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 /f/ BYGONES 
 
 SOME THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN '^^r-r 
 
 7 ^ f 
 
 History of Northfield, 
 
 New Hampshire. 
 
 READ BEFORE THE 
 
 NORTHFIELD AND TILTON WOMAN'S CLUB. 
 
 LUCY R. H. CROSS. 
 
 CONCORD, N. H. 
 NOV. 17, igoo. 
 
T^^ 
 
 H^7 6 '/s' 
 
BYGONKS— SOME THINGS NOT GENERAI^LY KNOWN IN THE 
 HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.' 
 
 /)')' Lucy R. H. Cross. 
 
 HE story of border and 
 (->U;i! pioneer life is always an 
 
 interesting, but not al- 
 ways a pleasant, one. 
 Variety it may have, 
 and every day adventure, comedy, and 
 tragedy, perhaps, though it might 
 
 Give 5»ou no pleasure 
 Or add to your treasure 
 Could I weave it into a song. 
 
 Will Carlton says : 
 
 " It isn't the funniest thing a man can do, 
 Existing in a country when 'tis new. 
 Nature, who moved in first a good long while 
 Has things already somewhat her own style. 
 She don't want things exposed from porch to 
 
 closet 
 And so she kindo-nags the one who does it. 
 She loves her ague muscle to display 
 .\nd shake him up most every other day. 
 She finds time 'mong her other family cares 
 To keep in stock good wildcats, wolves, and 
 
 bears. 
 And those who 've wrestled with his bloody 
 
 art 
 Say, ' Nature always takes the Indian's 
 
 part.' " 
 
 Canterbury, which means North- 
 field as well, was for a long time the 
 extreme border town. It was granted 
 to Richard Waldron and others in 
 1727, ami was incorporated in 1741. 
 The Scotch Irish from Londonderry 
 took possession of the Merrimack 
 River Intervale in 1721. An old 
 house near the site of the " Muchido " 
 was used as a fort, and must have 
 seen many sieges, for when it was 
 torn down, l)ullets were found em- 
 bedded in the oaken walls, and others 
 
 ' Read before the Nortlilicld and 'r 
 
 between the walls and wainscot. 
 There was also a fort farther back on 
 the hill, commanded by Capt. Jere- 
 miah Clough, which was also a depot 
 for provisions and a rendezvous for 
 provincial troops during Lovewell's 
 and the French and Indian wars, and 
 a strong guard was always kept there. 
 Not only did the garrison have to 
 contend with wild beasts, and the 
 more cruel Indian, but there was a 
 bitter jealousy between them and the 
 Ruraford colony just below them. 
 
 Canterbury was a New Hampshire 
 settlement, incorporated by the New 
 Hampshire government, and settled by 
 New Hampshire people, while Rum- 
 ford was settled by Massachusetts peo- 
 ple,and incorporated by the "Great and 
 General Court, ' ' and the people looked 
 to it for help and protection. They 
 were angry that Canterbury was sup- 
 plied with provisions and a competent 
 force of troops, and this feeling did 
 not entirely die out, until the brave 
 soldiers of the two settlements had 
 fought side by side in the many fast- 
 following wars. 
 
 Capt. Jeremiah Clough, who was 
 later well known in Revolutionary 
 hislor3', was here furnished with 
 scouts, who roamed the wooded acres 
 of Nortlifield long before a settler 
 dared, choose a home awaj' from un- 
 der the shelter of the fort. Many of 
 the muster rolls of Captain Clough are 
 
 illoil WniiKin-. Cliih, Ndv. I-. lonn. 
 
NORTHFIELD. 
 
 still iu existence. In the spring of 
 1743 he had twenty men for thirty- 
 nine days. March 8 the house of 
 representatives voted to pay him 
 
 £l(i, 125., \od. 
 
 The next November he had six, and 
 in April and May, 1744, seven men. 
 June 2, 1746, the house voted to pay 
 him ^'18 for " ye defense of the gov- 
 ernment." In anticipation of the In- 
 dian War in 1746 the garrison was 
 strengthened and he had eleven 
 scouts. 
 
 Captain Clough went along the 
 Winnipiseogee river as far as the 
 "great pond," with a force of nine- 
 teen men. He used to furnish the 
 bread but their meat was supplied by 
 the game in the forests through which 
 they passed. It was through and 
 through these forests bordering the 
 Merrimack and Winnipiseogee rivers, 
 on whose banks large numbers of In- 
 dians built their wigwams and on 
 whose waters they paddled their ca- 
 noes, that the scouts passed, and from 
 their ranks came the first settlers of 
 the " north fields " of Canterbury, at 
 the close of the Indian War. 
 
 It is thought that Jonathan Heath 
 built his hut on the Merrimack inter- 
 vale two years before Benjamin 
 Blanchard brought his family to Bay 
 Hill iu 1760. He was then forty-one 
 years old, and his father was killed 
 at the fort, twenty-two years before. 
 I"rom this time to 1776 those about 
 the fort moved to the north and es- 
 tablished homes along the river. 
 Among others John Forrest came to 
 the Leighton place, near Franklin 
 Falls, in 1774. He had nine children. 
 His son William cleared a few acres 
 near the center of the north fields, 
 put it into grain and the next year 
 went to Bunker Hill. 
 
 He returned sick and wounded and 
 resumed his life-work, farming. He 
 planted his corn himself sixty j^ears 
 iu succession and was absent but once 
 from the annual town-meeting. He 
 died at eighty-seven, leaving fourteen 
 children and forty-one grandchildren. 
 He was a firm Democrat, as were all 
 his sons and grandsons. He drew a 
 pension for many years. His brother 
 James went nearer the river to the 
 east. His descendants have through 
 the successive generations been cele- 
 brated school teachers and prominent 
 business men of the town. This is 
 the only one of the twelve families of 
 Forrests whose descendants still re- 
 main in town, while of the twelve 
 families of Rogers not one is left. 
 
