USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Willey's semi-centennial book of Manchester, 1846-1896, comprised within the limits of the old Tyng Township, Nutfield, Harrytown, Derryfield, and Manchester, from the earliest settlements to the present time > Part 2
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 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
Anno Dom. 1735. BENJM PRECOTT Justice of peace.
Mid' SS May the 20th, 1735.
Pursuant to the within written warrant I the Subscriber have Notified and warned the grantees and prop' within mentioned to meet at the time and place As was therein Directed.
Atts JOHN SHEPLEY.
At a meeting of the Grantees and Props of a tract of Land Granted for a township to the Souldiers under the Command of the Late Cap W" Tyng Decd Joyning to the easterly Side mer- rimack River Between Litchfield and Suncook or Lovels town (so called) at the house of Collo Jonas Clark in Chelmsford on the 20th day of May 1735.
Then Voted to chose Joseph Blanchard Prop's Clerk.
Then the following List was Delrd to the Clerk of the Coll" Courts Comtee viz., the Honrble Collo W" Dudley Benja Prescott, Esq., & Capt Benja Thompson wch is as Followeth
A List of the Soulders that went out under the Command of Capt Wm Tyng to Winepiscoebeag the year 1703
Admitted.
John Shepley
William Longley
Joseph Parker Eben Spalding
Richard Warner Sam1 Davis
Nathaniel Woods
Joseph Lakin
Joseph Blanchard Nath1 Blood
John Cumings John Holdin
Thomas Lund
Jonathan Page
William Whitney
Nathaniel Butterfield
Jonathan Butterfield
John Longley Joseph Perham
John Hunt
Joseph Butterfield Jonah Hill
John Spalding Jonathan Parker
John Spalding Jun'
Thomas G. Talbird
Sam1 Spalding
Peter Talbird
Henry Spalding
Stephen Keyes
20
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
Thomas Cumings
Benony Perham : Sam1
Eleazer Parker
Josiah Richardson
Tho' Tarble
Jonathan Richardson
James Blanchard
Henry Farwell
Joseph Guilson
John Richardson
Sam' Woods
Ephraim Hildreth
Sam' Chamberlain Timothy Spalding
Stephen Pierce Paul Fletcher
The above Named persons were all admitted and gave Bond (Except William Whitney) into the grant made to the Com- pany under Cap' William Tyng the 20th and 25th of may 1735
The records then show that several meetings were held at Westford, Mass., to consider the matter of making a survey of the territory into lots for the grantees. There were to be sixty- three shares of four lots each, " besides ye Meadow lotts whch most needed the same and Had well marked Bounded and Numbered the Same and
p whitt king "
Black Oak ..
Stont)
june
Walnut
Stakeand Stones,
Piscataquegg Rever.
also a Lott of the contents of one hundred and Seventeen aeres on the Brook Called Little Cohass Brook in the Second Range of Lotts & of plans for the Mill Lott Whch is not Completed amongst the rest a plan and table whereof was Exhibited to the Prop's and also had run and marked with Care the east line of the township so as to keep Exaet three miles and no more from each and every part of Merrimack River.
" Which was voted to be accepted." The expense of this survey to each grantee was £9-14S-3d, which several amounts were to be dedueted from the sum to be paid by them for the grant.
Then voted that the Lotts be put into one hatt and the names of the Prop's into another. And that M' Thomas
Kidder & M' Sampson Spalding be desired to draw them one to Draw the Names and the other to Draw the Lott and as thay are Successively drawn the Clerk enter the Same to Such prop" as are so Drawn.
When this had been done and the settlers eame to take possession, many of them were dis- satisfied with the land which had fallen to their eredit. An area of 1680 aeres was found unfit for profitable cultivation and accordingly a request was made for a grant of other land to that extent. This appeal was not made in vain, for on Aug. 2, 1736, it was " Also voted that Messrs. Benjamin Parker and John Colburn be Directed and Desired with a Surveyor and Chainmen to Lay out the best piece of ye unappropriated Lands of the Provinee to Satisfy the Grant of 1680 aeres made to this Proprty thay ean find with all Convenient Speed and make return thereof at next Prop's Meeting."
At a Proprietors' meeting held in Groton Tuesday, March 28, 1738, the following report was submitted and allowed :
Benj. Parker From the Comtec appointed to lay out ye 1680 acre grant reported that thay had attended that Service & that a plan thereof was Returned to the Gen" Court and accepted and Layd an Account of his Expenses before the Society as Followeth. Nov. 22, 1736.
