USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Derry > Willey's book of Nutfield; a history of that part of New Hampshire comprised within the limits of the old township of Londonberry, from its settlement in 1719 to the present time > Part 11
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THE CHRISPEEN HOUSE, LONDONDERRY.
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
named Robert Kennedy, who had received an allotment of land in the northwestern part of the town. A road was laid out passing his land and house ; others settled along that road and had adjoining lands until by some accident the road was called Kennedy street, and therefrom began a series of clerical errors. The street was Canada street and even the man's name appears to have undergone the same transformation. As three ranges of lands or lots were surveyed through this region, the distinction obtained of naming them Canada West, Canada Middle, and Canada East Range. Then there came into the nomenclature of the township the term Canada Great Swamp, to include a vast region that was almost inacces- sible and is of little value now.
From James Gregg's sawmill and gristmill there were two roads leading northerly, not includ- ing the English Range road. One led directly through the Coghrans' lands, and the walls along the sides of this road are partly standing near the Ladd house, or the site of the old Hoyt build- ings. The other led through the Aikens Range. The Coghran road led over the Ramsey dam and into former Indian trails that took the same gen- eral direction towards the interior, and by way of the Amoskeag Falls where the fishing interests appear to have centred for a hundred years. The Aiken road has remained without change, and a transcript of the record of its laying out is here presented :
Londonderry Novbr. 6, 1723. Laid out by the selectmen a straight road in the west part of this town, beginning at the north side of John Bell's homestead lot where the old road now comes on the north side of the said Bell's house, and on the north of the fence, across Andrew Todd's lot, and Benjamin Wil- son's lot, and across John Wallace's lot continuing on the north side of the aforesaid fence where the path now is, and so across Edward Aiken's lot, and turning a little more easterly across William Aiken's lot and James Aiken's lot, the said road to be continued across the aforesaid lots four rods wide, and then slanting upon Robert Boyce's land, as the path is now until an oak tree marked on the line between the said Boyce and James Gregg, and so running along said line till it come to a swamp, and then turning all upon Boyce till it cross the said swamp, and then to turn to the said line till it come to another swamp, then to turn upon Mr. Gregg's land till the bridge over Beaver brook, below the said Mr. Gregg's gristmill, the said road to be two rods wide from the coming on Boyce's land to the said bridge, this by order of
the selectmen. Samuel Moore, John Blair, Benjamin Wilson. Robert Boyce, Selectmen. Recorded this 13th day of Septem- ber 1723.
Per JOHN MACMURPHY, Town Clerk.
The wall or fence along one side of the Aiken road, already there before the laying out of the road, was a necessity in keeping cattle out of the meadows that were already appropriated within every one of these lots. It is quite probable that the laying out of the road was a very formal trans- action and was merely the legal establishment of the bounds of a road that was already in constant use and indispensable. As now, there was a high- way the entire length of William Aiken's homc- stead upon the line between his farm and Edward Aiken's. This road crossed the Coghran road and continued through the lands of John, Samuel, and Janet McKeen, and through Robert McKecn's lot and joined with that other road that came from the English Range at the southeast corner of Joseph Kidder's fence and ran along by the pond and brook to the sawmill and gristmill below the falls.
There was a meeting-house erected upon the Aikens Range that had a short but significant history. The site was upon the northerly side of the road leading from Mrs. Elizabeth H. Karr's house to that of Frank P. Bradford and on the land of the latter upon the brow of a little hill. In the space covered by this map three meeting-houses have been ereetcd, two of which remain standing. The changes that have occurred on the lots of James Gregg and John Boyce cannot be described in this general review, but require separate treat- ment, and will most naturally come in the fuller accounts of industries, business, homes, families. and genealogical sketches.
D R. WILLIAM JOHNSON CAMPBELL was born at the old homestead, "Campbell Springs," Francestown, N. H., July 30, 1820. His early education was received in Francestown and in Nashua. He then entered the Harvard Medi- cal School, from which he graduated with honors in the class of 1842, thus receiving his diploma at the age of twenty-two years. From this time until his death he was in the active practice of his pro- fession, five years in his native town and twenty-
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WILLER'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
seven years in the more enlarged field of usefulness in the town of Londonderry. Dr. Campbell was twice married, the first time in 1844, to Miss Sarah A. Cutter, daughter of the Hon. Benjamin Cutter of Jaffrey, N. II. Mrs. Campbell died in 1846, and on Nov. 15, 1849, Dr. Campbell was married to Miss Charlotte A. M. Philbrick, daughter of Nathan Philbrick of Weare, N. 11. His widow and five children survive him. It is needless to
DR. WILLIAM JOHNSON CAMPBELL.
say that the ancestry of the Campbell family is above reproach. The family can be traced back over two hundred years and numbers among its members many who were distinguished in the his- tory of Scotland. Dr. Campbell's grandfather fought at the battle of Bunker Hill, and continued in the army until the close of the war. His father was in the war of 1812 and was major of Cook's regiment of Hillsborough county.
