USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Londonderry > Vital records of Londonderry, New Hampshire; a full and accurate transcript of the births, marriage intentions, marriages and deaths in this town from the earliest date to 1910 > Part 2
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ANCESTORS OF THE COLONISTS OF LONDONDERRY.
clan known as the Saxons, in the lowlands. The last had come near the middle of the fifth century, and one of their kings, Edwin, had founded Edinburgh. The pioneers from Ireland came in the beginning of the seventh century and established themselves on the western coast. They were called "Scotch- Irish," and this is the first time that name appears in history.
Naturally the Picts and Saxons looked upon the newcomers as foes, and, though they had nothing else in common, they fought with the single purpose of driving from their shores these invaders, but in vain. On common footing now the Scots united under the banner of one Kenneth, an illustrious name in Scottish history. During this period the Picts were converted to the religious belief of the conquerors. For over six hundred years this conquest went on, until there were added to the fame of Kenneth that of Alexander, Malcolm and other heroic figures. Always opposed by bitter enemies, the warfare continued until each firth and burn, glen and moor, lovely vale and grassy slope awoke to deeds of valor such as come where the genius of civilization clashes hand to hand with the nemesis of barbarism.
The name of Caledonia was succeeded by that of Scotland, but, though the Scots had been successful, a grave peril still threatened their liberty. This fell destroyer was an enemy they nurtured in their own bosoms. While, no doubt, there lingered some vague remembrance of the simpler faith of Iona, the "landscapes were covered with fair, rich and stately abbeys, and Cistercian and Benedictine friars, black or gray, consumed in opulent ease the wealth of the nation. Its bishops were temporal lords, ruling in no modest pomp over wide domains. The priests had engrossed one half of the land of a poor nation ; the churches and the cathedrals glittered with the wealth that had been ravished from the cottages and hovels of the peasants, or won through the superstitions of feeble kings. Nor was there any land where the clergymen were more corrupt, or the gross manners of a depraved hierarchy less hidden by a decent veil."
The Moses to bring the light to this benighted land was Patrick Hamilton, a fair-haired student at Wurtenburg, who had listened to the inspired teachings of Luther, the great German reformer. With the courage of his convictions young
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VITAL RECORDS OF LONDONDERRY.
Hamilton returned to his native land to declare the doctrine of the new religion. He was given respectful attention by many, but he encountered bitter opposition from those who saw the doom of their own church in the acceptance of his. So Patrick Hamilton was seized and burned at the stake, the first victim of the Scottish Reformation. If the price paid was dear the reward was beyond his most sanguine expecta- tions. As if by magic the ashes of Hamilton seemed scattered to the remote glens as well as to the towns. Nobles and peas- ants, monks and priests were awakened suddenly to the gravity of the situation. Queen Elizabeth came to the rescue, and trained soldiery that menaced the common people were driven from the field. The impetuous Knox rallied the people, and before the dazed papal heads could awaken to defend their po- sition church and cathedral had been shorn of their images and sacred emblems, until Scotland was strewn with the wrecks of fallen monasteries and the moonlit ruins of some Melrose was to be found at night in any section. Quoting from the same authority as before: "With one vigorous exer- cise of latent strength the Scottish intellect had freed itself from Italian bondage and might well prepare for rapid progress in the new paths of reform. Nor could it have foreseen that pains or woes scarcely surpassed in the Vaudios valleys or in the fens of Holland were to spring from a sister church and from its native kings; that the darkest period in the history of its stern and barren land was to come from the malice of Rome disguised in the thin mask of bishops like Laud or Sharp, princes like the first and second Charles and the first and sec- ond James."
The history of the persecution of the Presbyterians of Scot- land, as far as it relates to its enemies, is not pleasant to follow. One reason for the darkness of the portrayal is the fact that the Church of England had fallen into corrupt control fol- lowing the excellent and liberal spirit of Elizabeth and James I. Under the dissolute princes that succeeded, the church ceased to be the friend of the common people. This was what drove the Puritan and Low Churchman to leave the country in such large numbers. It was the underlying current that impelled so many of the people to rebel against the Stuarts. In Scot- land, where the new doctrine was fostered by the common
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ANCESTORS OF THE COLONISTS OF LONDONDERRY.
people and not favored by the kings, Charles I. thought to sup- press it by the arms of England.