Prop' Dr. for Service running round and taking a plan of 1680 acres of Land Joying to Piskatoquage River. £22-12S. JOSEPH BLANCHARD, Prop. Clerk.
It is thus eonelusively shown that the Tyng township grant was made to inelude a traet of land on the west side of the Merrimack river, located according to the plan here given and deseribed in the archives of Massachusetts, as follows :
I The Subscriber Together with John Colburne & Benjamin Parker as Chainmen have Layd out to the Prop's of Tyngs Township, so Called, or ye grantees of a Tract of Land Between Litchfield and Suncook on ye Easterly Side Merrimack River, A Tract of Land Adjoyning to Piscatquag River Containing on Thousand Six Hundred An Sixty Eight Acres Butted and Bounded as by the figure herewith whch is plan'd by a Scale of one hundred And Sixty perch to an Inch, with a Small Island Containing Twelve Acres Lying in Merrimack River Between Crosby's Brook and Short falls so Called whch is in Pursuance of a grant of one thousand Six hundred and Eighty Acres made to Sa Proprs SAM'L CUMMINGS Surv"
October 10th 1736-
E is It YYO Rods
21
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
Such writers as have mentioned this addition of 1680 acres to the grant of Tyng township have said that it was done to make up a lack of territory as described in the original bounds. The town- ship records, however, which it has been our good fortune to consult, and which we have good reasons to believe that the others had not scen, say that it was asked for on account of the poor quality of a portion of the land, which is spoken of as " too mean for anything !" The returns made might be construed to indicate a shortage in measurement, but the above appears to bc thc true cause of complaint. The barrenness of much of the land along the banks of the Merrimack was well known, and Harrytown is claimed to have received its name from the current expression applied to those who had the courage to settle there : " He's gone to the Old Harry !" An old writer, little dreaming of its future, described it as " a horrid waste of sand which must forcver be shunned by man."
Assuming that Massachusetts had the power to maintain her jurisdiction over this grant, the grantees had no easy matter to meet their part of the conditions, and it is interesting to study the thrift with which this was attempted. Judgc Potter says in his " History of Manchester " that "it is possible that Major Hildreth and others of the grantees were already located upon the granted premises." Certain oncs of them did settle about the mouth of Cohas brook, but there is nothing in the records to show that the Major was with the rest. Calculations werc at once made to build a sawmill a little above where the Harvey mill has since stood, it being the first mill raised within the bounds of the future city of manufacturcs. But this mill was five years in building ! Considering the number of families already settled within the limits of the grant, in this case counting the Scotch-Irish, it was not deemed a doubtful matter to get the required sixty. Neither was it a scrious undertaking, with the lumber growing almost on the spot, to construct the log houses of the required size. The cultivation of the four acres within the prescribed time was not so easily done, though there is no reason to believe the Puritan settlers of Tyng township failed to perform this part of their costly contract. But the great diffi-
culty came when the matter of building a meeting- house could be no longer postponed. We find in the records under datc of Jan. 1, 1739, the fourth year of their occupancy of the grant, that it was-
Voted to Build a Meeting house in Said Township of the Following dimensions viz Forty two feet Long and thirty feet wide twenty feet between Joynts and that the meeting house frame be raised at or before the Last day of August next and that the roof be boarded shingled Weather boards put on the boarding Round well Chamfered the necessary Doors made and Hung and Double floor layd below with all Convenient Speed after the sd Fraim is up so that it be thus finished by the first of Dec. next and that Eleazer Tyng and Benja Thompson and Captain Jonathan Brewer or any two of them be a Comtee fully empowered in behalf of this Porpaty to Lett out the Sd work.
It can be readily understood that this was an anxious period to the grantees of Tyng township. The Scotch-Irish settlers, whom they had counted to get the required number of families, gave them no assistance nor shared their forebodings. The grant on the West side of the Merrimack river known as Narraganset No. Five, now Bcd- ford, had been settled mostly by their kindred people, and it was natural they should assimilate with them both in social and religious matters. Though there had been no long discussion relative to the location of the proposed mceting-house, it was not built as quickly as expected. The time which had been set to have it raised passed, and at a mecting in the following September it was voted the "Comtee for Building the meeting house be directed to see that it be raised and inclosed according to the former Vote Respecting the Samc At or before the Last day of June next.' Other actions taken by the township show that the failure of the contractor to carry out his agreement was not due to any fault of his, but from a failure to build the sawmill, from which he was expected to get his lumber, as soon as had becn expected. Thus we find that the building of the house was allowed to be postponed until finally the contractor was given till Nov. 1, 1741. It is interesting to note that in the bill allowed for the cxpense of raising the meeting-house we find it headcd with the item: "To Joseph Blanchard for Rum and Provision {2-155-3d." With this account the records of Tyng township end abruptly.
