The history of Weare, New Hampshire, 1735-1888, Part 8

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 8

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In the House of Represents. Read & in answer to this petition -

Voted, That a tract of the Unappropriated lands of the Province of the Contents of six miles square be & hereby is granted to the Petrs their heirs and assigns Re- spectively for a Township to lye in some suitable place, so as not to spoil or incom- mode the settlement of another Town and that the Grantees be and hereby are obliged to bring forward the settlement of the said Township in as Regular and Defensible a manner as the Situation & circumstances of the place will admit of, in the following manner, Viz, that each Grantee or his heirs or assigns build an house on his respective Lot or share of eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least and plow and bring to English grass and fit for mowing six acres of land; and that they settle a learned Orthodox minister and build a convenient meeting house for the Public worship of God. That one sixty third part of the Township be and hereby is granted to the first settled minister, the like quantity for the use of the ministry, and the like quantity also for the use of the school in all the divisions of said township. That the said Grantees be and hereby are obliged to comply with all the conditions within five years, and that Robert Hale and John Wainwright, Esqrs with such as shall be appointed by the Hontle Board be a Committee to lay out the said township at the charge of the Province; and the Committee is directed to take Bond of each Grantee of Twenty pounds for the fulfilment of the conditions afore- said, the bond to be made to the Province Treasurer, and in case any of the Grantees fail of the performance of his Grant such person shall forfeit all right title or pre- tence thereto to the Province to be disposed of as this Court shall think proper, the Committee to return a plat of the said township to this Court within twelve months for confirmation.

In Council, Read and concurred, and Ebenezer Burrill Esqr. is joined with the Committee of the House for the above affair. June 19, 1735. Consented to J. BELCHER

t George Trow of Beverly, in a deed given to Colonel Hale, Nov. 25, 1736, of one right or share, says he gave a bond for it to the Committee of the General Court. - Reg. of Deeds, Records, Middlesex Co.

HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1735.

shares. But, sad to relate, the records of the grantees' meetings are lost .*

No name was given to the township in the grant by the General Court, but Colonel Hale being the first petitioner it was naturally called " Hales Town" for him. An old plan of Dunbarton has " Hales Town" on it for its western boundary. It was so called in many old deeds made from 1735 to 1764, and in the Masonian records at Portsmouth the name "Halestown" is found. But some times it simply appears as "the township of Hale." The name clung to it till long after the Revolution, and is popular even to this day.

The township had other names about this time; "to Beverly " appears; as its name on Thomas Jeffrey's map of New England, from surveys made 1740-50. This name was given to the township because most of the grantees lived in Beverly, and the name of that town stood for them.

"Beverly Canada" and "Canada to Beverly " were other names for it, for, as has been told, it was one of the nine Canada town- ships granted to the soldiers of King William's war. Douglass' Summary, written in 1746-49, and published in 1760, mentions these names.t

The commissioners, appointed by the House of Representatives and the Honorable Council, to make a plan of the township, hast- ened slowly in their work. " They employed William Gregg of Londonderry as surveyor, and Isaac Gray and Jeremiah Butman as chainmen, to lay out the land. It must have been late in the season when they crossed the Merrimack and went up the Piscataquog to Halestown. On their way, they tramped by walls of verdure brightened by the autumnal sun, saw forests festooned with grape vines, and streams alive with wild fowl. They built a camp by the old oak at the south-east corner of the town ; the tree is still grow- ing, though its top is partly dead. They then made an accurate survey and put the river on their map, with every crook and bend, as well as could be done to-day. It is more than probable that the whole committee with the surveyor and chainmen went to Hales- town. When they got to East Weare and swung round the great

*The following were some of the grantees: Rev. John Chipman, who was a brother-in-law of Colonel Hale; Jeremiah Person, Benjamin Lynde, James Lyndal, Thomas Boyd, George Hull (?), Joseph Hull (?).

t Douglass' Summary, vol. i, p. 424; N. H. Hist. Coll., vol. v., pp. 80, 86.

1735.]

PLAN SURVEYED BY WILLIAM GREGG.