 Mr. Shubeal Dearborn purchased 
 his farm, according to the deed, in 
 1779. He was married in homespun 
 at twenty-six, and began housekeep- 
 ing without a bed or crockery, in a 
 house with but one pane of glass. 
 Frugality and industry in time made 
 him the possessor of a good hou,se, 
 well furnLshed, and the fine farm un- 
 til lately in the possession of his 
 great-grandson, the late John S. 
 Dearborn. He was obliged to haul 
 his building material from Ports- 
 mouth with an ox team. It is said a 
 cradle, for the numerous children who 
 came to gladden the home, was hol- 
 lowed out of a log, and had done 
 duty as a sap trough, before the 
 rockers were attached to it. 
 
 There have been twenty-four fami- 
 lies of Dearborns in town, and it 
 seems to have been a family of phy- 
 sicians, as twelve have taken medical 
 degrees, and several of them have 
 been noted practitioners. 
 
 Twenty-six physicians claim North- 
 field as their birthplace, and fourteen 
 
NORTHFIELD. 
 
 others have practised here for longer or 
 shorter periods. Dr. Nancy Oihnau 
 was the first woman in the state to 
 study aud practice medicine. Dr. 
 Richard S. Moloney, after leaving 
 Northfield, succeeded Hon. John 
 Wentvvortii as the U. S. Senator Irom 
 Illinois at the age of thirty-nine. He 
 died in Nebraska in 189 1. 
 
 The following named persons from 
 the "north fields" Served in the 
 Revolutionary War and were at Bun- 
 ker Hill : 
 
 Lieut. J no. (Oilman, ist Lieut. Cliarle.s 
 Glidden, Sluibcal Dearborn, Nathaniel Dear- 
 born, George Hancock, Jos. Hancock, Jolm 
 Cross. Reuben Kczar, Nathaniel Perkins, 
 Jr., 1 Josepli c;iines, Abner Miles, Jonathan 
 VVadleigh, John Dearborn. David Kenison. 
 Richard Bianchard, William Hancock, Par- 
 ker Cross, ' Nathaniel Perkins, William 
 Rines. William Forrest. 
 
 The following persons served else- 
 where in the Revolutionarj' War : 
 
 Lieut. Thomas Lyford, ^ Phineas Fletcher, 
 Jonathan Leavitt, Benjamin Collins, Benja- 
 min Glines, Thomas Cross, Isaiah Willey, 
 Robert Perkins. David Morgan, ' Benjamin 
 Drew, Wadleigli Leavit, FIdward Dyer, John 
 Rovven, Robert p'oss, John Willey, Mathew 
 Haines, William Glines, Moses Cro.ss. 
 
 The following persons who had 
 
 served in tlie Revolutionary War had 
 
 their residence later in the town (in 
 
 1854): 
 
 Capt. James .Shephard, Ensign Abraham 
 lirown, Ord. Sergt. Samuel T. Gilman, 
 Mathew N. Sanborn, Samuel Haines, Mor- 
 rill .Shephard. John .Shephard, Samuel Dal- 
 ton, Josepli .Mann, Surgeon George Kezer. 
 Levi Morrill. David Clough. Perkins Pike. 
 Jonathan (nlman. Jonathan Avers. FIdward 
 Fifield. Jotham Sawyer. John Rollins, John 
 Sutton. Klias Abbott. Abner Flanders. Sam- 
 uel Dinsmore, John Dinsmore, Isaac Rich- 
 ardson, Jacob Richardson, Joseph lOllison. 
 Caleb Aldrich. Jonathan Wadleigh. .Moses 
 D.inforlh, Henry Dniiforth. Jedediah Dan- 
 
 * Died at n\ink<rr HMl. 
 
 * Died at Voiktown. 
 
 * Died inarniy camp. 
 
 forth, .Stephen Haines. .Samuel Goodwin, 
 Jesse Carr, Joseph Clisby. Samuel Rogers. 
 Jainis Ahichmore, William Danford. Sam- 
 uel Rogers. Robert Forrest, Henry Tibbets. 
 
 This list comprises one captain, 
 three lieutenants, one adjutant, three 
 orderly, and several other ser- 
 geants. 
 
 John Dinsmore was one of General 
 Washington's bodyguard. He drew 
 S96 a year pension. He died in 
 1846, aged niuet5'-four. He was a 
 fierce Democrat and became so en- 
 raged at his brother for once selling 
 his vote for a new pair of pantaloons 
 that he had nothing to do with him 
 thereafter. 
 
 Elias Abbott was in Bedel's Regi- 
 ment, Captain Osgood's Company, 
 list of Rangers sent to Canada to 
 fight Indians in 1776, and was placed 
 on the pension roll, Dec. 15, 1830. 
 He drew $96 a year. 
 
 Moses Cross was with Capt. James 
 Shephard, Continental Line, Northern 
 Army, and drew a pension from July 
 21, 1836. 
 
 Joseph Clisby drew $70 a year. 
 John Dinsmore first drew $70, theu 
 $96, from June 16, 1819. Samuel 
 Dinsmore drew $96 a year. 
 
 Samuel Goodwin was with Colonel 
 Wingate, Captaiu Calef, and later 
 Captain Sailer, in the artilleiy at 
 Fort Washington ; later with Capt. 
 David Place at Seavey's Island, Nov. 
 5, as matross man. He was later 
 with Colonel Wingate and Capt. 
 James Arnold at Ticonderoga. 
 
 Caleb Aldrich, under Colonel Reed, 
 Captain Hinds, went to New' York. 
 He was pensioned Dec. 6, 1832, at 
 $80 per year. 
 
 Lieut. Charles Glidden was in the 
 French and Indi.in War, and was at 
 the taking <il Quebec by General 
 
NORTHFIl-.I.n. 
 
