USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Lyndeborough > The history of the town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 14
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
JOHN CLARK, brother of Capt. Peter, went to Lynde- borough in 1775. April 24, 1776, he married Margery Hay- ward, who died November 26, 1808. He was an honest man and a good citizen, and died in Lyndeborough March 19, 1814. Child.
SALLY CLARK, b. November 19, 1778. m. 1802, Benjamin, son of Rev. Sewall Goodridge of Lyndeborough.
FRANCIS CLARK, son of Capt. Peter, moved to Barre, Vt., and died there. He was the father of Rev. William Clark, who assisted inuch in securing the genealogy from which this information is derived.
JOHN CLARK, youngest son of Capt. Peter, was remarkable for his musical talent, led the choir for many years, and both he and his sons furnished music on many public occasions.
HANNAH DEBORAH CLARK, sister of Rev. B. F., was . educated at New Ipswich Academy, and at Maplewood Institute,
594
HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
at Pittsfield, Mass. She became a successful teacher, and after residing at North Chelmsford two or three years with her brother, was married at his home, March 7, 1843, to George F. Gillmore, Esq., of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. "The Gillmore Mission School" of that city was named for her. She was noted for the energy and earnestness of her Christian character.
For other notices see Genealogies.
CRAM .- The first settler in Salem-Canada was, undoubt- edly, Mr. John Cram, who came from Wilmington, Mass., with his wife and married sons and marriageable daughters, and with several grandchildren. As he was foremost among the settlers, so also was the Cram family one of the oldest of whom we have any record among all the inhabitants of the town.
The origin of the Crams has been traced back to very remote antiquity. It appears first among the Slavonic people who came early into northeastern Germany, where they established themselves and were noted for their warlike spirit. Here a branch of the family was raised to baronial dignity and a long succession of knights and titled nobility reflected honor on the name. Another branch of the family penetrated into France, whence it entered the Duchies of Lower Saxony and Brunswick in the ninth century. The name, however, appeared first in the archives of those principalities in A. D. 1181, 1206, and 1225, where it was written, Von Cramm, the prefix Von in German names being a well-known mark of nobility. From north Germany, a branch of the family crossed the German ocean and established its home in England, in 1528. The founder of this branch was Hans (or John) Von Cramm, who " with six men at arms," entered the service of the Bishop of Durham, and was a successful and honored soldier. "In con- sideration of goodlie service at warr," the Dean and Canons of Durham "devised unto the sayde Hans Von Cramm their dwelling-place at Felling in the county of Dunholm, lately called the Priorie." Thus was the family enrolled among the landed gentry of England.
It is noted as a peculiar coincidence that Hans, twelfth child of Burkard Von Cramm, was the founder of the family in England ; and still another Hans, or John, the twelfth child of another Burkard and Barbara Cram, became the founder of the family in America.
The progenitor in England was buried at Jarrow, about a
SOUTH LYNDEBOROUGH, FROM LUTHER CRAM'S HOUSE.
595
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
half-mile south of the Tyne, near the shore of the German ocean. His tombstone is built into the side of the south porch of the old church at Jarrow. The place is noted as the scene of the labors of the venerable Bede, and the church is said to contain the old oak chair which he graced. A copy of the in- scription on the old tombstone of John Cram is here given : " Hic jacet John Cramm qui obiit nonadecimo die Februarii Aº Dni Mº DCLIII nonagesimo quarto ejus aie ppetur deus Amen"
The English Crams have the same general ensign as the German family, the crest alone being changed, to indicate that "they got it as vassals or liegemen of the Abbey," i. e. of Durham. As a matter of interest both coats of arms may be compared, that of the German branch being copied from the archives of Brunswick, the form in which the family "have borne it for centuries." Such armorial decorations were always highly valued, and indicate the honor in which the family or race were held.
JOHN .- This was the name of the first one of the family in America. He was born at Newcastle on the Tyne, in 1697, and was the son of Burkard, and grandson of John of Jarrow. He is said, by one authority, to have probably begun "to live in Boston as early as 1635, and in 1637 was assigned sixteen acres of land at Muddy River (Brookline.)"* "The New York Crams " states that "he and his wife Esther came to Boston in 1635," and Savage, another authority, is said to have given 1637 as the time of his arrival there. But Major General T. J. Cram, U. S. A., December 24, 1874, wrote, "I have examined every page of the 'Records of the Governor and Company of . Massachusetts Bay,' and the name of John Cram nowhere ap- pears. If he had ever been in Boston it is certain that his name would somewhere be seen." But "John Cram's name never appears, and to my mind, it is clear that he never was in Boston, but that he came first to Exeter, where he was one of 'Wheelwright's Combination.'"