A generation had passed since Hamilton had led in the Reformation, and at first the people awakened slowly to the threatened loss of the liberty gained by the fervid intellect and fearless defiance of their fathers. This time it took a woman to lead them out into the light. The bigoted Laud, repre- senting the church and the king of England, had planned to install the new ritual of the popish church in place of the Pres- byterian in the High Church of St. Giles at Edinburgh. When the announcement was made to the large congregation present, Jenny Geddes, rising in her righteous indigation, flung the stool upon which she had been sitting at the head of the dean, cry- ing: "Vile wretch, will ye read mass at my lug?" Such an uproar followed this invective that priest nor bishop could silence the crowd. Nor was it stilled for more than a hundred years.
It was a stormy century that succeeded, and often the brave Presbyterians were so hard pressed that their cause seemed lost. But the fire would not be quenched, and it was no uncommon spectacle to see hundreds of the outlawed people coming out from their concealment to listen under a wide- spreading oak to the fervid pleadings of some spiritual leader upon whose head at that very moment was a heavy reward, while at any moment an officer of the rival church might seize him. In the early part of this interval a considerable number of the Scottish Covenanters returned across the channel into the north of Ireland, which had been so ravaged by the Eng- lish that the land was deserted of its inhabitants. So, after more than a thousand years, the descendants of the early people of Ireland returned to the scenes of their forefathers. But there were no open arms to receive them, though they set about to repair their shattered fortunes with unfaltering courage.
In Scotland the battle waxed so fierce and strong that in 1638, with uncompromising enthusiasm, a vast congregation gathered at Greyfriar's church, Edinburgh, to pledge anew their faith in the Presbytery. A new covenant was written upon a huge parchment and signed by loyal supporters until, as big as it was, the great document could not contain all of
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VITAL RECORDS OF LONDONDERRY.
the names of the would-be signers. This imperishable procla- mation was more than a religious covenant of the faith of an awakened people, for it announced the independence of thought, the principles of liberty which were to make the thrones of kings tremble, and send to New England the tidings of Jenny Geddes. The unscrupulous Laud fell under the storm that assailed the prelatical régime. In November, 1640, the king of England convened that memorable parlia- ment that reestablished the Presbyterian church in Scotland and established it in England. Thus the stern decree signed upon the tombstone at Edinburgh was made supreme from the Orkneys to the English Channel.
Unfortunately, the Scots forgot some of the wrongs done them by the Stuarts, and with honest loyalty, now that they had gained their ends, espoused the cause of Charles II. This brought upon them the enmity of Cromwell, which should not have been. Still this opposition did not rise to persecution, and during the period from 1640 to 1660 the Presbyterians enjoyed comparative peace. When Charles II. came back to the throne, among the foremost to welcome him was the stal- wart Scotchman, Archibald Campbell, Marquis of Argyle, who had placed the crown upon him as a prince and now hastened to London with his glad greeting. The ungrateful Stuart, remembering only the just criticism Argyle had once uttered against his vices but had long since overlooked, ar- rested the Scot and threw him into the tower. Later he was sent to Edinburgh doomed to the headsman's block. "I could die like a Roman," said the marquis to his friends, "but I would rather die like a Christian." Then, donning his cloak and hat, he walked calmly down the street to where the scaf- fold awaited him, accompanied by several of his weeping com- rades. Ascending the steps without a tremor, he offered a short prayer, himself gave the signal, and became the first vic- tim of the new and most infamous persecution.
Again Scotland was to be deluged in blood and the best and bravest of her people slaughtered like beasts of prey or sent into an exile more horrible in its sufferings than death. The brave clergy resolutely dared the hatred of their perse- cutors, who spared none they could seize. Worshipful con- claves were called together at irregular intervals in some
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ANCESTORS OF THE COLONISTS OF LONDONDERRY.
lonely glen, under some beetling crag, or at some isolated cav- ern reeking with the sweat and slime of ages. The oppres- sion made new converts, and the number of the Presbyterians increased rather than diminished, until at last the hunted Covenanters resorted to arms. Rallying from far and wide they made a desperate stand at Pentland Hills. Amid the dismal highlands that environ Edinburgh the forlorn fugitives met in battle the trained soldiery of England led by the fero- cious Daziel. The outcome was inevitable. After raging all day the battle ended in the night, and the sun rose the follow- ing morning upon the saddest spectacle that even Scotland had ever witnessed. If the battle of Pentland Hills was to be taken as an omen, then surely the fate of the Scottish church had been sealed in blood.