 Wolfe in 1759, and at the taking of 
 Montreal by General Amherst in 
 1760, and afterward an officer in the 
 Revolutionary War. His commission 
 was signed by General Washington, 
 and is still preserved by his descend- 
 ants. He was later a prominent citi- 
 zen of Northfield and was the dele- 
 gate of the town to the convention at 
 Exeter when the Federal Constitution 
 was adopted in 178S. His neighbor, 
 the grandfather of Wesley Knowles 
 (?) was taken prisoner at the surren- 
 der of Fort William Henry, and still 
 another neighbor was in Stark's Com- 
 pany of Rangers. 
 
 William and Francis Kenniston 
 were in Capt. John Moore's Company 
 of Rangers from April 24 to July 16, 
 
 1756. 
 
 Captain Pevey also took a company 
 to join the Rangers, among whom we 
 find the names of Edward Presby, 
 Nathaniel Keniston, and Benjamin 
 Rogers. They were to serve from 
 May I to Nov. 26, 1756. These were 
 sent to reiinforce General Stark who 
 was with the Rogers Rangers. 
 
 The following soldiers of the War 
 of 181 2 were under Colonel Steele in 
 Capt. Ed. Fuller's Company, and 
 were mustered in Sept. 28, 18 14, for 
 sixty days : 
 
 Benj. Rollins, John Marden, Samuel Carr, 
 Jr., Benjamin Morrill, Kphraim Cross, Mil- 
 ton Giles. James Olis, and David Keniston, 
 ]•■■ 
 
 The latter was always called "In- 
 fant David," either because he be- 
 longed to the Infantr3', or because of 
 his immense size and height. 
 
 Jonathan Gile and a friend, whose 
 name has been lost, were transferred 
 from this company to the Fourth 
 United States Regiment, Western Bri- 
 gade, ordered to Viucennes and were 
 
 at the Battle of Tippecanoe. He 
 was drowned. His friend returned 
 with his personal effects and dying 
 message. 
 
 Before taking leave of the military 
 history of the town I wish to put on 
 record the following, though it may 
 not be in chronological order : 
 
 The following named men were 
 mustered into the ITnited States ser- 
 vice from New Hampshire in the 
 " War of the Rebellion" under call 
 of July 2, 1862, and subsequent calls 
 and assigned to the quota of North- 
 field, or went prior to the date given, 
 or were natives of Northfield who en- 
 listed elsewhere ; 
 
 First Regiment — Abe Libby. 
 
 Second Regiment — Edmund Sanders. 
 
 Third Regiment — Peter Hilton, James 
 Lynch. 
 
 Fourth Regiment — lienjamin Hannaford, 
 Israel Hall, Richard Dearborn, James Til- 
 ton, Winthrop Presby, James Danforth, 
 Aaron Veasey, Curtis Whittier, William 
 Parsons, Abram Dearborn, John Collins, 
 Corp. Charles Cofran, George W. Clark, 
 'Phomas Benton Clark. 
 
 Sixth Regiment — James Martin, Thomas 
 King. John Johnson, Charles Marsh, Josiah 
 Robbins, Charles Dinsmore, Joseph Dins- 
 more. 
 
 Seventh Regiment — Frank Edson. 
 
 Eighth Regiment — Gideon Coty, Corp. 
 Charles .Arlin, George Whitcher. 
 
 Ninth Regiment — Thomas Austin, Wal- 
 lace Chase, Lucien Chase, Thomas Gile, Jr., 
 \'an Peabody, Walter F. Glines. Alonzo 
 Hovt, Charles H. Davis, Charles W. Tilton, 
 William H. Roberts, Joseph Bennet. 
 
 Eleventh Regiment — John W. Downes. 
 
 Twelfth Regiment — Calvin W. Beck, 
 John Dalton, Asa Witham, Ira Whitcher, 
 (-Jeorge Niles, Frank Braley, Cornelius 
 Braley, James Farley, John Keniston, George 
 Roberts, Charles Woodward, Benjamin 
 Clark. ISyron K. Morrison, Bill Harriot, 
 Fred Keniston. Hiram Hodgdon, sutler. 
 
 Fifteenth Regiment — Jeremiah Hall, M. 
 D. surgeon. Albert McDaniel, Thomas G. 
 Ames. 
 
 Sixteenth Regiment — Jirvin IJiird, Rutus-7^tw>n 
 H. Tilton, John W. Pipfr. //L^^'i^ >f- Q^'-C 
 
 Eighteenth Regiment — Albert Brown, , 
 .\rtlnn- .Merrill, John W. \\^<t\\(^.M ^};^t'6J^ 
 
 ^y 
 
NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Veterans' Relief Corps — Samuel C. Fi- 
 field. 
 
 First Cavalry — Charles Smart, William 
 Craigue, Asa Dart, Lucien Knovvles, George 
 Stark, Peter Casey, George Keves, James 
 Be Gold, John Morrow, George Smith, 
 
 Heavy Artillery — Hiram H. Cross, Albert 
 McDaniel, Albert Titcomb, Joseph Mills Si- 
 monds, John Dinsmore. 
 
 United States Navy — Stephen Kenney, 
 Clarence H. Abbott. 
 
 Marines — John Lyons. John Ktllcy. 
 Joseuh Sweenev, Joseph Perrv, James Mc- 
 Vay." 
 
 First Massachusetts Cavalry — William C. 
 Whittier. credited to Tilton. 
 
 First United States Artillery— Abe Libby 
 (reenlisted), James Morrison, Charles Stev- 
 ens. 
 
 One Hundred and Seventeenth Infantry — 
 Capt. William A. Gile, credited to Frank- 
 lin. 
 
 Veteran Battalion — Charles .Arlin (reen- 
 listed). 
 
 Eighth Illinois Cavalry — George R. 
 Clough, credited to Evanston. 111. 
 