H TORACE GREELEY, the most distinguished of American newspaper men, was descended from old Nutfield stock, though not a native of
Londonderry, having been born just over the line in Amherst. The following characteristic letter from him was written to Rev. Edward L. Parker, while the latter was preparing his History of Lon- donderry, and possesses so much genealogical and other interest that it is here published for the first time :
NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 1849.
DEAR SIR : I have your letter of the 17th this moment, and must give it a hurried answer at once, as I leave town for several days tomorrow, and my letters that get behind are pretty certain to remain unanswered.
I will do what I can to promote the success of your enter- prise. I think it will be best, however, to invite all to communi- cate directly with you, as my correspondence is so large that it is very badly neglected, and I should not like to be the means of your losing anything transmitted, whether of information or en- couragement.
I can give you personally very little aid in your work. Genealogies never interested me - I think we have other work to do than trace our ancestors- but your enterprise has noble aims and must have good issues. I was not born in Londonderry, but in Amherst, the first house in the township on the old road from Bedford Meeting-House. But my parents were both from Lon- donderry, and most of their parents before them. You may learn most of the Greeleys by a letter to Deacon Samuel Greeley of Boston, who is of the Wilton branch of the family. Col. Joe Greeley of Nashua (a cousin of my father) is probably also well versed in family history. My two grandfathers died within a few rods of each other in Londonderry (the High Range, near the west side of the town). Grandfather Zaccheus Greeley died at his son John Greeley's, who still lives there. Grandfather was 94 years old when he died, some three years ago. His father was also named Zaccheus, and was a trader and lumber dealer (a rogue, I have heard) in what is now Hudson. He lived to about 70. My impression is that the family came over quite early, and first settled in Salisbury, wherever that may be. My branch of it has generally hung about the Merrimack and Nashua, and I have an impression that Capt. Zaccheus Lovell, or Lovewell, who commanded and was killed in a famous Indian fight long ago, was an ancestor of mine. Both " Zaccheus " and "Lovell " are freely used as Christian names in our family. John Greeley, my only uncle now in Londonderry, knows considerable, though not so much as he thinks he does. As he lives by the side of John Woodburn, who now holds the land allotted to the first Wood- burn in the original settlement of the town, I think it might be worth your while to look over there some day.
My grandmother on my father's side was Esther Senter, of an old Londonderry family, now mainly scattered away.
The Woodburns you already know. My grandfather was David, father of John, who now holds the farm. I think my great-grandfather's name was John, but you will easily learn.
My grandmother was Margaret Clark, whose mother (I think) came over a girl with the original emigration or soon after. She was of the family of Rev. Lieut. Clark, whose mingled clerical
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and military character is already widely known. I believe the Clarks are nearly all away now. My grandmother died some 55 to 60 years ago, and her husband married again -a Jane Caldwell or McAlister, who survived him, but is also long dead. But my great-grandmother (who was a Clark before she was a Woodburn) was a woman of remarkable intelli- gence, and she gave the family history to my mother very fully and vividly. Mother still lives (address Clymer, Chau- tauqua Co., N. Y.), but is broken down in mind and body, and I fear she would not be able to write anything that would be worth having. Perhaps her sister (Mrs. John Dickey, two miles north of old Londonderry Meeting-House) could give you some facts respecting the Clarks as well as Woodburns (though the former only have been notable), but I never heard her speak on the subject. But there is a Judge Clark, now residing in New Haven, Conn., who is full of the matter, and you ought to write him. He can really help you, and will be very glad to do it. I forget his first name, but there is no other Judge Clark in New Haven.
There can be no doubt that your book will sell. There are at least 50,000 people now alive who claim descent from Lon- donderry. Yours, HORACE GREELEY.
REV. E. L. PARKER, Derry, N. H.
P. S .- Your Prospectus don't say what your book is to cost. Put me down as subscribing for five copies. Don't forget to notice the swarming of the old hive to Vermont, settling Londonderry, Windham, etc., in that state. The Woodburns are mainly there now. I saw several of them last month.
