USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Plymouth > Twenty decades in Plymouth, New Hampsire : 1763-1963 > Part 3
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
Clothing was a long process from the wool of the sheep to a garment. Shoes were a luxury that were worn in mid-winter or at the Sunday meetings. Stockings were knitted with wooden needles and mittens were too valuable to lose.
Few persons "left town," an expression that often indicated that nobody except the minister or representative to the legislature traveled ten miles out- side the limits of the township unless guilty of a misdemeanor. News was the exchange of neighborhood events between the two services on the Sabbath around the lunch hour or at the tavern where the men congregated. News- papers were unknown, letters seldom received, and only illness called house- wives to assist their friends for nightwatchers.
Metal was imported from England. Kettles of iron or brass were passed from house to house frequently. Tools were precious property, such as knives, shears, hammers and chisels. With these and improvised lathes and planes many pieces of household furniture were manufactured such as the lyre table that stands in the chancel of the Congregational church that Enoch Ward made for the second meetinghouse, about 1800, for the price of two pounds and
31
This mahogany lyre table was carved by Enoch Ward for the communion service in the Ward Hill meetinghouse, at the price of two pounds, five shillings. It is over 150 years old.
five shillings, as stated by Mr. George Clark. Examine the four chairs that were also used in the meetinghouse to appreciate the skill of those cabinet makers of the years gone by.
This was the period when the colonial buildings were erected in Salem, Mass. and Portsmouth, N. H. by the skilled ship carpenters. Without doubt the sons of the Ward Family viewed the carving on the doorways and the man- tels of the fireplaces in Newton, Mass. before they came to Plymouth, and others from Hollis and southern New England knew the beauty of the furni- ture that is now prized as antiques.
Women understood the designs for coverlets and linens that were pro- duced on their hand looms. Their brick ovens baked foods from recipes that have been bequeathed to present housewives. Vitamins were present in the products of the humus soil and health was not a troublesome topic of conver- sation.
Everybody worked. Small children were taught to pick up the chips around the chopping blocks, and every child was assigned his stint of daily tasks. Idleness was a besetting sin.
32
SUMMARY
Events of this decade were the beginning of the second meetinghouse, the first doctor, a store, New Hampshire the ninth state to ratify the Federal Con- stitution, and building schoolhouses.
-Doris W. Wherland
A coverlet of linen warp and blue wool for woof, produced on the farm. The pattern is "The Governor's Garden" or "St. Ann's Robe." This was woven by Phoebe Cass, a relative of Mrs. Blanche S. Smith. This heirloom belongs to Mrs. Elwin M. Smith.
33
1793-1803
MOOR RUSSELL
When the financial problems after the Revolution were solved, prosperity brought surplus commodities for sale from the farms. This situation demand- ed the genius of an enterprising business man. Such an individual was already to capture this opportunity. His name was Moor Russell, who was born on October 30, 1757 at Litchfield.
At the age of eighteen years he was a soldier in the Battle of Bunker Hill and continued until 1779 in the northern army. He was a surveyor with a trained eye for estimating land values. Grafton County appealed immediately, influencing him to purchase a large tract in Haverhill in 1777.
In addition to farming, he became a trader in cattle and lumber. His ability was soon in demand for town offices: representative to the state legis- lature, justice of the peace and a founder of Haverhill Academy.
His business evidently caused him to become acquainted with Plymouth, especially at the tavern of Col. David Webster where he met Elizabeth Web- ster, the only daughter of the family. Although he was twice her age of seven- teen years, she became Mrs. Russell on December 23, 1790.
Where this couple resided during the following five years is not recorded but two children were born in Plymouth and two others were born in Haver- hill before 1800. Meanwhile, according to family tradition, the site of the present Russell House was purchased from the property of David Webster for the future home of the Russell Family and a small house was erected that is now the ancient kitchen, said to have been built in 1797. The equipment in- cluded a large fireplace and brick oven. Beside the fireplace was a device for heating water that consisted of a fire-box, connected to the chimney with a flue, and above this a large covered iron kettle surrounded by a wall of bricks, a modern appliance for that time.
Behind this house several stables extended that were demolished about twenty-five years ago when the State of New Hampshire purchased this pro- perty. As the family increased, additional rooms were constructed toward Highland Street.