Zwo Dags. Nolli of Gust 1980 Fall

Groocheers Gast of South.

830 0861

1980 will

north Branch

Part of the South Branch

The above is a plan of the grant made by the General Court, in 1735, to Capt. William Rayment and others, and surveyed by William Gregg.

HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1736.

bend of the river, the bald mountain in the south-west burst upon their vision, with its steep precipice standing out against the sky, and out of respect for the soldier they named it Mount William. Rainy days they staid in their camp and worked only when it was fair. The morning air was chill and sharp, the leaves were chang- ing their hue and beneath the oaks, chestnut and beech the ground was strewed with nuts. Squirrels chattered as they laid up their winter store, grouse were in great plenty, and wild turkeys gobbled in the solitudes.

They ran the south line first, on Lane's town, now New Boston, just surveyed by Jerahmel Cummings, to a great white-pine tree, at the south-west corner; the west line on ungranted land to a large hemlock at the north-west corner, the north line on the gore be- tween Halestown and No. 5 of the nine frontier towns for defence, now Henniker, and Hopkinton, to a " birch tree" on the line of Gorham Town, since called Starks town, now Dunbarton, and the east line on the latter town and Goffstown back to the old oak. Halestown contained, by this survey, 24,682 acres made up by the addition of 1642 acres allowed for the swag of chain and bad lands.

The next winter, Feb. 17, 1736, surveyor Gregg and the chain- men, Gray and Butman, went before Richard Saltonstall, justice of the peace, and made oath that in performing said service they acted faithfully and truly, according to the several trusts respectively reposed in them .*

* This plan is the Draught of a track of land Laiying on the Wast Sid of Meruy- mak River adjoining the South Sid to a Township Latly Survyd by Jerahmel Cum- mings and laid out to setesfy a grant made by the General Court to Capt William Rayment and others at there Sesions in May 1735 and Contains 24682 acers being of the Contants of six Mills Square with the adition of 1642 acars allowed for swag of Chaine and Bad Land.

Sorveyed by me WILLIAM GREGG Sorveyer

Londondery, Febwrary 17th 1736

Essex ss : February 17th 1736 Then William Gregg as Surveyr and Isaac Gray and Jeremiah Butman as Chainmen who laid out the Land above described made oath that in performing said Service they acted faithfully and truly according to the several Trusts respectively reposcd in them.

before RICHA SALTONSTALL Jus Pae

In the House of Representatives March 19th 1736, Read and ordered That the plat be accepted and the lands therein deliniated and described be and hereby are con- firmed to the heirs deseendants or lawful Representatives of the said Capt William Rayment late of Beverly deceased and the other Grantees mentioned in the petition of Robert Hale Esqr in their behalf passed this Court in their late Sitting, and to their heirs and assigns respectively forever, provided the plat exceeds not the quantity of six miles square and sixteen hundred and forty two acres allowed for swag of Chain and bad land within the tract, and does not interfere with any former Grant, provided also the petitioners Grantces their heirs or assigns comply with the conditions of the Grant

Sent up for Coneurrenec.

J. QUINCY Spkr

Mar 20, 1736. In Couneil Read & Coneurd SIMON FROST, Deput Seery 24 Consented to J. BELCHER

HALESTOWN DEEDS.

1736.]

March 19, 1736, the plan and return were received and read in the House of Representatives, and it was ordered that it be accepted and the lands confirmed to the heirs, descendants, or lawful rep- resentatives of Capt. William Raymond and the other grantees, provided the plat contains no more land than it purports; does not interfere with any former grant, and the grantees comply with its conditions. J. Quincy, the speaker, sent it up to the Honorable Council for concurrence; March 20th, Simon Frost, deputy secretary of the province, certified that the council concurred, and March 24th, Jonathan Belcher, the governor, consented to the same.

In 1736 there was much selling and buying of rights or shares in all the Narraganset towns, towns for defence and Canada towns.

In Beverly, as the record shows, March 3, 1736, Joseph Mor- gan, one of the soldiers who served under Capt. William Raymond, sold to Dr. Robert Hale, for £10, his right in Halestown.

