppose it. The road was never built, but the railroad occupied the route for a number of years.

In 1832 Abraham Melvin, of a later generation, sued the town, and Moses Peaslee was chosen to defend.

Highway suits thickened in 1837, and Moses Peaslee was agent . to fight one near Baker's mill and another from Deering line.

The town of Deering sued Weare in 1838, won its suit, and in 1839 Weare voted to pay up the costs and review the action. Weare was successful in the second trial.

Andover sued Weare in 1843 on account of paupers, and William Woodbury was made agent to carry on the suit.

The dam at Oil Mill grew high again in 1853, and the town voted "to sue the Simons till they put it down to legal height."

Moses Lull was the occasion, in 1862, of Concord's suing Weare. The selectmen were authorized to conduct the suit.

There was a crookedness in the accounts of the selectmen in war times relative to putting in substitutes. The town in 1869 sued one of them, Elbridge Putnam, for its money that he had appro- priated by mistake. Robert Peaslee was agent to carry on the suit, and the town recovered $2700. One of the town books that con- tained the war accounts was lost in a most mysterious manner about this time.

578

HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1883.

Hiram S. Hoitt put in a claim this year, which the town voted to contest. It was for money which he had given towards building a road from Oil Mill to New Boston. The case was tried, and the town won it.

The town brought an action in 1883 against Dennis A. Paige, Edward G. Paige, heirs of Daniel Paige, Sabrina A. Paige and John W. Hanson, to recover a portion of the school fund, which was said to have been lost while in the hands of Daniel Paige. The action was warmly contested, several hearings were had, an ambiguous report made, and both parties becoming tired, the town voted in 1886 to drop the case, each side paying its own costs.

An interesting suit, relating to the legality of the election of the supervisors in 1885, is now pending, and the whole town is anxiously awaiting the result.

TOWN EXPENSES. The affairs of the town were managed very economically in early times. John Robie's bill for services as selectman in 1790 was not quite $17, or $50 for the three selectmen. The population of the town at that time was 1924. The bills for selectmen's services gradually increased for the next sixty years, but were not extravagant. In 1840, when the population was 2345, they were only about $50 for each of the three selectmen, or $150 in all. In 1846 Moses Peaslee's bill was only $52.50. In 1860 the bills of the three selectmen were only $200. After this, although the population of the town was decreasing each year, selectmen's bills rapidly increased. In 1878 they amounted to $366. The town thought this was outrageous, and in 1879, at the annual meeting, said that the population was much less, but the expenses of the town were three times as much as they were twenty-five years ago"; that laborers got but $1 a day and found scanty employment at that, and requested the selectmen to reduce the salaries of all town officers to correspond to old times, or as near to that as is consistent to the best interests of the town. But it did not do much good; the very next year the selectmen's bills were a trifle over $300; and in 1884 the officers had entirely forgotten the resolution of the town, Alonzo H. Woods' bill alone for services as selectman amounting to over $245, while the population was less than 1800.

PUBLISHING THE BANS. Some formality has always been had when people were to be married. They were cried in church for a great many years. The following is an interesting request about a publishment: -

579

PUBLICATIONS IN WEARE.

1794.]

" TO JOHN ROBIE ESQ.

" Sir I wish you woold not make aney Declaration of my Intantion of marige to aney Person untill my further order From yours to Sarve

" Dated at weare September 25. 1792 MEHETABEL PHILBRICK

" Sir you will much ablige me Iff you wold Kape the matter a Secret

" from yours to Sarve SAMLL PHILBRICK "

The above was a beautiful, little billet, done up about one inch wide by two long, and sealed with a wafer, as was the fashion in olden times.

The following beautiful specimen should be studied by all young lovers going about the same business : -

" WEARE September 29, 1800.

" Honoured Sir, I am so well satisfied in your Sublimity that I am persuaded you do not want your ears filled with old customs or appologizes but are compleetly ca- pable and well qualified to favor the cause in regard to the addresses of so near an acquaintance as I am, therefore it is my humble request and earnest Desire, that you should on Sunday next publish the bands of Marriage between myself and your lovely Daughter Lydia - and may Duties in every respect be complied with, and conformed too, by your affectionate Friend till time with him shall be no more

" from your affectionate and Dutiful Friend - EPHRAIM EASTMAN." *

PUBLICATIONS IN WEARE. Rev. Amos Wood, minister of the gospel in Weare, preached the election sermon June 5, 1794, at Amherst, "Before His Excellency John S. Gilman, Esq., Governor, The Honourable the Council, President of the Senate, Senate and House of Representatives." It was published at Portsmouth, by John Melcher, printer to the state, 1794, and was an able produc- tion.

Rev. Elbridge Trull, pastor of the Universalist society in Weare, published in pamphlet form a letter to Rev. John Atwood, pastor of the Calvinistic Baptist church and society in New Boston. The subject was "Sheol." Wilson & Carter, printers, Concord, 1835.

Jeremiah G. Davis published the Halestown Banner, February, 1865. It was an interesting paper, full of local history, anecdotes and matters relating to the town. Printed by H. A. Gage, Man- chester.

Three speeches made in the legislature by Hon. John L. Hadley,

* " WEARE Decr 10th 1796. .

" Sir As travelling is bad at this time, and with a view to avoid mistrust & pre- vent many conjectures, I take this singular manner to call on you to perform a small duty incumbent on you as Town Clerk (to wit) to make known in the usual and legal manner an intention of Marriage between me & Hannah Gove of this town; on sunday the 25th day of Decr inst, for the first time. I wish to keep the matter intirely to yourself till you make it known in Publick in due performance of your duty, for which I will see you compensated -resting with confidence, that my wislies will be granted to a punctilio as if verbally asked

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The history of Weare, New Hampshire, 1735-1888, Part 65

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