USA > New Hampshire > To Monadnock; the records of a mountain in New Hampshire through three centuries > Part 3
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41
THE DRAWING OF THE LOTS, 1750
Monadnock No. 2 and Monadnock No. 3, within which Mt. Monadnock lies, were granted by the Masonian Pro- prietors in November, 1749. In May following, the surveyors returned plans of the townships, each divided into ten ranges of twenty-two lots each, the ranges 160 rods wide and the lots 100 rods wide; and on the first Tuesday of June, 1750, the new proprietors met at Dunstable for the drawing of lots "in some equitable manner." Seven lots in each township were not drawn this day. Thirteen, as the records* lead one to believe, clustered about Monadnock.
*None of the following non-original sources is without error, but none of the errors, on the face of things at least, affects the lots not drawn. See New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, XXVII; History of the Town of Jaffrey, N. H., by Daniel B. Cutter, M.D., 1881; History of Dublin, N. H., by Levi W. Leonard, D.D., 1855; a pamphlet, to be found in the Jaffrey Town Library, published by the city of Manchester, N. H., in recognition of the gift of the original records to the city by the town.
42
Lots
22 20 18 16 14 12 10 87654321 1
10
9
8
7
6
MONADNOCK NO. 3
5
4
3
2
Range 1
Range 1
2
3
4
5
MONADNOCK NO. 2
6
7
8
9
10
1 2 3 4 5 678 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 Lots
THE DRAWING OF THE LOTS, 1750
Lots drawn, black. Lots not drawn, white.
43
"ALWAYS PROVIDED THERE BE NO INDIAN WAR"*
Mass. Archives XXXVIIIA: 172.
A journal of our scouting in His Majesty's service between the River of Ceneticut and Marimack. Began the 3rd day of July, A. D. 1755. Scouted from Luningburge to Dorchester Canada [Ashburnham, Mass.], then to Ipswich Canada [Win- chendon, Mass.]. Scouted the 4th day into the woods and then to Dorchester. The 6th and 7th days to New Ipswich [N. H.] and so to Dorchester. The 9th day scouted to Ipswich Canada. The 10th to Perquage [Athol, Mass.], the 11th to Northfield, the 12th to Winchester, the 13th to the south of Menadnack [Monadnock], the 14th to Ipswich Can- ada, the 15th to Dorchester Canada; the 17th day divided the scout and scouted one part to Rowley Canada [Rindge, N. H.] and the other part to Wacetateck; the 18th to Dorchester Canada and from thence to Ipswich Canada. Scouted out northward and into Ipswich Canada. The 21st day to Per- quage and left ten men there, and the 22nd day scouted back to Ipswich Canada, and the 23rd day to Dorchester Canada; the 24th scouted northward to Ipswich Canada. The 25th scouted northward and so to east end of Dorchester Canada. 26th, divided the scout and scouted to Winchester and to Perquage. The 27th, Sunday. The 28th scouted northward in Dorchester, the 29th scouted eastward in Dorchester Can- ada, the 30th scouted southward in Dorchester, the 31st to Ipswich Canada; and this day we discovered a small number
*The proviso to settlement of the charters of the Monadnock townships.
44
SCOUTING NEAR MONADNOCK, 1755
of tracks supposed to be Indian tracks, and followed four or five miles and found the bushes cut up and bent down in sundry places, as the usual manner of the Indians is when they travel upon the discovery, etc.
ELEAZER LAWRANCE, Commander of said Scout.
August the first, 1755.
45
"THAT MOUNTAIN LAND," 1769 New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, XXVII, 388.
I PETITION OF JOHN GROUT
To the Proprietors of the right of John Tufton Mason, Esq., of that tract of land lying in the province of New Hamp- shire known by the name of the Mason Grant :
Humbly sheweth that John Grout, your petitioner, eleven years past moved into the township called Monadnock No. 2 in said grant, and for conveniency of settlement purchased a house then already built, with some improvements made by Moses Stickney, on Lot No. 12 in the ninth range, drawn in the right of the first settled minister; have continued thereon, have made larger improvements thereon to a comfortable in- heritance.
