USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Lyndeborough > The history of the town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 4
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howl, and sometimes they were obliged to sit up all night to protect the sheep.
In the Johnson corner district, on the road to Purgatory falls, is the cellar-hole where Mark Morgan had a house.
Further on is the cellar-hole where the Towns family lived, father and son.
Still farther to the east is a cellar-hole where a man named Curtis lived. Said to be no relation to the Curtis families in town at present.
On the road to New Boston, in what was a part of Lynde- borough since set off into Mont Vernon, is the cellar-hole where Amos Pearsons lived.
Next north is the cellar-hole where John Stearns, father of Daniel, Seth and John, lived.
Further on is the cellar-hole where Mr. Chamberlain lived.
Next is the cellar-hole where Ephraim Kidder lived.
Next is the site of the John Rand house.
Next is the site of the Edgar Rand house.
And last is the cellar-hole where Oliver Senter lived.
On the old road towards Milford is the cellar-hole where John Carson lived.
Still farther southeast is the cellar-hole where Levi Curtis lived.
In that section of the town is a cellar-hole in what is called the Buxton pasture. Occupant unknown.
Between the Haggett place and the brook is the cellar-hole where David Butterfield had a house.
West of the Rose place is the site of the house where James Marshall lived. There was formerly a road running west from the Rose place to the present South Lyndeborough road. The Marshall place was on this road.
Further west was the site of the William Abbott house.
At the foot of the hill west of the Boutwell place is a cellar- hole. Who first built there is unknown. Adoniram Wood- ward, David Cram and many other families once lived there.
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OLD CELLARS NEAR SOUTH LYNDEBOROUGH, BY REV. D. DONOVAN.
A citizen well acquainted with all parts of the town has often said that there are, it seems to him, more old cellar-holes in the town than there are inhabited dwellings. Be that as it may, we find several such ruins near South Lyndeborough, which invite a passing notice.
I. On the farm once owned by Ephraim Putnam, the first of that name in town, was an old cellar, of which the oldest citizens of three generations ago could give no satisfactory ac- count. David Putnam, Jr., who was about eighty years old when he died, knew nothing of its origin or owner. It was then on Dea. John Hartshorn's land about thirty rods south of his house. In cultivating the field the cellar has been filled up, and no trace of it is now visible, though it is well remembered.
2. The old cellar of Ephraim Putnam's house, last occupied by Capt. Israel Putnam, is on land now owned by Mrs. E. H. Putnam, at the corner of the field, nearly opposite the summer cottage of Mr. Lawrence of Cambridge, Mass. The house which stood over this cellar was torn down July 23, 1883. Its lower story was found to be lined with brick between the boards and the lathing. The brick were doubtless used in this way as a defense against the bullets of hostile savages in colonial days. The house was two stories high in front, while the rear roof was like that of a shed, leaving the back of the house but one story, and sometimes low at that. Mr. A. S. Conant, the car- penter who took down the frame, vouches for the brick lining.
3. There is at present no indication of a cellar on the spot, where, according to the Wilton History,* Nathan Hesselton, Jr., was born. The buildings of the glass factory covered the spot, as vouched for by the late David Putnam.
4. It would be a satisfaction if we could as readily name his neighbor, who lived about thirty rods to the southwest. In the pasture now owned by H. E. Emery is a cellar concerning. which little more can be learned than its existence. It was east of the road which led from the saw-mill of Nathaniel Put- nam to the original center of the town. The lane which led to this place crossed the Mill Brook by a bridge whose abutments are still in a good state of preservation. One tradition is that a man named Wilkins lived there. Southeast of this cellar are
*Page 401.
1
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
two circular spaces whose rims are slightly elevated above the common level .* These circles show that some one used mattock or spade in the days of their construction. The circles are about 30 feet in diameter. The lot in which these remains are found was Second Division lot No. 30, and belonged to the original proprietor, Joseph Blaney ; and a part of this lot was sold to Hesselton. (See Deeds of David Putnam, No. 32.)
5. On the old road to Wilton Center, which after crossing the Bradford bridge, west of South Lyndeborough, turned abruptly to the left, passing through land now owned by W. N. Cheever, lived a few families who cannot well be ignored. About forty rods southwest of the abrupt turn above mentioned is an old cellar which might easily escape notice, if not specially pointed out. This marks the spot where lived William Abbott, grandfather of our townsman, W. H. Abbott, and also, maternal grandfather of Mr. John C. Carkin.
