CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM • Tut tie Cornell University Library F 44N53 K46 History of New Ipswich, from its first g olin 3 1924 028 836 372 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028836372 THE HISTORY OF NEW IPSVICH, FROM ITS FIRST GRANT IN MDCCIIXVL TO THE PRESENT TIME: GENEALOGICAL NOTICES OF THE PRINCIPAL FAMILIES, AND ALSO THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, SEPTEMBER 11, 1850. BOSTON: GOULD AND LINCOLN, 59 WASHINGTON STREET. 1852. PRINTED BY THOMAS PRINCE, Roxbury, Mass. \^ ^ SAMUEL APPLETON, ESQ. whose private worth and public benefactions have added new lustre to an honorable name ; whose recollections of distant events have contributed much that is interesting in these pages ; and bt whose encouraging patronage they have been stimulated in their efforts, and thus are enabled to present it in an attractive form, this volume is most respectfully dedicated By the authors. Boston, Sept. 11, 1852. LIST AND LOCATION OF THE ENGRAVINGS. 1. Map of the Town. 2. View in the Village (Centre street.) 3. View of Whitlemore Hill, 4. Plot of the location of the township, 1736, 5. Portion of an old map, shewing the original location of the towns and how they were affected by running the State line, 6. View of the Town House and Academy, 7. View of the second Meeting House, built 1757, 8. View of the third Meeting House, built 1770, . 9. Plan of the lower floor in the same, 10. View of the fourth Meeting House, built 1812, 11. Sketch of the Centre School House about 1815, 12. Sketch of the old Academy, 13. Plan of the Centre Village, 1850, . 14. View of the Appleton House, 15. Portrait of Hon. Samuel Appleton, 16. Residence of Mrs. Everett, 17. Residence of Josehp Barrett, . 18. Portrait of President Jesse Appleton, 19. View of the Ainsworlh House, 20. View of Knight's House, formerly C. Barrett, 21. View of Residence of George Barrett, 22. Portrait of Charles Barrett, 23. Portrait of Samuel Batchelder, 24. Portrait of Benjamin Champney, 25. Portrait of Jonas Chickering, . 26. View of the Judge Farrar House, 27. Portrait of Judge Farrar, 28. View of the Gould House, 29. Portrait of Dea. N. D. Gould, 30. Former Residence of Capt. Hoar, 31. View of the Kidder Mansion, . 32. Portrait of Isaiah Kidder, 33. Residence of Rev. Mr. Lee, 34. Residence of Jesse Stearns, 35. Residence of Edward M. Isaacs, 9 25 28 134 144 154- 151- 160 196 199 286 307 308 318 323 324 32*. 330 330 333 335 347 349 363 364 381 381 391 408 412 416 446 CONTENTS. CHAP. I. — ^PHifsiCAi. History. Location, 9; boundaries, 10; form, 10; elevation, 10; mountains, 10; Turkey Hills, 10 ; Boundary mountains, 10, 12 ; Kidder Mountain, 11 ; Flat Mountain, 11; Barrett Mountain, 11; Pratt Mountain, 11; Governor's Hill, 11; Town Hill, 12; Knight's Hill, 12; Stratton's Hill, 12; Whittemore Hill, 12; Drift Hills, 13; Streams, 14 ; Souhegan, 14 ; Adams' Brook, 15 ; Saw Mill Brook, 15; Patch's Brook, 15; Jo. Kidder's Brook, 16; Fordway, 16; Ponds, 16; Binney Pond, 16; Hoar Pond, 16; Pratt Pond, 17; Valley of the Souhegan, 17 ; Climate, 17; Fo- rest Trees, 19; Wild Fruits, 20 ; Orchards, 20 ; Grain, 20; Wild Animals, 20; Farming, 21. CHAP. n. — ^History of the Land Title. Grant of New Hampshire to John Mason, 22 ; his title contested and confirm- ed, 22; Massachusetts Grants, 23; Grant of this township to Ipswich petitioners, 23; derivation of name Ipswich, 23 ; petition and grant, 24 ; original plot, 25 ; records lost, 35 ; petition and names of Ipswich grantees, 26 ; transfer to New Hampshire, 27; title lost, 28; ancient map, 28; Masonian proprietors, 29; grant of the township, 29 ; Masonian charter of 1750, 30 ; acceptance, 32 ; limits and extent of the township, 32 ; apparent injustice, 33 ; mutilations of the township, 33 ; difficulties respecting Striptown line, 34 ; adjustments, 35 ; plotting of the farms, 36; Act of Incorporation 1762, 37 ; renewed 1766, 38 ; interregnum, 39; Boundary lines, 39. CHAP. III. — Earliest Civil History. Early explorations and scouting parties, 40; traces of Indians, 41; plotting of the town, 42; early improvements, 42 ; earliest settlers, 43 ; progress of the set- tlement, 45; interruption by the French and Indian war of 1744, 45; capture of John Fitch and family, 45 ; desertion of the town, 46 ; Capt. Tucker remains, 47; return of settlers, 47; means of defence, 47; recapitulation, 48. CHAP. IV.— Proprietary History, 1749-62. Masonian grantees, 50 ; their first meeting, 51 ; privileges of Massachusetts grantees, 51 ; compensation for mutilated lots, 51 ; apportionment of lands, 52 ; allotment, 52 ; list of proprietors, 53 ; erection of saw and grist mill, 53 ; John Chandler and his successors, 55; bridge at Capt. Hoar's, 56; provision for preaching, 56; conditions of charter, how far fulfilled, 56; collection of taxes, 57; land of delinquents sold, 58 ; change of officers, 58 ; burial-place laid out, 59 ; the common, 59; first paupers, 59; tax list 1763, 60; recapitulation, 61. CONTENTS. CHAP. V. — Incorporation to the Revolution, 1762-75. First town meeting, 64; number of inhabitants, 64; town sued by Kidder and Parker, 64 ; ponnd built, 65 ; Dr. Preston's tax, 65 ; town municipally divided, 65; selectmen not to be paid, 65; remonstrance against liquor licenses, 66; non- importation resolves, 66 ; stock of ammunition, 66; burial clothes, 66 ; case of John Holland, 66; measures to secure representation, 67 ; progress of settlement, 68; Col. Kidder the first magistrate, 68; anecdote, 68; deaths and removals, 69; • raising of Wilton meeting-house, 69; valuation, 69; tax list 1774, 70. CHAP. VI. — ^Revolutionary History, 1775-6. Dea. Appleton chosen delegate to Exeter, 72 ; his instructions, 72 ; stock of ammunition increased, 72 ; Committee of Inspection and Correspondence, 72 ; military exercises, 73 ; alarm at Concord fight, 73 ; march of minnte-men, 74 ; Thomas Heald commands, 74; part return, 75; enlistment of Capt. Town's com- pany, 74; company roll, 76; stationed at Medford, 76; battle of Bunker Hill, 77; the coward, 77; Josiah Walton wounded, 78; seige of Boston, 79; Rev. S. Far- rar chosen delegate to Provincial Congress, 81 ; his instructions, 81 ; duties of the Committee of Safety, 81 ; case of David Hills, 82 ; William Shattuck chosen representative, 85 ; his instructions, 86; volunteers for Canada and Lake Cham- plain, 86; test papers, 87; British deserter surrendered, 87; proceedings against tories, 88; deserter, 88; privations, 89 ; anecdote of female zeal, 87 ; Capt. Smith's company to White Plains, 90; Capt. Heald to Ticonderoga, 90; instruc- tions to representative 1776, 90. CHAP. VII.— Revolutionary History, 1777-80. Use of the town ammunition, 93 ; enlistments for three years, 93 ; small pox, 94; Capt. Brown's company to meet Burgoyne, 93 ; battle of Hubbardston, 95 ; Capt. Parker's company, 95; their dress and accoutrements, 95; roll, 96 ; skir- mish, 97; battle of Bennington, 98; Coos alarm, 98; company at taking of Bur- goyne, 98 ; instructions to representative 1777, 99 ; average for services of sol- diers, 99; volunteers to Rhode Island, 100 ; beef rate, 101 ; sundry enlistments, 101 ; last alarm, 101 ; list of revolutionary soldiers, 102 ; disabled, 102 ; taxes, 103; prompt and full supplies, 103; depreciation of currency, 103; amounts paid soldiers, 104; vouchers, 105; expedients during the war, 106; census, 106. CHAP. VIII. — State and Federal Constitutions. Timothy Farrar delegate to form State Constitution, 107; his instructions, 108; draft of constitution, 109; committee to report on it, 109 ; town meeting to con- sider It, 109; regulations, 110; proceedings, 110; Rev. Mr. Farrar's report. 111; subsequent drafts, 113; instructions to representatives, 114; paper currency 1" " Constitution of the United States, 116; returned soldiers, 119; prospects at clos of the war, 117; new pound, 118 ; suit of Dr. Preston, 118 ; town library, 118 warning out of town, 119; recapitulation, 119. CHAP. IX. — History of the last half century. 16; lose i J ^y-J-^P^'"'' opposition to it, 126 ; its cost and construction, 127; high bridge 128; posUoffice, 128; postmasters, 128; receipts 129; stages, postriders, 129; first stage-coach and passengers, 129; importance of the coach and driver CONTENTS. iii 130; railroads, 131; maintenance of the poor, 131; poor-house and honae of cor- rection, 132 ; regulations, 132 ; townhouse built, 133 ; celebrations of independ- ence, 134 ; musters, 135 ; Bethel Lodge, 135 ; abduction of a young lady, 135 colony for the West, 136; taxes in 1801, 136 ; amaseraents and customs, 136 conviviality and intemperance, 127; "New Year's Gift," 138 ; "Ladies Looking Glass," 138; revival of religion 1810-11, 138; tythmgmen, 139; houses in the village, virhen built, 139; controversies, 140. CHAP. X. — Meeting-Houses. First House, about 1740, 143 ; meetings at private houses, 143. Second House, 1759. Third House, 145; difficulties about location, 145; petition to General Court, 146; order of the Court, 147; raising in 1768, 148; disposition of pews, 148; galleries finished, 149; opposition continued, 149; cushion for pulpit, 149; former house presented to the town, 150; converted into horse stables, 150; demolished by students, 150; description of " old meeting-house," 151; its dis- comforts, 154 ; the congregation, 155 ; the services, 155; the intermission, 156; Sabbath customs, 156; repairs, 157; used by Baptists, 157; demolished in 1816,. 157 ; relics in the town-house, 157. Fourth House, 158 ; controversy about location, 158; settled by a committee, 159; the raising, 159; contract withSeth ' Wheeler, 159 ; sale of pews, 159 ; dedication, 160; regulations, 160; subscrip- tion for a bell, 160 ; presented to town with conditions, 161; stove, 161; sold to First Church and Society, 161 ; its dilapidated state, 162 ; Baptist House, 162. Unitarian House, 163. Methodist House, 164. CHAP. XL — EcciiEsiASTicAi. History. Early provision for preaching, 164; preachers, 164; call to Peter Powers, 165; his principles on jbaptism, 165; salary offered, 165; acceptance, 166; subsequent release, 167; call to Deliverance Smith, 167; declined, 167; Stephen Farrar chosen first pastor, 167; his salary, 167; letter of acceptance, 168; ordaining council, 169; ordination, 169 ; increase of the salary, 169 ; his supply of wood, 170; organization of the church, 170; church covenant, 170 ; original members, 172; deacons, 172; imperfect records, 172; additions to church, 173; great re- vival 1785, 173 ; Mr. Farrar's death, 174 ; call to . Experience Porter, 175 ; re- consideration, 175; revival of 1811, 175 ; call to Rev. Richard Hall, 175; letter of acceptance, 176; ordination, 176; his ministry, 177; new church articles and covenant, 178; Mr. Hall's illness, 179 ; town objects to paying salary, 179 ; his separation and death, 180; town ministry terminates, 180; ministerial fund, 181; First Congregational Society organized, 181 ; Rev. I. R. Barbour settled, 181. dismissed, 182; Rev. Charles Walker settled, 182 ; his success, 182; difficulties in the church, 183 ; retrospect, 184 ; contributions, 185 ; Sabbath school, 185. Baptist Church — origin, 185 ; organization, 186 ; pastors, 186 ; relations to the Congregational Church, 187; controversy with the town, 188; present condition, 188. Unitarian Society, 189. Universalist preacher, 189. Methodist Society, 189. Shakers, 189; delusions, 190; Millerisra, 191; church music, 191 ; early customs, 191; singers' seats, 192; choristers, 192. CHAP. XH. — ^Educational History. First school, 194; first teacher, 194; first school-house, 195 ; school tax, 195 ; grammar school, 195; school fund, 196; districts, 197; character of schools, 197. Academy, 197; compact of the founders, 197; donations, 198; first Preceptor, John Hubbard, 198 ; building erected, 199 ; act of incorporation , 199 ; endow- ment, 202; regulations, 202 ; union with Dartmouth College, 203 ; donations of Abbot, Payson and Barrett, 204 ; Samuel Worcester, 204 ; David Palmer and iv CONTENTS. Warren Pierce, 204; reputation of the school, 204 ; distinguished students, 204; period of depression, 205 ; Joseph Milliken, 205 ; laws, 205; funds, 205 ; O. S. Taylor, 205; his great success, 206; subsequent depression, 206; rebellion, 206; new academy building, 206 ; Earl Smith, 206; S. Appleton's donation of globes and books, 207 ; Isaac Appleton, 207 ; library of Demosthenian Society, 208 ; philosophical apparatus obtained, 208; R. A. Coffin, 208; S. T. Allen, 208 ; Charles Shedd, 208; Students' Hall, 209; inadequate funds, 209 ; centennial donation of S, Appleton, 209; list of preceptors, 210; list of trustees, 210; notice of John Hubbard, 210 ; Demosthenian Society, 211 ; Social Fraternity, 211 ; influence of the Academy on the town, 212; professional men born in town, 213; school teachers, 213; list of graduates at colleges, 213; educated men not gradu- ates, 214; lawyers, 215 ; physicians, 215 ; missionaries, 217 ; publications con- nected withthe town, 219. CHAP. Xni. — ^Thade and Manufacttthes. Saw and grist