 Regular ."Xmiy (under Gen. Joe Hooker) — 
 Charles W. Clough, credited to New Bos- 
 ton, N. H.. retired for moon blindness. 
 
 Rev. John Chamberlain was sent 
 out by Governor Berry to look after 
 the sick and wounded New Hamp- 
 shire boys, anywhere and everywhere, 
 and was pen.sioned by special act of 
 Congress. 
 
 So let us be proud that Northfield 
 has ever done her duty according to 
 her strength in helping to maintain 
 one of the grandest governments in 
 the world. Go past our cemeteries on 
 Memorial Day and you will see the 
 fluttering of the little flags that show 
 how freely her blood was shed not 
 only for the dear old "Stars and 
 Stripes," but for the banners our fore- 
 fathers bore. 
 
 In June, 1780, Northfield was set 
 off from Canterbury and incorporated 
 as a pari.sh. Mr. Nathaniel Whitcher 
 was the prime mover. The Merri- 
 mack and Winnipiseogee rivers formed 
 its entire western and northern boun- 
 daries. It contained 17,000 acres and 
 
 was in Rockingham count}' until 
 1823. 
 
 A portion of Northfield was com- 
 bined with other territory, to form the 
 town of Franklin, Dec. 24, 1828. But 
 the same territory was re- annexed to 
 Northfield, July 3, 1830, and again re- 
 stored to Franklin, June 26, 1858. A 
 part of two farms were severed and 
 annexed to Franklin, June 27, 1861. 
 
 The first meeting the town held 
 Nov. 21, 1780, was at the house of 
 John vSimonds. The first tax was 
 sixty bushels of corn. 
 
 Six thousand dollars was voted for 
 highways, allowing fortj^ dollars for a 
 day's work. This item is presumably 
 a mistake, unless we may learn from 
 it the value of continental money at 
 that time. 
 
 The third tovi'n-meeting held May, 
 1787, must have been a very impor- 
 tant one. The record shows three 
 items of business : 
 
 \'oted after choosing the modera- 
 tor — 
 
 1st. To take the Buzzil family into 
 the cear of the town. 
 
 2nd. To drink two bowls at the 
 town caust. 
 
 3d. \'oted in addition to the above 
 vote To drink six more on the town 
 caust. 
 
 Loudon was also a part of Canter- 
 bury, set off in 1773. So, whenever 
 we .speak of dear old Mother North- 
 field let us not forget to think kindly 
 of Aunt Loudon and Grandmother 
 Canterbury. 
 
 As I have before said the first sel- 
 lers were from Canterbury fort. Na- 
 thaniel Whitcher soon came from 
 Lee and purchased 500 acres of wild 
 land and established his four .sons 
 near and around Chestnut pond. Mr. 
 Wesley Knowles's grandfather bought 
 
NORTHFIELD. 
 
 his farm of Mr. Whitcher, it is said, 
 for a two-year-old heifer. 
 
 Mr. Jonathan Clough came from 
 Salisbur}', Mass., with four children, 
 in midwinter on an ox sled, with all 
 their worldly possessions. The two 
 sons took opposite farms on Bay Hill, 
 which are still held in the famih'. 
 
 Jonathan Wadleigh, a Revolution- 
 ary soldier, came from Kingston to 
 Beau Hill, moving later to the farm 
 next below the reservoir. His son, 
 Peter Wadleigh, one of the leading 
 men of the town, was a judge of the 
 court of sessions when Merrimack 
 county was organized in 1823. 
 
 Four Hill brothers came from Salis- 
 bury, Mass., and bought farms on 
 and near Bay Hill. They were coop- 
 ers and were attracted by the oak 
 timber. The Cofrans came from 
 Pembroke, the Winslows from Lou- 
 don, and the Browns from Notting- 
 ham. 
 
 A large family of Giles came from 
 Exeter and purchased a large tract of 
 land, some 414 acres, southwest of 
 the centre of the town, where the fam- 
 ily removed. 
 
 The Gerrishes came from Bristol, 
 England, to Newbury, Mass., then to 
 Boston, and Henry was one of the 
 first settlers of Boscawen. 
 
 The Gliddens from Maine, and the 
 Smiths from Old Hampton. 
 
 Henry Tibbetts came from the 
 Shakers, where he had brought his 
 family a short time before. His son, 
 Bradbury, tiring of Shaker life ran 
 away and took a farm in East North- 
 field, where his father and family 
 came a little later. Here they both 
 lived and died. The father had been 
 a soldier in the Revolutionary War. 
 He had a fellow soldier named Sin- 
 clair, with whom he was intimate as 
 
 they fought side by side. The latter had 
 left a young wife in his distant home 
 and when he fell, mortally wounded, 
 made his friend promise if he lived to 
 return to carry the news of his death 
 himself to her. He complied faith- 
 fully with the wish of his friend and 
 in due time wooed and won her for 
 his bride. There were born to them 
 two daughters and seven sons, three 
 of whom, Hiram, Nathan, and 
 Charless were physicians, and spent 
 most of their lives in Louisiana. 
 Charles was a surgeon in the army 
 during the Civil War. 
 
 Capt. Isaac Glines was born , iu 
 CanterburJ^ His mother was a 
 daughter of the first settler, Blanch- 
 ard. He learned the carpenter's 
 trade at Salem, Mass,, and used to 
 take men and materials and return 
 home summers and erect first-class 
 houses. He w^as captain of the 
 " Home Guards " at Salem, and after 
 his return to live at Northfield was 
 captain in the State Militia. 
 
 Robert Gray and ' ' Squire ' ' John 
 Moloney first came to Northfield as 
 his help. The latter became sheriff 
 and did an extensive business in the 
 surrounding counties. After his 
 death his numerous family moved 
 West. Some are now living in Chi- 
 cago. 
 