6. Following this road nearly a south course, up a very steep hill, a person comes to the line fence between William Blaney and Jonathan Chamberlain, Jr., which line the road follows over into Wilton. On the east side of this road on a spot com- manding a fine view east and northeast, a century ago stood the dwelling of Capt. William Blaney. The old apple trees and the walls of his fields and garden and the ruins of the cellar all indicate a once finely cultivated farm. His title of captain is said to have come from following the sea.
7. Westward from this site, stood the home of Jonathan Chamberlain, Jr .; and the ruins of the cellar are on an elevation from which he could look across a little valley to the home of his father-in-law, Benjamin Cram, Jr., the place now occupied by Mr. Frank Winn.
8. Turning southwest from the residence of Frank Winn a road down the little valley about an eighth of a mile comes to the old cellar on the south side of the road, over which was the house of Mr. Jacob Woodward, owned recently by his son Jacob Newton Woodward.
9. West of this last mentioned cellar, is that of Jacob Das- comb, once prominent in town affairs, having served four years as town clerk, 1798 to 1802, and said to have been a Revolu- tionary soldier of the Massachusetts line. He was father-in- law of Col. Timothy Putnam.
10. On the old road, a short distance east of Mr. Rufus Cham- * A suggestion is that these may have been coal pits, where ehareoal was burned.
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berlin's is the old cellar of Mr. Amos Wilkins's house. It is near the northwest corner of land now owned by Mr. W. N. Cheever.
II. Still farther east on the same road, and also on land of the same owner, is the cellar of Thomas Lakin's house. It is on the south side of the road.
I2. About as far east from the Thomas Lakin cellar as that is from Amos Wilkins's, is the cellar of Moses Stiles, one of the very early settlers. He married Phebe Cram, the sister of Elizabeth, wife of Jonathan Chamberlain, Sr. The cellar is on the land of Mr. Rufus Chamberlain, and owned perhaps by his ancestor, Jonathan, in Moses Stiles' day. The cellar is on the north side of the old road, between it and the road which passes the cemetery. Mrs. Stiles was a daughter of John Cram, the first settler.
13. As far east of the Stiles place as the latter is of the Thomas Lakin place is the cellar of Abel Lakin a brother of Thomas. It was in Abel's barn, which caught fire while he was attending an ordination in Mont Vernon, in 1809, that his two children and one of his brother's perished in the flames. The farm now is owned by Mr. W. H. Abbott.
14. In Emery Holt's pasture sixty rods or more southeast of his house is evidently a very old cellar. None of our citizens have now any knowledge of its builder.
15. There is also in what is called the Burton pasture, on the west side of the Wilton road, a very ancient cellar. The person who lived there is unknown to the present generation, though the land on which it stands is now Mr. W. A. Burton's, and has been Burton property for several generations.
CHAPTER XXX.
CEMETERIES.
BY J. A. WOODWARD.
In the absence of all records, it would be hard to deter- mine which of the burial places in town was the first. From the fact that the first settlements in Salem-Canada were made on and near Putnam Hill, one would be led to infer that the South cemetery was most likely the first to be laid out. On the knoll where the pine trees stand in this yard is the grave of Sarah, wife of Lieut. Thomas Boffee, and the headstone bearing the date of Sept. 9, 1772.
In the cemetery at Johnson's Corner is the grave of Aaron Carkin, the headstone giving the date of his death as Nov. 19, 1777. In the cemetery at the "Centre " is the grave of George Gould, the date of whose death is Apr. 29, 1783.
These dates would indicate that there was probably but few years difference in the time of the laying out of these three yards. Tradition says that most of the first burials in town were those of children, the exposure and privations of pioneer life making the mortality among infants large. Who was the first adult to be buried in any of the cemeteries in town is, to the writer, unknown, and there are no records and no tradi- tions to tell. John Badger was the first within the limits of Salem-Canada without doubt.
It was not the custom of those early days to arrange the burial places with the ultimate view of beautifying and adorn- ing them. Neither can it be learned that any lots were sold, each family selecting such a lot as it desired.
The mountains and hills, and the rugged character of the land of the town, made it inconvenient for the early settlers to have one central cemetery, and so the places of sepulture were located so as to be convenient for the various communities. In many towns of the state the cemetery adjoined the church, and the cemetery at the " Centre " was probably located as near the church as the nature of the ground would permit.
