USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Lyndeborough > The history of the town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire,1735-1905 > Part 14
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3. Vote, to consult Proprietors to aid in deciding on the place, & to call Rev. Antipas Steward as pastor.
4. The latter's salary is not to be specified at this meeting.
5. Benjamin Cram, Sergt. John Hutchinson, & Jacob Cram
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were appointed a committee to see what encouragement the Pro- prietors will give toward Mr. Steward's settlement.
6. Voted that the southeast corner of the town have preaching one fourth of the time at Jacob Cram's house.
Dec. 12, 1765,-
At a meeting held on this date at the meetinghouse Voted,-
I. Benjamin Cram, Moderator.
2. The proposal to build a meetinghouse on 2nd. division Lot. No. 69, near its N. E. corner &c. Negatived.
3. To dismiss the proposal to give Mr. Antepas Steward a call to the ministry.
4. To settle with the Treasurer of the proprietors in regard to money received for preaching, & Jacob Wellman be the commit- tee to carry out the same.
5. To dismiss article five, in regard to hiring preaching in the winter.
6. Cleared Mr. William Carson & Mr. Jeremiah Carleton from paying personal rates this year. The proposal to clear Mr. John Rand Esq., was negatived.
John Stephenson, Clerk.
DISSENT.
Several freeholders present at this meeting entered an earnest dissent against passing votes "to build a meeting-house near the N. E. corner of 2nd. division Lot No. 69, forty feet long by thirty feet wide, with eighteen feet posts, on condition that the Proprietors pay 26{ 13s. & 4d. towards the building." This was the second article of the warrant; and the third was to see if the town would extend a call to Mr. Steward to become their pastor, and ascertain what assistance the proprietors would give to encourage him in settling here. The dissentients record themselves as follows : "Against said 2nd. & 3rd. articles being voted, we do not yeald or consent unto it for the Reasons that followeth ; viz. we think the dementions of the house are not Properly Given ; but if they ware we are not able to defray the charges ; besides we are of opinion that the place is very dis- comodious for setting a Meeting House, & that we are not able to settle and soport a minister : -
Joseph Wilkins Phineas Barker
George Hutchinson Jacob Cram James Hutchinson
Richard Boynton
Jacob Wellman
William Carson Jr.
James Johnson
John Carkin
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
Edward Bevins
John Hutchinson
Edward Bevins Jr.
Benjamin Richardson
John Johnston
John Hutchinson, Sergt.
Adam Johnson
The above is a true Record of a discent brought in to the Last Town Meeting - true copy - Att. John Stephenson, Town Clerk.
In answer to the petition of the town for fixing on a place for the meetinghouse, the Proprietors of Lyndeborough, at their meeting at Mr. Somerville's in Salem, Mass., on Nov. 12, 1765, voted, " That the meetinghouse be set near the N. East corner of second division Lot. No. 69, belonging to John Goold, he alowing the ten acres ordered by charter to be set off for pub- lick use; provided also that the inhabitants build a suitable house for publick worship of the dimentions following, viz. forty feet long and thirty feet wide, on the Proprietors paying towards the purchase of glass, nails, and other materials the sum of Twenty-six pounds, Thirteen shillings and Four pence, Lawful Money."
Voted, " That for the encouragement of a learned Orthodox minister settling in the ministry among the people at Lynde- borough, there be paid to the order of said town the sum of Thirty-three Pounds, Six shillings & Eight pence annually for the space of five years from the settlement of a minister, he continuing to discharge the office & duty of a gospel minister to said people."
Voted, "That as a further encouragement for such minister's settlement in the ministry at said place, there be granted two hundred acres of Land to such person, his heirs & assigns for ever, and to be laid out by the proprietors."*
True Copy, Benja Lynde, Proprietors' Clerk.
Att. True Copy Examined, John Stephenson, T. Clerk. Jan. 16, 1766.
On this date, a town meeting held in the meetinghouse.
I. Chose Benjamin Cram, Moderator, and voted, to adjourn the meeting to Mr. Ebenezer Caston's house. (now C. R. Boutwell place).
2. Voted, "by Pole to Except of the Proposals " made by
* T. R. I., page 18.
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THE PROVINCIAL CHARTER
the Proprietors of the town in answer to the petition of the town Respecting a Meeting-house.
3. Voted to choose a committee consisting of Ephraim Put- nam, John Stephenson & George Goold, to imform the Proprie- tors of their action.