March 15th, John Grover, whose father, John Grover, was one of the soldiers, sold for 20s. his right, to Doctor Hale.

March 29th, Thomas Pitman, for £14, sold to Doctor Hale two rights which he held as heir of his two brothers, James and Law- rence Dennis, "who were two of those soldiers."

Nov. 25th, for £16, George Trow sold to Dr. Robert Hale his right, "for which he gave a bond to the committee of the General Court."

There was no place to record the deeds, said townships not having been assigned to any counties. The General Court of Massachusetts, to remedy this, to preserve the king's peace and that common justice might be done, enacted, Feb. 2, 1737, that all the townships and places in the Merrimack valley should be a part of the county of Middlesex ; those in the Connecticut valley a part of Hampshire county, and some between the two valleys should be joined to the county of Worcester .*

Of course all these Halestown deeds and those afterwards made were at once recorded in the registry of deeds at Cambridge. In these records we find one that recites that Robert Hale, March 9, 1738, sold to Gersham Keyes for £100, current money of New Eng- land, three hundred acres in "the township of Hale," that lies about eight miles westerly of Merrimack river and adjoins the north side of the township granted to John Simpson and others, and lies

* Fogg's Gaz., p. 15.

HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1737.

on the south side of said township of Hale, its southeast corner being just about one and three-fourths miles west from the south- east corner of " said township," being one-half mile west of the sixty acre house lots and from thence extends westerly upon the said township line three hundred rods, thence running north, east and south, making a square large enough to contain the three hun- dred acres. This tract was confirmed to Doctor Hale by the grantees, Dec. 9, 1737.

Gersham Keyes mortgaged this land to Joseph Heath, April 3, 1738, as security to raise money.

Keyes also sold to Doctor Hale, June 6, 1738, one full right or share in a certain township called Hale, lying in the county of Middlesex, on the north side of the Piscataquog river, being "the right No. 13," and the same which draws " home lot No. 5."

What was done by the proprietors of "the township of Hale " is mostly under a cloud. Only a few things like these records, found in the state archives and in the registry of deeds, peer out through the fog which envelops our history of these early times.

That the proprietors held meetings, chose officers, passed votes and raised money is certain. They held one Dec. 9, 1737, as we have just seen, when they confirmed the three hundred acres to Doctor Hale.

That they sent committees to the township to select a place to set the " Public Meeting-House " for the worship of God, to lay out the "Public Burying-Place," to locate the "Public Training-Field," and to run out the lots for the minister, the ministry and the school is not so certain. This was done in the neighboring township of Am- herst* and the chairman of the committee to do it there was our own Dr. Robert Hale. Why he should not have done it for his own town as well as for Amherst we can not see.

Settlements were soon begun in Bedford, Goffstown, New Boston, Amherst and Hopkinton. Why should they not have been in Halestown as well? The dimmest kind of a tradition comes down through the haze, that clearings were made and a few log cabins built before the settlement of the boundary line in 1740, but there is nothing certain about it, and if it was so they were. afterwards al- lowed to grow up to bushes and the cabins go to decay.

It is told how an effort was made to settle one of the required

* History of Amherst, p. 35.

ROBIESTOWN.

1735.]

families of New Boston about 1735-45, and by mistake it got into Halestown. The tradition comes through the Clements who lived, long after, at Oil Mill.

One of New Boston's proprietors, from Newbury, Mass., wishing to comply with the terms of the grant, thought to set up his old negro as a family in his township. So he built that kind of a hab- itation known as a dug-out in the side of a hill, put in a large flat rock for a fire-back, and made a hole out through the ground for a smoke flue with a hollow log as a chimney top. Soon after the master went home and left the poor darkey in the woods. The latter was very pious and thought his master had committed an unpardonable sin in leaving him there, so he began to pray for him; to the Lord to keep him, to the devil not to touch him. Just then an old bear looked down through the chimney hole; darkey thought it was the devil sure, and in his simplicity cried out, "Oh, good devil! Oh, dear devil! please don't look here for old massa, he has gone home to Newbury, and if you wont trouble him he 'll never come back any more." It is said the bear left at once, the negro ran to the nearest New Boston cabin, and that was the last of the would-be first family of Halestown .*

