USA > New Hampshire > The statistics and gazetteer of New-Hampshire. Containing descriptions of all the counties, towns and villages statistical tables with a list of state officers, etc. > Part 2
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In 1633, Neil and Wiggin formed an agreement with Wheel- wright that his proposed settlement at Squamscot Falls should be called Exeter. They immediately surveyed their respective grants, and laid out the towns of Dover and Portsmouth. Hampton was also laid out the same year, the Indian name being Winnecummet. In 1638, Wheelwright, through persecution, was driven from the Massachusetts colonies for his religious belief. He belonged to a party of the Church called Antinomians, and for a time was en- gaged in a violent contest ; the result of which was that, with sev- eral others, he was banished from any territory belonging to Mass-
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achusetts. Under these circumstances, he proceeded at once to establish a settlement on his grant at Exeter.
In this connection it may be well enough to refer to this religous intolerance of the Massachusetts colonies. Nearly all of them had been driven from their homes, in England, by the intolerance of their rulers. But, when they were once free from religious perse- cution, and could worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, they forgot their persecutors, and were unwilling to accord to others what they had claimed for themselves. It is a lamented fact that they meted out more intolerant rigor to the inoffensive Quakers than they ever received at the hands of their religious persecutors in their mother country. It is claimed, by some, that the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock were never connected with any of this religious intolerance. Perhaps this may be the fact ; but the Massachusetts Bay Company were strict in all their religious views, and many left England for the same reason that our Pilgrim fathers did, and doubtless were accounta- ble for a large portion of this religious persecution.
At the time Wheelwright made his settlement at Exeter there was no general government in New-Hampshire wherefrom they could receive or claim any protection ; and they formed an inde- pendent government of their own. It was purely democratic in form, and was based strictly on the Bible. They had one chief Magistrate and two associates chosen by the people, and holding their office for one year. These officers were sworn to faithfully discharge their duties, while the people were sworn to obey. All laws were enacted through a general assembly chosen by the people.
The extensive salt marshes at Hampton were considered valuable for furnishing hay for cattle ; and, accordingly, the Massachusetts colony sent Richard Dummer and John Spencer to commence improvements there, and soon after they were followed by some persons from the County of Norfolk in England. They were al- lowed to settle there, making their whole number fifty-six. The first house erected, was known for many years as the Bound House.
Up to 1641, the four settlements of New-Hampshire had no combined government, but all were separate and independent of each other. The hostile action of the Indians towards the colonies led to a feeling of insecurity in being kept separate through their form of government ; and, accordingly, a proposition was made to the Massachusetts colonies, to unite with them under one form of
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government, which they very readily accepted, having already laid claim to a large portion of New-Hampshire. By 1642, all three of the towns in New-Hampshire, viz. Portsmouth, Dover and Exeter, had joined their fortunes with Massachusetts, under one common government. Hampton had already been considered as part of their province.
Considering the prevailing intolerance of the Massachusetts colonies at the date of this alliance, the people of New-Hampshire were granted one great privilege by giving them the right to act in any public capacity without any regard to their religious belief. The previous laws in Massachusetts debarred any person from voting or holding a seat in the General Court, unless they were members of the Church.
Belknap, in his history of New-Hampshire, in speaking of the intolerant and peculiar laws of the colonies, existing at that date, says: "The drinking of healths and the use of tobacco were for- bidden,-the former being considered a heathenish and idolatrous practice, grounded on the ancient libations; the other as a species of intoxication and a waste of time. Laws were instituted to regu- late the intercourse between the sexes, and the advances towards matrimony. They had a ceremony of betrothing, which preceded that of marriage. Pride and levity of behavior came under the cognizance of the magistrate. Not only the richness but the mode of dress, and cut of the hair, were subject to state regulations. Women were forbidden to expose their arms or bosoms to view. It was ordered that their sleeves should reach down to their wrists, and that their gowns should be closed around their necks. Men were obliged to cut short their hair, that they might not resemble women. No person not worth two hundred pounds was allowed to wear gold or silver lace, or silk hoods and scarfs. These pious rulers had more in view than the political good. They were not only concerned for the external appearance of sobriety and good order, but thought themselves obliged, so far as they were able, to promote real religion and enforce the observances of the divine precepts."