mill, 221; fulling mill, 221; linseed oil mill, 221; oatmeal, 221; malting, 222; earthen ware, 222 ; pot and pearl ashes, 222; glass, 222; Robert Hewes, 222; failure, 222 ; first cotton factory, 224; second cotton factory, 225 ; amount and description of goods manufactured, 225 ; picking machine, 226 ; Davis factory, 226; Rhoades' factory, 226; Charles Robbins, 226; Ebenezer Stowell, 226; manufacture of velvets, checks, ginghams, &c. 226; power looms, 227; small demand for American goods, 227; water loom factory, 228; Brown's mill, 228 ; Souhegan factory, 228 ; James Sanderson, 229 ; blue dyeing, 229 ; carding machine, 229 ; John Everett, 2.30 ; satinets, 230 ; Kuig & Taft, 231 ; Thomas Adams' sawmill, 231 ; Zechariah Adams' mill, 231 ; Fletcher's mill, 231 ; Farrar's mill, 231; Barrett's mill, 232; Hildreth's mill, 232; starch mills, 232 ; traders, 232 ; taverns, 234 ; banks, 235 ; printing, 236 ; Mr. Ide's testa- ment, 227; chairs, 238; scythes, 238; carpenters, 239; blacksmiths, 239; shoe- makers, 239 ; hatters, 239 ; tailors, 240 ; saddlers, 240 ; bakers, 240 ; masons and painters, 240 ; wheelwrights, 241; watchmakers, 241; tinmen, 241; statis- tics of trade and manufactures 1850, 241. CHAP XIV. MlSCELLAITEOUS SUBJECTS. Military affairs, 243; first company, 243; company of 1771, 244; divided, 244; officers, 245; the troop, 245; military fete 1816, 245", grenadiers, 246; juvenile companies, 246; students' company, 247; fires, 247; casualties, 249; roads and bridges, 250 ; working at highways, 253 ; highway taxes, 254 ; carriages, 254 ; temperance reform, 255 ; slaves, 256 ; vital statistics, 257 ; burial of the dead, 259 ; burial grounds, 260 ; population, 261 ; valuation, 261 ; fire department, 261; music, 262; singing schools, 262; teachers, 262; Middlesex Musical Socie- ty, 263; Hubbard Society, 263 ; military bands, 264; Bethel Lodge of Freema- sons, 264; Watatic Lodge of Odd Fellows, 265; bounties on wild animals, 265; tornado, 265; gales, 265 ; officers of the Masonian proprietors, 266; list of town officers, 266; occupants of farms, 271. Part Second. — Family History and Biography, 289. Families arranged in alphabetical order, with the exception of a few at the end. Additions and Corrections, 447. Centennial Celebration, 449. INTRODUCTION. In the summer of 1849, one of the authors, (Frederic Kidder) visited his native town, to repair the tombstones of his ancestors, and collect such materials as he might, towards a family history. In wandering over the " old burying-ground," he was struck with the number of the great and good resting there, whose names and. deeds were likely soon to be forgotten. On looking over the Town Eecords of the period of the Revolution, he could not but admire the firm and bold resolves of the citizens, their clear views of re- publican principles and constitutional liberty, and their self-sacri- ficing patriotism. He desired that some one should chronicle the history of the town, before the loss of records, or the death of the remaining few whose memory extended back to early times, should render it too late. After unavailing efibrts to prevail on some one to undertake the task, he concluded to attempt it himself. On inquiry of those best able to give information, he was told, that materials enough to make a dozen pages relative to the history of the town could not be found. He however persevered. His first step was to employ Mr. James Spaulding to copy the inscrip- tions upon the tombstones, and make some extracts from the Town Eecords. The Eecords of the Masonian Proprietors were soon after obtained, together with an almost obliterated plan of the town ; and a series of inquiries was addressed to persons supposed to have some knowledge of important events in town, or who had access to old records and documents. The Archives of the State, at Ports- mouth and Concord, were carefully consulted, as well as an im- mense mass of manuscripts at the State House in Boston. The Eecords of old Concord, Chelmsford and other towns, from which the earliest settlers came, were also put in requisition ; and thus a considerable mass of materials relative to the Colonial and Masoni- an charters, the progress of the settlement, the names and origin of the first settlers, and the part taken in the Eevolutionary war, and yi INTRODUCTION. the adoption of the New Hampshire Constitution, was obtained, at no small expenditure of time and money. When it was decided to have a Centennial Jubilee, these papers were placed at the disposal of Dr. Augustus A. Gould, and formed the material basis of the historical part of his Address on that occa- sion. The Address was, for the most part, an abstract of the docu- ments in hand ; and instead of publishing it in that form, as re- quested, it was determined by the two gentlemen to unite their labors, and by amplifying it into a substantial history, give a per- manent form to materials which had been obtained with great diffi- culty, and which it was by no means probable that any one would subsequently be either disposed or able to collect again. To this object they have devoted much of their leisure during the last two years, together with much time stolen from hours which should have been given to repose. Of the number of letters written, and volumes consulted, of the family records, account books and loose papers culled over, and of the hours spent in settling dates and doubtful points, none can conceive except such as have been engaged in similar pursuits ; and none but an antiquarian, or a real lover of his native town, would have undertaken the task. The early history during the Colonial and Masonian charters, the Eevolutionary and Political History, and the Biographical and Genealogical Sketches, with the exception of the Gould and Prich-' ard families and a few others, were mainly written by Mr. Kidder. The Topography and Maps, the Physical History, the account of Meeting-Houses, the Ecclesiastical and Educational History, the List of Occupants of Farms, &c., were mainly prepared by Dr. Gould. In other portions they have labored jointly ; and each has aided the other throughout. Of individuals from whom they have derived essential aid, they would distinguish above others Mr. James Spaulding, who, though under the disability of entire deafness, had collected numerous doc- uments relative to the town and its inhabitants, with the intention, at one time, of himself publishing them. Some of these he allowed to be used in the preparation of the Centennial Address ; and that he might not interfere with them afterwards, generously tendered the whole collection to the authors of the present work, believing that such a course would best secure the object all had in view. Being a resident in town, he was able to elicit from aged persons many interesting particulars respecting early times, and to furnish genealogical data and other valuable facts, which would otherwise have been wanting. INTRODUCTION. vii From the venerable Isaac Appleton of Dublin, whose memory- runs back through a period of eighty years, much curious informa- tion has been received ; and to his brother, Samuel Appleton of Boston, they are almost equally indebted. From Mr. Josiah Walton of Temple, have been received the invaluable Journals of his father, containing incidents relative to the Eevolution, and subsequent times, and almost the only record extant of the Church and of the Deaths, for a period of forty years. From Messrs. Samuel Holden, John Gould, Thaddeus Tayloe and other aged persons, much of the previously unwritten history has been obtained. Hon. Samuel Batchelder furnished a valuable account of the rise and progress of Manufactures in town. Hon. Timothy Faeear has heartily co-operated, and has prepar- ed the Family Histories of the Farrars, Prestons and their connec- tions, as well as many facts throughout the work. From Dea. N. D. Gould, who for forty years was conversant with all the transactions in town, much information has been obtained. Mr. Geoege M. Champney furnished the History of the Champ- ney Family ; and the Statistics of Manufactures at the present time. To Benjamin Champney they are indebted for most of the sketches of landscapes, public buildings, and some private resi- dences. To Samuel G. Drake, Esq., the historian and antiquary, they are indebted for many indications of the sources of information, as well as for some materials. Among numerous others we may finally mention Hon. John Preston, Eev. Samuel Lee, Eev. Addison Brovra, Dr. T. H. Coch- ran, George Fox, and others, as having taken a special interest in forwarding the work. Many ladies also, have contributed informa- tion of much interest. The heads of individuals, as well as the wood cuts of private buildings, have been furnished by the families interested, and at their expense. The general Map of the town has been made from inspection and recollection, and not from actual survey ; the course of the streams being in a great measure laid down from the recollections of juven- ile fishing excursions. The plan of the Central Village is also de- lineated by calculation only. Dr. Cochran has greatly aided in these endeavors. The subject of local history is becoming every day of more im- portance, and although these pages may have but an unimportant . yjii INTRODUCTION. bearing on general history, it is mainly composed of facts before unpublished, and is so much added to New England history. Few, besides those who have spent some portion of their lives in the town, can be supposed to be interested in all the details ; but to the citizens, for whom it was designed, we presume that all facts which tend to exhibit the progress of the town in its settlement, its inhabitants, its enterprises and institutions, its social manners and customs, &c., however trivial they may seem to others, will prove interesting. Indeed, some things have been recorded, not for any importance which they may hold in the estimation of any one at the present moment, but for the interest that may attach to them when another century shall have rolled away. That they shall give entire satisfaction to their townsmen, they by no means flatter themselves. Errors will doubtless be found. It will be felt that too much has been said of some and too little of others. But they have endeavored to make the best use of the facts in their possession ; and had persons been as faithful in giving in- formation as the authors have been in soliciting it, many errors would have been ayoided, and more completeness gained. In their estimate of individual character or acts, they may have unwittingly given offence. They know how sensitive one is, and should be, to the peculiarities of his ancestors ; and, therefore, anecdotes which to the general reader would appear harmless, might prove offensive to relatives. To " say nothing of the dead except what is good," is an ancient and most charitable maxim ; but it is by no means one which can be admitted in impartial history. So, too, in regard to points which have been matters of controversy, it is very difficult to avoid seeming to be a partizan, however carefully language may be chosen. They do not expect or wish to escape criticism ; and whether censured or praised, they cannot be deprived of the satis- faction, in their own minds, at having been the diligent and well- meaning chroniclers of their native tovra. Boston, September, 1852. NE¥ IPSVICH. CHAPTER I. PHYSICAL HISTORY. location; bouwdaries ; face of the country; mountains and hills ; streams ; geology ; climate ; wild animals ; forest trees and wild fruits ; soil and productions ; capabilities for farming. •< M-W and uninteresting as ^ '^may be the local features of any place to '■" the stranger's eye, they assume the highest interest when looked upon as the familiar land- marks of our birth-place or our home. Around them cluster the most hallowed associations ; and no delin- eations, whether of the pencil or the pen, are contemplated with more delight, than those which represent the scenes most familiar to our eyes, with which our own earliest acts are identified, or where our revered ancestors lived and toiled. The town of New Ipswich is situated in Hillsborough county, New Hampshire, in latitude 42° 44' north, and lon- gitude 71° 50' west. It is on the southern margin of the State, adjoining Massachusetts ; is 50 miles from Concord, 70 2 lU PHYSICAL HISTOHY. miles from Portsmouth, and 5(1 miles northwestwardly from Bost(in. It has on the south, the towns of Ashby and Ash- burnham ; on the west, Rindge ; on the north, Sharon and Temple ; on the east, 3Iason. By a survey made in I M >4, its boundaries are described as follows : — "beginning at the northeast corner, rmming north, 70° 4U' west, on the Ime of Temple and Sharon, six miles, 60 rods ; thence south 1° 30' east on Rindge, 5 miles, S.