On Dec. 3, 1765, occurred one of the instances of a custom, common in those early days, of warning out of the town any recent comer who had no good means of self-support, and was therefore likely to become a burden on the town. When in the opinion of Edward Bevins Jr. such a person was on the ground, he notified his associates on the board of selectmen of the fact, and they issued a warrant expressed in these words: "Pur- suant therefore to the Law of this Province in such cases made and provided, you are hereby in his Majesty's name required instantly to warn the said (person named) to depart and leave this town." The warrant was signed by the two remaining selectmen, John Stephenson and David Badger.
Rev. Mr. Clark gives an amusing instance of one constable who performed a duty of this kind "with great official impor- tance," saying "I have come Mr. Wilkins to warn you off the face of God's earth ; so now you step ! " *
The warrant for the town-meeting, March II, 1766, had a postscript added to it, from the inhabitants of the S. E. corner of the town, desiring either to have the meeting-house brought nearer to them, or to be cleared "from the charge or part of the charge of building the meeting-house and settling a minis- ter, excepting his yearly salary."
Town Meeting at the meetinghouse. Voted,
I. Benjamin Cram be moderator.
2. Benjamin Cram, John Stephenson and Sargt. John Hutch- inson be selectmen.
3. John Stephenson, Town Clerk.
Also, to repair, accept, and lay out various roads ; and ad- journed to March 13, at ten o'cl. a. m. at the meetinghouse.
Met according to adjournment. Voted to warn town meet- ings by setting up two warrants; one at Benjamin Cram's house, and the other at John Hutchinson's, in the S. E. corner of the town.
Voted, Ephraim Putnam, Melchizedek Boffee, and George Gould a committee to supply the pulpit.
* S .- C., page 31.
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
Voted, to concur with the church in completing a call to Rev. A. Steward.
Voted, To give him an annual salary of 40% sterling until there are seventy families, and after that, Forty-five pound, until there are a hundred families ; and after that 50€, an- nually.
Voted, That the supply committee extend the call.
Voted, To dismiss the Postscript.
July 1, 1766. At a legal meeting of this date
First. Voted, Jacob Wellman, Moderator.
Second. Voted, that the selectmen lay out a road from Jacob Wellman's to Amherst line, near Stephen Peabody's ;
Thirdly, Voted, another road proposed, in the negative.
July 21 At a legal meeting, the Rev. Daniel Wilkins of Amherst being present was chosen moderator.
Voted, That, in order that the most easterly inhabitants of the town may cordially join with the others in settling the gospel, that the meeting-house be built about half way between where it was fixed by the Proprietors of this township, and where the meeting-house now stands, that is, before the door of Mr. Gould's house, where a heap of stone is this instant laid by the inhabitants of the town; Provided the Proprietors con- sent thereto, as in the former place by them voted.
The meeting was adjourned, to the spot here described, when the vote was passed.
Aug. 7. A legal meeting was held and voted :
I. That Jonathan Cram be Moderator.
2. Chose a committee to consult the Proprietors and see whether they will concur with the town in setting a meeting- house where the town last voted ; and also to see if they will grant any further encouragement towards a minister's settle- ment. The committee were Ephraim Putnam, Jonathan Cram, and Jacob Wellman.
Sept. 4, 1766. A legal meeting held on this date.
Chose Ephraim Putnam, Moderator.
Voted, the Proprietors having concurred in the change, to build the meeting-house in front of George Gould's house, where a heap of stones was laid by the inhabitants on July 21, 1766.
Voted, To give Mr. Antipas Steward a call.
Voted John Johnson, Jonathan Cram and John Glover a com- mittee to procure land for a meetinghouse spot.
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THE PROVINCIAL CHARTER
Mr. Antipas Steward declined the call given. Possibly the dissentions about the location and building of the meeting-house influenced his decision. But, at a legal meeting held Jan. 20, 1767, the very next meeting of the town after this, the town voted " to give Mr. Sewall Goodridge a call to settle with us." They voted for " his incorigemint to settle, Fifty Pounds "star- ling money of Grate Brittan," twenty-five to be paid within one year after his settlement, and the residue within the second year after. The remaining terms of his salary were the same as those offered Mr. Steward.
It was voted that the moderator, Jonathan Cram, together with Ephraim Putnam and Benjamin Cram give Mr. Goodridge the call.
TOWN MEETING, Feb. 13, 1767.
At the meeting held on this date the usual steps were taken to obtain assistance from the proprietors; and further to see if they would grant the minister, provided he shall accept the call, the privilege of his selecting the 200 acre farm which they had voted him ; or if he did not settle with them, to see if they would permit the town to choose such a farm out of the common and undivided land.
March 10, 1767 .- At the annual meeting the customary offic- ers were chosen and necessary appropriations made for expenses.
