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 18
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GEORGE S. ROLLINS.
business from 1887 till 1890, during which time his only son, George F. Rollins, who died April 18, 1890, was the proprietor. Since that time Mr.
153
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
Rollins has eondueted the business. His affairs hundred pounds old tenor, and the next year it have prospered, and sinee coming to Derry he has built four houses. was only seventy-five pounds in eoin. There was a natural temptation to over-issues of paper money beyond the ability of the government to redeem, and the result was a depreciation of the eurreney, eausing great embarrassment to large numbers of the people. In January, 1777, Continental bills were at par ; in June, 1781, one hundred dollars in gold was worth twelve thousand dollars in Con- tinental money. At the Londonderry town meeting, held July 20, 1779, it was voted " that we will sell none of the necessaries of life, linen eloth, or other manufactures, higher than they were sold the first day of May last; and that we will continue to reduce our prices monthly, not doubting that other towns in the country will adopt the like salutary measures ; that we consider as enemies to our country all persons who shall buy gold or
M ONEY was far from being plenty in the first half century of the colony's existenee, and the early settlers were put to great inconvenience for laek of a eireulating medium with which to transaet even the most necessary business. Farm produee, the skins of wild animals, and oeeasion- ally even spinning wheels took the place of money. During the various Indian wars, when it was im- possible to carry on business by means of barter, the government issued bills of eredit, which served as legal tender. All such bills authorized before the year 1742 were called " old tenor," and the issue of that year and until the Revolution were known as " new tenor." In 1767 the salary of silver, or shall demand hard money, in whole or in Rev. Mr. Davidson of the East Parish was fifteen part, for any artiele they may have for sale, and
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GEORGE S. ROLLINS'S RESIDENCE.
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WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
that we will do everything in our power to pre- in summer and, whether or not this practice was vent such pernicious practices, as they have an conducive to longevity, he lived to be nearly ninety-four years of age, his death occurring June 25, 1873. immediate tendency to ruin our paper currency." In 1786, when the popular demand for paper money developed into open rebellion against the authority of the State, Londonderry voted for the issuing of such currency. The whole monetary system remained for years in the greatest confusion, put- D AVID GOODWIN, son of Joshua and Re- becca (Jones) Goodwin, was born in Lon- ting the people to much annoyance. The follow- ing order is from the town records of Jan. 15, 1790:
To Mr. Jesse Jones, Constable : - Please pay or discount with James Rogers ten shillings in certificats, and five shillings of Indents, & three shillings and four pence out of your town list, & one shilling & eight pence in specie, & one shilling eight pence in specie orders, and one shilling eight pence out of your county list, it being for his father's pole tax, rated and dead in the same year, & it will be allowed on settlement of your lists. GEORGE REID, Select Clerk.
JOSHUA GOODWIN was born July 30, 1779, at Rowley, Mass. When he was eight years of age his father moved to Londonderry. His first wife was Rebecca Joncs of that town, whom he married Dec. 11, 1800.
By her he had two sons, Joshua and David. She died May 27, 1806. Mr. Goodwin then married her sister, Elizabeth Jones, and by her had three children: Jo- siah, Daniel, and Rebecca. The sec- ond wife died, and a few years later Mr. Goodwin mar- ried again. He survived his third wife, whose death was hastened by JOSHUA GOODWIN. accident. She was aged and feeble and, falling into the fireplace, was severely burned. Mr. Goodwin was a shoemaker by trade, and for many years was a deacon in the Presbyterian church. He always went barefoot
donderry, Aug. 22, 1803. He married, Sept. 1, 1829, Mary Hibbard of Lon- donderry, and they lived together more than fifty ycars. Hc died Jan. 21, 1881, and her death occurred Dcc. 7 in the same year. Their chil- dren were: Eliza J., Sarah H., Har- riet, Ann Maria, David T., Mary, and Charles. Mr. Goodwin was DAVID GOODWIN. highly esteemcd by the community in which hc lived for so many years.