22
WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
While these troubles at home were occupying the attention of the inhabitants of Tyng township, Maj. Hildreth's colony was threatened with a blow from the head of their government which would not only rob them of their town rights, but place them in the unenviable position of being intruders them- selves among those whom they had been wont to consider interlopers and had never hesitated to contravene at every opportunity. The settlement of the line between the provinces of New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts was approaching an end, and March 5, 1740, the long and perplexing con- troversy was elosed by a decision that the latter province should extend three miles north of the Merrimack river, following a similar course, " beginning at the Atlantic ocean and ending at a point due north of Pawtucket falls, and a straight line drawn from thence due west till it meets with his Majesty's other governments." This left the grant of Tyng township, with twenty-seven others, within the limits of New Hampshire, and of course deprived of the powers which had cost them so much and for which they had worked so hard. The grant itself had cost them over $40,000.
With commendable courage the Puritan inhabitants of Tyng township tried to finish its meeting-house and settle " a learned or orthodox" minister, to find the last the crowning difficulty. Under the mistaken belief that they could secure assistance from their Presbyterian neighbors a little farther north and east, they had located their meeting-house upon the eastern limits of their settlement. The sturdy Scots, however, had not forgotten the distrust and opposition they had met from the first, and the word " usurper " still rankled in their breasts. This, coupled with their natural dislike of the others' religious methods, afforded them ample excuse to hold aloof from the church of their rivals. The grantees of Tyng township saw, when it was too late, that they had built their church too far on one side for the benefit of their own people, which with the seareity of money made it impossible for them to raise the funds for a regular preacher. They did the best they could by having occasional preaching, until their anxiety was changed into another course by the destruction of their meeting- house by a forest fire. The building stood near
"Chester corner" upon land belonging to the homestead of James Weston. The outlines of some of the sunken mounds in the old graveyard are still to be seen, though a heavy growth long since covered the sacred precinct. The road from Londonderry to Amoskeag mentioned elsewhere passed a short distance to the northeast.
As if the grantees of Tyng township had not met with obstacles and reverses enough to dis- courage less determined settlers, ten years after the loss of their grant the charter of Derryfield took from them their last hope of receiving reeog- nition from any source. With this dire extremity threatening them, a meeting of the proprietors was called at the house of Jonas Clark, Chelmsford, Mass., Jan. 21, 1751, when it was decided to appeal to the Massachusetts courts for relief. Accord- ingly a lengthy petition was presented to that body setting forth in detail their grievances, in which it was elaimed over two thousand pounds had been spent in public improvements, beside the charges of settlement :
That Soon after the arivall of Goven' Wentworth and Hearing the Defeat of our Petition the Towns of Londonderry and Chester obtained orders from ye Gov' of N. Hamp' For Running out their Bounds according to their Charters which being Done it was found that the Sd Tyngstown fell all to a trifle into the Sd Towns, their meeting house Sawmill and the Setlers being Included in them, which Towns Immediately Demanded the Possession and Entered Themselves .
That your Petitioners thereupon Advised with many of the principal Gentlemen of this Government as well as the best Councell in the Law they Could Obtain and were Incouraged to Dispute their Property in the Law which they have Done in the most Effectual method they Could and have been Harrased allmost every Court from the year 1742 to this day and the said Towns of Londonderry & Chester has Recovered the Possession & Turned out Every one who has had a final trial Excepting one who for Some Special Reasons Peculiar to That Case did Obtain The Remainder of the Setlers Seeing their Distressed Circumstances and no way for Releif have Either deserted their Habitations or Compounded and purchased at an unreasonable and Severe Price, have Little for their own Labour, Excepting on who is Yet in the Dispute, which Troubles in the Defence of their Rights has Cost them thousands of pounds Exclusive of their Much greater Charges in Buildings and Improvements and now are Obliged to give over the Expectation of its Ever being any benefit to them
April 17, 1751, this petition bore its fruit in a grant of the township of Wilton, Me., to the proprietors of Tyng township.