The older headstones in all the yards are of slate, a material which seems to withstand the corroding effects of weather rather better than granite or marble, though some of those old
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headstones are so covered with lichens and moss, as to make it difficult to decipher the inscriptions.
There are several out of the way places in the town where the dead have been buried. One is in the northwest corner of the field back of the house of Moses C. Fuller. Some of the members of the Chamberlain family are buried there.
There is a tradition that there are graves on a knoll east of the old town farm, though there is nothing now to show such to be a fact. Dr. Bartlett is buried on "Crooked S. Hill." His story is told elsewhere.
JOHNSON'S CORNER CEMETERY.
This was land taken from the farm of Amos Wilkins, the first settler on what is best known now as the Kilburn S. Curtis place. There are no records to show whether the land was bought or donated for the purpose. The town has kept the walls in repair and cared for the grounds to some extent, but it was never deeded to the public. Here lie many of the first set- tlers of that section of the town,-the Wellmans, Carkins, Man- nings, Perkinses, Clarks and others who were the pioneers in that vicinity.
The cemetery on the Forest road near the Benjamin Crosby place is a private yard controlled by the Butler, Stephenson and Crosby families. It is said that a man named Thompson, who died of the small pox, was the first man buried there.
SOUTH CEMETERY.
The first plot of land appropriated for this burial place con- tained one half acre. Who was the first owner of the land can- not now be told ; most probably one of the Cram family, perhaps John Cram, the first settler of the town .* There are no writings to show when it was first set apart as a burial place for the dead, but it must have been very early in the history of the town. In comparatively recent years Peter Cram gave a deed of the bal- ance of the land, that is, more than a half acre, to Joel H. Tar- bell and Timothy T. Putnam and their associates, and by them it was deeded to the town. About the same time this deed to the town was given, Rufus Chamberlain gave a deed to the town of a strip of land on the south side of the yard, on condi- tion that the town build a good wall next the road. This condi- tion was accepted and the wall built. On this strip stands the
* Joseph Blaney, Esq. who drew home Lot No. 3, drew also 2nd. Div. Lot 41, and was the first owner. See Schedule, p. 53, and also old deed No. 2, p. 482. John Cram bought of Blaney, and was first settler.
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monument erected to the memory of the soldier dead of the civil war.
Some of the Revolutionary soldiers are buried in this yard, Lieut. Jeremiah Carleton, Abram Rose, the Boffee family, many of them, and the Putnams, Crams and Chamberlains, of the early settlers.
THE WHITTEMORE CEMETERY.
Daniel Whittemore came into possession of his lot of land in 1770. Lot No. 124 was deeded to him April 28 of tliat year, Benj. Goodhue being the grantor. Mr. Whittemore died in 1776 and was the first one buried in this little cemetery, and all of his descendants who have died in town have been buried there. There is strong evidence that some fifteen or twenty out- side that family have also been interred there, among them Capt. Nathaniel Bachelder.
Daniel B. Whittemore, the great-grandson of the Daniel be- fore mentioned, says that "most of the families in this vicinity buried their dead there previous to the establishment of the cemetery at the Goodrich corner," and that "this lot was dis- carded largely on account of the difficulty of digging graves, in consequence of there being so many large rocks in the soil."
NORTH LYNDEBOROUGH CEMETERY.
This burial place was probably established about the year 1775, and was on land of Nathan Brown. While there is no deed showing the fact, the land was undoubtedly given by him to the community for a public cemetery. Sept. 15, 1869, Mr. Nathan Brown, of Roxbury, Mass., gave a deed of ninety-five rods of land as an addition to the old yard, and citizens of the vicinity gave money and labor to put in a fence and gate in this new part. In 1895 the town laid out over fifty dollars in build- ing wall and repairing old wall.
The oldest gravestone bears the date of May 8, 1793, but Mrs. Benj. Punchard, who died in 1775, was buried there. The headstone of Eliphalet Senter was made of a common boulder, and the inscription was cut out by some member of the family and is dated 1793. This must be the first instance of what is now so common a practice, that of selecting a large granite boulder as a monument.
It is here that the Punchards, Bullocks, Gardners, Browns, Eppeses, Senters, Boardmans, Whitmarshes, Proctors, Atwoods, of the older settlers of this part of the town are buried. Many
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of the Lewis family are buried here also, and there is a record of Mr. Eppes' negro, Jennie, being buried here. Whether she was a slave or not is not now known.
PERHAM CORNER CEMETERY.