In the performance of what our forefathers regarded their duty, none could be more conscientious than they. They had but one single aim in view, and that was to serve God and to allow nothing to be done, where they had the power to prevent, to displease Him. There is much in their character that claims our respect, notwith-
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standing their arbitrary notions of enacting laws. They firmly believed in thorough education, and founded a college at Cam- bridge, within a few years after their first settlement. In regard to training the youth, they believed in that true saying :
'Tis education forms the common mind ;
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.
Here lies one great secret of the prosperity of the people of New England-in the interest our fathers took in establishing institu- tions for learning and a general school system, which our children to-day are reaping the benefits of. Many laws they enacted, we might consider wrong ; but their ideas of a true democratic form of government were correct in the abstract, and the liberal form of government which we are enjoying to-day originated from their ideas of self government.
The Indians had watched the growth and prosperity of the col- onies with a silent, jealous feeling for many years. Their hunting grounds they saw diminishing from day to day. They saw their numbers gradually growing less, while their white neighbors were constantly increasing. They saw if the white men were not speed ily checked, they would soon become sole owners of all their domain. With such convictions rankling in the breast of the red man, Philip, of Mount Hope, son of the Indian chief, Massasoit, was actuated to incite the various tribes in New England against the colonies, which brought on the great Indian war called “King Philip's war." New-Hampshire suffered severely- Dur- ham, Exeter, Hampton, Dover and Salmon Falls were attacked. Houses were burned, cattle killed and many of the inhabitants were murdered with horrid cruelties. The war commenced in June, 1675, and closed, through the death of King Philip, in Au- gust, 1676. It was a short war, but bloody and cruel.
In 1679, New-Hampshire became a royal province, after being under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts for nearly thirty-eight years. The government was to be administered by a president and council appointed by the King. Laws were enacted by an assembly chosen by the people ; but the King reserved the right to discontinue the assembly whenever he thought it advisable. John Cutts, a wealthy merchant of Portsmouth, and highly respected, received the appointment as President, and William Vaughan, John Gilman and Richard Waldron received appointments to the council. They received their commissions January 1st, 1680,
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and reluctantly accepted the office, for fear that men might be ap- pointed who would have no regard for the welfare of the colony. Portsmouth, Dover, Exeter and Hampton were the only towns in the State that participated in the election, casting, in all, two hund- red and nine votes.
The New-Hampshire Colony was constantly kept in a fermen with the Masons, who still laid claim to a large portion of the ter- ritory in the State. Mason was ever soliciting the King to grant him certain favors in the colony, whereby he might derive some benefit from his land claims. In the latter part of 1680, he came from England empowered by the King to take a seat in the coun- cil. His whole object, in securing that position, was to exert an influence in that body, by means of which he could compel the people to take leases of him. They were indignant, and postively refused to comply with his request. The other members of the council decided with the people ; and he soon left his seat in the council and returned to England. Soon after Mason left the col- ony President Cutts died and Major Waldron succeeded him, and the affairs in the various settlements in the State moved along about the same as they did under President Cutts.
Mason, ever on the move, again applied to the King for a change of government in the New-Hampshire colony, and, through his influence, one Edward Cranfield was appointed Lieutenant Govern- or and Commander-in-Chief of New-Hampshire. Cranfield accept- ed the office with the expectation of making money, and, evidently, to be the tool of Mason, as he engaged to pay him one hundred and fifty pounds annually, and mortaged the province for security to carry out the contract. Cranfield received his commission in May, 1682, which vested him with extraordinary powers. He had the right to suspend members of the conncil, veto laws passed by the assembly, dissolve the same at his pleasure, erect courts and pardon criminals. The people soon began to see and feel the tyran- ny of Cranfield. Waldron and Martyn were suspended, but restored to their position on the meeting of the Assembly. Know- ing his tyrannical disposition, and the power he possessed, the Assembly thought it advisable to vote him a present of two hund- red pounds. But their kindness to him availed nothing to them or the Colony. Soon Stileman, a member of the council, was sus- pended ; and the Assembly dissolved for not yielding to his mer- cenary desires. The people of Exeter and Hampton were indignant
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at his arbitrary conduct, and meetings were holden and resolu- tions passed declaring for "liberty and reform." Edward Gove, one of the members of the dissolved Assembly, headed this revolutionary movement, and was arrested with several others. A court was immediately held, and he, with the rest, was convicted of treason. With the exception of Gove, all were soon set at liberty. He was sent to England and imprisoned in the Tower of London for three years, when he was pardoned and his estate restored to him.