 Thomas Chase came from Concord 
 to the Cross settlement. He was by 
 trade a baker, but his father-iu-law 
 on his marriage bestowed many broad 
 and fruitful acres on his bride as her 
 marriage portion. He abandoned his 
 chosen calling and became a thrifty 
 farmer, adding from time to time, to 
 his extensive farm until he became 
 possessed of some five or six hundred 
 acres. 
 
 Dr. Alexander Thompson Clark 
 
NORTHFIELD. 
 
 came from Londonderrj' and read 
 medicine with Dr. Lerned of Hopkin- 
 ton. 
 
 In 1802 he came to Northfield after 
 one or two 3'ears' practice in Canada. 
 He was Fellow of New/ Hamp- 
 shire Medical Society and died sud- 
 denly' in 1S21, leaving six children. 
 
 Stephen Chace came to Northfield 
 in 1775 and built the first fulling mill 
 in the parts where the Granite mill 
 now stands. He lived in the house 
 still standing at the entrance of Bay 
 street, where he kept tavern. He 
 owned all the land east and south of 
 his mill for a considerable distance. 
 He surrendered his business to his 
 son, Benjamin, who put in a carding 
 machine and continued it until sold 
 to Jeremiah Tilton, who paid S400 for 
 the mill and four acres of land iu 
 1S20. He lived in a tenement over 
 the mill until his new brick liouse 
 near by was built. He was twice 
 burned out and each time enlarged 
 his plant, doing a prosperous business 
 until his death in 1863. 
 
 Oak Hill was for many years called 
 Foss Hill. Two brothers of the name 
 owned all the land between the Pond 
 Brook (now Phillips Brook) and the 
 Canterbury line. There was a large 
 family of Keuistons, one of Kenisons, 
 and one of Kennersons, no relation- 
 ship being claimed. 
 
 The following is copied from an 
 ancient book called " Miscellaneous 
 Documents and Records relating to 
 New Hampshire at different periods : " 
 
 Northfield Apr. tlie nth ye : : 1786 
 Tlii.s is to sartify a greeable to an .Act 
 Past the 3: ye: : 1786 a trew a Count of 
 all the Males pcles is 75 and tlie number of 
 women and childrA is 274. 
 
 William Perkins, ") ^. , 
 75 William Forrest. < ^«'«ct- 
 
 274 Thomas Cross. 
 
 I would like, if time permitted, to 
 speak of many more of the noble men 
 and women who came from time to 
 time to make Northfield their home ; 
 who erected its churches, founded its 
 schools, and gave theirtime and ener- 
 gies to the various industries of its 
 every-day life ; but I am now obliged 
 to take leave of legitimate history, 
 and without regard to chronology 
 take an incident here and there, and 
 acting the part of the oldest inhabi- 
 tant bring to you in hurried detail a 
 few disconnected stories, showing the 
 ambitions and doings of the past. 
 
 There seems to have been some- 
 thing akin to rivalry even in those 
 good old times. When Mr. Gilinan 
 built his barn, the first one in town, 
 his next door neighbor built one 
 twenty-five feet longer. 
 
 " Squire " Glidden, seeing no rea- 
 son why he should not have as big a 
 barn as any one, built one the next 
 year longer by twenty-five feet and 
 larger. Dr. Clark built a fine huo- 
 story house, and Squire Moloney built 
 a finer one, close by, //;/(■(• stories 
 high. The great September gale un- 
 roofed this house and when it was re- 
 paired one story was taken off. 
 
 Squire Moloney and Squire Glid- 
 den were always candidates for politi- 
 cal honors, and were buying votes the 
 whole year round. Some of Molo- 
 ney's purchased votes went one year 
 to elect Mr. Glidden, so the former 
 charged the latter, for a whole barrel 
 of rum, as the price of the votes he 
 had stolen. 
 
 Ezekial Moore used to carry the 
 mail on horseback from Concord, 
 through Canterbury, over Bay Hill, 
 as far as Gilmanton Corner. So you 
 
lO 
 
 NORTHFIELD. 
 
 see "Rural Delivery" is no new 
 thing. He began in 1798, and gave 
 his business to his neighbor, Tallant, 
 in 1812 — fourteen j^ears. 
 
 The first manufacturing within the 
 limits of the town was by four Cross 
 brothers on a brook bearing their 
 name, now called Phillips Brook, en- 
 tering the Merrimack opposite the 
 Webster place, where the Pluuimer 
 brothers now reside. Here, close to 
 Oak Hill, they established a grocery 
 store, tailor's shop, carding machine, 
 and fulling mill, sawmill, cooper's 
 shop, grist-mill, and a jewelry manu- 
 facturing shop, making a specialty of 
 gold beads. Other business gathered 
 around then, such as shoeing shops 
 for man and beast, and a shop where 
 earthern and wooden ware was made. 
 Their freighting was all done by 
 boats on the Merrimack, and a ferry 
 connected them with Boscawen. 
 
 Some of this business went later to 
 the Centre, after the building of the 
 Old Meeting House. Of the four 
 sawmills, three tanneries, and four 
 cooper's shops, once doing good 
 busine.ss in town, not one remains. 
 
 The earliest schools were often kept 
 in private houses. The first houses 
 were all of the same general style, 
 made of logs, with a rock chimney at 
 one end, where, in winter, a roaring 
 fire was kept, with unseasoned, un- 
 cleft wood. There were two holes on 
 either side of the walls, each furnished 
 with a single pane of glass. There 
 was one on Bay Hill, one at the Cen- 
 tre, and Hodgdon, and perhaps one 
 at Oak Hill, and only male teachers 
 were employed. 
 