JOSHUA A. MOAR was born in Peterborough, N. H., Nov. 10, 1814. He was third son of Timothy and Betsey (Hopkins) Moar, whose family consisted of twelve children. His early life was spent in his native town, and his later boyhood in Milford, N. H., where the family for a long time resided. In early manhood he went to Boston and applied himself to the study of medicine, but instead of entering the profession he was lcd to pursue another course, and later in life established a home in Londonderry. He was married Aug. 6, 1837, to Lovina Witherspoon, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Rollin H. Neale of Boston. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Moar, all daughters. The eldest, Mary A., was married to Henry Goodwin, whose sketch is given else- where in the present work. Five of the children survive the father, whose death occurred Sept. 26, 1872. Mrs. Moar died Dec. 26, 1882. Mr. Moar was a tender husband and father, a kind and genial neighbor, an honored townsman, and a Christian gentleman. In him affability was blended with firmness, and, ever conscious of human frailty, he had enough to drink already !"
sought to realize the highest ideals of human character. His devotion to religious principles was no less marked than his love for his fellow- man. In the Methodist church and society he worked with an earnestncss which was the result
JOSHUA A. MOAR.
of continuous consecration to the Master's service. Hospitality was an cspecial characteristic of his nature, and he found great delight in the com- panionship of his friends. The genial and whole- some influence of his kindly and upright life will long remain.
DLAIN SPEAKING, even to a clergyman, was the custom among the blunt Scotch settlers of Nutfield. If they had anything to say, they never beat about the bush. It is related of one of the carly ministers - tradition has kindly concealed his identity - that after passing a long and laborious day in parochial visits, he rode up toward evening to the house of one of his elders. He had, as a matter of course, been urged at every dwelling to partake of the stimulants which were then considered indispensable, and, between fatigue and the excessive hospitality of his parishioners, he found it difficult to keep himself upright in the saddle. The clder's keen eye took in the situation. " Won't ye light doun, parson," said he, "and come in and get something to eat ? For I perceive ye've
THE HOVEY FAMILY.
THE earliest tradition of the name of Hovey in America, as remembered by the descendants, is the arrival of three brothers who came from England and settled in New England, one in Mas- sachusetts, one in Vermont, and one in Connecticut. They were young men, all mechanics, and soon reared families and made reputations of sterling character and acquired an influence which has been sustained by all their descendants. The earliest recorded date of a birth in the family name in this country is that of Samuel Hovey, Jr., born in Windham, Conn., March 7, 1743. Joseph Hovey was born at Ipswich, Mass., Dec. 17, 1762, and was descended from the brother who settled in that state. He was a sea captain; he located in Londonderry and died on his farm near Derry Depot, where the late John Merrill lived and died. His children were : Joseph, Jr., John, Isaac, James, Sallie, Betsey, Lucrctia, Charlotte, Eunice, Robert, and Charles. Joseph, Jr., died at the same place. He left two sons and two daughters : Joseph, Wil- liam, Paulina (Mrs. Merrill), and Sarah. John was a mechanic; he married Abigail Dustin, and was the owner of three places in Londonderry,-one in the Crowell neighborhood, the Joslin farm near Derry Village, and the farm at the Baptist church (the Corning settlement). He moved to Marictta, O., in 1839 and died there in 1851. His wife died in that place in 1884. Eight children were born to them : John D. (who was a teacher in western Ohio), Albert G. (who went to Oregon in 1850), Milton (architect and builder, deceased, Marietta, Ohio), James B. (merchant in Marietta), Frank S. (merchant and accountant, died in Oregon), George T. (architect and builder in Marietta), Abbie D., the youngest (Mrs. Sprague of Marietta), and Mary W. (the oldest of the children, married Rev. Dr. Mather of Delaware, O.). Isaac Hovey was a physician at Atkinson, N. H. He left one son, Isaac. James, who died in Boston, left one son, James, deceased in Illinois. Sallie married E. Dan- forth. Lucretia and Charlotte remained unmar- ried. Eunice married a Mr. Gouch of Boston, and Betsey was also married. Robert and Charles left families in New England.