THE OLD CHURCH AT THE CENTER.
M
Tyngstown grant of the church built by the Puritans of the Merrimack valley at what was known as Chester Corners, but there was another meeting-house that is of greater importanee in the early history of Manchester. While there are no official records to show it, preaching, if in a some- what desultory manner, was no doubt maintained all through the trying period of the early coloniza- tion of the territory which later comprised the town of Derryfield. Immediately following its incorporation, Nov. 26, 1751, a special town meet- ing voted twenty-four pounds, old tenor, for preaching. The following year one hundred pounds was raised, which, considering the small amount of available money at that time, was no inconsiderable tax. At a special meeting held July 20, 1752, it was voted that the " Placieses of Publiek Worship be held at Banjamien Stivens and William McClintos the first Sabouth, at Banjamien Stivenes and the nixt at William MeClintos and so sabouth about till the nixt town meetien." Again, Feb. 2, 1753, at a special meet- ing held in Benjamin Stevens's barn, it was voted that " the above barn and that of William MeClin- to's be the places of publiek worship till the money voted at last March meeting be expended. Voted that the minister be kept at William McClinto's." At a special meeting, Sept. 5, 1754, it is recorded : " Voted that ye Meeting House for publick wor- ship in Derryfield be built upon the Publie Road as is mentioned in ye second artiekle of ye warrant."
The artiele referred to stated " by the Side of the Highway that leads from Londonderry to Amoseheeg Falls, some place betwixt William McClintok's and James Murphy's." It imme- diately became apparent that this location was not satisfactory to many of the inhabitants of the town, and under date of Feb. 3, 1755, a petition signed by thirty voters was given the selectmen to eall a special meeting "to reconsider the vote of locating the meeting house and raising money for building said house." This the seleetmen refused to do, when recourse was obtained by the dissatis- fied party through the court of the province. Constable Benjamin Hadley of Derryfield was
ENTION is made in the article on the enjoined to issue a warrant for a meeting, which was held March 1, 1755, and resulted in a repeal of the vote to build and locate a meeting-house. March 30, 1758, at a special meeting held in John Hall's barn, it was voted "to pay Conol John Goffe sixtey poundes old tenor to pay the Revernt Binjimen Buteler for priehing. Voted to pay Revernt Samuel McClintock Sevin poundes old tenor for priehing in the year 1756." These are the first ministers whose names are mentioned in the old records as preaching in the town.
The next definite action taken toward seeuring a place of worship was at a special meeting held Sept. 21, 1758, when it was voted to build a meet- ing-house that year. It is further recorded :
Voted to build the meetien Houes on John Hall's land joyening the road leading to Thomas Hall's ferry and the Ammacheag Falls.
Voted to raise six hundred poundes to carry on the build- ing the said meetien Houes.
Voted to raiese said meetien Houes fortey feet in lenth thirtey five feet in Brenth.
Voted, Capt. William Perham and Levt Hugh Stirlen and John Hall ye commitey to carey on the builden of above said Meetien Houes.
The Presbyterians had carried their point, but while they were able to outvote their Puritan rivals, they found the collecting of taxes for the purpose they designed not so easy a matter. The Puritans werc not against building a church, but they exeused themselves from helping toward this one by saying that the location did not suit them. Underneath this were other reasons. Many of them had not forgotten that they had received no assistance from the others when they had built a meeting-house, as deseribed in the article on the Tyngstown grant, and tried to settle a minister. Thus some refused point blank to pay their church taxes ; others did what was even more exasperating by dallying in their payment, putting off the eol- leetor from time to time with weak excuses. A part were to pay in labor, others in lumber, and the one was as difficult to obtain as the other. But in some manner the building was framed and raised, for under date of July 15, 1759. we find it recorded :
23
2.1
WILLERS BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
Voted to colect five Hundred Poundes toward Borden and Shingelen of our meetien Houes, said somm to be taken ont of the six Hundred poundes, new tenor, that was voted in the year 1858 for builden the above said meetien Houes.
Voted Capt. William Perham and Levt Hugh Stirlin and John Hall a comitey to spend the five Hundred poundes old tenor towards Borden and Shingeling the meetien Houes.
Voted that John Hall apply to the Gentlemen that have land not cultivated or improved in Derryfield, for money to help us in builden our meetien Houes in said town.
Voted that whoever pays any money to the above said meetien Houes shall have their names and the sums of money they pay recorded in Derryfield town Book of Records.