It is impossible, in this limited work, to give a detailed account of every thing pertaining to the first settlers of New-Hampshire ; but it may be well enough to state, that Cranfield was the most ty- rannical Governor that ever ruled the State. He carried measures to such lengths, that Nathaniel Weare was appointed to make com- plaint to the King in relation to his conduct towards the colony. After long delays Weare made out his complaint in general terms, which. was referred to the Board of Trade. After a lengthy hear- ing, they made out a report censuring the course of Cranfield. He was granted leave of absence, and sailed for Jamaica. Walter Barefoot, his deputy, succeeded him, and continued in office till Dudley, as President of New-England, superceded Barefoot. This brought New-Hampshire again under the same government with Massachusetts.
In a few months, Dudley was succeeded by Sir Edward Andros, as Captain and Governor-in-chief of New-England. Andros came among the colonies of New-England, with great pretensions of hon- esty, and to administer to the people a liberal form of government. But he soon showed himself to be nearly as great a tyrant as Cran- field. His rule was short, to the great joy of the colonies. Wil- liam III ascended the throne of England in 1688, and when the colonies received the news of a change, the people assembled and immediately imprisoned Andros, and soon after sent him to Eng- land as a prisoner.
For two years the New-Hampshire colonies were left without a government, waiting orders from the mother country, but none came. In 1690, they petitioned to be admitted under the jurisdic- tion of Massachusetts, which was granted, and delegates were sent to the General Court of that colony for nearly two years. In the meantime, Mason died, leaving his land claims in New-Hamp- shire to his two sons, John and Robert Mason. They soon sold all their title to Samuel Allen, of London, who was commissioned
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Governor, and John Usher, as Lieutenant-Governor, with power to act in Allen's absence. This change of Government was against the express wishes of the people of New-Hampshire, who desired to ba annexed to the colony of Massachusetts.
In 1689, a new Indian war broke out, instigated, in part, by the French who had settlements in the province of Canada. On the evening of June 27, 1689, through apparent friendship, certain par- ties of Indians applied for lodgings at each of the garrison houses in Dover. When the people had retired, and all were locked in deep sleep, at a given signal, all the gates of the garrison were thrown open by the Indian lodgers, and the Indians without rushed in, and an inhuman butchery of the inmates commenced. Major Waldron, then eighty years of age, was put to death in the most cruel manner. Major Waldron was a brave man, and for many years the Indians had stood in fear of him. He has been charged, as using the Indians harshly in many instances, and doubtless the tortures inflicted on him were to retaliate some wrong which some of their tribe had received at his hands. In this attack on Dover twenty-three persons were killed and twenty-nine taken prisoners and carried to Canada. In this war, people were killed in Salmon Falls, Newington, Exeter, Rye, Durham and many small settlements. In Durham, Villieu, who was in Command at Penob- scott, accompanied by a French Priest, made the attack with two hundred French and Indians. Nearly all the houses were burned, and nearly one hundred of the inhabitants were killed or carried captive to Canada. From this time, till 1697, the people of New- Hampshire suffered severely by these frequent attacks of the In- dians, led on by the French, who were quite as savage in their mode of warfare; and their conduct in countenancing the killing of de- fenceless women and children, was a disgrace to any nation which pertains to civilization. Among the victims who fell by those mid- night attacks was the widow of President Cutts. In 1696, they made an attack on Portsmouth, and killed fourteen persons. Soon after, peace was declared between the English and French govern- ments, and the Indians were informed by their French allies that they had no further use for them, and advised to bury the hatchet, which they reluctantly consented to. Most of the captives were restored, and thus ended a distressing war with a cruel and treach- erous foe.