Dec. 10 .- Met at the meetinghouse. Voted,
I. Jonathan Cram for Moderator.
2. To build a meetinghouse next year, 50 ft. long, by 40 ft. wide, with twentytwo feet studs ; the outside to be decently fin- ished, and the lower floor laid by the Sep. Ist. next ensuing.
3. To raise 80{ to carry on the work, & a committee of five men, viz. Benjamin Cram, Jonathan Cram, Sergeant John Hutchinson, Levi Spaulding, and James Boutwell, was chosen to complete it.
Town meeting, Dec. 24, 1767. Voted,
I. Jonathan Cram as Moderator.
2. To give Mr. Sewall Goodridge a call to settle in the minis- try in this town ; and further,
3. That Jonathan Cram, Benjamin Cram, and Ephraim Put- nam be committee to extend Mr. Goodridge's call.
4. To adjourn this meeting to Jan. 5, 1768.
The adjourned meeting was held, and Ephraim Putnam was chosen to carry his answer from Mr. Goodridge, and the condi- tions attached to the Proprietors.
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
Voted, To adjourn this meeting to Jan. 21.
Met according to adjournment, and again,
Voted, To adjourn to the 2nd. Tuesday in Mar. next, (Mar. 8, 1768.)
Met accordingly on Mar. 8.
Voted, To adjourn to the first Monday in May next, (May 2nd. )
May 2 .- Voted, To concur with the church in the ordination of Mr. Sewall Goodridge.
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Lyndeboro' upon adjourn- ment on the 5th. day of January 1768, at the meetinghouse
Voted in order to receive Mr. Sewall Goodridge's answer to the foregoing call, that Ephraim Putnam is committee to carry Mr. Goodridge's answer or the conditions of his answer to the Proprietors of this Township.
Voted, to continue the adjournmint of this meeting to thirsday the twenty first day of this Instant January, at ten of the clock, in the forenoon, at the meetinghouse.
true copy, Att # John Stephenson & Town Clerk.
At the adjournmint of a meeting of the Town of Lyndsbor- ough on the twenty first day of January 1768, at the meeting- house, --
Voted to adjourn this meeting to the Second tusday in March next, at Nine Oclock in the forenoon at the meetinghouse.
copy att # John Stephenson { Town Clerk.
At a meeting of the Inhabitents of Lyndsborough, at the meetinghouse, upon adjournmint on March the Eighth, 1768, (being a Tuseday) at nine o'clock in the forenoon : -
Voted, to Continue the adjournmint of this meeting to the first monday in may next, at two of the clock in the afternoon at the meetinghouse.
true copy att # John Stephenson } Town Clerk.
: At the meeting of the Inhabitents of Lyndsborough upon ad- jurnmint on may 2ª, 1768, at the meetinghouse -
Voted, to concur with the Church in the Choice of the after- mentioned Pastors & Churches to performe the solemnite of the ordination of Mr. Sewall Goodridge over the Church of Christ in this Place, on wednesday the seventh day of September next, (viz.) Revª Mr. Zabdial Adams,- Revd John Payson - Revd Nathaniel Merrill, Revd Daniel Wilkins - Revd Daniel
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THE PROVINCIAL CHARTER
Emerson - Revª Joseph Emerson,-Revd Stephen Farrar,- Revª Jonathan Livermore - and Revd Joseph Kidder .*
Messrs. John Stevenson, Melchizedek Boffee, and George Gould were chosen a committee to provide entertainment for the council, and also for the relatives of Mr. Goodridge.t
The bills for entertainment amounted to the handsome sum of Fortyeight Pounds, four shillings & six pence, silver, Old Tenor.#
But the location of the meetinghouse was an irrepressible source of trouble. At a town-meeting held in April|| a request made by Josiah Dutton and others from the western part of the town, for better accommodation as to the place of the meeting- house received consideration. Those who made the request and the rest of the town, mutually agreed to refer the case to a com- mittee jointly chosen. The committee consisted of three promi- nent and judicious men, which were, Col. John Goffe of Bedford, Col. Samuel Barr, of Londonderry, and Col. John Hale of Hollis. After due attention and deliberation concerning the matter, they decided upon the spot already selected, where a monument of stones had been laid, and stated that that spot or "as near that as the Land will admit, in our opinion, is the most suitable place for erecting the meetinghouse in the Town of Lynde- borough."
Signed John Goffe Samuel Barr John Hale
Com.§
ESTIMATED COST OF MEETINGHOUSE.