G' UNPOWDER was stored in the attics of the meeting-houses at one time in the early days of the colony. No one seems to have thought particularly of the consequences in case the build- ing had been struck by lightning during church services. In 1745 the town "voted to buy two barrels of gunpowder and lodge one half in the old mecting-house and the other half in the new." The towns of the province were required by law to keep on hand one barrel of good powder, two hundredweight of bullets and three hundred flints for every sixty listed soldiers, for usc in case of an Indian attack. In the old town records are cntries like the following : " To Daniel McAfee for mak- ing bulits, fo 2s. od. To James Alexander for lead for bulits, {0 4s. od."
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
T THE FOUNDERS OF LONDONDERRY, a short timc at the houses of its members, but remarkable themselves for thrift and energy, were not slow in transplanting their young and vigorous saplings to the fertile and promising soil of adjoining counties and states, as subsequent years have shown stalwart trees and powerful influences for good, matured from developed saplings of the Scotch-Irish stock thus sent out.
Perhaps no more valuable illustration of the vitality and true worth of such transplanted stock has been found than in a sketch of the life of Rev. Charles E. Brown, a lineal descendant of the early Dickey importation from the north of Ireland. His mother was Betsey Dickey, whose father, Joseph Dickey, settled early in Weathersfield, Vt. Betsey married a Baptist minister, Rev. Philip Perry Brown, and Charles E. was a son born Feb. 23, 1813. Probably from an inherited disposition and an anxious desire to do good, he early entered the ministry, and after spending a few years in New York state, in his chosen profession, he asked to be sent by the Baptist Missionary Society to the territory of Iowa. This was in 1841, and he thus enjoys the distinction of being the pioneer Baptist minister in the now great state of Iowa, and with the help of his noble young wife, Frances Lyon, he was largely instrumental in laying broad and deep in Iowa and the new country west of the Mississippi river the foundation of one of the great branches of the Christian Church. And now, in the sunset of life, at cighty-three years of age, he is waiting, with a cheerful heart and sunny smile, for the boatman to ferry him over the river. He is living with his son, Mr. W. C. Brown of St. Joseph, Mo., who is one of the most prominent and capable railroad managers in the West, and who, with his excellent companion, sparcs no pains to make bright and pleasant the pathway of his honored sire adown the hill of life.
F FIRST M. E. CHURCH, DERRY .- A Methodist Episcopal church was organized in Derry Aug. 6, 1834. Oct. 25, 1834, notice was published of the formal organization of a society. It was signed by Caleb Dustin, John Taylor, Gilman Dinsmore, and William S. Follansbee ; Mr. Dins- more, clerk. The society held services at first for
soon occupied the " Birch Schoolhouse " at the lower cnd of the village. The church prospered, and more and better accommodations being necded, in 1836 a meeting-house was erected. The land on which the meeting-house of the socicty stands was the gift of Capt. William Choate. The house was built in 1836, at a cost of about $3,500. Mr. Beede was the contractor and builder. Services have constantly been held on the Sabbath in this church since its erection. Following is the roll of clergymen of this church and society : Philo Bronson, 1834-35; Mr. James McCane, 1835-36 ; Samuel Hoyt, 1836-37; Wil- liam H. Brewster, 1837-38; Michael Quimby, 1838- 40; Jonathan Hazelton, 1840-41 ; S. S. Matthews, 1841- 43; James Adams, 1843-44 ;
INTERIOR FIRST M. E. CHURCH, DERRY.