^ rods ; thence east 8° south on the State line, and the towns of Ash- burnham and Ashby, 6 miles, 93 rods ; thence north 2° west on Mason, 5 miles, 93 rods, to the point tirst mentioned," — being a mean of a little over five and a quarter miles from north to south, by six and a quarter from east to west, and containing an area of about 21,000 acres, of which about one hundred are covered with water. Its present shape is a rhomboid, or oblique quadrangle, inclining to northwest and southeast. Since its first plotting, however, its territory has been subjected to various transposi- tions and curtailments, which will be fully detailed in sub- sequent pages. It is situated upon the first considerable rise of land above the seaboard in that direction ; and as we ap- proach it from the east, over the Turkey Hills, it would seem to be very considerably elevated. But a corresponding de- scent, as we enter the town, reduces the elevation of its prin- cipal water courses above the sea to about 150 feet. The average altitude of its territory, however, may be about 400 feet. The surface is highly diversified with mountain, hill and dale ; and there is no level area, many acres in extent, within its limits. The principal elevations consist of a spur from the Boundary Mountains, which range through Lyndeboro', Tem- ple and Greenfield, runnuag obUquely across the town, from near the middle of the northern boundary, in a southwesterly course, to near the southwest corner, thus separating the toAvn into two divisions, one below and one beyond the mountains • the westerly or transmontane portion forming a steppe whose general level is much higher than the easterly portion. The range is broken by ravines into more or less isolated summits, which are designated by different names. The northernmost, MOUNTAINS. 11 from its having been owned by Col. Reuben Kidder, is called the Kidder Mountain. It is of an unusually symmetrical form when seen from the east, and being more isolated than the rest, is also more conspicuous. It is about 1000 feet high. On the north it is separated from the mountains in Temple by a deep ravine through which the old "countrey road " towards Canada, laid out by the original proprietors, used to run. On the south, after descending somewhat, the summit expands into a sort of table-land, and is known as the " Flat Mountain." Separated from this, by another ravine through which the old turnpike passes, is a still less elevated mountain, usually known as the " Barrett Mountain " or " Barrett Pasture." This extends, in a continuous ridge, for three or four miles, gradually increasing in height, and at its southern portion is denominated "Pratt Mountain." Just over the boundary of the town, in Ashburnham, the range terminates abruptly in the Watatic Mountain, which has an altitude of about 1800 feet.* It is intermediate between Mo- nadnock and Wachusett Mountains, and about equidistant from them. These three isolated mountains form three con- spicvious landmarks in travelling from the s^board towards the Connecticut River, and some one of them is almost always in sight. Besides these elevations, which are dignified, and not im- properly, by the name of mountains, the town is still farther hemmed in by elevations which receive the humbler appella- tion of hills. A low ridge between Pratt Mountain and Watatic is called Governor's Hill ; though from what this ap- pellation arose we have been unable to determine ; as Gov- ernor Wentworth once owned a lot a little to the eastward of it, the name might have' been applied from that fact. Along the eastern margin of the town, the western slope of the Tur- * Watatic Mountaia (sometimes spelled Watahook, Wettetook or Wateticks) must long have been a resort both for the Indian and White man for purposes of observation. On a rock at its summit are vestiges of the initials of three persons, with a date of 1642 or 1662, probably the latter, as the gnawing tooth of time for nearly 200 years has left them nearly illegible. They were probably made by some persons who were exploring the country, and had ascended this height for an extended view. On the summit is a large pile of stones, which has been accumulated in obedience to an Indian legend, that every one who visited the summit must add a stone, or become unlucky for life. 12 PHYSICAL HISTORY. key Hills presents an unbrolccn barrier. In the early days of the settlement, this was denominated the " Town Hill" and indeed most of the earliest settlers at first resided upon it; but it has long been familiarly known as "Knights' Hill," and " Stratton's Hill." Closing up the southern border is the " AV'hittemore Hill," a very remarkable elevation of a some- what semi-conical form, presenting a very abrupt face to the eastward, and sloping regularly and gently downwards on the three other sides, to the level of the Souhegan which bathes its western base. It was evidently produced, geologically speaking, by an upheaval from the east, the broken edges of the elevated strata presenting themselves on its abrupt face, while all the strata slope strongly to the west, like a pitched roof, the corresponding eastern pitch being wanting. Its summit affords by far the best prospect of any elevation in the town. ' Westwardly, just peeping over Pratt Mountain, though far beyond it, is seen the acute pinnacle of Monadnock ; di- rectly north lies the valley of the town itself, shut in by Temple and the Boundary Mountains ; nearly every dwelling and the limits of every farm east of the moimtains, with the meanderings of all the streams through the valleys, may be seen from this point. To the south are seen Ashby and Ashburnham, and all the region onward to the Watchusett Mormtain; while to the eastward, a glorious landscape is spread out, extending for something like fifty miles in every direction, and including nearly the whole area between this point and the sea-coast. In full and distinct view are the to-\vns of Groton and Townsend ; and still farther in the dis- tance the Merrimac, and the towns along its banks as far as, and even beyond, the remarkable twin mountains (the Uncanoonucks) in Goff'stown ; and ftien an undefined back- ground, from which definite objects can be made out only when the light is favorable. As the greater part of Watatic Mountain may be seen, with the naked eye, from the summit of the Bunker Hill monument, at eight or nine o'clock in the morning, there is no doubt that the monument might be seen with the telescope from this hill, under favorable circum- stances. Once we happened to be upon the spot just at sun- set, when the whole region was marbled with patches of -HILLS. 13 snow, the atmosphere free of smoke, and thus every circmn- stance combined in the most favorable manner for a clear view. Every thmg was distinct, and the outlines of the most distant objects, onward to the vicinity of the sea, were well defined. Never were we more forcibly impelled to fall in adoration, than at such a wonderful prospect of God's beautiful world. And yet, not one in twenty of the citizens ever thought of visiting this spot, such a spot as thousands are annually mak- ing long pilgrimages and spending large sums to reach, for the mere pleasure of the prospect. Near the pinnacle of the Whittemore Hill, stands a solitary pine tree of peculiar shape, a landmark familiar to the eye of every citizen ; it doubtless dates back as far as the settlement of the town, and seems to have been left when the land about it was cleared. In our youthful days it flourished in green old age ; some years since, the bolt of heaven blasted it ; and it now stands a leafless frame-work of its former comeliness. As one of the most notable objects in the town, for a long series of years, and somewhat emblematical of the century which has passed, and especially for the regard we privately hold for it, as one of the objects most intimately connected with the romance of our boyhood, we deem it worth^f perpetuation in this history, and have therefore given its " counterfeit pre- sentment" in the sketch at the head of the chapter! The hill west of the village is of a somewhat similar char- acter; and from its summit beautiful prospects to the east and northeast, well worth the trouble of the ascent, may be ob- tained through some of the openings in the eastern hills. The Kidder Mountain presents a much more extended prospect, especially to the westward : but in proportion to its greater elevation does the view t)ecome indistinct. Scattered here and there, especially at the northern portion of the town, are several rounded hills, of from two to three hundred feet elevation above the principal water courses, of the kind usually denominated drift hills, composed chiefly of gravel, and rounded boulders and pebbles of granite and quartz, many of them of great size, brought in by ice or floods from tl?4 northwest ; the fixed rocks being all metamorphic schists and gneiss. The larger of the granite boulders are used for 14 PHYSICAL HISTORY. foundations for buildings, and all other purposes requiring dressed stone. These hills were all well wooded, every part of them readily cultivated, and have afforded some of the best farms in the town. Of these Ave may mention the Beech Hill on the Kidder Farm, and those on what are known as the Boynton, Gould, Wilson and Richardson farms. If we now regard the town as situated east of the moun- tains, which we may do without any great violation of reality, inasmuch as not over a dozen lots, out of a hundred or more on and over the mountams, have ever been occupied except for pasturage, and look at it as it first breaks on our view in passing up the turnpike, over the brim of Knights' Hill, or as we see it from the "Whittemore Hill, we find it to be a deep, elongated basin, twice as long from north to south as from east to west, slmt in on all sides by hills which may well bear the name of mountains, somewhat, indeed, like the fabled valley of Rasselas ; so that the inhabitants within the valley can never look beyond their own precincts upon the neighbor- mg towns, without ascending some of the heights which skirt it, except indeed towards the northeast, where the Temple and Lyndeboro' mountains soon shut off the view in that direction ; and in like manner it is so hidden from other towns, that from whatever direction one approaches it, the location and features of the town burst suddenly upon him. Many sunny slopes are thus presented which favor cultivation, and the climate is no doubt decidedly meliorated in consequence of the protection afforded by the range of mountains on the north and west. As might be at once inferred, from the mountainous walls which surround the township, it is well watered by numer- ous rivulets flowing down in every direction towards the prin- cipal stream, which occupies the lowest level of the basin. This stream is the Souhegan,* which has its source in Great » This is found variously spelled— Sougliagen, Souhegonack, Sowheage, So- hegen, Souhegan ; it is of course the Indian name, and its signification has not been satisfactorily made out. Its proper orthography is said to he " Souhega- nash," derived from souheke, a plain, and nash, which is added to inanimate nouns to indicate the plural. " River of the Plains" might be an appropriate appellation when applied to its Inwpr portions, though quite inapplicable to its bed in this town.— i&«. C. JS. Potor. STREAMS. 15 and Little Watatic Ponds in Ashburnham, and soon entering this town at its southern border, pursues a nearly direct course east of north at first, under the name of Soutla Branch, when it unites with the North Branch, originating in Pratt's Pond and the base of Barrett momitain. The united stream con- tinues its course, inclining somewhat more eastwardly, and crosses the eastern line of the town just above Mason Village, falling at last into the Merrimack, in the town of Merrimack. The principal tributaries to the Souhegan are as follows, viz. : the Adams Beook, arising in the gorge between the Flat Mountain and the Barrett Mountain, flowing southwardly along the base of the mountain range, and receiving also a stream from the north end of the Pond, when the water is high, enters the North Branch about a mile below its source. Saw-Mill Beook arises about the base of the Kidder Moun- tain, and flowing through the Kidder and Appleton estates, arrives at the Starch Factory, then passes through the inter- vale to the north of the village onward to the Forge, and falls into the Souhegan half a mile below the High Bridge. It de- rives its name from the fact that in early times a saw-mill, probably the one erected by the Massachusetts Proprietors, was situated on it. The existence of such a mill has been warmly contested ; and its position, if it ever existed, has been variously located. That there was such a mill, and that its location was either at the old Farrar's Mills, or at the dam a little above the Starch Factory, just on the borders of the Ap- pleton lot, we think clearly established by the record of the laying out of a road in 1757.