Your petitioner therefore humbly moves that he may be quieted on said lot, giving another in exchange therefor equal in situation and goodness, so that the minister's right be not lessened nor hurt; or otherwise to be relieved and quieted on the premises as the honorable Proprietors shall think fit, and as in duty bound shall ever pray.
February 14, 1769.
JOHN GROUT.
46
"THAT MOUNTAIN LAND," 1769
II REUBEN KIDDER'S JUDGMENT
Monodnock No. 2, July 21, 1769. To the Hon. George Jaffrey, Esq. :
On receiving a letter from yourself desiring me to go and settle the affair between Mr. John Grout [and] the Proprietors of Monodnock No. 2, I have been this day [and] viewed the lots. My judgment is that Mr. Grout give a deed, to the Proprietors, of the Lot No. 4 in the fourth range and 30 acres of the east side of the Lot No. 3 in the fourth range in ex- change for the Lot No. 12 in ninth range.
REUBEN KIDDER.
III INHABITANTS OF MONADNOCK NO. 2 TO PROPRIETORS
To Col. Atkinson, Esq.
Sir: We thought it our duty to inform your honors that Reuben Kidder, Esq., came according to your honors' appoint- ment at your Proprietors' meeting to view and value the lot that John Grout lives upon, viz. the minister's lot, and like- wise the land that the said Grout was willing to give for the said lot and the land that the said Kidder accepted of [which] lieth upon the side of the Monadnock Mountain; which is not fit for a settlement and we, the subscribers, is not willing to accept of it, and prays your honor not to let it go that way. The above said John Grout has had a lease of the said minis- ter's land these twelve years past, and said lease is good until there is a settled minister in this place. The said Grout saith
47
TO MONADNOCK
that he hath five lots in this township but he would give no other but that mountain land, and will have it for that land, which we look upon next to nothing; and prays your honor would either let it stand for a minister or otherwise give land as good.
Sir, no more, but would take leave to subscribe ourselves your honor's humble servants,
MIDDLE MONADNOCK NO. 2, [23 signatures subscribed].
November the 7th, A. D. 1769.
48
POST-REVOLUTIONARY RECORDS TO 1824
AP
"WASTE LAND," 1787
Recorded by Albert Annett, The Granite Monthly, 1899.
The territorial limits of the town [of Jaffrey]. . . were in 1787 threatened by certain designing men of Sliptown (after- ward Sharon), who petitioned the General Court for the an- nexation of a strip of land one mile in width from the east side of Jaffrey. In a vigorous remonstrance the inhabitants of Jaffrey represented to the law makers of the state that they had no territory to spare: . . "Moreover there is a very great Mountain in this town and a great number of large ponds which renders about the fourth part thereof not habitable, besides a great deal of other waste land which makes the habitable part of this town but barely sufficient to maintain our minister and support our public privileges."
51
.
JEREMY BELKNAP'S MONADNOCK, 1792
From The History of New Hampshire by Jeremy Belknap,1792, vol. III.
[Among the mountains of New Hampshire] is the lofty ridge which is commonly called the height of land, because it separates the branches of the river Connecticut from those of Merrimack. In this ridge is the Grand Monadnock, twenty- two miles east of the river Connecticut, and ten miles north of the southern boundary line. . . The base of this mountain is about five miles in diameter from north to south; and about three from east to west. Its summit is a bald rock; on some parts of it are large piles of broken rocks; and on the sides are some appearances of the explosion of subterraneous fires. . . Black lead (plumbago) is found in large quantities about the Grand Monadnock, in the township of Jaffrey. In the same neighborhood some small specimens of copper and lead have been seen. . .