The Provincial Papers of New Hampshire lend color to this opinion of Major General Cram.t For the name of John Cram is seen on several petitions and other papers connected with Exeter. Exeter History states that "he had wife and two or more children when he came to Exeter." His son Joseph, supposed to be the oldest, was drowned June 24, 1648,
* Bell's History of Exeter, p. 24.
+ Bouton I, pp. 135, 145, 168. 179.
596
HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
aged 15 years; and his daughter Lydia was born July 27, of the same year. He served as townsman 1648 and 1649, and soon after removed to Hampton, and there died, March 5, 1681-2. The town record commemorates him as "good old John Cram, one just in his generation." He was twice married, his first wife being named Lydia; his second, Esther. The latter died May 17, 1677. They had four children.
I. Benjamin, who married Argentine Cromwell, a relative of old Oliver, Protector.
2. Thomas, who was a soldier in the Narragansett, or King Philip's war, which ended in 1676. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Weare, a member of the Governor's Council, and one of the most distinguished men connected with the early history of New Hampshire.
3. Mary, who married Abraham Tilton. (of Bow ?)
4. Lydia, of whom there is no record, save her birth in 1648.
John Cram and his wife were both members of the Hampton church. It is said that " no Crams have been found in America whose ancestry could not be traced back to him."
JOHN CRAM, grandson of the fore-named, was the first settler of both Salem-Canada and Lyndeborough. It is true that the territory included under both these names is not exactly the same. Salem-Canada included all the territory now in Lyndeborough, and much more. But the property of John Cram was in both the old grant issued by the General Court of Massachusetts, and also in that covered by the charter of the Masonian Proprietors, which was later confirmed by the Pro- vincial Charter, under Governor Benning Wentworth. Because of his priority of settlement and the influence of his many descendants, it seems proper to extend somewhat our notice of his life.
John Cram, the pioneer in this town, was born in Hampton Falls, January 12, 1685. He was the son of Thomas Cram and Elizabeth, the daughter of Hon. Nathaniel Weare, later Chief Justice of the Province. Thomas Cram, the father of our townsman, had been a soldier in the Narragansett, or King Philip's War, and in 1738, was one of the selectmen of Hamp- ton Falls .* In 1749, we find his name, or possibly his son's, attached to a petition to the governor, for a grant of land for a township. Connected, thus, with prominent families, both
* State Papers, XII, pp. 131, 136, 137.
597
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
through the Weares and the Crams, the early advantages and social standing of John were doubtless of the very best. This is believed to be implied by the respectful terms in which he is mentioned in the earliest Proprietors' Records of Salem-Canada, as well as by the various responsibilities devolved upon him by the primitive settlers of the town. The esteem in which he was held in his native place was, doubtless, undiminished by, his marriage in 1707, to Sarah, daughter of Henry Holt, of Andover, Mass. The next year after his marriage, we find him performing military duty at Fort William and Mary, in which year, also, Jonathan, his eldest son, was born .* It is of some importance to note this fact; for at a later day, both father and son served in the French and Indian War, after they had become citizens of Salem-Canada.
Among the names on the schedule attached to the royal charter of the town of Chester, granted in 1722, is found that of John Cram.t The list of the proprietors of Chichester whose charter bears date of 1727, also contains the names of Thomas, John and Benjamin Cram. Such a recurrence of his name indicates that John Cram must have possessed some pecuniary resources ; that he was something more than an ordinary settler. His large family, well situated and well con- nected matrimonially, must have added somewhat to his influ- ence and to the esteem in which he was held by his fellow- citizens in Salem-Canada.
He settled first, after his marriage, in his native town, Hampton Falls. There three of his children were born. He and his wife were dismissed from the church at Hampton Falls, April 13, 1712. He was settled in Woburn, Mass., in 1713, and there all his remaining children were born. Among these were two sets of twins, his daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth, constituting one set, and his sons, Eli and Benjamin, the other.
May 16, 1727, he sold his Woburn property to Benjamin Abbott, and removed to Wilmington, Mass. He united with the church in Wilmington, October 24, 1733.# On May II, 1737, he sold one-half of his farm to his son Jonathan, and settled in Salem-Canada, New Hampshire.