from 1844 to 1848, no record; Mr. G. W. T. Rogers, 1848-49 ; F. Q. Barrows, 1849-50 ; James Palmer, 1850-51; Isaac S. Cushman, 1851-52; Charles Smith, 1852-53; from 1853 to 1857, sup- plied by students ; Mr. - Hamlin and Mr. Parkhurst, 1857-58; John W. Adams, 1858-60; Lorenzo Draper, 1860-62 ; Rufus Tilton, 1862-64; E. Lewis, 1864-65; N. G. Cheney and W. P. Ray, 1865-66; W. P. Ray, 1866-67; W. W. H. Pillsbury, 1867-68; James Noyes, 1868-69; Elihu Scott, 1869-70; W. B. Osgood, 1870-71 ; J. W. Dearborn, 1871 - 75 ; A. E. Higgins, 1872- 73; A. E. Carter, 1873-77; S. C. Farnham, 1877-78; N. Alger, 1878-79; W. W. Smith. 1879-81; O. A. Farley, 1881-82; Frederick C. Pillsbury, 1882-83 ; M. Howard, 1883-84; W. Ramsden, 1885-87; From 1888 to 1896 the church has been supplied by students.
ST. LUKE'S M. E. CHURCH, DERRY DEPOT.
T THE history of this church dates from May, The entire cost of building and land was $4,000. 1885, when Rev. William Ramsden of the The church edifice was remodeled in 1894 at a cost of $2,000. Rev. Mr. Ramsden, the first pastor, was succeeded in 1889 by Rev. C. W. Taylor, who remained until 1892, and was followed by Rev. Daniel Onstott (1892-94), Rev. W. A. Mayo (1894-95), and the present pastor, Rev. H. E. Allen. Since its organization, 120 persons have been connect- ed with the church, and the present membership is 103, 28 of whom have united during the present pastorate. The Sunday school numbers 175, and there is a flourish- ing branch of the Epworth League, with a membership of 60. Since 1888, this society has paid out over $13,000, an average of $1,625 per year. This is a remarkable show- ing for a small society. First M. E. church, Derry, began holding services Sunday afternoons in Odd Fellows' hall. These were well attended, there being a number of Methodist families in the vicinity, at whose homes week-night meetings were held. At the public service held Feb. 12, 1887, the letters of twenty- four persons were read, and three were baptized and re- ceived on proba- tion, and thus, with the advice and con- sent of the presid- ing elder, Rev. C. U. Dunning, the new society was formally organized and named St. Luke's. On the fol- lowing Tuesday evening, Feb. 14, the members mct at the home of Mrs. Gilchrist, on Main street, and elected a board of stewards and trustees. Feb. 24 the officers met at the home of John Quimby and form- ally organized as a T THE first church west of the Hudson in which there was preaching ST. LUKE'S M. E. CHURCH, DERRY DEPOT. in the English lan- quarterly confer- ence. Having car- ried on the work in connection with the parent society for three guage, and the first classical school in central or years, Rev. Mr. Ramsden was appointed by the western New York, were established by a colony of Scotch-Irish settlers from Nutfield in 1741 at Cherry Valley, N. Y. John Lindesay was the founder of the settlement, and among the thirty odd persons from Nutfield who formed the colony were David Ramsay, William Gault, James Campbell, and William Dickson, accompanied by Rev. Samuel Dunlop, a native of Ireland and a bishop as pastor of St. Luke's in April, 1888. The young society had grown so strong that steps were taken for the erection of a church edifice and par- sonage, and lots were purchased from Mrs. Boyd on very favorable terms. Ground was broken for the church building in June, 1888, and the house of worship, a handsome structure, was formally dedicated with appropriate services April 17, 1889. graduate of Trinity College.
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
ORIGINAL CHURCH EDIFICE.
REV. WILLIAM RAMSDEN.
REV. W. A. MAYO.
REV. H E. ALLEN.