The altitude. . . of the Grand Monadnock was measured in 1780, by James Winthrop, Esq., by means of a barometer, and the table of corresponding heights, in Martin's Philosophia Britannica. At the base, on the north side, the barometer being at 28.4, gave an elevation of 1395 feet. At the upper edge of the wood, it was at 27.0, which denoted 2682 feet; and at the heighest point of the rock, 26.4, which announced an elevation of 3254 feet above the level of the sea. [See post, Accurate Mountain Heights, 1886 -. ]
Several phenomena respecting the larger mountains [of New Hampshire] afford matter of amusement and some are of real use. People who live near them humorously style the moun- tains their almanack because, by the ascent and attraction of
52
JEREMY BELKNAP, 1792
vapors, they can form a judgment of the weather. If a cloud is attracted by a mountain and hovers on its top, they predict rain; and if after rain the mountain continues capped, they expect a repetition of showers. A storm is preceded for several hours by a roaring of the mountain, which may be heard ten or twelve miles. This is frequently observed by people who live near the Grand Monadnock. It is also said that when there is a perfect calm on the south side, there is sometimes a furious wind on the north, which drives the snow so that it is seen whirling far above the trees .*
*Ainsworth's MS. letter. [Laban Ainsworth, the first settled minister of Jaffrey?]
53
A WOLF HUNT, ABOUT 1795
From the History of Fitzwilliam by Rev. John F. Norton, 1888.
Near the close of the last century, the bears seem to have left the town [Fitzwilliam] mostly or to have been destroyed ; but they were succeeded by wolves in greater numbers and, if possible, more destructive than ever before, and wolf hunts were for some years a necessity, if not a pastime.
The elder Mr. Forristall, Mr. Silas Angier, and Deacon Griffin lost sheep and lambs in considerable numbers, while in a single night sixteen of the flock of Mr. Spaulding, of Jaffrey, were destroyed. The whole community was now aroused, every gun was put in order, and every able-bodied man and boy en- listed to fight the common enemy.
Knowing that Monadnock was the stronghold of the wolves, a company of men from this and the adjoining towns chose Phineas Reed, Esq., as their leader, and surrounding the mountain a few rods apart they simultaneously worked their way to the top, only to find that the game secured consisted of an old bear with her two cubs, and four foxes. All except one of the cubs were shot, but the one saved repaid the kindness of the young man who was carrying it home by biting off one of his thumbs.
After descending the mountain Captain Reed's men heard the barking of a wolf in the woods not far off, and so they surrounded the woods and stood at their posts all night, de- termined that their foe should not escape. In the morning the wolf was driven out into a piece of cleared land. At least fifty bullets were now fired at him, but he broke the ring and made his way east into a meadow belonging to Rev. Mr. Ains-
54
A WOLF HUNT, ABOUT 1795
worth, where he was shot by a young man named Nathaniel Stanley. His weapon was one of the old "Queen's Arms," and he fired two balls and a slug before he finished his work.
As usual on such occasions, the bounty of twenty dollars which was to be received was spent at the nearest tavern.
[For a poetic version of this incident, see post, Monad- nock at the Dublin Centennial, 1852, I. See also The Last Wolf Hunt (1819 or 1820).]
55
MONADNOCK IS SEEN TO BE ARTISTIC, 1796-
From Travels in New England and New York, by Timothy Dwight, S.T.D., LL.D., who, in the year 1795, was chosen President of Yale College. The Travels were not published until 1821, after his death.
I
In the year 1795 I was chosen President of Yale College. The business of this office is chiefly of a sedentary nature, and requires exertions of the mind almost without interruption. .. . I determined, therefore, to devote the vacations, particularly that in the autumn which includes six weeks, to a regular course of traveling. In September 1796 the execution of my design was commenced, and the first journey mentioned in these letters was accomplished. ..