In 1798 Russell's store was erected on Highland Street above the present post office where a thriving business prospered until 1822 when a brick build-
34
1838645
Moor Russell's kitchen of 1797, equipped with a fireplace with an iron kettle on the crane, the brick oven, and an iron kettle enclosed with bricks and with a fire box beneath it. The family of four people lived in this room several years.
ing was built on the site of the post office. This determined that West Ply- mouth was no longer the center of trade in the town. Moor Russell established the future growth of the business district of Plymouth.
Soon Mr. Russell developed a trucking business with six and eight horse teams carrying the products of these valley farms to Portsmouth over the Coos Road, a distance of about seventy miles, and returning with necessary com- modities for the increasing population.
Today this old province road may be traced and for the most part traveled from North Haverhill to Durham Falls through Warren, Wentworth, Rumney, Ashland, Meredith Center, along Pleasant Street in Laconia to the wading place on Main Street, then down Route 107 to Barnstead, through the woods to Barrington, Madbury and Durham to the falls in the Oyster River. Gen- eral John Sullivan of Revolutionary fame constructed wharfs and a large store house near his residence that is yet standing, where he shipped this produce
35
down the rivers to Portsmouth in sail boats and brought back the goods to sell in the north country.
Necessary supplies included salt, metal goods such as tools, utensils for both home and farm, leather for shoes and many other purposes and, gradual- ly, imported cloth and woods for furniture. Only a vivid imagination brings mental pictures of these teams, wheeling over rough, dusty pathways in sum- mer, mud in spring and fall and some trips in early winter.
Mr. Russell participated in the religious life of the community and be- came a leader in temperance reforms, being the first among the merchants to cease to sell intoxicating liquors. He was generous to those in need and a power for good throughout the town and county. He died at the age of ninety- four years leaving his sons to continue the business.
MOOR RUSSELL, 1757 - 1851
36
THE TOLL BRIDGE
Since wagons loaded with valuable goods and drawn by several spans of horses must now cross the Pemigewasset River, a bridge became a necessity. Two prominent families, Livermore of Holderness and Webster of Plymouth, requested the legislature to grant to them the right to form a corporation to build a toll bridge.
The Recorded Acts of the State of New Hampshire prove in Volume 11, page 42, that on December 12, 1797, Arthur Livermore, David Webster, George Williamson Livermore, William Webster, Thomas Thompson and David Webster, Jr. were incorporated for the purpose of building and keeping a toll bridge over the Pemigewasset River between the towns of New Holder- ness and Plymouth.
That this bridge was built is proved by later State Papers, yet no descrip- tion of this structure is known. Since the trusses that engineers designed in later years were not patented in 1797, probably the same method was em- ployed that is seen today in mill ponds to anchor the booms to contain the saw logs.
Abutments of huge boulders supported the ends of the bridge. Then a framework made of split timbers ten or twelve feet long formed the four sides of a square that was filled with large rocks. Several of these so called cribs were anchored at intervals in the bed of the river and heavy timbers were stretched from crib to crib on two opposite sides to form the frame of the
An early bridge supported on cribs.
37
At left, first Webster tavern (1764); at right, second tavern.
bridge. After planks for the floor were laid across these timbers, large logs were laid along their ends on either side to fasten the floor in place.
Today the river is about three hundred feet in width; doubtless it was in 1797. The bridge was located about thirty rods north of David Webster's tavern and also north of the mouth of Mill Brook on the Holderness bank.
THE SECOND WEBSTER TAVERN
Tradition relates that the log tavern of 1764 that Col. David Webster built was later replaced by a small framed house and enlarged as business in- creased. Col. Webster was sixty-two years of age in 1800 and ready to resign his position as tavern keeper. He was the sheriff of Grafton County, and re- tained this office until 1809.
William, a third son of Col. David Webster, also called Colonel from a state military title, succeeded his father as keeper of the tavern. He erected an entirely new building with a gambrel roof and sufficient capacity to accom- modate the judges and other officials when the county court convened in Ply- mouth.
Fortunately a daguerreotype was preserved by the next tavern keeper, Mr. Dennison R. Burnham, that was presented to the Young Ladies Library
38
Association by his grandson. A rude log shed in the foreground of this old print is said to be the relic of the first log structure of 1764.