The administration of Usher was unpopular with the people.
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His manners were haughty, besides, they knew he was in the interest of Allen, who claimed the land they occupied. In 1696, Wm.Part- ridge, of Portsmouth, superceded Usher as Lieutenant Governor. One of his first acts was to restore several members of the council who had been suspended by Usher. In 1698, the Earl of Belmont was appointed Governor of New York, Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire.
During the year, Allen came over and assumed the rule of the colony. There was a continual altercation between him and the people, originating from the claim he pretended to hold on their land. In the Spring of 1699, the people were relieved from the rule of Allen, and the Earl of Belmont assumed the government of New-Hampshire and reinstated Partridge. Allen being disappoint- ed and provoked at the treatment he had received at the hands of the Earl of Bellomont, and the cool reception of the people, again at- tempted to gain possession of the territory he had purchased of the Masons. The courts of the colony decided against him. He then applied to the King, but he could not fully convince him, of the validity of his claim; but he was granted permissson to commence new suits in the New-Hampshire courts. His sudden death pre- vented any final decision.
Allen left one son, who was sole heir to his claim. He renewed the suit, but a verdict was rendered against him. He then ap- pealed to the Queen, but, before a final decision, death ended the contest. The controversy was finally terminated by yielding to the claimants, under Mason's grant, the unoccupied portions of the province. This Mason controversy had been the source of a great amount of trouble to the colonies for nearly seventy-five years. There was scarcely a year but these claims were presented to the people, in some form ; either by courts or by governors appointed for that purpose, in the interests of the Masons.
In 1702, the Earl of Bellomont having died, the Queen appointed Joseph Dudley Governor of Massachusetts and New-Hampshire. The next year Usher was again appointed Lieutenant Governor.
Dudley, on assuming his office, fearing that the Indians had a feeling of discontent, called the chiefs of several tribes together, and again renewed their friendship which they promised to maintain. But in 1703, owing to the trouble between the French and English governments, the Indians, notwithstanding the pledges they had made to Governor Dudley but a few months before, were iuduced
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again to dig up the hatchet, and once more the horrors of the torch, the tomahawk and scalping knife flashed vividly before the eyes of the infant settlement. This was commonly called Queen Ann's war, and continued for nearly ten years. At Hampton vil- lage, five persons were killed by the savages, among whom was the widow Mussey, a talented speaker among the Friends. The Indians were punished severely, frequently, and many killed, but still they were not disheartened so long as the French were their pro- tectors. They attacked the settlements on Lamprey and Oyster Rivers, houses were burned, and men and women were killed. In 1710, Col. Winthrop Hilton was killed. He was a brave officer and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. Exeter and Dover were visited by the Indians and deeply tasted the bitter fruits of a savage war. Peace was declared at Utrecht, in 1712, to the great joy of the people, and, not long after, a formal peace was ratified with the Indians.
We are now brought to nearly ninety years since the first set- tlements commenced at Dover and Portsmouth, and we have en- deavored to give a brief account of the most important events that had transpired up to the close of Queen Ann's war. We have inentioned nearly all the rulers of any note up to the time before mentioned-from 1702 to 1741, New-Hampshire and Massachusetts were united under one general government. Benning Wentworth was appointed Governor of New-Hampshire in 1741, and John Wentworth, his nephew, in 1767, and held his office up to the time of the war, of the Revolution in 1775.
For sixty years, up to to the date of the Revolution, there were frequent troubles with the Indians, and many fond anticipations, by fathers and mothers, of future happiness in this world, were dashed forever out of sight by the torch and tomahawk, in a single night. But the first settlers of New-Hampshire were adventurous men and women, full of energy, and not to be deterred or intimidated, by any reverses that might befall them, from their purposes. They left the land of their birth, across the Atlantic, for the purpose of securing a home in the wilds of New-Hampshire, and whatever danger met them in their path they faced with courage and with a full deter- mination to succeed.