 Master Gleason at the Centre, had 
 from sixty to eighty pupils. He 
 boarded round and John Forrest was 
 charged with the duty of carrying 
 him a bottle of cider each day. Once 
 by mistake or purpo.sely the bottle 
 was filled from the vinegar barrel. At 
 the usual time, after the wear and 
 tear of the morning hours, the master 
 repaired to the closet, where the cider 
 was wont to be kept, and dispensed 
 with a good stout drink before he dis- 
 covered his mistake. Speechless with 
 rage and vinegar he could only shake 
 his fist in the face of the boy, at the 
 same time giving such power of ex- 
 pression to his face as would have 
 been highly applauded on the stage. 
 John was promised a good flogging 
 and the master wore a sour look the 
 rest of the day. 
 
 Dudley Leavitt, the astronomer and 
 almanac maker, used to teach at the 
 Hodgdon, and board with his sister 
 on Bean Hill, always going on foot. 
 Masters Thorn, Bowles, and Sutton 
 were the most ancient teachers, most 
 of whom excelled in arithmetic. It 
 is said that Master Thorn, being cor- 
 nered by Moses Batchelder on a sum, 
 went to Master Abrara Simonds, one 
 of the best learned men of the town, 
 who refused to assist him, but that he 
 sat down with Benjamin Winslow, 
 who could not cipher but who did it 
 in his head, while the teacher wrote 
 it down in figures. 
 
 Sally Thornton was the first female 
 teacher. She used also to preach. 
 
 It was a long established custom for 
 the big boys to sell the ashes and buy 
 rum for the last day of school. Good 
 Mother Winslow being present, once, 
 when forestick, backlog, and all came 
 
NORTHFIELD. 
 
 rolling out on the hearth and uearl)' 
 suffocated them all before they could 
 be righted, spoke right out, and said, 
 " It were better to sell the ashes for 
 shovel and tongs than to buj' rum for 
 the scholars." She was silenced at 
 once by a voter present, who said, 
 " Let 'um have their rum — let 'um 
 have it. It '11 do them as much good 
 as salt does sheep once in awhile." 
 And so the ashes did not go for shovel 
 and tongs. 
 
 I should not wish to say that North- 
 field people were worse than others in 
 using spirituous liquor, but the first 
 traders all kept it, and Saturday 
 nights, men, boys, and all were in the 
 habit of going with their jugs for a 
 large or small quantity of it. No 
 public gathering was in order without 
 it. Mr. Jeremiah Kimball, who 
 traded at the Centre many years, 
 used to say, " He had sold rum 
 enough there to fill the whole valley, 
 so that a vessel could float above the 
 treetops, straight from Sanbornton 
 Bridge to the Canterbury' line." 
 
 Let it be said to the credit of the 
 good people, however, that right there 
 the temperance reform began in this 
 wise. There was to be a quarterly 
 meeting at the Old Meeting House, 
 and Squire Sainuel Forrest, who often 
 went with his team to Portsmouth for 
 supplies for the merchants and others, 
 was charged with the duty of deliver- 
 ing a barrel of New England rum in 
 season for the anticipated gathering. 
 No reason was given for the delay, 
 but the good cheer did not arrive un- 
 til time for the afternoon service. The 
 meeting was postponed, and the bar- 
 rel tapped without being unloaded 
 from the wagon, and all drank their 
 
 fill. Elder Mahew Clark was to 
 preach the afternoon sermon. As he 
 ascended the long stains to the little 
 pulpit beneath the sounding board, 
 he looked down on the elders and peo- 
 ple half asleep from the effects of their 
 libations. 
 
 He took for his text, " Woe to 
 drunkards of Ephraim." Nothing like 
 that sermon was ever heard before, 
 either in manner, matter, or effect. 
 
 Rum began at once to be excluded 
 from religious gatherings, funerals, 
 and weddings, and Mr. Forrest is 
 said then to have declared that he 
 would never haul another drop of rum 
 from Portsmouth or elsewhere. Rev. 
 Liba Conant, who long preached 
 there used to relate that he once at- 
 tended an ordination at Loudon, 
 where liquor was furnished and a fife 
 and drum were used to call the people 
 to the afternoon ser\-ice. 
 
 Mr. Moses Winslowsays that wdiile 
 the town was hesitating over the 
 building and location of the Old 
 Meeting House, Mr. Peter Wadleigh 
 and others began one on the plain, 
 just above Kendegeda brook, but it 
 was burned, perhaps purposely. 
 There is no record of it. 
 
 The Old Meeting House was built 
 by the town and money appropriated 
 for some years to pay for preaching, 
 and a committee chosen to see to the 
 supply at each annual town-meeting. 
 
 The first bridge over the Winuipis- 
 eogee river was a few rods east of the 
 present structure, by the Firth mill, 
 and was made of birch logs in 1763. 
 The town voted $300 "old tenner," 
 to help build it, and it was used for 
 
12 
 
 NORTHFIELD. 
 
 horses as well as pedestrians. It was 
 over this bridge that Mr. Runnels 
 says the Barleys passed on their way 
 to their new home in Sanbornton. 
 Let us imagine we are in sight. First 
 conies Mrs. Burley on horseback, 
 with the two youngest children in her 
 arms. Behind her was a bag contain- 
 ing a bushel and a half of meal. In 
 a bed tick, thrown over the hor.se, 
 was the barnyard poultry. There 
 were holes cut in the lower portions, 
 on either side, for breathing places 
 for the birds, out of which their heads 
 protruded. Mr. Burley followed on 
 foot, with the two older boys and two 
 cows. 
 
 A better bridge was built with the 
 assistance of Canterbury, in 17S4, 
 which was carried away by an ice 
 freshet in 1S24. Another took its 
 ' place at once. This one fell in 1839, 
 with a six-horse stage full of passen- 
 gers on it. None of them lost their 
 lives, but several were thrown into 
 the water and otherwise injured, and 
 later recovered damages of the town. 
 But one of the horses was rescued. 
 