This cemetery was probably established when this section of the town was known as Bevins' Corner, but alas! like all the others, it has no records to aid the historian, and its age as a burial place goes beyond the memory of the oldest inhabitant. There were graves there which time had almost obliterated as early as 1820.
The oldest headstone is dated about 1790. It must have been a public yard from the beginning.
THE CENTRE CEMETERY.
There have been more burials at this yard than at any other in the town, but there is no deed to show how the town came into possession of the land, though tradition says the land was bought of James Boutwell. Probably a larger plot of land was bought than was needed for there are records to show that the town sold part of the land back to Mr. Boutwell.
Some hold to the tradition that the land was part of the " common land " over which the town and Mr. Daniel Gould had a controversy, but this is doubtful.
The town has made a number of appropriations for keeping in repair the walls of this yard. The present iron gates were pre- sented by Mrs. Robert Hawthorne, formerly Miss Abby J. Boutwell. The gates and granite gateposts were put in place about 1892.
The land was never laid out in lots, and the graves have in many instances been dug without regard to order. There is one central walk in the cemetery, curbed with granite, but nothing further to mark the boundaries of the lots, except in a few in- stances where the owners have improved and beautified them.
It is in this yard that the Rev. Sewall Goodridge was buried, and many others of the Goodridge family ; George and Daniel Gould, and their wives ; Capt. William Barron and Olive, his wife ; Capt. Peter Clark, and many of his descendants ; Jacob Richardson, the first of the Richardson family to settle in the " middle of the town"; the Woodwards, Duttons, Holts, Hil- dreths, Dea. David Badger and Robert, his brother, the Had- leys, Fullers, Sargents, Boutwells, and many of the Jones
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family. These names of the early settlers, men and women of note and influence in their day, are recorded here.
The easterly part of this cemetery is thickly crowded with graves, and many are in the westerly half, more in this part being unmarked by headstones. It is to be regretted that tlie cemetery was not laid out with well defined walks. Sloping towards the setting sun it might have been made a beautiful burial place, with the range of mountains in view toward the west, which in life the sleepers loved so well.
THE WEST OR DOLLIVER CEMETERY.
This is situated just north of the No. 5 schoolhouse. The land was donated by Mr. John Dolliver, and the first burials there were those of Mr. Dolliver's first wife and Samuel Hodge- man. They were interred there the same day. This was in 1860.
This cemetery is like most of the other burial places in that the town has no deed of the land, but has assumed the care of it.
There is also an old burial lot near the old Dolliver place where many persons were buried. There is said to be but one headstone standing, that erected to the memory of one of the Blaney family. Many of the other headstones were of slate and are now broken in pieces. No record or tradition can be gath- ered now in relation to this yard, but it must have been one of the first places of sepulture in town.
CHAPTER XXXI.
OWNERS AND TRANSFERS OF REAL ESTATE.
SOUTH LYNDEBOROUGH. BY REV. D. DONOVAN.
The village now known as South Lyndeborough was, previ- ous to 1830, called Putnam Corner. The name was given in consequence of the number of Putnam families who dwelt in this part of the town. At the date mentioned above, there were but five dwellings in the place, although authorities differ a little as to this. The places named were the residence of Daniel Putnam, Esq., now the parsonage; the residence of Ephraim Putnam, 3rd, the father of Captain Eleazer Putnam ; the building which was then the residence of Mr. Ebenezer Pearson, later changed to a tavern; the house of Mr. John Putnam and his sister, both unmarried ; and the house which stood where the cottage of Mrs. Dorcas A. Holt now stands.
. The second of the houses here named used to stand a few rods north of the present residence of Mr. W. P. Steele, and the old cellar of it is covered by the railroad. The house was removed across the road to the site now occupied by Tarbell's store and was used as a store by William Holt for a time, who was the first merchant in South Lyndeborough. It was afterwards moved across the street to the place where the R. R. Station now stands. It was again removed and now stands as the dwell- ing of Mr. Ward N. Cheever.
Mr. Ebenezer Pearson, a shoemaker, lived then where Mr. Andy Holt now lives, but in the old house which was en- larged and changed finally to its present form and proportions. Mr. Pearson's shoe shop was near the ground on which the B. & M. freight house now stands, but a little north of it. He was the father-in-law of Mr. Ephraim Putnam whose home was where Mr. Pettingill now lives. Mr. Pearson removed to where Mr. A. T. Ford now lives, a place not included in the forementioned five houses. His son-in-law, Ephraim Putnam then took the Pearson house, enlarged it, raised its roof, remod- elled it and fitted it for a hotel about 1835. It was then called " The Forest House," probably in honor of the "Forest Road," recently built. Its first landlord was John J. Martin, who kept
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HISTORY OF LYNDEBOROUGH
it only a short time. Mr. E. B. Crocker of Amherst was his successor, and also stayed but a short time.