In the sketch of Lyndeborough by Mr. David C. Grant is the statement :
" The first settlers in what is now Lyndeborough were Cram, Putnam
*Prov. Papers, XII, p. 112. t Batch. XXIV, p. 568. # Wilmington Church Record.
598
HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
and Chamberlain, descendants of whom now reside in town. But the first settler in Salem-Canada (now Wilton) was John Badger."
It would be more exact to say that the first settlers in Salem- Canada, the greater part of which is included in Lyndeborough, were Cram, Putnam and Chamberlain. But the first settler in that part of it which is included in Wilton was John Badger.
The latter statement is believed to be correct, and leaves little room for any misunderstanding. That there was a fort, also, in old Salem-Canada can hardly be counted a matter of doubt, though it is very doubtful whether it was built pre- vious to 1740, the year of Badger's decease.
There seems conclusive evidence that John Cram established a permanent residence here in 1737, when his youngest chil- dren were about sixteen years of age. His twin daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth, were about eighteen years of age. The former married Ephraim Putnam, who was for a time "com- mander of the fort or blockhouse; " and was prominent in Revolutionary movements ; the latter married Jonathan Cham- berlain, who, with his son, Jonathan "marched from Lynde- borough for Ticonderoga, on July 1, 1777, in Capt. Peter Clark's Co. of militia." * Not only were there grown-up sons and daughters, but there were grandchildren when he came into this town, although he preceded them by three years or more as a resident.
Some of the first work in clearing roads and building the meeting-house was done by Mr. John Cram and his oxen. The first proprietors, most of whom dwelt in Salem, Mass., and in adjoining towns, began in 1738 to bargain with him about building a saw mill, and he engaged with them to build it. He fulfilled his agreement apparently to the satisfaction of the pro- prietors, and received No. 39, the mill lot, containing 130 acres, situated west of the village of South Lyndeborough, for the service. Until that date, 1740, the dwellings were log cabins, and were not numerous.
The saw-mills of Nathaniel Putnam and John Cram now began their operations, and prepared the boards and smaller timbers needed for the framed houses. In a very few years, however, the work of the settlers was interrupted by the French and Indian War, also known as Queen Anne's War. In this war both John Cram and his son Jonathan bore a part. The father must at that time have been about sixty years of age.
* Chamberlain Family, p. 12.
599
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
According to records preserved in the family of Mr. Andrew Harwood, but now lost, " Sarah the wife of John Cram died in Sept. or October 1757, between seventy and eighty years of age ; and John Cram died in Amherst in 1759 .* Thus ended an ac- tive, honored, prosperous and useful life.
JAMES S. CRAM was a great-grandson of Mr. John Cram, the earliet settler of the town. He lived on what is now known as the Rose place, situated on what was then the thoroughfare between Amherst and Greenfield, and the Asheulot townships. Amherst was the seat of "The Aurean Academy," which James S. had the privilege of attending. His manuscript book, which bears date of 1795, is quite a marvel of neat penmanship for those days. It is devoted entirely to mathematics. The subjects of which he treated were often printed with his pen in ornamental letters, like Old English or German text, or some- times in neat, round English script of the writing-master. His skill in mathematics led many people to seek his aid in the solu- tion of difficult problems, which presented little difficulty to him, and were easily mastered. His manuscript book begins with involution and evolution, passes on to progressions, to plane and solid geometry, mensuration of plane surfaces and solids, sur- veying and trigonometry. His figures, geometrical drawings, and pen and ink sketches of hills, towers or steeples show the talent of an expert.
He spent some time as a teacher in his native town, and com- piled a "First Spelling Book, Designed as an Introduction to Other Spelling Books." It was printed at Concord by Hoag & Atwood, 1831. He stated in the preface that his main object in compiling it was "to assist young children in acquiring a thor- ough knowledge of monosyllables, which would greatly facilitate their progress in the larger Spelling Book."
He also cultivated a taste for music, and taught singing schools. The works of the old composers and masters were among his treasures. A copy of the "Grand Hallelujah Chorus " in Handel's "Messiah," is well preserved, within the covers of his singing book, " The Rural Harmony," which he used in his singing schools. This book was printed by Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews in Boston, 1793. For other facts see Genealogies.
*Rev. F. G. Clark, letter to D. C. Grant.