CHAPTER IX. ROBIESTOWN .¡

THE settlement of the state line in 1740, as has been told, located Halestown and many other Massachusetts grants in New Hamp- shire. The Lord Proprietors, a few years after, 1746, bought of John Tufton Mason5 the rights of Capt. John Mason1, and thinking to make a fortune out of them, at once began to make grants of

* James Priest says the negro, who was once a slave, had his cellar on lot 5 in the Gore; that Mrs. James Simons, who is the great-granddaughter of Jonathan Clement, states that the negro, whose name was Adam, returned to Halestown about 1760 and lived there many years.

t The records of Robiestown were destroyed many years ago. One of the town clerks of Weare, thinking it too much work to take care of them, burned them. This wise man does not deserve to be remembered. A few memoranda made on slips of paper by Meshech Weare, when he was proprietors' clerk, are all the records that are left to us. These afterwards fell into the hands of John Farmer, a noted anti- quarian, who donated them to Hon. Joseph Philbrick, then the fittest man in Weare to have them. Hon. J. G. Dearborn, one of the committee to publish this history, had the good luck to find them at Lynn, Mass., in the possession of the daughter of Mr. P.

HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1748.

townships to large bodies of associated men called town proprietors. The Masonian Proprietors did this by vote, and in addition to the fees received at the outset, they reserved a part of the land for themselves, which they believed would be greatly enhanced in value by the settling and improvement of the adjacent lands.

The Lord Proprietors, who mostly lived at Portsmouth, once Strawberry Bank, New Hampshire's only seaport, met, Dec. 21, 1748, at the dwelling house of Sarah Rust in that town and "voted That Mr. Weare* and ye Persons to be his associates and the other persons agreed upon have a township equal to six miles square at a place called Hales Town upon such conditions, restric- tions & reservations as shall hereafter be agreed upon."t

It was then necessary for the Lord Proprietors to make some settlement with the old proprietors of Halestown, and Feb. 15, 1749, it is recorded "That Col. Joseph Blanchard be desired and empow- ered to confer [with] Coll Robt Hale a principal proprietor in Hales Town so called & adjust a settlement of said Hales Town with said Coll Hale upon such Terms and Conditions as have been or shall be agreed upon by & between sd. Hale & ye Proprietors [of] Mason's Right." #

Colonel Blanchard acted; and an arrangement was made by which Colonel Hale and a few other of the Halestown proprietors, who had got all the rights into their hands, should come in and make up the number of the town proprietors of a new grant.

The matter slept till Sept. 11, 1749, when notice was given that a meeting of the Lord Proprietors would be held the 20th instant ; first, to receive the reports of any committees to treat with settlers; second, of those appointed to take plans of lands laid out into town- ships ; third, to fix on the terms to dispose of lands to settlers;

* Meshech Weare, son of Hon. Nathaniel Weare, was born at Hampton Falls, June 16, 1713. He graduated at Harvard in 1735, studied for the ministry and preached for a short time. Having married a lady possessed of a large landed estate, he soon re- linquished his calling and devoted himself to the care of his wife's property. He also held important civil offices; was an active magistrate, represented his town for a great number of years in the General Court, and served first as a justice and then as chief justice of the superior court of judicature, which place he filled with integrity and satisfaction to the public He was also colonel of a regiment of militia under the royal government, and, in 1754, was a commissioner to Albany to consult and pro- vide for the best means of conduct in the old French and Indian War. At the com- mencement of the Revolution he was made chairman of the committee of safety, and when the courts of law were organized he was also placed at the head of the judicial de- partment. He continued in both offices till 1784, when a constitution and form of government was established, and he was almost unanimously elected chief execu- tive magistrate by the style of His Excellency the President of the State. He declined a re-election on account of age and infirmities, and died Jan. 15, 1786, aged 72 years and 7 months.

t Lord Proprietors' Records, vol. i, p. 28.