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WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
THE OLD MEETING HOUSE .- In the square pews, four on the floor and four in the gallery, larger than any of the others. These also contained seats on three sides and would aceom- modate the largest families. The minister's pew was on the west side, next to the pulpit. In the gallery, which extended on three sides of the house, the wall pews were nearly over those of the lower floor, aud in the same order from the east and west entrance. Two long choir seats faced the pulpit, and there was space for stringed instru- ments on the west side of the singers. Although the seating capacity was Plan of the Gallery of the west-Parish meeting house in Londonderry Edward. Paslors, so great, this old house of worship was usually Ela filled to the doors, old men and women walk- Goodwin ing eight or ten miles to meeting, and mothers often bringing children west Isaac Goburn East-aisle- in their arms for long I Bass. Soprano manish Silenart Robert- Westraisten. Double bass not zenor Alto Boyes distances. No such David crowds throng the Pro- South aisle of The Gallery Raved John march Danforth Kan testant churches in the country districts today. order of building, this was the fourth in Lon- donderry, and although it was removed from the old site near the present residence of Frank A. Hardy and converted into the present town hall fifty years ago, it is still remembered with venera- tion by a score of elderly persons who worshipped there with their parents and grandparents. Its exterior appearance was that of a two-story farm- house. The main door was on the south side, and on each end was a poreh with two doors. The south door opened into the broad aisle that led to the pulpit on the north Rev. David Mc Gregor, 1737-1777 Rev. William Morrison- 1783.1818 side. In front of the John moor AL. Daniel Jana, 1822-182600 Rev. Amasa Hayes. 1828-1830 Rev. John R. Adams, 831-1838. pulpit was a single seat for the elder, who was next in dignity to the Isaac Anderson pastor, the seat being raised upon a platform Violin Bass riol two steps above the floor. In front of the Flora Stewart elder's seat were two seats for the deacons, located near the present Schoolhouse in District nel. Drawn by Rev. & g. mcmurphy raised one step above of the ground floor and names of new owners. Robert timusters Thomas family mack the floor. On the ground Culput Hannah Robert Becky Pattuson Ramach Runcan Deacon floor the pews were North aisle of the ground floor. Robert Важное William Boyd Whiteman Hismore classed as diamond, eor- Robut Morrison How Sage bunt ner, or square, and wall Afugh ARe. James Pinkestore Bartley Brewster pews. The diamond West Porch. Thomas Nathaniel James Nesmith Chase East- Porch Garllon James Neviens pews occupied the mid- Plummer Alea. Red . James Jonathan Griffin. Rea Thomas Robert lownes John Pattinson Holmes Gaillon dle of the house and morrison Glaggetto Alexandr West- aisle The Broad aisle were arranged in four Robert I South aisle MEGollon James Wilson Got Millian Anderson Shipley South 7002 Fruman Viesmurphy bornin Adams. rows, two upon each oming East aist 95 side of the broad aisle. 0 They were oblong in shape, each having room for three seats and one ence that there be a revision of the table of fees. or two chairs. The seat on the side toward the It appears to us that the attornies' fees should be pulpit could be turned up when not in use. These cut down at least one-half ; they would not then be so fond of business, and people would find time to breathe." were family pews capable of seating four persons on each of the longer seats, and two on the seat opposite the pew door, which with two chairs would make accommodations for a dozen. The THE grave and reverend Matthew Clark ate no - meat, but was very fond of eggs. When dining out, if his hostess apologized for her hard- boiled eggs, he would say : " I'll soften them with butter." If the apology was for soft-boiled eggs, his reply would be: "I'll harden them with butter." baeks, sides, and doors of the pews were artistically panelled and decorated by the insertion of lathe work in the open spaces, and being unpainted they acquired a beautiful wood tint with age. In the four corners of the meeting-house were eight
L AWYERS were evi- dently making too much money in Nutfield as long ago as 1778, for the following artiele is to be found in the town warrant for that year : " To see if the town will instruet their representa- tives to use their influ-
THE EAYERS RANGE.
BY REV. JESSE G. McMURPHY.
CHE prominence of the range feature in the two ranges were ealled the Double Range on the T original settlement of the nut country was west side of Beaver river, thus distinguished from river. largely due to the clannish eharaeter of the people. the Double Range on the cast side of Beaver Families connected by marriages and common sentiments and opinions found it convenient and agreeable to dwell together along some fertile slope or stream, and to facilitate communication adopted the plan of parallel homesteads, long and narrow, with a highway only aeross the common residence ends, while the opposite ends remained uneultivated and covered with forests and swamps still oeeupied by bears and wolves.