This fine colonial tavern, beside the Main Street, became a famous inn among travelers who were beginning to visit this northern section of the state to initiate the tourist business that was increasing even in the year of 1800. The Webster tavern did not stand alone on the south side of Main Street. In 1800, Steven Webster is said to have built a two story colonial home with an arched doorway in the center of the lower story, located about on the site of the Newberry store of 1962.
The house known for many years as Clarkland on Route 25 was also erected in 1800 by Samuel Wells for a tavern. This originally did not have the large ell of today. The kitchen was on the northwest corner and the tap room on the front, with a cupboard that filled the space beside the big chim- ney with a sliding door in the wall. This opened into the bar and hot water for the toddy was passed through from the kitchen fireplace.
The entire second story front was a dance hall fitted with folding paneled partitions that divided this large room into three sleeping rooms. The walls were painted a pale buff color and stenciled garlands of roses and foliage decorated both walls and ceiling.
The Masonic fraternity was organized in this hall on October 25, 1803 and assembled there for its meetings. A tale is related that a curious woman resolved to discover the secrets of the lodge. She ascended to the attic to listen through the thin ceiling of the hall below. Unfortunately she stumbled and pushed her foot through the lath and plaster to her disgrace and the indigna- tion of the Masonic brothers.
INTERIOR OF THE MEETINGHOUSE
About 1793 an auction was held to sell the floor space of the meeting- house for pews to heads of families. Since the plans were entirely different from the churches of today, a description may be fitting.
The sum of four hundred and twenty-eight pounds, six shillings, and eight pence was paid to erect forty-six pews. Two adjacent rows of rectangular pews covered the center of the floor, surrounded by narrow aisles. Platforms, eight inches in height, were built around the four walls and upon these smaller square pews were set, except for vacant spaces at the south, east and west doorways and for the pulpit at the north wall.
The name, sheep-pens, was often applied to these pews, because a wall about three feet in height, topped by a balustrade a foot high, surrounded whatever floor space a family purchased. Three sides within the pews held
39
board seats with hinges so that they might be lifted when the occupants stood during the long prayers, as was the custom on the Sabbath. After the amen, the clatter of falling seats upon their supports is always mentioned in every description of a religious service.
The pulpit was in three sections. At the ceiling hung an octagonal can- opy called a sounding board. Beneath this at the height of the gallery a plat- form was built against the wall, sufficiently wide for the seat for the minister and standing room. At the edge of this platform the pulpit wall extended, with a projection in the middle that was supported by a carved base that is now the lectern in the chancel of the present church. The pulpit desk today is a copy of the old pulpit.
The finish of the white pine panels may be seen on the small panel that is now in the wall of the present pulpit. A stain was used consisting of a brown bark soaked in vinegar and applied to the wood before it was rubbed to a shining finish, a task for skilled workmen through many months.
The third section of the pulpit was at the floor level, called the deacons' pew because the deacons sat here facing the audience, with a paneled wall around one side and the front and a door at the left side. On the inside of this front wall hung on hinges a semi-circular shelf that held the pewter service at communion, or any notes and the gavel of the moderator at the annual town meetings.
Beside the entrance door to the deacons' pew a staircase to the pew for the preacher ascended to a platform one step below the pew door that allowed this to swing back against the wall when it was opened. The balustrade was always ornamented with hand-turned spindles and a polished rail.
Pillars that supported the plates for the gallery were painted white and mottled with black to resemble marble. The tall posts of the frame projected from the walls, stained brown yet rough surfaced with the marks of the broad- ax.
Two rows of many paned windows, the upper at the height of the gallery, provided the only warmth in this large room when the sun was shining.
In 1796, thirty pews were built on platforms along the walls in the gal- lery. Along the parapet, slip pews accommodated the unmarried part of the audience. After a choir was permitted for the Sabbath services, these singers sat on the slip pew facing the pulpit.
The precentor, or choir leader, with his tuning fork, pitched the tune, yet a harmonious chorus did not result because many persons in the audience never learned the tunes. Still they joined with the singing of the psalms how-
40
ever disturbing their voices might sound. Not until an instrument was per- mitted did harmony prevail.
THE SECOND MINISTER
Worn by his thirty-five years of devoted service, Rev. Nathan Ward re- signed in 1798. He was loved by everybody because of his kindness to old and young. He traveled many miles to represent his parish at meetings where the minister was invited, even to distant towns. He maintained standards of righteousness that were indelibly stamped upon the future character of this township.