The town, on date here given, Nov. 1, 1768, voted to accept "acompts " of the committee for the cost of the meetinghouse which was " One thousand thirty seven Pounds Eight shillings & seven pence, silver, old tenor; of which Eighty Pounds, Lawful Money is raised."T
They voted to raise £53, 6s. and 8d. to pay the remaining charge of the building .** They voted also to have 20 pews around by the walls, and four back of the body seats. The pews were to be appraised by a committee, and the highest payer of rates was to have first choice of pews as appraised, the second highest payer, next choice, and so on. The money received was to be laid out in finishing the house.tt
John Stephenson, Osgood Carlton and Jacob Wellman were
*For a full account of the ordination, see chapter on the church history.
IT. R. I. pp. 40, 41. #Ib., p. 46. (Records again abridged.) ||April 11, 1768.
§ T R.'S I. pp. 23, 44. T See T. R., I, p. 36 ** Ib., p. 47. tt T. R., I, p. 51.
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
chosen a committee to lay out and appraise the spots for the pews.
Nov. 28, 1769, a committee consisting of Adam Johnson, Osgood Carlton and Jacob Wellman was appointed to examine the land allowed for the meeting-house, and see that its bounds were properly described and recorded.
The land was 22 rods long on the west side, 23 rods on the east side, 712 rods on the north end, and 11 rods on the south end, on the west side of the road .*
Mar. 16, 1770, the town voted to have 26 pews on the lower floor, exclusive of the parsonage pew, and 22 pews in the gallery, 48 in all. The parsonage pew seems not to have been counted. Spots for the pews were sold on the 7th of Nov., 1770, for 189 pounds, L. M., John Shepard Esq. acting as salesman ; and it hardly seems as though they could have had a very dry time of it. For the bills for "Liquer, Vittels, Horse- keeping, and Other Perticulars were 9%. 4s. 6d."
In one of the warrants for a town meeting in 1771, was an article which aimed, "To see if the Town will take aney method to prevent the Snow Blowing in threw the Ruf of the Backside of the meetinghouse; " and on this matter they voted to " Pint the Backside of the Ruf."
At the March meeting in 1772, the price of labor for men and oxen on the highways was fixed from the middle of April to the last of October, by vote as follows : Two shillings a day for a man, and one shilling and four pence a day for a pair of oxen, nine and one half pence for a cart : and from the first of November to the middle of April, one shilling and six pence a day for a man, and one shilling for a pair of oxen ; one shilling and four pence for a plow, and the other articles that men work with in proportion.
The matter of special interest in the town records for the year 1773 was the petition of the inhabitants to the Court at Amherst, then, the shire town, for the repeal of a financial grievance. This arose in the following way. John Holland of Amherst, a deputy sheriff, brought suit against one Joseph Kelley of Hudson, and obtained judgment against him for the sum of £83. Kelley failed to secure bondsmen, and was im- prisoned. But he, together with another prisoner, escaped from jail, and left Holland to take care of his own finances. This he did by petitioning the Court for a grant to atone for
* T. R. I, p. 76.
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his loss, and the Court so decreed it. The £83 therefore was added to the county taxes, forming as the petitioners thought, an unjust and grievous burden, and a precedent liable to be repeated whenever an unprincipled man could win the favor of the Court in a similar case. There were also circumstances which suggested official connivance in connexion with the escape. Nearly all the towns in the county united in a peti- tion for redress.
This town voted unanimously to send John Stephenson and Nathaniel Phelps to join in a request that the Court would reconsider the grant made to Holland, and direct the County " Treasurer not to pay the same."*
When at the session of Court, "the Question was put whether the Court would Issue an order to the treasurer to revoke the former order and it passed in the Negative, Ordered therefore that the petition be Dismissed.
Copy Attest J. Holland."t
He seems to have been Clerk of that Court. But the people of Lyndeborough were not satisfied. Consequently on Nov. I, 1773, the Town voted to send John Stephenson as agent to petition the General Court, or Legislature, for a repeal of the grievances they suffer on account of Capt. Kelly's "escape out of Goal." But, all seems to have been of no avail. For in the House, Jan. 21, 1774, the petition was dismissed. It was a bit of interesting and instructive reading however. #
It will be remembered that this was the year, 1773, of the ap- palling calamity connected with the raising of the Wilton meet- ing-house. The event is not properly a part of our town his- tory. But, to such an extent were our citizens sufferers in consequence of it, that no history of that period would be at all adequate to our situation, which should not contain some account of it. We are, therefore, glad to reproduce a passage from the account of the Wilton Centennial, which describes for us in fitting language, the awful occasion.
CASUALITIES OF LYNDEBOROUGH MEN AT THE RAISING OF THE WILTON MEETING-HOUSE.
The following graphic account of the event is from the oration of Rev. Ephraim Peabody, at the centennial celebration of Wil- ton, in 1839.