With such determined minds, it might be expected that the set- tlers of New-Hampshire were annually extending their boundaries, and that the red men of the forest were constantly receding. At
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the date of the commencement of the war of the Revolution, there were nearly one hundred and fifty incorporated towns, and eighty- two thousand inhabitants in the State.
Our limited space, in this department of the work, will not per- mit us to give an extended account of the trials and hardships which our forefathers were subjected to, in securing homes for their children and their posterity, which thousands of the happy sons and daughters of New-Hampshire are enjoying to-day.
Considerable space is given to the ancient records of the State, relative to the boundary line between Massachusetts and New- Hampshire, and some of the early organizations of the towns, which is an important chain of history for the future.
We append a few extracts of the Ancient Records, from the Rev. Joseph B. Felt's Collections for the " American Statistical Association," giving the following dates of grants, settlements, &c., of some parts of the State of New-Hampshire.
" Between this State and Massachusetts, there was a long dis- cussion relative to their individual boundaries. Before this ques- tion arose, though others of similar kind had been agitated, the whole being chiefly caused by the Patents largely infringing upon each other, all the settlements of New-Hampshire had put them- selves under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Portsmouth and Dover, by their own request and previous assignment of their pro- prietors, became thus subject, October 9, 1641. Exeter, having petitioned, Sept. 8, 1642, to be alike privileged, was received at the session of May 10, 1643. Under such circumstances, Massachusetts passed the ensuing order in 1652: 'On perusal of our Charter, it was this day voted by the whole Court, that the extent of the line is to be from the northernmost part of the Merrimac River and three miles farther north, be it a hundred miles more or less from the sea, and from thence upon a straight line east and west to each sea; and this is to be the true interpretation of the terms of the limit northward, granted in the Patent.' Subsequent to this action, they employed two commissioners to run these limits, with the assistance of two surveyors. The report of this survey is as follows: 'At Aqueduhtan (now Lake Village), the name of the head of the Merrimac, where it issues out of the Lake called Winnapuscaki (Winnipiseogee), upon the first day of August, 1652, we observed, . and by observation found, that the latitude of the place was 43º 40' 12", besides those minutes which were to be allowed for three
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miles more north, which run into the Lake.' This took place while the regal government of the mother country was suspended, while there was no probability that Parliament would allow the patent of Mason, which was of doubtful authority, and while the colonists were clearing themselves, as much as they could with safety, from subjection to the English government. It was done, also, when the inhabitants of New-Hampshire were desirous of remaining under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, as a protection from anarchy among themselves, and from the depredations of the enemy without. Mr. Mason renewed his suit, as soon as Charles II. ascended the throne and began to manifest his hostility to the Bay colony for their anti-royal sentiments and practices. A decision was rendered in the favor of Mason, in 1675, at the time the inhabitants of New- England were striving with the greatest power to avert their threatened extermination by the Indians, under the leadership of Philip. Edward Randolph, a relative of the claimant, always ready to visit our shores with unwelcome messages, came over the next year. He visited New-Hampshire and made known the de- sires of Mr. Mason to the inhabitants. Some, as is usual in such emergences, were forward to denounce Massachusetts, and thought by this means to make capital for the advancement of their own interests. The inhabitants of Dover protested against the claim of Mason ; declared that they had bona fide purchased their lands of the Indians; recognized their subjection to the government of Massachusetts, under whom they had lived so long and happily, and by whom they were now assisted in defending their estates and families against the savage enemy. They petitioned the King to leave them unmolested. Portsmouth protested in a similar manner, and asked for like relief from his royal highness. The intrigues of the political foes of Massachusetts being favored by the King, they succeeded with him, and, in 1680, New-Hampshire, by his orders, became a colony. The principal inhabitants, even then knowing that this change was to forward other purposes than their benefit, with reluctance withdrew from Massachusetts.
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