Now the town was obliged to search for another minister. After a six months interim, Rev. Drury Fairbanks was installed "with the consent of the town and of the church." This young man, twenty-eight years of age, was born in Holliston, Massachusetts, graduated at Brown University in 1797, was married and came to Plymouth in 1800. Among a number of sermons that are in the safe at the Congregational Church is a copy of the ordination discourse that was delivered by Rev. Timothy Dickinson, A.M., pastor of the church in Holliston, on January 8, 1800. Without doubt this service was attended by all of the population who sat in that audience room, with the cold seeping through the walls that were then covered on the outside with boards only.
Mr. Fairbanks remained in Plymouth during the following eighteen years, then removed to Littleton where he died in 1856.
THE METHODIST PREACHERS
At this same year, 1800, the Methodist circuit riders appeared in this part of the state. Those who are remembered as earnest speakers were Reu- ben Jones, Martin Ruter and Elijah Hedding, the latter said to have been the popular preacher.
Mr. Ebenezer Blodgett was influenced to become a Methodist and joined in the evangelistic work in surrounding towns at times. He entertained the circuit riders in his home. Mr. Hedding suffered an attack of rheumatic fever on one of his tours and Mr. Blodgett received him in his home and nursed him to health during a three months illness.
SUMMARY
This decade records the career of Moor Russell, including his store and teamwork to the seacoast, the first bridge over the Pemigewasset River, the new Webster Tavern, completing the interior of the meetinghouse, the first Methodist circuit riders, and the resignation of Rev. Nathan Ward, and Rev. Drury Fairbanks installed as his successor.
41
1803- 1813
This decade developed signs of progress because of improved transporta- tion facilities and higher education. The turnpike era began about 1796 yet did not bring changes in Plymouth until 1803. With increasing production on the farms, better roads were demanded to transfer these fruits of the soil to markets. Toll roads were the answer. Men formed corporations to finance construction, with legal rights to collect fees from persons who traveled these highways. The name, turnpike, was derived from the toll gates that closed the roadways every few miles and turned on a pike in the gate post.
Seven men, none of them from Plymouth, sought a charter to build a turnpike from West Plymouth toward Franklin, with Peter Mayhew of Rum- ney as the leader for this enterprise.
Trade with Portsmouth was prosperous, therefore a road toward Boston, the rival city for commerce, was not desired in Plymouth. Both cities were situated on harbors that were deep and safe for sailing ships. Portsmouth was some miles nearer London, but Boston was more central to the increasing pop- ulation in New England.
Although the inhabitants of Plymouth objected strongly, nevertheless Peter Mayhew was authorized to construct the road and received the honor to perpetuate his name in future years. The Mayhew Turnpike extended from West Plymouth, along the east bank of Newfound Lake, through Bristol and into Hill to a spot about three miles below the mouth of the Smith River.
A toll gate stood at the "Head" near the present home of Mr. Raymond Whittemore where the original granite post for the gate stands, marked 1806, probably the date that the turnpike was opened for business.
Two years later, the Haverhill Turnpike was built from Haverhill, through Piermont, turned along Lake Tarleton, through Warren and Went- worth to join the Mayhew Turnpike at West Plymouth, thus providing an improved highway from these northern towns toward Boston. The Coos Road from Rumney to Haverhill had not remained in passable condition and was almost abandoned after this period.
THE STAGE COACH ROAD
Today the highway over Thurlow Hill is popular for residents who enjoy
42
the views of the peaks of the White Mountains. Moses Thurlow came to Ply- mouth in 1782. His home was "on the old Hill Road to Lower Intervale." Now the name "Stage Coach Road" is revived, reported to be the abandoned pathway that turns off the Daniel Webster Highway on the north bank of Glove Hollow. Traditions exist that stage coaches followed this hill road, over Walker Hill, now called Frontenac, and into Plymouth by Thurlow Street.
The cellar hole of an old tavern can still be seen about half way to the top of the hill from Stoney Brook road.
Stage coaches began to run soon after the turnpikes were incorporated which apparently approximates the period when this old road was constructed.