Albert G., son of John and Abigail (Dustin) Ilovey, was born in Londonderry in 18 --. His father, who was a farmer, carpenter, contractor and builder, was a very able and energetic man. Ile constructed several of the principal buildings in Londonderry, including the Baptist church, and had a wide reputation as a master at his trade and a man of scrupulous integrity. His wife, Abigail Dustin, who was a highly educated woman for her time, died at the age of nearly ninety at Marietta, O. Albert G. Hovey attended the common schools of his native town, and among his companions at the Eakin schoolhouse, near Derry Village, he well remembers the names of Eakin, Ealey, Carr, Carl- ton, Cheney, Belloa, Perkins, Page, McMurphy, and others. At the Barclay school his school- mates included Adams, Dickey, Boise, Watts, McGregor, Perkins, Annis, Anderson, Crowell, and Brickett, and at the Corning school there were Corning, Pillsbury, Jackson, Nesmith, Davis, Mor- rison, Annis, and Richardson. Mr. Hovey went with his parents to Ohio in 1839, and in 1850 he went to the Pacific coast, locating in Oregon, where he has since resided. Although he has never sought honors or office, he has held many places of public trust in his adopted state. He has been clerk of the courts, mayor of the city of Eugene, state senator, three times a delegate to Republican national conventions, and in 1892 was appointed by President Harrison on the Board of Visitors to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Mr. Hovey is a member of the Board of Regents and treasurer of the State University of Oregon. He is president and chief owner of the Lane County Bank, established at Eugene, Oregon, in 1882. Mr. Hovey is married and has two sons and one daughter. Although warmly attached to his adopted state, he retains a fond remembrance of his native town and the highest regard for all her people, both early and later acquaintances. In a recent letter to the publisher of this work he says : " I bcg to say that so far as the soil of Lon- donderry is concerned, it is the poorest country I have ever known inhabited by such a noble people."
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THE OLD WILSON HOUSE.
IN the northeastern part of Londonderry, about one fourth of a mile from the railway station called Wilson's, stands the old Wilson homestead, owned and occupied by John Pinkerton Wilson
JOHN PINKERTON WILSON.
1733 ; was married to Jane Thompson in 1762, and ten children were born to them. Robert Wil- son resided in this house until June 14, 1825, when he dropped dcad by the old well-curb, at the age of ninety-two years. He was known as " Colonel Wilson." To each of his children he gave a tract of land. To Thomas, his sixth child, he willed the old homestead. Thomas was born and lived on this place until his death, which occurred in 1863, at the age of eighty- seven years. He married Rebecca Pinkerton in 1801, and five children were born to them, two of whom grew to manhood. Robert, the eldest son, was born March 4, 1809, and went South in early life, settling in Mississippi, where he re- sided until his death in 1883, his age being nearly seventy-five years. The other son, John Pinkerton, who is the present owner of the
and family. This house, being one of the oldest in town, was built prior to 1730 by James Wilson, great-grandfather of the present owner. In those days the highways were few and far between, therc being only a foot-path to the nearest sawmill, one mile away. Mr. Wilson was obliged to bring on his back the boards for the construction of his house. The frame was hewn from trees cut on and around the site selected for the building, some of the timbers being two feet square. The chim- ney was built on a foundation of stone twelve feet square, and made with three fireplaces, one of which was large enough for a log six feet long. MRS. JOHN PINKERTON WILSON. At the time of building this house Mr. Wilson owned a vast tract of land. It is not known of how many children his family consisted, but the home place was willed to his son Robert in the to them, four of whom died when quite young. year 1762. Robert was born in this house in
house, was born Jan. 23, ISIS. He married Adeline Annis in 1844. Nine children were born Robert, the eldest son, died in 1884, at the age
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
of forty-two years. The remaining four children, started back for the den, followed at a considerable two sons and two daughters, are now living in distance by Josselyn. The bear had not attempted Londonderry : George W., Abbic D. (wife of Clarence N. Garvin), Belinda M. (wife of Frank A. Benson), and David Brewster. Mr. Wilson has also nine grandchildren living. Five generations have been born in the old Wilson house.
.