 There was also a bridge over the 
 river, close by the Holmes, now the 
 " Tilton mills,'" built by subscription. 
 Squire Nathaniel Holmes was the 
 prime mover. Mr. John Dearborn, 
 father of Joseph P., furnished the 
 lumber and much of the labor. Mr. 
 Holmes wished to use a house stand- 
 ing over the river as a boarding 
 house. He purchased the Philip 
 Clough farm of which this house was 
 the center, embracing the land where 
 the first seminary stood, and as far 
 south as the fairgrounds. To improve 
 its value, he laid out a three-rod road, 
 across the farm to the Colony road, 
 buying a strip of land of Mr. Cate. 
 This road, past Mr. Holmes's house. 
 
 by the mill, over the bridge, and as 
 far south as the Colony road, was on 
 his own land and was never a high- 
 way until Park street was laid out, in 
 1857, and extended across the plain 
 to the Kendegeda bridge. 
 
 An old sawmill stood at the east 
 end of this bridge, which was built in 
 old Colonial times, no one knows 
 when. It was purchased by the rail- 
 road and in course of time demolished. 
 The bridge, too, was not a very sub- 
 stantial structure. One end fell into 
 the river, and the other was pulled 
 down. 
 
 The route of the Boston, Concord 
 & Montreal railroad, as first surveyed, 
 in 1844, after crossing the brook on 
 the plains, bore to the east, crossing 
 the fields back of Jason Foss's build- 
 ings and B. F. Cofran's, along the 
 side of the hill to a point a little above 
 the "Granite Mills," where the de- 
 pots were to be located. The village 
 people were not thus to be left out, 
 and raised such a clamor that the 
 present course was granted, thus add- 
 ing two long cuts and two bridges to 
 the cost of construction. 
 
 The road was opened to vSanborn- 
 ton Bridge, May 22, 1848, with great 
 rejoicing. All day the citizens of 
 Northfield and Sanbornton Bridge 
 were transported to Concord and back 
 free of charge. 
 
 Mr. Hunt, in his Centennial ad- 
 dress, tells of a Mrs. Colby who 
 used to warp her webs on the apple 
 trees ; also of the many women and 
 children who used to braid hats and 
 pick berries, sometimes for the entire 
 support of large families, but Mrs. 
 John Simouds without doubt excelled 
 
NORTHFIELD. 
 
 them all. Her sou, Thomas, used to 
 tell of a fine suit of clothes she wove 
 and made for him, using only bear's 
 hair and thistledown, and that they 
 passed for broadcloth when he wore 
 them up to Danville Green to muster. 
 
 It was quite the custom for the fe- 
 male teachers, even if they had fiftj' 
 or sixty scholars and boarded round, 
 to spin and weave a web of cloth each 
 term in some friendly home in the 
 neighborhood. 
 
 Mr. Dockham, who had charge of 
 erecting the first seminary building, 
 told me that it was begun without an}' 
 plans or estimates. They were to 
 erect a house sevent}' feet long, forty 
 wide, and two stories in height. 
 
 Those of you who remember the 
 location of the " United Panoplian " 
 reading-room, and the primary school- 
 room will not wonder at their unsuit- 
 able location. Warren Hill made the 
 bricks for it from the clay bank, back 
 of the Granite mills. Colonel Cofrau 
 burned them, and Isaac Bod well laid 
 the walls. 
 
 'In December, 1835, Rev. Geo. Storrs 
 attempted to deliver an antislavery lecture in 
 the Methodist church, now the town house, 
 but was dragged from his knees while in 
 prayer, preliminary to his address, by a dep- 
 uty sheriff on a warrant charging him with 
 being an idle and disorderly person, going 
 about the town and county disturbing the 
 public peace. 
 
 His trial took place the next day 
 and he was acquitted. 
 
 Northfield cannot boast of any man 
 of extraordinary fame. We have 
 turnished no president, no governor, 
 no Hobson or Detvey, but among the 
 
 residents of the olden time was a pre- 
 eminently' lazy man and a wonderful 
 storj' teller. The former, William 
 Glines, was generally known by the 
 attractive name of "Old Cartnap," 
 as were his descendants to the latest 
 generation. The old fellow had met 
 with the men of the neighborhood to 
 work out the highway tax. He was 
 slow and in everybody's way, and 
 gladly accepted their suggestion to 
 get under a cart by the roadside, and 
 sleep while they worked out his tax. 
 Just how much he slept is not told, 
 as he was jjelted from time to time 
 with clods and dirt by the fun-loving 
 men and boys. His mother was a 
 Cartwrigbt, a noble family in Boston, 
 and thus had a right (wright) to the 
 Cart. His wife, Hannah Hancock, 
 was a niece of John Hancock, who 
 signed the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. Let it be said also that his 
 seeming indolence may have been 
 caused by the hardships of his youth- 
 ful ser\'ice ^u the Revolutionary War 
 in which he suffered the privations of 
 prison life. Two of his sons, who 
 went to the West, became prosperous 
 and wealthy men, the one at Findlay, 
 and the other at Marietta, Ohio. 
 
 The story teller, Grandsire Hall, 
 iised to sit on winter evenings, in the 
 chimney corner, and tell of the won- 
 derful things that used to happen 
 when he was a boy. He used to tell 
 of a snow storm that came the last day 
 of April. At first, it was only an 
 inch of show and an inch of hail on 
 top of it. Then for years, it was a 
 foot of snow and a foot of hail on 
 top of it, and as time passed on it 
 became a rod of snow and a rod on 
 top of it. 
 
 ' Greeley's " History of llic Orent ReheUioii 
 
 Mr. Simonds, familiarly called 
 
14 
 
 NOR TH FIELD. 
 
 " Uncle Tom," was very weather- 
 wise, and used to go about the 
 neighborhood announcing a storm 
 coming, as his eye, that wasn't 
 there, had pained him all night, and 
 the almanac said the moon was 
 " apodging." 
 