They commenced raising it Sept. 7, 1773. Such things
* Bouton IX, p. 23. t Ib. p. 24. # Bouton XI, pp. 63 to 65.
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
were conducted differently then from what they are now. It was considered the work of two days. People came from dis- tant towns to see the spectacle. There was great note of prep- aration. A committee of the town appointed the raisers, and ample provisions were made to entertain strangers.
It was a beautiful September morning. And now might be seen coming in by every road, and from the neighboring towns, great numbers, men, women and children, to see the show. Some came on foot ; some practiced the method, unknown in modern days, of riding and tying ; some were on horseback, with their wives or sisters behind on a pillion. It was an occa- sion of universal expectation. The timbers were all prepared, the workmen ready, and the master-workman, full of the dignity of his office, issuing his orders to his aids. All went on pros- perously. The good cheer, the excitement of the work, the crowd of spectators, men looking on, women telling the news, boys playing their various games, all made it a scene of general rejoicing.
The sides of the house were already up, and also a part of the roof at the east end of the building. One of the raisers from Lyndeborough, Captain Bradford, had brought over his wife, whom he left on account of illness, at the place where Mr. Bald- win now resides, while he himself went on to take part in the work. Having to pass along the centre of the building he ob- served that the middle beam extending across the church, was not properly supported. A post was under the centre, but it was wormeaten and was already beginning to yield and give way under the pressure. In raising the middle part of the roof the weight of the workmen would come in great measure on this beam, which was evidently not strong enough to bear up the timbers and men. He immediately ascended the roof and informed the masterworkman, who, being made over confident by the success thus far, replied to him that if he was afraid he might go home, that they wanted no cowards there. Indignant, he immediately went down and started off for his wife with the purpose of returning home. But before he had reached Mr. Baldwin's the men had already proceeded forward, confident and elated at their progress. They were swarming upon the un- supported beam and the planks and timbers which rested on it. They were raising up, with much exertion and shouts of direction and encouragement the beams and rafters, when sud- denly, as he was anxiously looking back, he saw the frame
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THE PROVINCIAL CHARTER
already erected tremble, the men shrink back aghast, the build- ing seemed to rock for a moment to and fro, and suddenly all, timbers and tools and men, rushed down together in one mingled mass in the centre. The crash was so loud as to be heard nearly a mile. For a moment all was silent, and then the air was filled with groans and outcries and shrieks of terror. There were fifty-three men on the frame that fell. Three were instant- ly killed, two died very shortly afterwards, others were crippled for life, and most of them were more or less mangled or wounded.
"To understand the impression that the event made at the time, it must be remembered the whole population of the town -men, women and children-was scarcely five hundred. It was like so many men lost overboard from a ship at sea. It caused a general mourning, for there were few families which had not lost a friend, or connexion, or some one of whose friends were not among the wounded."
Under date of Nov. 30, 1894, W. H. Grant Esq. of St. Paul, Minnesota wrote his brother, David C. Grant. " I found recent- ly a list of the killed and wounded at the raising of the Wilton Meeting-house. Those from Lyndeborough were as follows ;- Killed instantly, Reuben Stiles, Mortally wounded, Joseph Severance, Timothy Carlton, and Benjamin Jones. The first of these died the next day ; the second, lived four days, and the third was supposed to be dead, when the matter was written. Wounded, David Carlton, Jonathan Chamberlain, Thomas Boffee, Andrew Thompson, Benjamin Senter, Ebenezer Gard- ner, Uriah Cram, Edward Bevins, Nehemiah Hutchinson, and John Rowe."
Sept. 14th, 1774, the town voted to build a pound, 25x30 feet, the wall to be 6 feet high, faced on the inside, 3 feet thick at the bottom and 11/2 feet at the top, and to be capped with a timber frame. It was to have a convenient gate with lock, and was to be finished to the "Exceptance " of the town by the first of March. George Gould and Thomas Boffee agreed to build it as proposed for Four Pound, Lawful Money.
The ruins of the structure, long unused, show the solidity" of their work, done nearly 130 years ago. It stands back of the sheds, south of the meeting-house.
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH.
PRECURSORS OF THE REVOLUTION
Had already begun to appear. On the 15th day of July, 1774, the Chairman of the House of Representatives sent a message to the Selectmen of Lyndeborough, desiring them to choose an agent to join with agents from the other towns, in a convention at Exeter, to consult as to the best and most peaceable methods for uniting the colonies and the mother country, and establish- ing their rights and privileges on a solid and lasting founda- tion. He also requested the people to raise thirty shillings by subscription to defray expenses in connexion with the Congress at Philadelphia.
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