* Patch's Beook has its sources about the Gould and Wilson Hills, and flowing in nearly an east' direction somewhat south of the school-house, joins the Souhegan just before passing the town line. * This road was laid out from the road to Mason, beginning "near the north- east corner of No. 29, running westerly on lot 30 to Benjamin King's lot (the Smith lot) south of King's house to lot 38 (late John Appleton's wood lot) to Oliver Procter's house lot (the Farrar lot) and to the Saw-Mill Brook about ten pole above the mill ; then turning southerly on said lot to the south side of O. Procter's house (the old Academy) and so on to the main road." (P. R. 236) — the latter part evidently answering to the road as now travelled to the Starch Factory. This was many years before Mr. Farrar resided in town and erected the Grist-mill so well known. A Saw-mill of more recent origin is said to have been burnt, near the site of Farrar's Mill. 16 PHYSICAL HISTORY. The brook flowing through the vUlage was designated, in the early records, as " Jo. Kidder's Brook " ; and the place where the road to Temple and Mason crosses the Saw-Mill Brook, was known as the " Fordway." * Besides these tributaries of the Souhegan, there are, in the northwest, streamlets that flow into a large branch of the Contoocook, which passes from Sharon through " Tophet Swamp," to Jafirey, and soon into Peterboro'. From the western slope of the Barrett mountain numerous rivulets flow down, and form a considerable stream, which takes a southwesterly course, passing out of the town near the niiddle of its western boundary into Ruidge, and discharging into Menomony (Monomnock, Wanomnock) Pond. Along the road to Temple, arising in the Wilson farm, a small stream runs northwardly, and empties into a branch which joins the Souhegan in Wilton. Near the southwest corner of the town, a little beyond the height of land at that part, is a small pond, usually called the Binney Pond, from which a stream flows south- westwardly into Ashburnham, and is one of the sources of Miller's River, emptying into the Connecticut. Still another small pond, called Hoar's Pond, covering only five or six acres, quite unknown to a majority of the inhabit- ants, is situated in a little basin upon the height of land at the southern part of the Knights' Hill range, southwest of the Wheeler tavern. From this a stream issues which flows south-eastwardly, and is often sufficient to work a small saw- mill, soon after it enters Mason. When the pond is full, it has another outlet, whence flows another stream in a southerly direction passing into Ashby. This is one of the sources of the Squamiicock, a branch of the Nashua, and with other small streams at the southeast corner of the town, finally enters that river in Townsend. The fact, as above indicated, that the streams at the four corners of the town all flow away from the town, and become tributary to as many diflerent trunks, arises from the generally * In laying out the road from the village green^ where Dr. Barr formerly re- sided, toward Temple, it reads, " and .so on to the foard-way over the Saw-mill Brook, and on as marks direct," &c. (P. R. 216.) PONDS. 17 elevated position of the town, and the pecuHar bulwark of hills by which it is surrounded, as already explained. Pratt's Pond is the only one of any considerable magnitude; and this has an area of not over fifty acres, enclosed between two of the Pratt Mountains. The descent of the streams is so rapid, that water-power is alforded in an unusual degree for the size of the streams, and has been one of the chief sources of the enterprize and pros- perity of the inhabitants. By the cutting ofi' of the wood, however, evaporation takes place to so great an amount, that all the streams have greatly diminished in size within the last fifty years. On the Souhegan are three principal points pecu- liarly adapted by nature for the employment of water-power, where the river passes between high rocky walls, caused by the fracture of the rocks in its course. At the High Bridge, for instance, one of the most picturesque spots in the town, there is a narrow chasm something like eighty or ninety feet deep, through which the stream tumbles in cataracts, and where it is easily dammed and conveyed into any desired channel. This fissure is continued to the upper factories. ■ It is also foimd at the Mill Village, and at Mason Village. By an examination of the map it will be seen that all these gorges lie in nearly a straight line, about northeast and southwest, and were all doubtless produced at the same time, by one great geological convulsion. Soon after leaving the Mill Vil- lage, however, the stream escapes to the southward and joins the south branch in the valley ; but traces of the geological fissure, in its true direction, running between >what used to be the Shattuck and Saiford lots, are quite conspicuous. Before this disruption, the rocks at the High Bridge must have com- pletely shut up the passage of the waters, which must then have tumbled over a lofty precipice of from eighty to one hun- dred feet, and have flowed back far into the meadows above ; perhaps indeed, submerging all the low lands to the south, and forming no inconsiderable lake. On account of the sudden elevation of the territory, the cli- mate is somewhat more severe than in the towns in the im- mediate vicinity to the eastward. The peculiar conformation of the surface, however, renders it very difierent in difierent 3 18 PHYSICAL HISTORY. parts of the town. On the slopes exposed to the north and west, the winters are very cold and the summers mild ; while the eastern and southern slopes, protected by the moimtains, are comparatively tolerable. It is believed that no notes of the state of the barometer or thermometer were ever kept in town. Among the memoranda of Judge Champney, were occasional allusions to remarkable states of the weather. For the only continuous journal We are indebted to Josiah Walton, who may be regarded as the annalist of the town ; to whose private notes we are indebted for much of our revolutionary history, and ahnost entirely for all we know of the history of the church for forty or fifty years. We have a series of mem- oranda extending from 1777 to 1817, forty years, in which, without thermometer or barometer, he has contrived by cer- tain significant rural phenomena to give a general idea of the climatal character of each year. We have prepared a classi- fied abstract of his notes, presenting only the most remarkable seasons. Living, as he did, on the bleakest spot in town, due allowance must be made for an extreme of early winter and late summer, which would not apply to the more sheltered parts of the town. Haying. — Usually commenced the first week in July and ended the last week in August. Earliest commencement, 1811, July 4 ; latest, the next year, 1812, July 20 ; earliest termina- tion, 1798, Aug. 19 ; latest, 1807, Sept. 14, in which year it is noted, Sept. 12, " mowing in frost." Feost. — Early autumn. 1808, Aug. 17, killed corn and "taters; " 1792, Aug. 27, small; 1813, Aug. 19; 1783, Sept. 3, frosty morning ; 1814, Sept. 6, "corn and taters bit" ; 1808, Sept. 22, ground frozen; 1790, Oct. 27, great freeze. Late spring. 1794, June 16; 1780,. June 5, ground frozen; 1787, June 2, water frozen; 1794, May 17, great freeze, killed much flax and grain; 1808, May 2, hard freeze; 1801, June 6 and 7, com and beans killed. Snow.— Early autumn. 1792, Sept. 7, ground covered; 1783, Oct. 9, very snowy; 1786, Oct. 30, 4 inches; 1789, Oct. 26, 3 inches ; 1797, Oct. 23 and 25, 5 inches ; 1804, Oct. 9 and 10, and on 27th, 8 inches. Late autumn, (the first of the season) 1784, Dec. 18, 10 inches; 1791, Dec. 22, 14 FOREST TREES. 19 inches; 1805, Dec. 24, 6 inches; 1811, Dec. 24, 15 inches; 1813, Dec. 30, 20 inches. Lata spring, 1777, May 1, about 14 inches ; 1781, May 1, great storm of wind and rain — river rose ten feet in twenty-four hours — snow at noon, over shoes — trees half-leaved out; 1785, May 20, snow; 1799, May 12, two inches; 1803, May 8, 3 inches; 1811, May 3 to 5, 9 inches. In 1785, April 22, there was sledding over the fences ; in 1804, it was said the snow had been five feet deep ; 1809, very little snow before March ; 1802, ground nearly bare till Jan. 21, and mud till Feb. 18. Rain.— 1787, Sept. 19, great flood; 1794, Jan. 23, great rain ; 1807, very wet season ; 1809, very wet — ^hay lay from July 8 to 24th ; 1814, Aug. 28, very great rain. Wind. — Great wind, very cold, June 24, 1814 ; great wind, Sept. 15, 1815. Very dry year, 1782. Remarkably cold day, Feb. 14, 1817. No ores or interesting minerals have been found here. In consequence of this same elevation of the surface as we approach the town from the east, an equally sudden transi- tion is seen in the vegetation, especially in the forest trees. After riding more than forty miles through oaks, pines, and maples, we come at once upon the hemlock, beech, spruce, sugar maple, yellow and black birch, none of which have been seen along the whole distance ; while the chesnut, hick- ory, locust, and juniper entirely disappear, though all of them are found in some of the adjoining towns. Similar changes are also manifest in the shrubs and grasses. The other prevailing forest trees are white, red and black oak, in the northern and western portions ; white and red ma- ple, bass-wood, ash, hornbeam, and black cherry, white birch, poplar. The two latter are regarded as a secondary growth, subsequent upon the removal of the original hemlock, maple and beech forests. West of the mountains are foimd pines, larches and firs, which are very rarely seen to the east. Indeed the inhabitants have been chiefly dependent on the towns of Sharon and Peterboro', for pine lumber of all kinds. The native elm and the sassafras are occasionally seen. The but- 20 PHYSICAL HISTORY. ternut is cultivated in a few instances. Wild grapes and low blueberries are rare ; whortleberries occur nowhere within the town. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and par- tridge-berries are abundant; and high blueberries occur in all the swamps. Fine orchards formerly existed on almost every farm ; but most of them have been suffered to go to decay, and some have been cut down altogether. Very little attention has been given to the cultivation of fruit, or to gardening. Oi the cereal grains, corn and rye succeed best. Wheat is cultivated on nearly every farm, but yields well on but a few ; as is the case in all regions destitute of lime. Potatoes and beans thrive well, and the latter, in earlier times, was one of the chief articles of subsistence for the inhabitants. The pioneer settlers found here the bear, the wolf and the deer, and it is only recently that they have entirely disap- peared. They have all been seen within the memory of per- sons now living in town. In April, 1781, a great wolf hunt was held by the inhabitants of New Ipswich, Jaffrey and Sharon. According to a concerted plan, a large area was sur- rounded, including Tophet swamp ; but it is said that the en- terprise proved fruitless. A bounty on wolves was proposed as late as 1784; and a "deer reef," or deer-keeper, to take care that the deer were not destroyed at certain seasons of the year, was annually chosen, up to the year 1793. As lately as 1808, a bear weighing ten score was killed by Ephraim Heald, in Temple. Beavers were not rare, as is evidenced by the traces of beaver-dams still existing in some of the meadows. Otters were known to some of the inhabitants now living. Salmon, shad and alewives sometimes made their ascent up the Souhegan, until their access was cut off by dams built in the towns below. Wild turkeys were abundant, especially along the eastern border, on the slope of the hills where the chesnut is found, a circumstance which gave to the whole range, as far as Lunenburg, the title of Turkey Hills. The following incident is related by an aged gentleman. "My grandmother Emerson, who lived at the southwest part of the town, was walking to a neighbor's, having on a bright scarlet cloak. The wild turkies on discovering the red dress, AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES. 21 came into the road to give battle. She retreated to the house, and my grandfather came to the rescue with his gun ; but the flint being gone, his wife took a coal of fire, and when he had levelled the gun, she communicated the fire, killing two turkies at one shot." It is said on good authority that deacon Ephraim Adams, was once attending a coal-pit on the moun- tains, and threshing grain at the same time. The wild tur- kies came from the woods to search for grain among the chaff, among whom he made great havoc with his gun. Among them was a famous cock turkey which he had failed to obtain a shot at, until he had no shot left. At last a good chance presented, when he broke up a pewter spoon, loaded his gun with it, and made a successful shot, the turkey when stripped weighing eighteen pounds. On the whole. New Ipswich may be considered a good farming town, not so much however for tillage as for the raising of cattle and other live stock. The portions adapted to cultivation are in patches of small