Į Masonian Records at Portsmouth, vol. i, p. 53.

THE GRANT.

1749.]

fourth, to raise money to pay charges, and fifth, to do any thing else that may be thought proper.

The Lord Proprietors met Sept. 20, 1749. Hon. Richard Wibird was chosen moderator, and then they voted to Ichabod Robie * and his associates, one of whom was Mr. Weare, that tract of land hith- erto called Halestown.t

Ichabod Robie and his associates, eighty in number, were the town proprietors. Most of them lived in Hampton Falls, a few in Hampton and other towns near by, and " the other persons agreed upon," in Beverly and the towns near there. Among them were one colonel, three captains, one lieutenant, two esquires, two minis- ters, two deacons, and one widow.

THE BOUNDS were slightly changed from those of Halestown. Instead of leaving the gore on the north side, as it was by Gregg's survey, it was left on the south side, and instead of commencing at the old oak tree at the south-east corner of Halestown, they began at

* Ichabod Robie, the first in the list of town proprietors, was born in Haverhill, Mass., in 1683. His grandfather, Henry Robie, came from England to Dorchester, Mass., in 1639, went to Exeter and settled the same year and was one of the select- men in that place in 1650. John Robie, Ichabod's father, lived in Haverhill, Mass., where he built a house in 1675-77, as recorded in the public records in accordance with a law passed in 1660. John's wife died in 1691, leaving him a family of seven small children, the eldest not eleven years old. June 16th, that year, while moving, he was killed by the Indians on the road, and his whole family captured. This was in the time of King William's war. Ichabod, then but eight years old, soon managed to escape, went to Dover to live and there learned the tanner's trade. In 1703 he came to Hampton Falls and settled on what is now the old Robie homestead, occupied at present by Nathan Henry Robie. Here he carried on the tanning business, and the remains of his old vats are still to be seen. He married Mary Cass, by whom he had one or more children, and died in 1752. By his will he gave his grandson, Ichabod Robie, two 100-acre lots, Nos. 49 and 50, range three, in Weare. Samuel Robie, grand- son of Ichabod 2d, came to Weare to live and owned the north half of these lots.

t "PROVINCE OF 1 Notice is hereby given to the Proprietors of the land pur- NEW HAMPSHIRE : chased of John Tufton Mason Esquire, in the Province of New Hampshire, that there will be held a meeting of said Proprietors at the dwelling house of Sarah Rust, Widow, in Portsmouth, in said Province, on Wednesday the twentieth day of September inst, at five of the Clock afternoon, then and there at said meeting-

"Ist To receive the reports of any committee or Persons appointed to treat with settlers.

"2nd To receive the reports of Persons appointed to take plans of lands to be laid out in Townships.

"3rd To consult or resolve upon Terms of disposing of lands to Purchasers or Settlers.

"4th To consider what may be done in respect to any growing changes of the pro- priety and raising of money to defray the same, and to vote and Transact any other matters, or things that may be thought proper to be done at said meeting. " Portsmouth

Sept. the 11th day, 1749. ) " THOS WALLINGFORD. J. ODIORNE. NATHA MESERVE. JOHN WENTWORTH.

" THEODORE ATKINSON. R. WIBIRD.

JOS BLANCHARD. MARK H. WENTWORTH.

JOSHA PEIRCE. THOMAS PACKER.

GEO. JAFFREY. JOHN MOFFATT.

D. PEIRCE.

" A true copy, attest, GEO. JAFFREY, Proprs Clerk.

" PROVINCE OF } Pursuant to a notification, dated the eleventh day of Septem- NEW HAMPSHIRE : { ber 1749, notifying the proprietors of the lands purchased of John

HISTORY OF WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[1749.

the north-west corner of a tract of land lately granted to Archibald Stark and others (now Dunbarton), thence running south 85° west, six miles, thence south 2° cast six miles, thence north 85° east six miles, thence north 5° west to the corner first mentioned.