January 15, 1839, Mr. Joel H. Tarbell married Esther, the daughter of Mr. Ephraim Putnam, and they commenced life in the hotel, and conducted the house nearly fifteen years. Soon after becoming landlord he was appointed postmaster; and he kept both the post-office and a country store in that building. Later he bought the stock of merchandise of Mr. Gilman P. Fletcher, who had been trading here but a short time, and he afterward built a new store. He continued in trade till 1857, and retained possession of the hotel. About that time he sold his new store and stock to Mr. William W. Young of Chelsea, Mass., and for several years after that devoted himself to farm- ing on the homestead of his father-in-law.
Among the later occupants of the hotel was Mr. William Tar- bell, a brother of the owner, who kept it but a short time. Its proprietor was dissatisfied with its management, and, it is said, took down the tavern sign.
After Mr. William Tarbell withdrew, the Shattuck brothers, . cousins of the Tarbells, tried the business for a little while, but gave it up.
After that the house became for several years a tenement house, in which the families of Mr. John Emery, Mr. Charles Tarbell (half brother of owner), Mr. John Gage and Mr. John Woodward found a temporary home.
Mr. Hiram Tarbell, another half brother, afterwards tried keeping it as a tavern, and gave quite an elaborate opening ban- quet. But the business proved insufficient to support the house, and its occupant retired after two months.
Mrs. E. P. Wallace conducted it as a boarding house for sev- eral years after that ; and her house was well patronized and had many summer guests. Her daughter, Miss C. M. Wallace, assisted her mother in its management, was a talented lady, a graceful elocutionist, and much sought as a reader. She was also a successful teacher, and in 1878 was chosen superintending committee of schools. Mrs. Wallace's house was called by the city people, "The Pine Grove House," on account of its "proximity " as a writer of those days expressed it, "to three delightful pine groves." Her health failed and she left the place.
The house was kept after that as a summer boarding house for a few years by Mrs. E. M. Swasey, and its last manager as such
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was Mrs. M. J. Curtis. Mr. Tarbell was interested always in its orderliness and success, and in its last years as boarding- house, its guests overflowed all its accommodations, many find- ing lodgings in the vicinity and taking meals at its tables.
The place was sold to Mr. L. P. Hadley in 1888, and has since been used chiefly as a farmhouse. Owing to the sudden decease of L. P. Hadley Dec. 28, 1902, the place was for sale, and Mr. Andy Holt bought it in 1904, occupies it, and has added furnace heating, bath room and other modern improve- ments. It is pleasantly situated, near the railroad station, post- office, store and the Baptist church. The reporter above re- ferred to wrote, " A piazza surrounds the house, and a huge ash tree said to be a hundred years of age gives it a splendid shade on a summer's day."
The fourth house of those mentioned was the home of Mr. John Putnam and his sister Betsey, familiarly called Uncle John and Aunt Betsey ; it stood where W. S. Tarbell's house now stands. The main part of the house was taken down, and the ell was removed down the hill westward, and formed a part of the house lately vacated by Mr. Andy Cram. The house of W. S. Tarbell was built by the late Mr. Byron Stacey, son-in- law of Mr. J. H. Tarbell. After Mr. Stacey's death it was purchased by Mr. C. F. Tarbell, and became Mr. Walter Tar- bell's by inheritance.
The fifth house of those mentioned was that which was oc- cupied by Solomon Cram, a blacksmith, who came here from Roxbury, Vermont, about 1829. The house stood on the spot now occupied by Mrs. Dorcas A. Holt's cottage. He built the blacksmith shop, the first in the village, which is now carried on by Ward N. Cheever. This was the only such shop in the place till about ten years ago, W. H. Abbott built his shop, and about two years ago, Herbert A. Cheever built his.
In addition to these five, we may now notice the dwellings of more recent date. The house south of the railroad station on the Forest road, or main street, is Mr. William P. Steele's. It was built by his father-in-law, Captain Eleazer Putnam, about 1830, and was bequeathed to his daughter, Adeline, who is Mrs. Steele. Many transient visitors to this village find here homelike accommodations.
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