extent, scattered here and there, while the pasturage is abundant and of the best quality. Each farmer, however, finds available soil enough to supply the wants of his family. Formerly, most of the accessible lots were occupied as farms, without much regard to their adaptation for the general purposes of a farm. But of late years many of them have been abandoned, and the farmer chooses rather to bestow his labor upon a smaller lot, more easy of cultivation, than to difiuse it over many broad acres, with no better reward. Hence, there is a tendency to concentrate in the vallies, and give up the old mountainous and rocky farms to pasturage. While at first thought this abandonment of old farms would seem to indicate that the occupation of the farmer was held in disrepute, instead of be- ing held the noblest of all, as it should be, it is in truth the adoption of a wiser policy in farming, namely, to choose and cultivate more diligently those portions adapted to cultivation, and to appropriate the more intractable portions to their legitimate purposes, timber and grazing. Scieiitific farming has scarcely been thought of, as yet, in the town; but a few successful examples, now in progress, must soon force the conviction that this is not a mere theory. CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE LAND TITLE. GRANT OF KING JAMES TO MASON; MASSACHUSETTS GBANTS; TITLE BECOMES void; PETITION OF THE GRANTEES; MASONIAN GRANT; DIFFICXTLTIES RESPECTING THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY ; ADJUST- MENT ; ACTS OF INCORPORATION. .In the year 1621, King James granted to John Mason all the land embraced between the Piscataqua and Naumkeag, (that is, between Portsmouth and Salem,) and sixty miles back into the interior. Under this grant, he, with his asso- ciates, took possession, and made settlements at Portsmouth, Dover, and elsewhere, as early as 1623; and this was the germ of the Province of New Hampshire. Very slow progress in settlement was made ; Mason died, the Revolution in Eng- land supervened, and the claim was neglected. After the Restoration, the heirs of Mason attempted to revive their title ; but the colonists resisted their claim, and a series of sales, lawsuits and petitions to the Crown ensued, until at last, in 1745, it was decided that John Tufton Mason, a na- tive of Boston and great-grandson of the original grantee, held a rightful title to the Province of New Hampshire. Meantime, the work of settlement had gone on, and many new positions in the interior were occupied ; and as there were numerous disturbances from the Indians, the settlers had fre- quent occasion to call upon their neighbors, in the older and more powerful Province of Massachusetts, for aid and protec- tion. Massachusetts promptly responded to these solicitations, partly, no doubt, from motives of humanity, but partly also, from the fact that a large tract of the southern portion of the Masonian territory was in dispute between the two Provinces ; and Massachusetts was willing, by this means, to fortify her MASSACHUSETTS GRANTS. 23 claim to the domain, by thus laying the settlers under obliga- tion, and securing their favor and adherence.* Still further to strengthen its interests in this latter project, as we learn from a historian of the time,f " about the middle of the last century, the General Assembly of Massachusetts was in the humor of distributing the property of much vacant or Province land ; perhaps in good policy and forethought, — to secure to the Massachusetts people, by possession, the pro- perty of part of some controverted lands." . . . "Our Assem- bly, at that time, were in such a hurry to appropriate vacant lands, that several old towns were encouraged to petition for an additional new township ; and when they were satiated, the Assembly introduced others, by way of bounty to the descend- ants of the soldiers in the Indian War of King Philip, so call- ed, (1675,) and these were called Narragansett townships ; and others to the soldiers in Sir William Phipps' expedition into Canada, (1690,) which were called Canada townships." Thus there were " Dorchester Canada," now Ashburnham — " Rowley Canada," now Rindge — " Ipswich Canada," now Winchendon, which, on account of its name, has generally been confounded with the town of New Ipswich. These grants were made at the session of the General Court of Massachusetts for the year 1735-6 ; so that many towns refer the initial measures which resulted in their settlement, to this date. Among the number is the town of New Ipswich. It was among those granted to petitioners from the old towns, and in behalf of sundry inhabitants of Ipswich.J The follow- * The following extract from the petition of John Rindge, in 1731, shows that the heirs of Mason were not blind to these schemes. " Ihat your said Province of New Hampshire being inclosed (as it were) between the several parts of the province of Massachusetts, is daily encroached and usurped upon by its populous and powerful neighbors of the Massachusetts, both in matter of property and gov- ernment ; and without your Majesty's Gracious Interposition will soon be ab- sorbed and lost, as well in disherison of your Majesty's Crown as to the utter ruin of your faithful subjects and tenants in New Hampshire, who hold imme- diately of and under yoar Majesty." t Summary, Historical and Political, &c. of the British Settlements in Amer- ica, by William Douglass, M. D. 8vo. 2 vols. 1755. :j: The town of Ipswich, in England, is said by some antiquarians to have de- rived its name from Eba, a Saxon queen who resided there, and wich, a Saxon word meaning place, or home : hence Ebaswich. Others derive the name from the river Gippin ; hence Gippeswich, the place of the Gippin, or winding river. 21 HISTORY OF THE LAND TITLE. ing is a copy of the doings in answer to the petition, obtained from the State Archives : " PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. ' ' Jany loth, 1735-36. In the House of Eepresentatives. In answer to the Petition of John Wainwright and John Choat Esqr Representatives of the town of Ipswich ; In behalf of sundry inhabitants of sd town, Voted that the prayer be granted and that John Wainwright and John Choat Esqrs, with such as shall be joyned by the Honorable board be a committee at the charge of the Grantees and such of the Inhabitants as they shall think most proper, to lay out a township of six miles square in some of the un- appropriated lands of the Province and that they return a plat thereof to this court within twelve months for confirmation, and that for the more effectual bringing forward the settlement of the sd new town.; Ordered that the said town be laid out into sixty-three equal shares, one of which to be for the first settled minister, one for the ministry and one for the school, and that on each of the other sixty shares the Grantees do within three years after the con- firmation of the plan settle one good family who shall have a house built on his home lot of eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least, and finished ; that each rightor Grantee have six acres of Land brought to and plowed or brought to English Grass and fitted for mowing, that they Settle a learned and orthodox minister and build a convenient Meeting house for the public worship of God, and that said committee take bond of each Settler of forty pounds for his complying with the conditions of settlement, and that each settler that shall fail of performing the aforesaid conditions shall forfeit his share or right in the said new town to the Government and the same to be disposed of as they shall see cause. " In Council read and concurred and Thomas Berry, Esqr. is joined with the committee in the said affair. " Consented to, J. Belcher. " In Council May 20, 1735-6. A plat of a tract of Land laid out by Jonas Houghton Surveyer and the chairman on oath to ful- fill a grant for a township of six miles square of land for a township made by the General Court to the Inhabitants of the town of Ips- wich, bordering Southerly on a township laid out to Tileston and others, Canada Soldiers, and adjoyning to the town of Townsend. " In the House of Representatives, Read and ordered that the within plat be accepted as it is reformed by the pricked lines as within set forth so as it adjoyns to Townsend, and the lands within mentioned and so described are confirmed to the Grantees men- tioned in the Grant of a township made by this court in their late setting to sundry Inhabitants of the town of Ipswich, on the prayer ORIGINAL PLAT OF THE TOWN. 25 of John Wainwright and John Choat Esqr and to their heirs and assigns forever, they performing the conditions of the Grant, pro- vided the plat exceeds not the quantity of six miles square of land, and does not interfere with any former Grant. " In council, read and concurred. Consented to. J. Belcher." E.12' Laid out ill answer to petition of /^' John Wainwright and John Choate, /§ Esq. for a township for some of the ;-i^ inhabitants of Ipswich. .'^ Surveyed by Jonas Houghton for / Ipswich. The plat, as returned by Houghton, is still to be found in the State archives, and is a mere outline, no streams or iiat- ural features of the land being laid down. The township was first laid out of a rectangular form, two or three miles farther west, but was afterwards brought down, by running dotted lines "so as to adjoin to Townsend" which then compre- hended a part of what is now Mason, "and to be bounded on the south by the township laid out to Tileston and others," Dorchester Canada, now Ashby and Ashburnham. Unfortunately for our history, the Records of the Massachu- setts Proprietors have been lost ; so that all the details, as to the survey of the town and its first settlement, mtist be made out from gleanings among documents in the public offices and libraries. No continuous records are found previous to 1750. As the result of one of these researches, a most important pa- per for our purpose was discovered in Ipswich, by Rev. Joseph B. Felt, the able historian of that town. It is a petition of the legal representatives of the grantees of the town; and from it we learn the names of several of the original proprietors. Many of them were men well known for their standing, ability and energy, particularly well qualified for an enterprize of the kind. Their names appear in italics. To his Excellency Francis Bernard Esqr. and to the Honorahle his Majesty's Council and to the Honorahle House of Representa- tives in General Court assembled, May, 1767. ■ 4 26 TITLES TO THE LAND. The Petition of Sundry persons Grantees of the Town of New Ipswich lately so called, and the Legal representatives of the Grantees of s ' Town. Humbly Skenwth, That the Great and General Court or Assembly of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, did, in the month of .Tany Anno Domini 1735, grant unto sixty of the Inhabitants of the Town of Ipswich a To\vnship of the contents of six miles square wliich was called New Ipswich ; that afterwards the said Township fell within the province of New Hampshire : that your Petitioners after having been at a very great and long continued Expence lost their several rights in said township and become Very great Sufferers, they having built a Meeting House, a saw mill, Bridges, &c, besides Expending a great deal on their Several rights ; wherefore your Pe- titioners humbly pray that your Excellency and Honours would be pleased to take the premises into your consideration and Grant unto them an Equivelant in some of the ungranted lands of this Province, or make them such other compensation as to your wisdom shall seem meet ; and your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray, Signed, Samuel Wigglesworth, of Ipswich. * Nathaniel Eogers, for Eev. John Rogers. Nathaniel Rogers, in his own right. John Kinsman, for Lieut. James Burnham. Nehemiah Choate for Capt. Robert Choate. Abraham Knowlton for Capt. Knmolton. Thomas Smith. Daniel Eveleth. John Berry for Thomas Berry, Esq: deceased. Andrew Burley for the estate of Andrew Burley. John Smith. Richard Brown for the right of Jeremiah Fitts. William Brown. Daniel Eogers for Richard Rogers, Esq. Thomas Dennis. Isaac Appleton. * The following notices of some of the proprietors may be interesting Rev. Samuel Wigglesworth, graduated at Harv. Coll. 1707, was a physician a few years, and then settled in the ministry at Ipswich Hamlet, died 1768 at 80 Rev. John Rogers, H. C. 1684, died 1745, a;t. 80. > ■ • Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, H. C. 1721, died 1775. Thomas Berry, graduated at Harv. Coll. 1712. was a physician, died 1756 Andrew Burley was a Justi.