As if the building committee did not have enough to contend with otherwise, it was finally claimcd by the opposing party that they had mis- appropriated such funds as they had obtained. Accordingly a committee of investigation was chosen, but no irregularity seems to have been discovered. It was, however, voted at a meeting Nov. 15, 1759, to record the six hundred pounds collected in 1758 and whatever more might be collected. At the same mecting it was voted not to underpin the house that year, and to make one door. It being so difficult to collect the funds, the building committce was empowered to hire the necessary money, until it should be paid by the inhabitants. In that way the debts which had been incurred were paid. Aug. 11, 1765, it was voted that "The Secelet-men are to under pien the sd. meetien-houes and put 2 dowers one ye a forsd. houes & Cloes the windowes and Wan Dorr." Dec. 15, 1760, at a special meeting, a committee was chosen to examine John Hall's accounts con- cerning the church money, and there the records end for that year. June 29, 1761, it was " Voted to repir the meetien houcs this year sow fare as to shout oupc all the uper windows and the West and east dowers & make a rofe dower one ye sowthe sied and under pin sd houess this cor- rent year."
If the finishing of the house progressed but slowly, the quarrel was rapidly growing more personal and bitter. April 2, 1764, the opposition finding themselves with a majority at the meeting, voted not to raise aay money for prcaching that year. In October of the same ycar they went a step farther and voted to apply all moncy that might be in the hands of the church committee
toward paying the town debt. The following year, at the annual meeting, March 4, the other side rallied and voted more money for preaching than ever. This, instead of bringing the factions together, widened the breach between them. Both parties prepared for a stubborn fight at the annual election the next year, and the result, as shown in the chapter on Civil and Political his- tory, was demoralizing in the extreme. It proved, however, that the Presbyterian element was not utterly routed, for at a special meeting, June 27, 1766, it was "Voted to repair the meeticn houcs in part this ycar. Voted to lay a good floor in the mceticn houes and shout upc the ounder windows and acommadatc the mectin houes with forms sutable to sit on."
Excitement had now rcachcd its height. The better minds of both clements had begun to see the cvil results of their long contention for selfish ends. The last real partisan vote that appears on the records is that at the special meeting held Dec. 22, 1766, when it was voted not to raise any moncy for preaching. The following annual election showed a compromise in the make-up of the town officers, and a more quict if not kindlier fecling prevailed in the matter of the church. John Hall, who had been prominent in the long controversy, retired for a time from positions of public trust. It was not found that he had mis- used any of the town's money and that subject was dismissed. In fact, so grcat a calm had fallen upon the troubled waters that the matter of the meeting-house, which had caused so many special meetings and fills so many pages of the town's records, drops almost entirely out of sight. Then, when their civil rights as well as their religious liberties werc assailed by a foreign enemy, those who had been natural rivals became natural allics in a cause that affectcd them all alike, until the inhabitants of Derryfield became united as might not otherwise have been.
Nothing was done for the old meeting-house and very little for preaching during the Revolu- tion. The building fell into a sad state of dilapi- dation, until in 1783 the town voted one hundred dollars for repairs, and again the following year fifty dollars more. In 1790 an effort was made to raise money to finish the building by selling " pew
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
25
ground." A sale was made at a public auction June 22, 1790, which netted £36 11s. The pews were built at once, and the lower story was at last " finished." Attention then was turned to the upper part of the house, and on March 5, 1792, it was " Voted to rase fortey dollars to repair Meeting House. Voted that the Slectmen lay out the Money to Build the Gallery Stares and Lay the Gallery flores." These votes were carried out, and an auction sale of pew ground in the gallery was made Nov. 10, but the purchasers never built, and the upper story remained in an unfinished condition. And here the written record virtually closes.
The meeting-house, which had been the object of many a bitter discussion, which had kept
many a desirable citizen out of Derryfield, and which had been a dark spot on its history, was suffered to remain unfinished, though, as hereto- fore, meetings were held within its walls as often as found convenient, and there the voters were wont to gather at the polls year after ycar, until finally the settlement near the river had become of so much importanee that it was decided to build a hall and hold the town meetings "in the village on the river." Accordingly a building at the latter place was begun in 1841, and finished two ycars later, when the old mccting-house was abandoned. After standing empty ten years it was sold at public auction, and moved a short dis- tance and converted into a tenement-house, which is still standing.
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.