HOW WE KILLED THE BEAR .- This expression, which has passed into eurrent speech and become almost proverbial, is said upon the authority of tradition to have originated in Nutfield. In the so-called Canada Great Swamp of Londonderry there were formerly bears, and the early inhabi- tants suffered greatly from the attacks of the animals upon their cat- tle. The two James Wilsons - Black Jim and Curly Jim, so named on ac- count of their characteristic hair-opcrated a sawmill on the upper course of the Aiken brook, and one day they saw a bear a short distance from the mill travelling into thicker woods. They picked up axcs and followed the animal and saw it enter a den, visible to this day, composed of rocks and tree roots. Onc of the men mounted the top of the den and with an axe in hand waited for the bear to come out, while the other hurried down to the first house south of the woods, where Irving Coburn now lives, but then occupied by onc Josse- lyn, and asked him to take his gun and shoot a bcar that was driven into a den in the woods. Josselyn declined to go with his gun, declaring he would endanger his life by attempting to kill a bear with a common fowling piece. Wilson suc- cecded in borrowing the gun for himself and
to leave its hiding place, and was killed at the first shot. For some minutes Black and Curly did not approach nearer the opening of the den, and Josselyn stood a long distance away, shout- ing : " Is the bear killed? Is he dead ?" and could not be induced to come near until the Wilsons had pulled the dead bear from the den. Then he came to their assistance with immense exhibition of pleasure. The bear weighed about four hundred pounds, and the meat was sent around among the neighbors, Josselyn himself re- cciving a large share, and whenever he met them hc would tell the story over and over of " how we killed the bcar."
THE OLD WILSON HOUSE.
C HURCH disciplinc 3495 was a gravc matter in the carly days. In 1735 the town voted that if a man was found sleeping in church ho should be pun- ished by sitting in the stocks, though no penalty was provided for dull and prosy scrmons. One church member for disrespect of his father was publicly rebuked and cxhorted to honor his parents ; another was censured for using " unjustifiable expressions of a profane character "; another, for having found an axe in the road and not leaving it at the next tavern, as the law required; and still another, for reproachful words respecting the minister. It is a eurious fact that there is no record of the disciplining of a church member for get- ting drunk, although drunkenncss was so common.
TOMATOES were first raised in Londonderry in 1822 by the widow of Rcv. William Mor- rison, who brought the sced from Octorara, Penn.
NUTFIELD IN THE REVOLUTION.
SPRUNG from a hardy race of warriors who for generations had battled for civil or religious rights, and in whom the love of liberty amounted to a passion, the descendants of the Nutfield settlers could not have been otherwise than in- tensely patriotic in the Revolution. Indeed, the first act of open resistance to British authority and arms in the colonies was committed by a little band of Londonderry men. Long before the battle at Lexington, while the British troops were sta- tioned in Boston, four soldiers deserted and joined friends in Londonderry. Their hiding place having been revealed by a Tory, an English officer with a detachment of soldiers was sent to arrest them. The deserters were soon found and marched baek toward Boston, but the fact quickly became known in the town, and a party of young men, led by Captain James Aiken, pursued and overtook them a few miles from Haverhill. Passing the British soldiers on the road, the captain suddenly drew up his men in front of them and commanded the offi- cer to deliver his prisoners. The order was obeyed, and the four soldiers returned with their liberators to Londonderry and became residents of the town, no further attempts being made for their arrest. That was the spirit manifested by the men of Nut- field before the outbreak of hostilities, and the warlike frenzy that seized the town when the news came from Lexington in April, 1775, can easily be imagined. Men stopped their work instantly to carry the word from one section of the town to another, and in a few hours all who could bear arms were assembled on the common, near the meeting-house. A large volunteer company was formed from the two companies of militia and started at once to join the American troops near Boston, their accoutrements, ammunition, and pro- visions being forwarded to them afterward. Of this company George Reid, who subsequently be- came distinguished, was chosen captain ; Abraham Reid, first lieutenant ; James Anderson, ensign and second lieutenant ; John Patten, quartermaster ser- geant ; Daniel Miltimore, John Nesmith, Robert Barnet, John Mackey, sergeants ; James McCluer, Robert Boyes, Joshua Thompson, Gcorge McMur- phy, corporals; Robert Burke, drummer ; Thomas
Inglis, fifer. The privates in the company were : Matthew Anderson, Robert Adams, Samuel Ayres, Hugh Alexander, John Anderson, Alexander Brown, William Boyd, John Campbell, Thomas Campbell, Peter Christie, Solomon Collins, Ste- phen Chase, William Dickey, James Duncan, Samuel Dickey, John Ferguson, John Head, Asa Senter, Samuel Houston, Jonathan Holmes, Peter Jenkins, John Livingstone, Hugh Montgomery, John Morrison, James Morrison, Joseph Mack, Martin Montgomery, Robert McMurphy, William McMurphy, William Moore, Robert Mack, David McClary, Archibald Mack, James Nesmith, James Nesmith, Jr., William Parker, Joshua Reid, William Rowell, Thomas Roach, Abel Senter, Samucl Thompson, John Vance, Hugh Watts, Thomas Wilson, John Patterson, Henry Parkinson, Samuel Stinson, John Smith, Richard Cressey, James. Moore, and six men from Windham.
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