-e of the Court of Sessions-a representative in 1741-2, died 1753. His estate is noted at £2599. Andrew Burley, his son, graduated at Harv. Coll. 1742 died 1788 William Brown, died 1801, aged 90. Rev. Daniel Rogers, graduated Harv. Coll. 1725 and settled at Littleton, 1732. (,ol. Thomas Dennis, died 1771. He left an estate of £1395 Isaac Appleton, died 1794, aged 92. PROVINCE BOUNDAHY LINE. 27 William Dodge for the right of Jos. Abbe. John Treadwell. Jeremiah Perkins. Thomas Norton. Francis Choate Jr. for Capt. Thomas Choate. Thomas Choate, Jr. Francis Choate for himself. Jonathan Cogswell for William Cogswell. f Daniel Appleton, HeireofDm- John Appleton, itl Appleton, _ f/^. ; , who ovinfd Uohn WamwrigM, the five origi- nal shares of Elizabeth Appleton, John Walley, Elizabeth Walley, Mary Appleton, Thomas Cross, Nathaniel Wells, From this document we also learn something of the pro- ceedings of the grantees towards the settlement of the town. Scarcely, however, could they have entered in earnest upon the work, before the event occurred which at length drew forth the above petition, and produced an almost entire sus- pension of the enterprise. The running of the boundary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1741, not only brought the township within the limits of the latter Province, but, according to Douglass' map, severed a triangular portion from the southeast section of the territory as located by the Massachusetts grant.* An extract from this map of Douglass, made in 1748, will show the position of the township m rela- tion to the Province line and to the neighboring townships then laid out. It is evidently very defective in relative distances, but will serve to show all that was known of the territory at that date. Thomas Norton, graduated Harv. Coll. 1725. He was a lawyer, and the pro- prietors' treasurer. John Treadwell, innholder, Ipswich. Capt. Thomas Choate lived in Chebacco parish, died 1745. Thomas and Francis Choate were sons of Capt. Thomas. Francis was a ruling Elder in Chebacco parish and died 1777, in his 77th year. Col. Daniel Appleton, died in 1762. Elizabeth Appleton, married Rev. John Walley, who died 1784. John Wainwright died 1739. * The only basis for conjecture as to the extent of this dismemberment is the fact that the southern boundary is not now parallel with the centre line of the old township. The distance between them at the eastern end is about seventeen rods less than at the western boundary. Hence we may infer that about that number of rods was cut off at the southeast corner ; though according to Douglass' map, it would appear to have been much more. 28 TITLES TO THE LAND. Menudnock '•Jl&tchuset ;' A. Province Land, unappropriated. B. Lane's New Boston, C. To Concord, (I'cterboro'.) D. Canada to Salem, (Lyndeboro'.) E. Narraganset, No. 3, (Mount Vernon.) F. Narraganset, No. 5, (Hedlbrd.) G. Canada to Rowlev, (Rindge.) H. Groton Grant, (Mason and Wilton.) L Uollia. J. Dunstable. K. Canada to Ipwwich, (Wiiiclit'iidoii.) L. Canada to Dorclicater, (Ashbumliam.) M. Townshend. N. Groton. O. Lunenburg. V. Narraganset, No. 2, (Westmiiiater.) Q,. Leominster. R. Harvard. For the next four years every thing was in a state of un- certainty, as the rights of the parties were still contested, until the final decision in 1745 in favor of John Tufton Mason, when, of course, the old title from Massachusetts fell to the gi'oimd. NEW GRANT. 29 Mason immediately sold his claim to twelve persons resident at Portsmouth and vicinity who were subsequently associated with others and were styled the " Masonian Proprietors." * These Proprietors pursued a liberal and conciliatory policy, and with some imimportant reservations, confirmed the grants made by Massachusetts, when requested by the grantees so to do; and thus, though under different auspices, every thing went on as if no change had occured, every man retaining the lots claimed by him, and all the improvements which might have been made upon them. The Ipswich proprietors, however, do not appear to have made this request ; on the contrary, they seem to have abandoned the township. Per- haps they had not made sufficient progress in its settlement to have justified such a request; or it may be that the war, which had just broken out, led them to feel that titles were of but little importance, in the uncertainty of the issue. At any rate, no immediate steps were taken to obtain a title to the township. At length a few of the former Ipswich pro- prietors, in conjunction with the resident settlers, and several enterprising men from Hollis, Littleton, Westford, Concord and other towns, who purposed to become settlers, thirty in all, associated for this purpose. The first record of their doings is found after they had pro- ceeded so far that a meeting of the petitioners, under the style of " Proprietors of the township of New Ipswich," was "appointed by Joseph Blanchard, Esq., agent to the claimers of the patent under John Tufton Mason, who are Grantors of said town- ship/' at the house of Capt. Joseph French, in Dunstable, April 16, 1749. At this meeting, all the preliminaries seem to have The names of the proprietors, at the time the grant of this town was made, twenty-one in number, representing eighteen shares, are as follows ; and seve- ral of the neighboring townships bear their names : Col. Theodore Atkinson, Jotham Odiorne, Thomas Packer, Daniel Peirce, Mark Hunking Wentworth, Mary Moor, John Moffatt, John Tufton Mason, George Jaffrey, John Tomlinson, John Rindge, Matthew Livermore, John Wentworth, William Parker, Joshua Pierce, Thomas Wallingford, Joseph Blanchard, Samuel Solley, Nathaniel Meserve, Clement March. Richard Wibird, 30 TITLES TO THE LAND. been settled; arrangements were made for laying out and coupling the lots for an equitable distribution ; and the sum of £210 old tenor, (about $75,) was voted to Col. Blanchard, " for his service and expense in procuring said township and granting out the same." At a meeting of the Masonian pro- prietors, June 16, 1749, the doings of Col. Blanchard were confirmed ; and he was authorized to make the grant. It was accordingly drawn up and signed April 17, 1750. (the masonian charter.) PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. Pursuant to the power and authority granted and vested in me by the proprietors of lands purchased of John Tufton Mason, Esqr. in said Province, by their Vote and passed at their Meeting at Ports- mouth, in said province, on the 16th day of June, 1749, I do by these presents, give and grant unto Reuben Kidder, Archibald White, Jonas Woolson, Habijah Foster, John Brown, Benj. Hoar, jr. Timothy Heald, Joseph Kidder, Joseph Bullard, Ebenezer Bullard, Joseph Stevens, Henry Pudney, John Chandler, all of a place called New Ipswich, Hannah Dunsmore, Peter Powers, Mr. Daniel Emer- son, David Nevins, all of HoUis, Zaccheus Lovewell, Joseph French, both of Dunstable, and all in the province of New Hampshire, Jon- athan Hubbard, and John Stevens of Townsend, Isaac Appleton, Thomas Adams, Robert Choate, Thomas Dennis all of Ipswich, An- drew Spaulding of Westford, Isaac Patch of Groton, William Peters of Medfield, John Marsh of Mendum and Benj. Hoar of Littleton, to their heirs and assigns on the terms, conditions and limitations and in the respective proportions here after expressed, that tract of Land or township lying in the Province of New Hampshire aforesaid, ex- tending six miles in length and five miles in breadth, bounded as follows : beginning at the line between the Province of N. H. and the Province of Massachusetts bay at the S. W. corner of the Township called No. One, (now Mason) thence north 80 degrees west six miles to y^ southeast corner of the township called South Monadnock, (or Monadnock No. One) from thence North by the Needle five Miles to the Northeast corner of s'" South Monadnock (Rindge), from thence South 80° east by the line of Peterboro' Slip, (now Sharon and Temple) six miles to the Northwest corner of No. One, and from thence south five miles to the bounds first mentioned. To have and to hold to them, their heirs and assigns, excepting as aforesaid, and on the following terms and conditions, with the reservations aforsaid the lots already laid out, and the several propor- tions of common land yet to be divided to each one as followeth. [Here follows the allotment, which will be given in a table hereafter.] MASONIAN CHARTER. 31 That is to say, that eighteen full and equal shares in said town in the following manner, viz. : thirty-six lots of eighty acres each, already laid out, and eighteen shares in the after divisions to be drawn for in some equitable manner ; that is to say, two lots of seventy acres each, to be reserved for the use of the grantors, their heirs and assigns forever, and the like number of lots and quantity of land for each share of each grantee, holding in the after divi- sions ; and the remainder besides what is before granted to be to the use of the grantees ; that the divisions of the two seventy acre lots for each share be laid out and equitably coupled together and drawn in some open fair manner, at or before the last day of August, 1751, and that the said eighteen shares reserved aforesaid for the grantors, be exonerated, acquited and fully exempted from paying any charges towards making a settlement and not held to the con- ditions of the other shares respecting a settlement, nor liable to any tax, assessment or charge, until improved by the owners or some one holding under them respectively." " That the Grantees at their own expense, make settlement, and be at the charge of dividing the whole of the lands, clearing or making feasable roads, and that all the lots in town be liable to have all necessary roads laid out through them as there shall be occasion, free from charge ; that the grantees, according to the number of their shares or lots, hereinafter named, make settlement in the fol- lowing manner, viz. : that within two years from this date, on each settling lot or share there be three acres of land cleared and fitted for mowing or ploughing, and have a comfortable dwelling house, the room to be at least sixteen feet square, and a family or some person to dwell in each house, and that within five years from this date there be nine acres more cleared, enclosed or fitted for mowing or tillage on some lot belonging to each settling right aforesaid. That the grantees to make settlement, and the number of each be as foUoweth, (viz.) Keuben Kidder to make settlement on three shares or rights ; Archibald White, Jonas Woolson, Habijah Foster, John Brown, on one share each ; Benjamin Hoar, jr. on two shares ; Timothy Heald, Joseph Kidder, Joseph BuUard, Ebenezer Bullard, Joseph Stevens, Henry Pudney, John Chandler, one share each ; Hannah Densmore, two shares ; Peter Powers, David Nevins, Jon- athan Hubbard, John Stevens, each one share ; Isaac Appleton, six ; Thomas Adams, five ; Robert Choate and William Brown, one each ; Nathaniel Smith, two ; Francis Choate, Thomas Dennis, Andrew Spaulding, Isaac Patch, William Peters, John Marsh, one each ; and Benjamin Hoar, two, — in manner aforesaid, that each of the grantees at the executing of this instrument, pay fourteen pounds ; cash, old tenor, to pay the charges arisen and arising in said town- ship, to be deposited in the hands of some person chose by them for that purpose ; also that a convenient meeting house be built in said township, within seven years from this date, as near the centre of said township, and at such place, as the major part of said grantors 32 TITLES TO THE LAND. and grantees shall determine by vote, in proprietor's meeting, called for that purpose ; and that ten acres of land shall be reserved there for public use ; and that said grantees shall within seven years settle a learned and orthodox minister in said township, and for whom suitable provision shall be made. That all white pine trees fit for his Majesty's use for masting his Royal navy, growing on said land be and hereby is granted to his Majesty, his heirs and successors forever.' [Here follow two pages describing the proceedings to be taken in case any of the grantees neglect to perform their contract, so as " utterly to amove, oust and expel the grantors, provided there be no Indian wars within any of the terms and limitations of time aforesaid," in which case the same term was to be allowed " after such impediment shall be re- moved ; " and also describing the covenant given by the proprietors to defend the title.] This is executed at Dunstable, the Hth day of April, 1750. (Signed,) Joseph Blanchard. After some trifling alteration, respecting the location of a meeting house, the charter was formally accepted, Dec. 19, 1753 ; and it was " Voted, that we do hereby accept said title, and for ourselves, our heirs and assigns, do acknowledge that we hold said lands under said titles, conditions and limita- " tions, with the reservations in the said charter mentioned. [P. R. 193.] The township bore the same name, and purported to be the same, as that granted by Massachusetts ; but the tract of land designated was, in reality, essentially different, and accorded more nearly with that first laid out by Houghton, (p. 25.) Originally, it was a much more eligible township than now. It was diamond shaped, six miles on each side, the long diagonal running northeast and southwest. In