In the accounts of travels given to the public on the eastern continent, the writers have long been accustomed to expatiate on a train of splendid buildings such as palaces, castles, churches, abbeys and convents, especially in ruins; on the paintings also of eminent masters; and on theatres, actors and actresses. . . I have delineated the scenery which presented itself to me on my excursions. This kind of description has, I acknowledge, been carried to excess by several modern travelers. But that excess infers no impropriety in the nature of the case. There are two reasons, besides the pleasure I have found in the employ- ment, which, if I mistake not, will justify the attention here paid to the subject. The scenery which these countries display is very fine, and it has never been described. At the same time, not a small number of readers are delighted with landscapes, and their taste is as reasonably consulted to some extent by a writer as that of graver minds. ..
Not long after the first part of the work began to be ex- tended to its proper size, the increased weakness of my sight
56
MONADNOCK IS ARTISTIC, 1796-
obliged me to desist. In consequence of this event, the mem- bers of the senior class of Yale College, which was graduated in 1802, spontaneously offered to write for me in succession. Their example was followed by the three succeeding classes; and in this manner a first copy of the work, so far as I had then pursued my investigations, was completed. But for the polite- ness of these young gentlemen, it would probably have been relinquished. . .
II MONADNOCK FROM MOUNT HOLYOKE Tuesday, September 27th, 1796
From Mount Holyoke, on the southern side of this township [Hadley], at the distance of three miles from the church, is seen the richest prospect in New England, and not improbably in the United States. The mountain is about one thousand one hundred feet above the surface of the [Connecticut] River, but in the place of ascent is of so gradual an acclivity that two- thirds of the elevation may be easily gained on horseback. On the highest part of the summit the inhabitants have cleared away the trees and shrubs, so as to open the prospect in the most advantageous manner. . .
When the eye traces this majestic stream, meandering with a singular course through these delightful fields, wandering in one place five miles to gain one, and in another four to gain seventy yards; enclosing, almost immediately beneath, an island of twenty acres exquisite in its form and verdure, and adorned on the northern end with a beautiful grove; when it marks the sprightly towns which rise upon its banks, and the numerous churches which gem the whole landscape in its neighborhood; when it explores the lofty forests, wildly contrasted with the rich scene of cultivation which it has just examined, and pre-
57
TO MONADNOCK
senting all the varieties of woodland vegetation ; when it ascends higher and marks the perpetually varying and undulating arches of the hills, the points and crowns of the nearer and detached mountains, and the long continued ranges of the more distant ones, particularly of the Green Mountains receding northward beyond the reach of the eye; when, last of all, it fastens upon the Monadnoc in the northeast, and in the north- west upon Saddle Mountain, ascending, each, at the distance of fifty miles, in dim and misty grandeur, far above all the other objects in view; it will be difficult not to say that, with these exquisite varieties of beauty and grandeur, the relish for landscape is filled, neither a wish for higher perfection nor an idea of what it is, remaining in the mind.
III MONADNOCK FROM WALPOLE, N. H.
On Tuesday, the 11th, [1803], we proceeded to Keene through Walpole and a corner of Surrey. The road imme- diately from the village of Walpole ascends a lofty eminence, a part of the chain of mountains which passes on to the north from Mount Toby in Sunderland, and appears to blend itself with other spurs from the Lime range north of the township of Claremont. . . The summit presents a very noble prospect. Immediately beneath the eye lies the Connecticut valley on the west, and that of the Ashuelot on the east. The latter is about nine miles in length, and magnificently bounded by the range of Mount Washington, a long succession of lofty and varied eminences, far above all which, at the distance of twenty miles from the spectator, ascends the conical summit of Monadnoc at the height of 3,254 feet above the level of the ocean. A finer object can scarcely be conceived, nor a position in which it could be more advantageously seen.
:
58
THE THIRD TURNPIKE ROAD IN N. H., 1799- I
MONADNOCK AND THE TURNPIKE
From the Jaffrey Centennial Address delivered by the Hon. Joel Parker, 1873. In Dr. Cutter's History of the Town of Jaffrey.