600
HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
MR. AND MRS. DAVID GAGE .- David Gage, a native of Merrimack, N. H., at one time taught the village school in South Lyndeborough, where he became acquainted with Miss Betsey Putnam, also a teacher, whom he afterwards married. She was the daughter of Squire Daniel Putnam, and became Mrs. Gage, Aug. 12, 1823. After their marriage they set out for their chosen work as teachers among the Cherokee and Chocktaw Indians, under appointment as missionaries of the American Board. They traveled with their own horse and car- riage, going from eighteen to thirty-four miles a day, and had a pleasant and prosperous journey across parts of seven states.
After teaching a short time near Knoxville, Tenn., Mr. Gage went south into Wayne Co., Miss., and took charge of both the literary and industrial departments of the mission school, at the Choctaw Agency. In 1826, he had in his school sixteen boys, two girls, who boarded in the family, and three others, who boarded at their homes. His dwelling was of the primitive kind, sixteen by eighteen feet, built of logs, and the chimney of sticks.
In the summer of 1828 he spent much of his vacation in travel, and at one of the meetings which they rode about sixty miles to attend, there were five or six hundred natives present and sev- enteen or eighteen missionaries. Two hundred and sixty-six natives came forward and expressed a determination to seek the salvation of their souls. The meeting continued from Thursday till Monday. Many natives had not provision for so long a stay, and prompted by hunger, were preparing to start for home on Sunday. The missionaries and professing Christians were anx- ious that they should remain. One Choctaw man arose and said that "he had nothing to eat - he was hungry, and sup- posed the rest were ; but what of that ? We shall not starve to death in three days. We now have the means of grace, and if we can get to Heaven, it would be good for us to stay here till our flesh dried on our bones."
Mr. Gage continued his labors among the Indians until they were removed by the government west of the Mississippi River. He died Oct. 3, 1841, and was buried near Livingston, Sumter County, Alabama. His devoted wife, with her four little chil- dren, returned to Lyndeborough in June, 1842. They em- barked on a sailing vessel from Mobile, Ala., and came to New York, and thence by Sound boat to New London, Conn., thence
601
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
by railroad to Worcester, Mass., and so on to Nashua, and her former home.
CALEB HOUSTON.t-W. H. Grant, Esq., wrote to his brother, David C., in April, 1889, giving interesting items gleaned from Farmer & Moore's Gazeeter of New Hampshire, published in 1823, concerning Caleb Huston, or Houston, as the name is frequently written, a native of Lyndeborough, who was graduated at Williams College in 1812, and was probably the first college graduate of this town.
Later Mr. Grant wrote that Caleb Houston died at Columbus, Ohio, about 1850. He was elected one of the councilmen on the organization of the Borough of Columbus, in 1816. In 1819 he with two others erected a saw-mill upon a new patent plan. " The saw was circular, and was to cut constantly ahead, with no back strokes." The historian (of Columbus) says : "it was an experiment, and cost them a good deal without answering any valuable purpose."
Mr. Grant thought, however, that Caleb Houston's " was the first circular saw ever used for saw-mill purposes."
CAPT. JONAS KIDDER .- Captain Jonas Kidder, the son of Joseph and Hannah (Proctor) Kidder was born in Hudson, N. H., Nov. 16, 1743. He was a farmer, and came to Lynde- borough in 1766, and settled on Second Division lot 105, east of Esq. Andrew Fuller's place. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Mr. Fuller and he united in hiring Mr. Samuel Butterfield to enlist in Capt. Barron's company, raised for ser- vice in Canada, but performing its chief service at Fort Ticon- deroga in 1776. His military record will be found on page 190
In1 1780 it was known that the British forces were unusually active, and the object of their activity was strongly suspected, although the extent and venality of their purposes were for the time unsurmised. The capture of Major André at Tarrytown, with the documents found in his possession betrayed the full scope of their atrocious plot. The treachery and corruption of Arnold were thus revealed, and the whole deeply planned scheme to get possession of West Point, the American strong- hold on the Hudson, burst upon Washington and his associates like the terrifying shock of an earthquake. The patriots had divined the drift of their enemies' activities. They were
tCaleb Houston was town clerk of Lyndeborough in 1807. He was a good penman and evidently a man of more than ordinary ability.
602
HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
alert and were making extraordinary efforts to reinforce and strengthen the garrison at West Point. The inen who could be spared elsewhere were hastened thither. Bounties were liberally paid to able bodied men who would enlist, and several from Lyndeborough were among the forces which were sent for- ward. These efforts were timely, and proved of great service to the patriot cause.