 But the quaintest of all quaint peo- 
 ple was the family of Sergeant Blanch- 
 ard. His two dwarf sons, stubbing 
 about town, wearing stovepipe hats 
 given them by the fun-loving boys, 
 were, like " Falstaff's recruits," in- 
 tensely comical. Nature had played 
 havoc with them physically, with 
 such wonderful uniformity, that half 
 the well matched yokes of oxen in 
 town, for years, were named for tliem, 
 "Billy and Jerry." The father had 
 been in the army and was every inch 
 a soldier. 
 
 It is said that at his wife's funeral, 
 dazed by his grief, perhaps, and 
 having in mind the long jDrocession 
 as it followed him over the snow, 
 thought he was conducting a dress 
 parade, and called out " Halt ! " He 
 then proceeded to tell them that 
 ' ' forty year ago I shot a ' beer ' on 
 this very spot." Then calling out 
 " forward march," they proceeded. 
 A few months later his daughter 
 went in haste to a neighbor's and 
 said, " Dad's mighty bad off! Aint 
 gwiue ter live long, want to get 
 something good to read to him. 
 Wont yer lend me yer last year's 
 almanack 1 " 
 
 Warren H. Smith was for many 
 years preeminently the business man 
 of the town. He began building rail- 
 roads in 1S47, more than a half cen- 
 tury ago, when thirty years of age, 
 having previously for some years 
 
 farmed extensively in summer and en- 
 gaged winters in lumbering. His 
 first contract commenced two miles 
 below Sanbornton Bridge and ex- 
 tended to Warren, sixty- four miles. 
 Later from Warren to Wells River, 
 twenty-two miles. Then, in 1848, he 
 built five miles on the Manchester & 
 Lawrence, also from Wells River to 
 St. Johnsbury in 1850. He then 
 went to Connecticut in 1S53, for a 
 contract on the Fishkill & Provi- 
 dence, and thence to Tennessee. He 
 built eleven miles on the Suncook 
 and fifteen on the Sugar River road, 
 twenty- five miles from Cohasset to 
 Duxburv, thirty-eight on the Mont- 
 pelier and Wells River, and nine and 
 a half on the Franconia Notch. 
 Nearly all these contracts included 
 grading, track laying, masonry, and 
 bridging, and required a large force 
 of laborers. 
 
 Joseph Gerrish was for many years 
 the leading farmer of the town. His 
 farm consisted of many acres of both 
 intervale and upland. He erected 
 spacious barns and a large and com- 
 modious house. He possessed good 
 horses, ample means, and a family of 
 thirteen children. He lived gener- 
 ously and was looked up to and re- 
 spected as one of the most substantial 
 farmers in the town. Hediedin 1851, 
 leaving three highly cultivated and 
 fruitful farms to his sons, none of 
 whom no.v live, and scarcely an acre 
 of land still remains in the family 
 name. Mr. Gerrish, in the early 
 part of the Revolutionarj' War, 
 erected a still and manufactured 
 whiskey from potatoes of his own 
 raising, but abandoned the business 
 after peace was restored. 
 
NORTHFIELD. 
 
 15 
 
 1 Hon. Asa P. Cate was perhaps the most 
 eminent pubhc man of the town where he 
 spent the whole of his useful life. He was a 
 lawyer of note, a judge of Probate for Merri- 
 mack county, a senator and president of the 
 senate, a liberal friend of the New Hamp- 
 shire Conference seminary, superintendent 
 of school for many years, county solicitor, 
 railroad commissioner, his party's candidate 
 for governor, and the founder of tlie Citi- 
 zens' National Bank. 
 
 He had also the following military 
 record : He was lieutenant of the 
 Second Company of Light Infantr)' in 
 the Thirty-eighth Regiment in 1833, 
 promoted to captain the year follow- 
 ing, major in 1837, lieutenant-colonel 
 the next year, and colonel in 1839. 
 
 I cannot close without paying due 
 tribute to the natural beauty and at- 
 tractiveness of this my native town, 
 to the dear ones long since passed on 
 before, who watched over my child- 
 hood and the earnest teachers who 
 guided my wayward feet along the 
 often rugged path of knowledge, to 
 the man of God who so earnestly set 
 before us the things that make for 
 peace and right living, to the noble 
 
 iGeorjjc H. Moses in Granite Monthly. 
 
 institution which was once the joy 
 and pride of us all, where noble and 
 wise men and women showed us the 
 ctirious things of nature, art, and sci- 
 ence, which have made so many of 
 our lives rich in thought, feeling, 
 knowledge, and reminiscence. 
 
 Coming back after some years' 
 sojourn upon the prairies of the West 
 I appreciate more than ever the 
 charming variety of hill and dale and 
 noble forest. How forcibly does my 
 heart respond to the sentiment ex- 
 pressed by the poet Goldsmith, in his 
 "Deserted Village," a sentiment as- 
 sented to by so many, who, in distant 
 homes, long ever for the dear scenes 
 of childhood : 
 
 " In all my wanderings round this world of 
 
 care, 
 In all my griefs — and God has given my 
 
 share^ — 
 I still had hopes my latest hours to crown, 
 Amidst these humble bowers to lay me 
 
 down. 
 To husband out life's taper at the close, 
 And keep the flame from wasting by repose, 
 And. as an hare, whom hounds and horns 
 
 pursue 
 Pants to the place from whence at first she 
 
 flew, 
 I still had hopes my long vexations past 
 Safe to return — and die at home at last. 
 
 Note— Authorities drawn upon: Runnell's "History of Sanbornton ; " Potters "Military 
 History of New Hampshire;" " Adjutant General's Records;" Professor Hunt's "Centennial 
 Address ; " " Papers of the Late Judge Nesraith ; " Mrs. Mary A. Jones ; Mrs. William Clough ; 
 Mrs. Jason Foss ; Mrs. F. S. Spencer, and others. 
 
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