This turnpike was incorporated in December 1799, [to build "from Bellows Falls in Walpole on the Connecticut River, through Keene toward Boston, to the Massachusetts line"], fifty miles, and cost it was said fifty thousand dollars. It occu- pied portions of the old road in various places, near the Moun- tain [Monadnock], near the middle of the town [Jaffrey], and eastward of it. It struck off from the old road at John Cutter's tannery, and at Spofford's mills, and ran by Col. Benjamin Prescott's tavern in the east part of the town, and through "Tophet Swamp" into New Ipswich. ..
There must have been some controversy respecting the loca- tion of the turnpike. In a poetical New Year's address sent from Parnassus to New Ipswich soon after, it was said that the Muse could relate
"How Prescott and Merriam made a stand, And bent the road to suit their land" :-
but she did not do it, and I cannot. Col. Prescott, as I re- member him, was another of the tall men of Jaffrey, of power- ful frame, and an influential man in the town. If any man could bend a turnpike, he might be expected to do it. The principal taverns on the turnpike were those of Sweetser in Marlborough, Milliken, Danforth, and Prescott in Jaffrey, and Merriam and Batchelder in New Ipswich, celebrated houses in their day.
59
TO MONADNOCK
It was one of the principal throughfares from central Ver- mont to Boston, and the transportation over it in the winter was of course quite large, as the route through Rindge was not then a great highway. This winter transportation was gen- erally by two-horse teams attached to square lumber-boxes, so called, loaded on the downward transit principally with pork, grain, beans, butter, cheese and other country produce, and on their return trip with iron, molasses, rum, sugar, codfish and other groceries. The dry goods of that day were prin- cipally of home manufacture.
Occasionally a severe storm, blocking the roads badly, would compel these teams to stop at the nearest of the taverns named, where the loggerhead was always in the fire in winter, and the landlord ready to make a "good stiff mug of flip." . . And when the storm was over and the road began to be broken out, the long line of teams, especially those ascending the hills to the west, was something to see. . .
In December, 1803, [adds Frederic J. Wood in The Turn- pikes of New England*], Dearborn Emerson started a line of stages over this road, running between Boston and Bellows Falls. Under earlier conditions it had cost six dollars to be carried from Keene to Boston, but Mr. Emerson's enterprise reduced the fare to four-fifty. . . The Third New Hampshire Turnpike was the predecessor of the Cheshire Railroad, now the Cheshire Branch of the Fitchburg Division of the Boston and Maine Railroad. But while the turnpike had dared to cross the foot of Monadnock's steep sides, the railroad en- gineers used better judgment and bore their road well to the south.
*Published by the Marshall Jones Company of Boston (1919), through whose courtesy this excerpt is republished.
60
THE THIRD TURNPIKE ROAD, 1799-
II THE TOLLS OF THE TURNPIKE
From the Act of Incorporation, passed December 25, 1799.
For every fifteen sheep or hogs, one cent [for every mile of said road, and so in proportion]; for every fifteen cattle or horses, two cents; for every horse and his rider or led horse, three-fourths of one cent; for every sulkey, chair or chaise with one horse and two wheels, one and a half cents; for every chariot, coach, stage, waggon, phaeton or chaise with two horses and four wheels, three cents; for either of the car- riages last mentioned with four horses, four cents; for every other carriage of pleasure, the like sums according to the num- ber of wheels and horses drawing the same; for each cart or other carriage of burthen with wheels, drawn by one beast, one cent; for each waggon, cart or other carriage drawn by two beasts, one and a half cents; if by more than two beasts, one cent for each additional yoke of oxen or horse; for each sleigh drawn by one horse, three-fourths of one cent; if drawn by two horses, one and a half cents; and if by more than two horses, half a cent for every additional horse; for each sled drawn by one horse, half of one cent; for each sled drawn by two horses or a yoke of oxen, one cent; and if by more than two horses or one yoke of oxen, one cent for each additional pair of horses or yoke of oxen.