Captain Kidder was on duty there in those stirring times. It is stated that he was entrusted with the important service of guarding the spy, Major André, the night before his execution. The list of Captain Kidder's company, together with their places of residence is found in the N. H. Revolutionary Rolls, Vol. 3, pp. 161, 162. The Lyndeborough men who were with him were : -
Samuel Houston, sergeant
Edward Bevins
Jacob Dutton, fifer
Willard Lund
John Punchard, drummer Daniel Cram Edward Spaulding
Simeon Fletcher
Stephen Richardson
Amos Manuel
His company was stationed at Camp Highlands, Sept. 27, 1780.
In 1781 and 1782 Jonas Kidder was serving his town in a civil capacity as one of her selectmen, associated with his brother-in-law, Ephraim Putnam, in that office. His petition, in company with three other captains, recorded on pages 190 and 191, indicates the deplorable poverty of our state treasury at that time, 1781. It was powerless to relieve the distresses of the men who had rendered heroic service on many hard fought fields, by paying them their overdue wages. Their hardships were not ended when the din of warfare was hushed. They were sufferers, not only on the tented fields, but also after their return home. Honored be their memory forever !
Jonas Kidder was about forty years of age when the Revolu- tionary War closed, and probably did not receive a pension till about eighty years old. There is a story current that while living up on the side of the mountain, and attending to his ordinary farm work, he learned from some younger neighbor, unacquainted with Jonas' history, that the survivors of the Revo- lutionary War were now receiving pensions, and responded, that "perhaps then he should get something." "You," said his informer, "what did you do?" He answered modestly, " I was in that war, and was captain for a while."
603
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
He went to his old papers and after some fumbling of them found his discharge from the service duly filled out. He drew a pension which aided in supporting him in his old age.
Captain Kidder was thrice married, first, to Huldah, daughter of Ephraim and Sarah (Cram) Putnam, Nov. 26, 1768 ; second, to Mrs. Alice, (widow of Nathan) Barron, and daughter of Amos Taylor, May 20, 1779 ; and third, to Mrs. Abigail (Carle- ton) (Johnson) (Putnam), sister of Osgood, Jeremiah etc., and widow of John Johnson, who perished in the Revolutionary War, and afterwards widow of Ensign David Putnam. She survived her third husband, who is said to have been 84 years of age when he married her, July 5, 1827, while she was 74.
Captain Kidder died in his native town of Hudson, at the home of his daughter, Hannah, who became Mrs. Levi Cross of that town. (For further information see Genealogies.)
CAPTAIN WILLIAM LEE .- A somewhat appreciative notice of William Lee, in the History of Francestown, page 795, states that he settled in that town in 1771, and lived in the southeast part of it where he cleared and settled the place after- wards occupied by Daniel Clark, and was a man of some promi- nence, being one of the board of selectmen in 1773. It further credits him with Revolutionary service for both Francestown and Lyndeborough, and appears to cast doubt on his right to the title of captain, on the ground that though he was some- times called so, the pay-roll calls him "Ensign William Lee." Such is the substance of the brief notice of him above re- ferred to.
Our Lyndeborough annals have no record of the time or place of his birth; and we cannot quite see how he could settle in Francestown in 1771, which was not incorporated till 1772.
Apart from the above-mentioned statement, we have found nothing to show that he served for Francestown in the Revo- lutionary War.
We will, however, state upon credible authority, which we shall give, some facts which we have found on record, in rela- tion to Captain William Lee.
The Revolutionary Rolls credit his service constantly to Lyndeborough. From here, four days after the Lexington and Concord fight, he enlisted in the company of Capt. Levi Spauld- ing. His name was number 4 on the pay-roll, with the rank of sergeant. He was, therefore, with Capt. Spaulding and his
604
HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
company, at Bunker Hill. His term of service then was three months and sixteen days. The Lyndeborough record gives him as one of the men who went from Winter Hill to Canada in 1776, and returned to Trenton. He seems to have spent Christmas of that year somewhere near the camp of the Hes- sians. On the 7th of November just before, he was commis- sioned 2nd lieutenant in the First Battalion of New Hampshire troops in the Continental Service.
In the town records he is called Ensign William Lee. He re- signed his commission as 2nd Lieutenant or Ensign on January IO, 1778, and on the 7th of the following August, had the rank of captain, and commanded a company in Col. Moses Nichols' regiment, in the Expedition to Rhode Island. That expedi- tion was in service only 24 days. But the Lyndeborough men who were in his company were among those of highest stand- ing in the town, indicating that William Lee was no ordinary man.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.