fact it comprised nearly all the valley, as we see it enclosed within the mountains, ex- cluding some of the present township west of the mountains, and that also on the eastern slope of the hills towards Town- send and Mason ; while it took in the best portion of Temple on the north, and the beautiful and important region of Mason Village at the northeast, as may be seen on the town map. The Masonian Proprietors altered the direction of the eastern boundary line so as to run west of north, thus cutting off Mason Village, and taking in a tract of about 966 acres MUTILATIONS OF THE TOWN. 33 at the southeast, which then belonged to Townsend. A strip a mile -wide was taken from its northern side, and the western line made nearly parallel to the eastern bomidary. It is now diamond-shaped in the contrary direction, that is, pointing from southeast to northwest. The Masonian Proprietors, in accordance with their usual custom of confirming and reissuing the grants of the old Mas- sachusetts townships, as they stood, doubtless intended to pre- serve this township as nearly the same, in extent and location, as the new Province line would allow. They therefore au- thorize Joseph Blanchard, Esq. to grant several towns to the east of this, and " also the lands lying between Peterborough on the North and said towns on the East, so far South as to leave a town on square lines, joining the Province line, of six miles square, in and adjoining to New Ipswich." When there- fore we consider his non-compliance with these conditions, and the injurious change made in this township, both by cur- tailment of its territory and change of its location, we cannot but surmise some fraud or injustice on the part of Col. Blan- chard, as well as a strange disregard to their rights and inter- est on the part of the grantees. We do not learn, however, of any misgivings at that time. On the contrary, both the contracting parties seem to have been quite satisfied ; as is evinced on the part of the Masonian Proprietors by their giv- ing Col. Blanchard a right in the township with themselves ; and on the part of the grantees by the liberal compensation they voted for his services. The mutilations of the old township did not end here. It was found, on running the township lines, that the northern boundary encroached upon what was then called Peterborough Slip or Striptown, now a part of Sharon and Temple, which caused no little perplexity and vexation through a long series of years. The old township had been six miles from north to south; and lots had been laid out extending two miles on each side of the centre hne. As the new township was only five miles in this direction, one mile having been taken off from the northern border, the northern ends of these lots, with the addition of a strip corresponding to what had been severed 5 34 TITLES TO THE LAND. from the south by the Province Hne, should have been the northern boundaiy of the town. It was accordingly so plan- ned on paper, with a narrow triangular strip about thirty-four rods wide at its eastern and widest part, running along the whole north side of the town, as may be seen by reference to the map. But by the Masonian charter, a certain white pine tree marked the contiguous corners of the four towns, now called Mason, Wilton, Temple and New Ipswich. This white pine tree, instead of being situated beyond, proved to be about forty-eight rods south of the north end of the afore- said lots; and hence the difficulty. The attention of the Proprietors seems to have been soon called to this interference of the boundary, and notwithstand- ing their prior and reserved territorial right over any township on the northern border (p. 33), they seem to have acquiesced in the claims of their neighbors ; and at their meeting in Octo- ber, 1753, they propose to convey to Reuben Kidder and Ben- jamin Hoar all the common lands that may be left, after all the rights are completed, for £500 lawful, "conditioned to indemnifie said proprietee and every person in it, from any harm or damage that they might otherways sustain by Reson of the north Bounds of said Township runing in to Peterbo- rough Strip or Strip town, so that none of said Proprietors shall ever be molested by the said line." [P. R. 192.] The next year, however, for reasons unknown, the Propri- etors arranged with Messrs. Kidder & Hoar to relinquish this contract ; and after expressing their apprehension that such an infringement existed, they agree to indemnify all those whose farms should be injured thereby ; and chose a com- mittee to see if the strip in question could be procured.* It would seem that an appeal was first made to the Maso- * " Whereas we are something apprehensive that some of the lots in New Ips- wich or sum that was laid out to some of the Grantees of s"" Township are Infringed upon, by the line of Peterborough Strip or Strip Town so called ; there- fore, Voted that wheare it shall so happen, that this Proprietee will secure and Defend s'J Grantee from any Treble or Damage he shall theirby sustain, either by purchasing s' land for them, or some other way, Squal to what Damage he or they shall receive or sustain." " Voted to choose three men as a Committee for to procure, if they can, a Strip of Land lying on the north side of our township which Peterborough Strip infringes upon. [P. R. p. 196, 199.] STRIPTOWN INFRINGEMENT. 35 nian Proprietors, through Col. Blanchard their agent, (P. R. 205-206) ; but it is evident that no relief was tendered from that quarter. At a meeting, Nov. 26, 1754, a committee was chosen and " directed forthwith to notifie the proprietors of Peterborough Slip, so called, for to settle the liiie between them and us ; to settle the same with them when they shall appoint; and on their neglect, you are directed to run the line exactly from the northwest corner of this township to the northwest corner of the township of Number One." (P. R. 212-13.] This was evidently done ; but whether by joint or separate action, does not appear. Various attempts were then made to ascertain the loss which the owners of the northern range of lots had thus sustained ; and various plans were from time to time proposed, to satisfy them for their loss. At one time, it was agreed to give an equivalent from the common and unappropriated lands of the town. [P. R. 250, Aug. 1759.] * A few of the sufferers acceded to this plan; but it seems not to have been satis- factory to all ; and, subsequently, it was agreed to allow a cer- tain sum per acre, in money, the valjiation varying in differ- ent lots, from 20 to 55 shillings, silver, per acre [P. R. 266.], the whole sum amounting to £435. 17s., silver, old tenor. In 1771, still another adjustment became necessary, since it was found that some had received more, and some less, than they were entitled to. It was then agreed that each one should have liberty to measure the land cut off, and if more had been cut off than had been estimated, it should be paid for " at the same rate for each acre as said Proprietors voted formerly " ; and, on the other hand, the Proprietors should be refunded at the same rate, if too much had been paid. The re- sult was, that an additional sum of £53 lawful was found necessary to meet the losses sustained ; and an appeal was made to the General Court to enable them to collect the assess- ments for this purpose, and " the charges that shall arise by effecting the matter to a final determination, as his Excellence * "Voted that each Sufferer by the Infringement of Striptown Line shall have Liberty to Pitch on Lands in y= conian of this Township for his Satisfaction and shall enter his Pitch to the Props. Clark and shall have his Lands made up out of the Lauds he or they Pitch upon, as they enter their Pitch to the Props. Clark," &c. [P. R. 250.] ; and the next year, such an allotment was made, [P. R. 254.] 3(i TITLES TO THE LAND. and Honors shall direct." This is the last item on the Pro- prietors' Records, and is dated Dec. 24, 1772, and seems, in- deed, to have been the only subject which called the Proprie- tors together for several years previous to the termination of their Records.* Though this vexed question entered so largely into the deliberations of the early settlers, it would not have been of sufficient interest to occupy the space here given it, were it not a mystery, to the owners of the northern range of farms, how it happens that a part of their lots are in this town, and a part in Temple ; most of the owners at that time having purchased back again the portions falling into Temple, so as to have complete 80 acre lots. From Lot No. 24, twenty-three acres were taken, and lie in Temple ; from No. 28, twenty- two acres, and so on, one acre less for each succeeding lot westward ; so that from the northeast corner lot (the Ministry lot. No. 20), had it been a full lot, twenty-four acres would have been taken. The length of the lot being one hundred and sixty rods, we have 80 acres : 160 rods : : 24 acres : 48 rods. Adding to this, the eastern side of Lot 188, which extended along the border of Wilton thirty-four rods still farther north of these lots, and we have the present northeast corner of the township now placed eighty-two rods farther south than it was laid down in the Masonian plan. About five hundred acres, in all, were thus cut off from the town. As to the angular strip cut oS from the old township by the running of the Province line in 1741, as represented on Doug- lass' Map, we have already adverted to it. It is not improb- able, indeed, as has been already hinted (p. 33), that it cor- responded to the angular strip, Lot 188, along the northern margin of the Masonian plan ; as may be readily understood by reference to the town map. In consequence of all these changes, the plotting of the farm lots is very irregular, there being no less than five different * It is apparent, however, that their operations, even on this endless subject, did not terminate here ; for in the Town Record under date of June 30, 1773, is the following : " Voted to chuse a man to object against the Proprietors' petition preferred to the General Court for a tax on the land in this town to pay those proprietors who suffered by not having their Rights compleat." [T. R. 107.] ACT OF INCORPORATION. 37 schemes employed in covering the whole ground ; and it is a singular fact, that there is not one square or right-angled lot in the town, all of them being diamond-shaped in different proportions, or wedge-shaped. Hence great perplexity has arisen in surveying the farm lines, the divergence of the angles, as well as their position, being often widely different in two adjacent farms. At a meeting of the Proprietors, July 5, 1762, it was "Voted, to apply to the General Court to git the Place called New Ips- wich Incorporated." " Voted to imploy Capt. Reuben Kidder to go down to Court to get the Incorporation effected, and that the said Kidder shall proceed in the affair as he shall think best, and that the necessary charges shall be paid by the Propriety." [P.R. 270.] The duty was immediately performed, so that an Act of Incorporation was obtained, bearing date Sep. 9, 1762 ; and henceforward the business of the town was transacted by the resident citizens, directly, or through their officers, instead of by the Proprietors of the Land ; and the first town meeting was held on the thirteenth of the same month. "PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. " George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &c. ; To all to whom these presents shall come — Greeting : " Whereas our loyal subjects, Inhabitants of a tract of Land within the Province of Newhampshire, known by the name of New Ipswich, lying on the branches of the Souhegan river, between No. 1 and Eowley Canada (so called), have humbly petitioned and re- quested that they may be erected and incorporated into a Township and infranchised with the same power and privileges which other Towns within our said Province have and enjoy ; and it appearing unto us to be conducive to the general good of our said Province, as well as of the Inhabitants in particular, by maintaining good order and incouraging the culture of the land, that the same should be done ; — Know ye therefore, that We, of our special grace, certain knowledge, and for the encouragement and promoting the good pur- poses and ends aforesaid, — by and with the advice of our truly and well-beloved Benning Wentworth, Esqr., our Governour and Com- mander in Chief, and of our Council for said Province of New Hampshire, — have enacted and ordained, and by these Presents, for us, our heirs and successors, do will and ordain, that the Inhab- 3S TITLES TO THE LAND. itanfs of the tract of Land aforesaid, and others who shall inhabit and improve thereon hereafter, the same being butted and bounded as follows, viz. : Beginning at a white pine tree, being the south- west corner of the Town of Wilton ; thence running west six miles ; thence running south to the Province line five miles ; thence six