On a beautiful Sabbath morning in June, 1679, was fought under the frowning brow of Loudon Hill the battle of Drum- clog, a repetition in its results of that by Pentland Hills. The cruelty of the conquerors passes belief. Clergymen, who had 10 share in the strife, were hung in chains; women, whose greatest crime had been to weep over the dreadful death of loved ones, were thrown into dungeons filled with vermin and horrors that fail of description. Innocent children, if not put to death, were sent into slavery in faraway lands. The same authority I have already quoted from says: "In the deepest and wildest recesses of their native land the more resolute and enthusiastic of the Covenanters kept untarnished the purity of the Scottish faith. On the dank morass, where the peat water was their only drink ; in dark and misty glens, overhung by forests that skirted lofty mountains; in rifts of earth hid- den deep amidst the bogs; in caverns covered by brushwood and wet with unwholesome distillations from the rock might be seen groups of wild and stalwart men, with grizzly beards, eyes gleaming with strange light, and countenances often glowing amidst their suffering with a holy joy. Each man carried a sword and a little clasped Bible. And these were the remnant of those who had gathered in joy on the banks of the Clyde, or collected in joyous throngs under the broad shelter of Loudon Hill."
The records of these brave leaders of religious trials and tri-
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VITAL RECORDS OF LONDONDERRY.
umph more worthy of the magic touch of the Wizard's* pen than the heroes he pictured in such vivid language read like the wonder fables of old, while they treat of real life. Promi- nent among the martyrs to the holy cause was John Welch, a descendant of John Knox, already mentioned. This eloquent preacher was highly educated, and he abandoned a wealthy church that he might minister to the fugitive followers of his faith. A large reward was offered for his head, and he was hunted by men and bloodhounds, but for twenty years he managed to elude his enemies, who never seemed to sleep. During the trying years of his wandering pastorates the voice of this meek yet eloquent "rebel" never ceased to echo amidst his native hills, while no enemy was so artful as to catch him napping. Wherever he went vast numbers of eager followers sprang as if by magic into his presence, listening to his burn- ing messages. Were it whispered that John Welch was near, churches were deserted and the dim aisles of the forest were filled with his audience. Always armed, and never daring to count upon his safety from those who were eager to get the five hundred pounds set upon his life, one day he was at Pentland Hills sharing the perils of a losing fight, escaping by a three days' ride in the saddle without food or sleep, on another he held his great audience enthralled with his elo- quence on the flooring of the frozen Tweed, with a block of ice for his pulpit. Anon he was celebrating communion at the long table spread in the green meadows of his native heath, with more than three thousand of his people with him. This was in 1678, and in less than two years, broken in health and worn out with his wonderful endeavors, but full of hope for the future, he crossed by stealth the Scottish border and fled from his native land, never to return except as his body was brought back by loving disciples and given rest beside the home he had forsaken that he might help sustain his people in their years of darkness.
A sterner type of the dissenter was Donald Cargill; if more uncompromising than his colleague not a whit less forceful in his arguments, nor lacking in courage or daring. He detested the backslider, and openly declared him more despicable than the open enemy. Wherever he went great numbers thronged *Scott.
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ANCESTORS OF THE COLONISTS OF LONDONDERRY.
to listen to him, becoming his converts or gaining new faith from his bold declarations. One day, as he stood before a mul- titude in one of the valleys of western Scotland, his voice sud- denly failed him. Stricken dumb, the strong man wept his first tears, believing that henceforth he must look in silence upon his suffering people. His enemies asserted that it was a retribution for rebellious utterances. If so, it quickly passed, for a few days later, when he arose as he had done hundreds of times to address his audiences, speech suddenly returned, as unexpectedly as it had left him, and his voice was clearer and more impressive than before. In sooth, he seemed to have greater strength and power to win over to the cause the faltering and intimidated ones that came from far and near to listen to his inspired messages. But constantly haunted by his enemies, he was continually defying death and running the gantlet of snares and ambuscades laid for him. Preach- ing, baptizing, and marrying, yesterday at Nithsdale and Gallo- way, today at Bothwell, he was wounded, surrounded and seized by the prelatical forces. Again a wonderful versatility of escape enabled him to elude his foes once more, and he continued to invoke the judgment of heaven upon the false Stuarts and prophesy the fall of Monmouth and his allies. This could not go on always, and finally the master of prayer and dispenser of unbounded charity was captured and borne in triumph to the cross at Edinburgh. Defiant to the last, he went to his fate with a prayer for his friends upon his lips and words of startling denunciation for those who had wrought so bitterly against his country.