And at all times when the toll gatherer shall not attend his duty, the gates shall be left open; and if any person shall with his carriage, team, cattle or horses turn out of said road, to pass the said turnpike gates, on ground adjacent thereto, with intent to avoid the payment of the toll due by virtue of this Act, such person shall forfeit and pay three times so much as the legal toll would have been, to be recovered by the Treasurer
61
TO MONADNOCK
of the said Corporation, to the use thereof in an action of debt, or on the case.
Provided, that nothing in this Act shall extend to entitle the said Corporation to demand toll of any person who shall be passing with his horse or carriage to or from public worship, or with his horse, team or cattle, or on foot to or from any mill, or on their common or ordinary business of family concerns within the same town.
III THE STAGE OF THE TURNPIKE
Advertisement of Emerson Dearborn in The New Hampshire Sentinel, December 3, 1803.
The subscriber would inform the public that he runs a line of stages on the middle post road from Boston to Walpole, N. H., that passes through Concord, Groton, New Ipswich, Jaffrey, Marlborough and Keene to Walpole twice a week, which meets a line of stages that conveys passengers, etc., on through Windsor to the colleges at Hanover twice a week, viz.
Leaves Mr. Wheelock's, sign of the Indian Queen, No. 37 Marlborough Street, Boston, every Wednesday and Saturday at 4 o'clock in the morning, and arrives at Concord by 8 o'clock, at Groton by 12 o'clock, and at New Ipswich by 6 o'clock in the evening, same days. Leaves New Ipswich by 4 o'clock in the morning every Thursday and Monday, and arrives at Keene same days by noon, and at Walpole by 6 o'clock in the evening. . .
As this route will bring the passenger to or from Boston to Hanover in three days, and the road the most part of the way a good turnpike, he flatters himself it will gain the traveler's attention. The fare through is less than 6 cents per mile. From
62
THE THIRD TURNPIKE ROAD, 1799-
Boston to Concord is 1 dollar, from ditto to Groton 2 dollars, to New Ipswich 3 dollars, to Marlborough 4 dollars, to Keene 4 dollars 50 cents, and to Walpole 5 dollars. Way passengers 6 cents per mile, 14 lbs. baggage gratis for passengers, 150 lbs. baggage equal to a passenger.
He returns his sincere thanks to his customers for their past favors, and solicits their continuance. He will pay the greatest attention to the transportation of any packages, letters, bundles, or any business in his line that his friends may favor him with.
DEARBORN EMERSON.
Keene, December 3, 1803.
63
THE FIRST GREAT FIRE, ABOUT 1800
From the Jaffrey Centennial Address delivered by the Hon. Joel Parker, LL.D., born in Jaffrey 1795. In Dr. Cutter's History of the Town of Jaffrey.
At the settlement of the township of Jaffrey, Monadnock must have been covered nearly to its summit with a dense forest. Some of my earliest recollections are of fires on its sides, which furnished pillars of smoke by day and of fire by night, sufficient to have guided the children of Israel, if their path to the Promised Land had lain in this vicinity. These fires left a tangled windfall, and a bald rock, as it was called, at the top, which was perhaps bare before that time.
[See supra, 1792, Jeremy Belknap's Monadnock.]
64
MONADNOCK AND A BOTANICAL TOUR, 1815
From an autobiography, found after his death, by Jacob Bigelow, M.D., LL.D., Lecturer on Materia Medica and Botany in Harvard University. Parts of this autobiography were incorporated by George E. Ellis in his Memoir of Jacob Bigelow, 1880, a reprint from the Proceedings of the Massa- chusetts Historical Society.
Several journeys were made to collect plants for the Botany of New England. The most interesting of these was a tour to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, made in 1815, in company with Francis C. Gray, Esq., Dr. Francis Boott, Mr. Nathaniel Tucker, and Lemuel Shaw, Esq., afterward Chief Justice of Massachusetts. Our party ascended the Monadnock in New Hampshire, the Ascutney in Vermont, and finally the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
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