miles east upon the Province line ; thence running north five miles to the bounds first mentioned, — Be, and hereby are declaredand or- dained to be a Town Corporate, and are hereby erected and incorpo- rated into a body politick and corporate, to have continuance until the first day of January, 1766, by the name of Ipswich, with all the powers and authorities, privileges, immunities and franchises which any other Towns in said Province by law have and enjoy, to said Inhabitants, or who shall hereafter inhabit, their successors for said Town. Always reserving to us, our heirs and successors, all White Pine Trees that are or shall be found growing on the said tract of Land fit for the use of our Navy. Reserving also to us, our heirs and successors, the power and right of dividing said Town when it shall appear necessary and convenient for the inhabitants thereof. Provided, nevertheless, and it is hereby declared, that this Char- ter and Grant is not intended, and shall not in any manner be con- strued to extend to or affect the private property of the soil within the limits aforesaid. And as the several Towns within our said Province are by laws thereof enabled and authorized to assemble, and by the majority of th? voters present to choose all such officers and transact such affairs as in Laws are declared, we do by these Presents nominate and appoint Reuben Kidder, Esqr. to call the first meeting of said Inhabitants, to be held within said Town, at any time within forty days from the date hereof, giving legal notice of the time and design of holding such meeting ; after which, the Annual meeting of said Town shall be held for the choosing of said officers and the purposes aforesaid, on the second Monday in March annually. In Testimony whereof, we have caused the Seal of our said Pro- vince to be hereunto affixed. Witness, Benning Wentworth, Esqr. our Governour, and Commander in Chief of our said Province, the ninth day of September, in the second year of our Reign, Anno Domini 1762. Benning Wentworth. By His Excellency's command, by advice of Council. Theodore Atkinson. In this Act of Incorporation the town is styled " Ipswich." It was limited to less than four years, and was to expire Jan- uary 1, 1766. By a vote of the town it was ordered that a renewal of the Act of Incorporation should not be appUed for, until the first should have expired. DIMENSIONS OF THE TOWN. 39 There is no evidence, from the Records, that any apphca- tion was subsequently made. The new Act bears date Mar. 6, 1766 ; though it would seem that it was not recorded and transmitted till just a year afterwards. In the intervening time, between the expiration of the old and the reception of the new Charter, a period of fifteen months, thete was a com- plete interregniim in the exercise of municipal powers. Not a record appears on the Town books, and no tax was levied or collected ; so that the next year it was necessary to assess a two-years' mmister's rate. ' The year, however, seems to have been passed in peace and prosperity. The second Act is in precisely the same terms as the first, excepting that the town is styled " New Ipswich," and the term of duration is unlimited. In these Acts, as well as in the Masonian Grant, the township is described as being six miles long and five mUes wide, containing thirty square miles. These could never have been the true dimensions, since, after all the curtailments, the township remains about six and a quarter miles in length and five and a quarter in breadth. And it may also be remarked, that, in"no two perambulations, have the length or direction of the boundary lines been re- ■ported the same ; the latter difference, however, may be ac- counted for by not making the proper allowance for the periodical variation of the needle. According to the notes of the last perambulation (1850) the boundaries are as follow : From the N. W. corner of Ashby 8° 30' E. to the S. E. corner of N. I. ; from the S. W. corner of N. I. about E. to the corner of Ashby and Ashburnham ; from the S. W. corner of N. I. and the S. E. corner of Rindge north 1° 5' E. 1694 rods, to a stake ; thence S. 80° 10' E. 690 rods between N. I. and Sharon ; thence between Temple and N. I. S. 79° 30' E. 1253 rods to a stake ; between Mason and N. I., beginning at the N. E. comer of N. I. and the N. W. corner of Mason at a stake, thence S. 30° W. 1687 rods 10 links. CHAPTER III. EARLIEST CIVIL HISTORY. THE WILDERNESS ; EAKLY BC0T7TING-P ARTIES ; PLOTTING OF THE town; IMPROVEMENTS BY THE MASSACHUSETTS GRANTEES; FIRST SETTLERS ABIJAH FOSTER ; JONAS WOOLSON ; MOSES TUCKER ; BENJAMIN HOAR, ETC.; TITLE BECOMES VOID; INDIAN WAR; DE- SERTION OF THE TOWN ; CAPTIVITY OF CAPT. FITCH ; WORKS OF defence; RECAPITULATION, Very soon after the first colonists of New England arrived, settlers penetrated far up the beautiful valleys of the Connec- ticut and the Merrimac, attracted by the fertile meadows, and by the comparative ease with which they could be brought imder cultivation ; while a large tract of country much nearer the seaboard remained unoccupied. Lancaster, Groton, and Dunstable, after having been planted for nearly a century, remained on the very outskirts of civilization ; while, at the distance of only twenty or thirty miles inland, not the least trace of the white man was to be found. The forests around the Monadnock and Watatic and the sources of the Souhegan remained in as primitive a condition as when the Pilgrim Fathers first landed at Plymouth. The foot of the white man had never traversed its solitudes, unless, perchance, some of the scouting-parties from Dunstable and Lancaster to the Wa- tatic and Monadnock mountains, of which there are records as far back as 1723, may have passed this way.* Nor does * March, 1723. There is a Jo'irnal of " a scout to Mulipas River (Malpus Brook in Lunenburg), Turliey Hills, Squannicook River and head of Souhegan River, Watatic Hills," &c. Feb. 24, 1724. "We went from Groton to Turkey Hills, thence to the Great Hills, thence on to Watatic Ponds and then to Watatic Hills — thence to Monom- nock Ponds and on to Pack Monadnocks and so to Souhegan River, and to Squa- nakook," &c. Jabez Fairbanks. July 31, 1725. " We marched twelve miles, and I with fourteen men campt ABORIGINES. 41 it appear that the red man ever occupied the territory com- prised in this township as a permanent residence, no vestiges of his presence having been at any time discovered. Doubt- less he might have occasionally roamed this way in his hunt- ing excursions ; and tradition says, that he sometimes visited the early settlers with his baskets and brooms. A grandson of Mrs. Emerson, who lived near the foot of Watatic, says he has heard her relate the following incident : " One day, in summer, a party of Indians were seen approaching the house. The family, stricken with terror, dispersed, and concealed themselves as best they could. One fled to the cellar, and being concealed in a dark corner, saw them come into the cellar, go to the pans of milk, skim off the cream with their hands and suck it up. After having pilfered the house of such articles as pleased them, they retired to the woods, to the great relief of the family." The only Indian relic which has ever been mentioned-, was a bit of metal found in a field near Ashby, supposed to have been an arrow-head ; and if so, must have been obtained of the French at a modern period. As we have already seen, this town, together with several neighboring townships, were granted by Massachusetts in 1736-7. Dorchester Canada, including Ashbumiiam and part of Ashby, had been granted at the same session, and its posi- tion defined previous to the locating of this toAvnship. Town- send, which then embraced a very large territory, including the remainder of Ashby, Mason, and part of New Ipswich, upon the top of Wannadnack mountain and discovered 26 pounds (ponds). Saw Pigwackett lying one point from said mountain , and Cusagee (Kearsarge) moun- tain and Wiunepeseockey lying northeast from said Wannadnack. The same day we found several old sigues which the Indians had made the last year, and where they campt when they killed the people of Rutland, as we imagine. Aug. 1. " We marched from the west side of Wenadnack and coraed three stremes that run into Contocook, and then campt and sent out our scouts, and found two wigwams made in June or July as we suppose, and found 16 of there spitts which they rost there meat with, all in said wigwams, and one of our scouts went so far he could not return the same night." — Letter of Samuel Willard. July 25, 1725. These are to inform you that this day being wide of Watchu- sett and Monadnock mountains upon our march towards Pemshiwasset with 47 able bodied men, four of our men being sick and not able to travel, who I have sent into Lancaster with Joshua Parker, a well man, to take care of them. I do not think to be in any town this 35 days unless we get some Indians. Yesterday I being upon the scout heard a gun which I supposed to be an Indian gun — have sent out scouts three several ways this day. Yours to serve, Samuel Willahd. 6 42 EARLIEST CIVIL HISTORY. was the only town in the vicinity which had made any pro- gress in settlement. Immediately, however, the Proprietors commenced the necessary steps to comply with the stipulations of the grant, and thereby secure the township. It is clear that the town was known, by its name, and its boundaries settled and understood, as early as 1738, and probably in 1737.* As early as this, also, a portion of the township was laid out into lots. This was done by laying out a road from east to west, parallel to the north and south lines of the town, at what was doubtless regarded as the central line, in that direction. Then, four ranges of sixteen lots on either side of this road, making in all 128 lots. Each lot was diamond- shaped, about 160 rods in length and 80 rods in width, that is, about half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, and com- prised about 80 acres, covering in all an area four miles long and four miles broad. Roads were laid out in straight lines across the ends of all the lots, and also north and south be- tween every series of four lots. None of these roads, except a small portion of the central one, were ever used ; but were afterwards incorporated with the lots on which they bordered, or were assigned to those who had "\heir land cut by reason of a road or roads going acrqst their lott or lotts." [P. R. 209.] In their petition for redress, which we have given at p. 26, the Grantees state that they "built a meeting-house, saw-mill, bridg^, &c., besides expending a great deal on their several rights." t The meeting-house is believed never to have been used as a place of worship ; and the saw-mill, if ever put in * In December, 1738, a grant of land was made to Jeffrey Bedgood, mariner, of Boston, "lying adjoining on a township called New Ipswich," beginning at the northwest corner, &c. Mass. Archives, vol. 93, fol. 93, 94. In November, 1738, a grant was made to Robert Auchmnty, of land adjoining New Ipswich north line, &c. Mass. Archives, vol. 46, fol. 97, 98. t In confirmation of this, we have the following notice from a Boston newspa- per. " Whereas, on the 18th of June, 1739, the proprietors of the township called New Ipswich, at their meeting, granted the sum of five pounds to be raised on each original right, to bring forward the settlement of said township, these, are therefore to notify those delinquent proprietors that have not paid said tax,' to c C3 1 ^ C5 Proprietoks. ^ ^ ri < * o E3 O CO 2 s J Theodore Atkinson, 43 84 107 Thomas Pa^er, 61 XIII. 4 82 83 t VII. 4 Mark H. Wentworth, 38 39 67 94 John MofFatt, 14 XIV. 2 80 81 George JafFrey, 29 24 172 173 John Ringe, IX. 3 11 176 177 John Wentworth, VIII. 1 56 87 109 Joshua Peirce, VIII. 3 2 89 90 Nathaniel Meserve, V. 1 10 102 93 Richard Wibird, * 28 2 162 165 Jotham Odiorne, 23 V. 3 68 95 Peirce & Moor, 13 XV. 3 167 169 Toralinson & Mason, 59 60 163 164 Matthew Liverinore, 62 VII. 1 126 128 William Parker, ,58 44 160 161 Thomas Wallingford, VIII. IV. 4 3 85 86 Joseph Blanchard, II. IV. 4 4 155 157 Solly & March, XV. 4 64 181 182 54 PROPRIETARY HISTORY. GRANTEES. North Div South Div New laid out After Divisi' Reuben Kidder, 46 xiir. 1 76 ti « 55 XIV. 1,: III. 3 i 131 96 Archibald White, and ) Joseph Bullard, 5 19 I. 2 175 Capt. Jonas Woolson, C IV. 2 I XV. 2 118 Abijah Foster, 33 I. 3 152 John Brown, 31 65 60 Benjamin Hoar, Jr., it i( 40 II. 1 5 V. 2 I VI. I 149 74 Timothy Heald, 65,66 186 Joseph Kidder, 48 IX. 1 148 Ebenezer Bnllard, J II. 2 t II. 3 129 Joseph Stevens, 35 VII. 3 44 Henry Pudney, 49 7 124 John Chandler, 5 III. 1 I IV. 1 IX. 4 108 Hannah Dinsmore, 54 125 Rev. Daniel Emerson, VII. 2 71 133 David Nevin.s, XI. 4 187 78 Capt. Peter Powers, 1,12 71 Zacchens Lovewell, S XI. 3 i XII. 3 145 Joseph French, S III. 4 I X. 3 IX. 2 146 Maj. Jonathan Hubbard, 47 92 John Stevens, 34 XII. 2 141 << tt X. 4 5 98 " " 52 XV. I 28 Isaac Applcton, 63 III. 2 117 " " 42 XVI. 2 138