A close companion and worthy ally of this brave prophet, priest and revolutionist was Richard Cameron, and all that has been said of Cargill can be applied with greater emphasis to him, who boldly denied any allegiance to Charles II., who dared to denounce the Duke of York as anti-Christ; who dared to foretell the coming freedom of his people from the thralldom of such false rulers, never sparing those nearer home who had betrayed their most sacred trust. Cameron was the founder of a religious sect that has outlived his stormy days. He was in the midst of one of his fiery sermons in his open church on Aird Moss when the bullet of a cowardly
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marksman shot. him down like a hunted deer, and his muti- lated body was tossed aside as an image of worthless clay.
The story of Cameron's untimely fate heralded abroad, one of his companions and most ardent admirers, Alexander Pleden, came to kneel upon the sod sanctified with his blood. Uplifting his hands to Heaven, Pleden uttered those sincere words dear to every Scot after over two hundred years:
"O to be wi' Richie !"
His grave on Aird Moss is marked with a plain headstone, but it does not require any memorial to keep fresh in the minds of his followers the memory of the generous-hearted Richard Cameron. Hundreds of others just as brave and self- sacrificing as these mentioned, among them Henderson, the first to rally them at Glasgow, Pleden, exhorting to his disciples in his willow-covered cavern-church, the beautiful Renfrew, last of the brave Covenanters to fall a sacrifice to the religious principles of their heroic lives, might be cited, but it is not necessary. Their names appear almost to a man in the "Vital Records of Londonderry, N. H.," though the majority had found their way hither through the emigration to the north of Ireland in the midst of the oppression at home.
In the meantime those Scotch Presbyterians who had re- turned-1612 to 1620-from western Scotland to the north of Ireland, the very country their ancestors had deserted more than thirty generations before, had not been idle nor left in peace. The same power which had attempted to crush them had overrun and depopulated the land here. They had been encouraged to come here by King James I. in the hope that their presence would help him quell the turbulent spirit that had caused him so much trouble in Ireland. The ancient town of Derry was rebuilt from the ruins left by the warlike forces that had overrun the country in the conquest of James. To the name of this olden monastery was added that of London, the capital of England, and from that day the city has been known as Londonderry, singularly enough a mingling in name of the memory of those races so long at variance. It became a stronghold of Protestantism, and when the wheel of religious fortune had turned again in England, it was an object to attract the attention of James II. The inhabitants bidding defiance to the papal power, a siege was laid to the city on
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ANCESTORS OF THE COLONISTS OF LONDONDERRY.
April 18, 1689, and maintained for 105 days of horror and suffering. Seven thousand men were inside the garrison at the beginning, but this number was reduced to three thousand before the end. The besieged were compelled to eat their horses and dogs, and were on their last ration of tallow and salted hides when relieved.
This part of the story has been told in the histories of Londonderry, so I am passing over it hastily. William of Orange had come to the rescue of the Protestants in the British Isles, and the shadow of oppression no longer over- hung the homes of the Presbyterians. In Scotland, at least, the smile of peace and prosperity settled over brown moor and bracken-matted glen, in home and church, and in place of warlike training, her people turned to brighter ways, estab- lished schools, literature and pursuits that have won lasting renown.
While the ban upon their church had been lifted, still abso- lute freedom was denied the people in the north of Ireland, and finally some of them resolved to try their fortunes in New England. Accordingly an agent was sent to investigate the situation, and his report was so favorable that a goodly number came over in the summer of 1718, the leading spirit of the party being Rev. James MacGregor. Landing at Boston August 4, 1718, before another spring a grant of country twelve miles square was obtained of New Hampshire, and the fore- most of the little colony reached Nutfield, the original name for this township, in April, 1719. Upon the morning of April II, O. S., 1719, the little band of pilgrims met under the spreading branches of a majestic oak standing on the east shore of Beaver Pond. Immediately Parson McGregor returned thanks to the Great Benefactor for having brought them safely over sea that they might plant a new home here in the wilderness. He exhorted his followers to be faithful to the trust reposed in them, taking for the text of his first sermon Isaiah xxxii, sec- ond verse: "And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Certainly a most fitting thought, and under the ancient rooftree in the heart of the wilderness was founded the Presbyterian church in New England. I know of no grander scene in the history of this country.
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VITAL RECORDS OF LONDONDERRY.