THE FRANCONIA NOTCH ROAD
In 1805, the road through Franconia Notch was constructed. Two work- men stopped on the shore of Profile Lake to wash their hands. One looked up at the cliff and discovered the Old Man of the Mountain. Legend tells that the Indians knew about this natural wonder and called it "Holy Ground."
PUTMOUTH & FRANGO VIA M.
-
-
Stagecoach drivers from left to right are: Ed Cox, Sam Allard, Charles Jones, Wilbur C. Stearns, H. B. Marden, and Abner Nourse-all famous men on their routes.
43
Mr. Justus Conrad, historian of Woodstock, reported that the first road from the south to enter Woodstock ran through Sandwich Notch, probably crossed Mad River and over the hill to join the Campton road northward.
From Plymouth, since 1786 when Moses Little received the rights to "The Governor's Farm" that Governor Benning Wentworth claimed from the grant to Campton, without doubt the highway was built in Holderness to his home. That home became the second hospital in Plymouth in 1921. Mr. Little erected a grist mill, a saw mill and a fulling mill at the falls and ferried the Pemigewasset River near his home. By these routes travelers journeyed northward in this decade.
THE BURNHAM TRIAL
A tragic event brought excitement to the town when the trial of Josiah Burnham was held in the court house at Plymouth. Josiah Burnham was a respected citizen until he became financially embarrassed and was committed to the jail at Haverhill for forgery. Two other prisoners, Russell Freeman and Captain Starkweather, who were confined in the same room with Mr. Burn- ham, aroused his anger to such a degree of madness that he drew a long knife and killed both men.
At the May term of court in Plymouth in 1806 the murderer was indicted and he was tried in the Superior Court in June. Allen Sprague of Haverhill and Daniel Webster of Boscawen were assigned to defend Mr. Burnham. Mr. Sprague refused to argue in defense of the prisoner. Daniel Webster claimed the privilege and made a plea for mercy of the Court, because he was not in favor of capital punishment.
Biographers claim that this was the first plea that Mr. Webster made for a lawyer's fee, but he lost the case. The judge sentenced the prisoner to be hanged. He was executed at Haverhill on August 12, 1806. As was the cus- tom, a long sermon was delivered by Rev. David Sutherland of Haverhill to warn the prisoner of his impending doom, then he was hanged in the sight of a numerous company of spectators.
The claim that this was the first case that Daniel Webster pleaded in court has been proved untrue. In 1835 after the courthouse was moved to South Main Street and demoted from a schoolhouse to a paint shop, the tale is related that Mr. Webster visited the old building and picked up a paint brush to inscribe his initials upon a post of the framework.
THE SECOND BRIDGE
A freshet, as floods were named, washed the first bridge over the Pemi- gewasset River down the stream in 1804. The elder son of Judge Livermore,
44
Edward St. Loe, applied for a franchise to run a ferry "Near where the toll bridge was lately erected." Again, in 1810, the younger son, Arthur, was granted by the legislature the exclusive right to keep a toll bridge over the Pemigewasset River. A second bridge was constructed, only to be washed away by the flood of 1813, said to have been unusually dangerous.
THE COMPLETED MEETINGHOUSE
Fourteen years after the town voted to erect the second meetinghouse, the building was finished on the outside in 1806 The boarded walls were cov- ered with clapboards and painted.
In that same year, the town voted that a belfry might be erected above the porch over the west doorway, "without expense to the town." A subscrip- tion paper was circulated that pledged sufficient contributions for this addi- tion.
In Stearns' History of Plymouth may be seen a rude drawing of this meetinghouse that seems a most unlikely representation. At this period, car- penters constructed a belfry on the ground, this one completed with an "elec- tric rod" at the apex. With tackle and shears the structure was raised to the height of the porch, fastened to a platform with mortises and tenons and firmly pinned together to resist the winds that blow with force on the top of Ward Hill.
A year before the meetinghouse was finished, Rev. Nathan Ward died. He was laid to rest in a new cemetery, now named the Pleasant Valley Ceme- tery. Although no records remain, doubtless the original cemetery near the log meetinghouse was abandoned after this burned.
The second cemetery in the town is found on the Spencer Farm at the edge of the terrace along the flood plain of the Baker River. The oldest head- stone at the grave of Widow Bridget Snow, another for a Revolutionary sol- dier and several other moss-covered slabs indicate that this was the burial ground for residents of West Plymouth.
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.