The Double Range, the English Range, and the Aikens Range were not more prominent than the Eayers Range in respect to the dates of their settlement or the character of the people who formed and named them. An examination of the old Proprietors' Book will convince the reader that families oeeupied these lands before any name had been given, or any steps taken to build a town- ship here, and even the name of Nutfield eannot be elaimed as the earliest applied title to any por- tion of the territory. Dunstable is an older name that was applied to many thousand acres including all that was afterward known as Nutfield, and only relinquished when the boundary between the provinces of New Hampshire and Massachusetts was finally established. The transcript of the laying out of these homesteads shows the process of naming the ranges was less rapid than the settlement. Nearly all of the Eayers Range homesteads were deseribed as lying in the West Range, in reference to the fact that the Aikens Range joined it on the east, and for a time these
The headlines of these farms extended north of northwest and south of southeast, and the longest or side lines extended east of northeast and west of southwest. The ranges are never deseribed as touching each other and in many plaees unappropriated land was left to raise inter- minable disputes and elaims of ownership. This is notable on the westerly side of the Eayers Range, where there was mueh swamp, and the next range began beyond the swamp. The change of diree- tion in the westerly headline is the source of end- less complications in surveying lots, as also the merging of the Aikens Range and Eayers Range on the north, their side lines having different directions.
As this range eventually became known as the Eayers Range by reason of the prominence of William Eayers and his family here and in other parts of this township, a copy of the record of the laying out of his homestead is herewith given :
Nutfield October 11th 1720. Laid out to William Eayers a lot of land in the west range in the said town containing sixty acres of land and is bounded as followeth: beginning at a pine tree at the northeast corner and a heap of stones. from thence running a due west-south-west line three hundred and twenty rods and bounding all the way upon John Givean's lot. from thence running south-south-east thirty rods and so running two parallel lines to these lines first mentioned bounding upon Thomas Boyle and Edward Aiken. together with an interest in the common or undivided lands within the said township equal to other lots in said town, David Cargill. James McKeen,
159
1
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Robert maxcen Forty acres lacal our inLondonderry March 1722, Recordado Feb. 21, 1723).
James Smith
S
Swamp
Rue James mc gregor Forly acres land
1
Boyles
outon am Londonderry March 1722 Recorded Feb 11, 1725. Road
Javed Morrison. forty acres laid out in Londonderry march 1722 Recorded Feb. 27th 1724.
Itantunes
meadow
Jahn Bell 1
Andrew Lord
Willson Benjamin
John Wallace
John Grombee Forty acres lace out in Londondury in march 1722 Recorded March 14, 1723.
form Givcan, sixty acres laid out in
(Nurfiled Oct. 26, 1720 Recorded Get 26, 1720 James Graig took the lot soon after Acusember que 1223.
3
rant
William Gayers, Sixty west land out in Nulfull Oct 11, 1720 [ Recorded Bet 111 1720. was
Thomas Boyle and Son
Sixty acres laid out in Nulfeelit Sett 2017 Recorded October 111720.
urtège
20.
James Wilson, Sixty acres laid out m NuSEziel Sep. 29, 1720 Recordul Beth /14 1720 afterwards tto John McEtung Stipule with Wilson Wilson - mary
a Ara mus
John MEGburg Elizabeth Wilson
James Alexander Forty acres land out in Londonderry March 1722.
mary y Wilson one acres lace Fifty London derry on
out in
march 1722. Recorded January 25,1741.
One hundred rods 0 10 25
50
100
John machung out une Recorded Feb. 26, 1723 . Fifty one genel Londonders
Aiken brook upon which
Read F. S. McMurphy. all rights reserved
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Abram Holmes , acres
Oct. 26, 1720. Recorded Get. 28, 1720
John Woodburn Sixty acres card out in Nutfullt in 1720. Recorded Sept 4, 1722
Tou
march 2321,720
1
Lindsey
Nuttfuld 1720 Recorded Sept. 29-1722.
Samuel morison Sixty acres laid out in Nulfelel 1720 Recorded Sept. 29th 1722
matthew Clark
Hard Morrison Sixty acres lacc out un 2 6.1723.