Without wishing to engage in the controversy that has arisen over the name commonly given these people, I would remind the seeker after the facts that the original inhabitants of Ireland were of the Celtic race. Then, after five hundred years, or such a matter, the Milesians or Scots appeared upon the scene. An enlightened people, they naturally assumed supremacy over the others, gave their titles to the country, and intermingling, more or less, with the Celts, affirmed the family names. In 626 certain ones of this uneasy population crossed over the North Channel into Ancient Caledonia to overpower and absorb the Picts on the highlands and the Saxons on the lowlands, just as they had the Celts in Ireland. Then the country became known as Scot's Land or Scotland. In time they changed their religion, but the voice of Patrick Hamilton did not reach Ireland. Eventually some of the de- scendants of those immigrants to Caledonia went over into Ireland, the land of their remote ancestors, the Scots and Celts. But it is well to remember that in that long interval the Scots had mingled more freely with Pict and Saxon than ever with Celt, and that over thirty generations of this mixed product had appeared and vanished during a period long enough to have obliterated many racial characteristics; aye, to have created a new race in the crucible of destiny.
G. WALDO BROWNE.
RECORDS OF BIRTHS
From the Earliest Record to the End of 1910
Abbott, Charles W., b. May 10, 1863, and Emma H. Perkins. Son : Harold V., Apr. 21, 1888. (See Perkins.)
Joseph G. and Phylena A. Noyes. Son : James N., Feb. 26, 1907.
Nehemiah and Anna. Children : Joseph, Apr. 24, 1789; Lydia, Sept. 7, 1790; Dolly Varnum, Feb. 9, 1793; Jona- than, Oct. 22, 1795; Betsey, Feb. 3, 1801 ; Jonas, Mar. 4, 1804.
Adams, Charles and Mary. Son, Dec. 22, 1852.
David and Janet. Children : Jane, James, Mary M., Robert W., William, David B., John B., Jonathan, and a ch. who d. in infancy.
David and Martha. Children: Patty, Nov. 24, 1781 ; Rob- ert, Nov. 13, 1783.
David and Mary. Children : Samuel, Apr. 20, 1779; Mary, Mar. 29, 1781 ; David, Nov. 4, 1782 ; John Woodman, Aug. 22, 1785; Hannah, Aug. 20, 1788; Betsey, Dec. 12, 1792; Sally, Feb. 20, 1795.
Edmund and Betsey. Dau .: Susan P., Apr. 20, 1810.
Frank and Alma E. Whidden. Dau .: Rowena.
Gilman I. and Ruby A. Elliott. Children: Wesley, July 2, 1872; Roy B., 1879.
James and Anne. Children : John, Oct. 17, 1793; Benjamin, Oct. 13, 1795 ; David, Oct. 19, 1797 ; Hannah, May 16, 1799; Edmund, Feb. 4, 1802; Polly, July 12, 1805; Sarah, July 13, 1808.
James and Lois A. Son, Oct. 15, 1855.
James and Sarah. Dau .: Elisabeth, Feb. 5, 1744-5-
Jonathan and Sarah. Children : Jean Smith, Sept. 12, 1759; Jonathan, May 20, 1762; William, July 5, 1764; James, May 21, 1766; Mary Todd, Aug. 15, 1772.
Jonathan and Sarah Smith. Children: Jane, d. unm .; Jona- than, remained upon homestead; William, m. Margaret Duncan; James, m. Judith Rolfe; Mary, m. William Eayres, removed to Rutland, Vt .; Susannah, d. unm.
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VITAL RECORDS OF LONDONDERRY.
Adams, John and Betsey. Children: James, Dec. 26, 1817; Charles, Aug. 13, 1819; Horace, June 3, 1821 ; Eliza, Aug. 31, 1823.
John and Betsey. Children: Sarah, Jan. 23, 1790; Robert, June 20, 1791 ; Mary, Dec. 31, 1792 ; Betsey, Nov. 19, 1795 ; John, Apr. 5, 1798.
John and Betsey. Children: Nathan, July 22, 1825; Clar- risa, July 28, 1828; Otis, June 9, 1830.
Nathan and Elisabeth Jane. Children: Lucelia, Dec. 26, 1845; Rovena I., Feb. 10, 1850; George, Jan. 2, 1852; Frank, Nov. 2, 1853; Charles, Mar. 13, 1860; Gertrude, Jan. 19, 1870.
Nathan and Jane. Son: Charles, Mar. 13, 1860.
Samuel and Sarah. Children: Caroline, Aug. 25, 1819; Louisa, Feb. 17, 1822.
William, Feb. 6, 1755, son of James. Children : Infant ch., lived but few hours ; Mary, m. Elder John Holmes in 1881 ; James, Nov. 7, 1785, graduate of Dartmouth College in 1813.
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