THE RIGHTS OR SHARES, of which there were one hundred, were equally divided among the eighty town proprietors, with seventeen reserved for the Lord Proprietors and one each for the first settled minister, the ministry and a school, " on the terms, conditions and limitations here-in-after expressed "; viz :-

THE MINISTER who should first settle in town should have one share.

THE MINISTRY one; the income of which shall go for the support of the gospel ; the one hundred acre lots of these shares to be laid out as near the place where the meeting-house shall be built as may be, and these are not to be drawn as the other lots.

THE SCHOOL should have one share for its use and support for- ever.

THE CENTER SQUARE shall contain six acres, and be left at some convenient place for a meeting-house, school-house, training-field, burying-ground and any other public use.

Tufton Mason, Esq. in the Province of New Hampshire, to meet at the Dwelling-house of Sarah Rust, Widow, in Portsmouth in said Province, on Wednesday the twentieth day of said September, at five of the Clock afternoon.

" September ye 20th day 1749, at five of the clock afternoon, at the Dwelling-house of Sarah Rust, Widow, the Proprietors of the Lands purchased of John Tufton Mason, Esq mcet. -

"Voted that the Honorable Richard Wibird Esq be moderator for this meeting.

" Voted that there be, and hereby is, granted unto Ichabod Robie Esq., Henry Robie, Capt. Samuel Prescutt, Josiah Batchelder, Mesheck Weare, Esq., Joseph Prescutt, Jon- athan Green, Junr. Joseph Batchelder, Benjamin Hilliand, Jacob Stanyan, Jeremiah Pearson, John Clifford, Jonathan Swain, Jonathan Gove, John Gove, Junr. John Brown, Capt. Thomas Cram, Enoch Barker, Capt. Jathro Tilton, Henry Thresher, Reuben Sanborn, Enoch Sanborn, Ebenezer Sanborn, Abner Sanborn, Abner Sanborn, Junr. Enoch Gove, Bradbury Green, Walter Williams, Thomas Boyd, David Tilton, Daniel Robie, Jacob Brown, Judith Quimby, Widow, Nathan Brown, Richard Nason, Abner Philbrick, Jonathan Hillyand, Jonathan Steward, Samuel Prescutt, Junr. Pain Row, Caleb Bennet, Samuel Robic, Elisha Batchelder, John Loverin, Caleb Sanborn, Edward Gove, Ebenezer Prescutt, Elisha Prescutt, Nathan Tilton, Theophitus Batch- elder, Benjamin Sweet, Jeremiah Bennett, Timothy Blake, Junr. Simon Fogg, Thomas Brown, John Green, Hezekiah Jenness, Jonathan Fifield, Samuel Lane, John Robic, Timothy Fuller, James Prescutt, William Prescutt, Benjamin Bancroft, John Gage, Esq. James Lindall, Ebenezer Flagg, Joseph Meserve, Joseph Jackson, Peter Shores, Richard Evans, William Walker, Colo. Hale, Joseph Hull, George Hull, Reuben San- born, Junr., Nathan Green, Benjamin Lynde, Esq., the Rev. John Chipman, and Tim- othy Walker, - in equal shares on the Terms, conditions and limitations herein-after expressed. - All that Tract of land within the Province of New Hampshire containing the extent and quantity of six Miles sqnarc, bounded as follows, viz, Beginning at the north westerly corner of a Tract of land lately granted by said Proprietors to Archibald Stark and others, thencc running south eighty five degrees West six miles, thence south two degrees, East six iniles, thence north eighty five degrees cast six miles, thencc north five degrees, west to the corner first mentioned, so as to make up the said quantity of six miles square and no more. To have and to hold to them their heirs and assigns in equal shares on the following terms conditions and limita- tions, - That is to say that the whole Tract of land within the said Boundaries (sav- ing what is herein-after Mentioned to be otherwise Improved) be divided into one hundred Rights or Shares, and each share into two Distinct Lots, one of which is to Contain One hundred Acres, and the other, all the rest of the land belonging to cach

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The history of Weare, New Hampshire, 1735-1888, Part 8

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