Card May
i Bell.
Ackers
Aiken
Aiken
Recorded January 851723.
march 1722 map of the Gayers Range prepared and. drawn by
MAP OF THE EAYERS RANGE.
Abram Holmes And laux Forty ceres laid out in Londonderry in march 1722. Recorded January 8,1723
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161
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
James Gregg, Robert Wear, John Morrison, John Goffe, Com- mittee. Recorded this 11th of October 1720.
Pr. JOHN GOFFE, Town Clerk.
The identification of this man's homestead and residenee may be of interest to the reader and especially to a numerous line of deseendants who have given their names to many important enter- prises since the settlement of the Eayers Range. Therefore some further comments are made upon the exact location of William Eayers and the house in which he lived. In passing to the means of identification it is also to be noted that the orthography of the surname is original and has since been changed into Ayers. The roads leading by the dwellings of this range were private for several years under the eonstruetive era while the township was still known as Nutfield; but soon after the charter was granted and the name of Londonderry therein established, corporate action laid out the highways. The following will serve as an example and be recognized as a present thoroughfare :
Londonderry November 6th 1723. Laid out by the select- men a straight road beginning at the northwest side of David Morrison's homestead lot and running southeast across the brook on the south side of said Morrison's field between two great rocks and by marked trees across Samuel Morrison's lot and Abram Holmes' lot and on the west of John Woodburn's field, across the said Woodburn's lot, and then turning a little more easterly over a little run and so to the highway that comes from Edward Aikens, and then turning over the bridge and taking the line between William Eayers and James Craig's lots to the cross road that turns by Mr. Eayer's house and David Boyle's and to the east of John McClurg's cellar and through the second divisions. the said straight road to be four rods wide where it crosses their lots and where it runs along lots two rods wide. Samuel Moore, John Blair, Benjamin Wilson, Robert Boyes, Selectmen. Recorded this 13th day of December 1723. Pr. JOHN MACMURPHY, Town Clerk.
This direet road here recorded began on the north side of the farm lately oceupied by James McMurphy and passed by his house and over the Aiken brook, and now over the railroad bridge and aeross the farm of Alexander McMurphy and over the spring brook between the lots of Daniel Owens and John Duffy into the road that comes
ward passes again over the Aiken brook on the line between John Duffy and the Corthells to a eross road that onee passed along near the Aiken brook through the Morrisons', Holmes' and Wood- burn's lots, to aeeommodate several families that lived by the brook, their old eellar walls and cool, elear well springs being still visible. At William Eayers's house the road leads southerly, that is, by Mrs. Corthell's present home, and then by George Ripley's house, the old Boyles lot, and continuing by the late homes of Peter Horne and Robert Jeffers.
Abram Holmes very early sold his original homestead and settled on other lands where the family continued to occupy without interruption until the present generation. John Woodburn also complained of his land and was granted the privilege of taking a homestead in some other see- tion of the township, and after several trials located in the western part of the town near Dunstable line with others, forming a new range.
A reference to the brief genealogieal history of the early settlers contained in the work of Rev. Edward L. Parker will show these families along the Aiken brook to have been elosely related by marriages. The Woodburn lot was never feneed off, but eame to be common with the Craig lot on the south, and the two lots are united longitudi- nally to be divided transversely into three or more portions owned by Daniel Owens, John Duffy, James Madden, and Alexander MeMurphy. James Smith was not one of the scheduled proprietors of the town of Londonderry, but records of births in his family are given and they are previous to the time of alleged settlement, before the date of the royal charter or even the deed of Col. John Wheelwright. The James Smith lot eame into the possession of the Pinkerton family ; there the worthy founder of Pinkerton Academy and liberal bencfactor of the two religious societies of his gen- eration lived and dicd. Thirty-one thousand dollars in those days mcant persistent industry and habitual economy, and those endowments signified mature convictions and determination to sacrifice himself and eonseeratc the fruits of his labors to the highest good of his countrymen.
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