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CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

 

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT
FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY

HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE

 

 

 

 

 

 
‘HISTORY QF ANTRIM.
HISTORY

OF THE

TOWN OF ANTRIM, N. H.

FOR A PERIOD OF
ONE CENTURY;
FROM 1744 TO 1844.

BY

Rev. JOHN M. WHITON.

 

CONOORD:
STEAM POWER PRESS OF McFARLAND & JENKS,
BEAR OF LOW’S BLOCK, MAIN STREET.
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Abswbz

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

 

Page:
DEDICATION, 2 5‘ : ‘ ‘ ; ‘ ‘ 3
IntRoDucTION, ‘ ‘ ‘ . 5
Crvin History oF THE Town, fii 1744 t to 1844, j 18
EcciEstasticaL Hisrory, for the same period, . ; 5 43
Novices oF EARLY SETTLERS, : j ; ‘i : 53
TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN,  . : : 78
MiscELLANEOUS MaTTERs, : ‘ ; F : 87

G16 +t B :
14 B
DEDICATION.

TO THE CITIZENS OF ANTRIM:

Havine spent with you forty-four years in the Ministry of the Gospel,
twenty-eight as the town’s minister, and the remaining sixteen as pastor of the
Presbyterian church and congregation, in general peace and harmony, I have
felt of course a deep interest in all the transactions and concerns of the place.
Unable much longer to perform, especially in winter, the full amount of pastoral
labor necessary in a society so widely scattered, I propose at no distant day to
resign my charge. Soon after my ordination, 1808, I began to collect from the
first settlers, most of whom were then on the stage, accounts of the early transac-
tions in the place. Unwilling they should pass into the oblivion to which they
are rapidly hastening, I have concluded to publish this Historical Sketch. The
yecords of the town, church, presbytery, and my own private records have been
thoroughly examined. As a sort of farewell token of my interest in your
welfare, and an expression of gratitude for the friendly reception of my labors,
on the part of the great mass of the inhabitants, for a period now approaching
toward half a century, I submit these pages to your perusal, in the hope, that not-
withstanding the details are minute, and the interest in them limited to those who
are or have been residents, they may be found not altogether devoid of utility to
the present and future citizens of the place. That you may enjoy the blessings
of education and religion, and see their happy results in the prevalence of peace,
good order, Christian morality, and the support of Christian institutions, is the
ardent wish of

JOHN M. WHITON,
Antrim, June, 1852.
INTRODUCTION.

Tue town of Antrim having been originally settled by Scotch Trish Presby-
terians, a brief view of the causes which led to the emigration of their ancestors,
first from Scotland to Ireland, and next, at a subsequent period, from Ireland to
America, will throw light on the following History.

Near the close of the sixteenth century, the Catholic Irish raised a formidable
rebellion against the English government. They doubtless had grievances that
ought to have been redressed ; but the question of right, in relation to the
matter, falls not within the scope of this work. Queen Elizabeth, then on the
British throne, distinguished for the vigor of her administration, suppressed the
rebellion and confiscated the great landed estates of many of the Popish leaders,
to the amount. of half a million of acres. It then became important to the
English government both to provide for the occupancy and cultivation of these
lands, and to infuse into the population of the country a Protestant element
that should serve as a counterpoise to Catholic influence, and a check on
fature plots of the native Irish. Where should these new elements of popu-
lation be found? The Scots were zealous Protestants and Presbyterians. In-
habiting a rough and rugged country, the offer of other lands more arable and
fertile, would be to them attractive. In the reign of Elizabeth’s successor, James
I, the vacant lands in the north of Ireland were offered to them on terms 60
easy that multitudes were induced, about 1612, to cross the water separating the
west of Scotland from the north of Ireland, and settle in the counties of Antrim
and Londonderry; and, more sparsely, in several neighboring counties. Many
of them were from the Scottish county of Argyle. The emigration continued
for some years, during which the northern counties of Ireland were overspread.
with a population of Scottish Protestants.

They resided in Ireland in tolerable security and comfort more than a quarter
of a century, founding numerous churches and presbyteries, and introducing into
the country a new era of civilization and agricultural improvement. The
Catholic Zrish, the original Celtic population, regarded them, however, with
prejudice and aversion, as foreigners, heretics, and intruders on their lands —
vi INTRODUCTION.

they felt their presence as an odious restraint, a humiliating memorial of their
own subjugation. The animosity smouldering in their breasts, like explosive
elements pent up in the bowels of the earth, burst forth, 1641, into open re-
bellion. The civil troubles then existing in England, inspired the hope that
from that quarter the Protestants could look for no succor. In one day, Oct.
23d, in execution of a deep laid but carfully concealed plot of the Irish Catholics,
many thousand English and Scottish Protestants were massacred before they
could provide for defence or even suspect danger. It was like a sudden, sweep-
ing hwricane. Those who escaped the slaughter lived for several succeeding
years in disquietude and danger, until at length the strong arm of Cromwell,
1649, subdued and disarmed the Irish. The fact that the Papists were deprived
of their arms, while the Protestants retained their’s, is said to have given rise to
the Scotch-Irish custom of firing guns at wedding festivals, in token of superiority
over their enemies.

From 1684 to 1688, the colonists in Ireland received from Scotland accessions
to their numbers, consisting of refugees, Scottish Covenanters, who fled their
country to avoid the bloody executions of Graham of Claverhouse, aname never
pronounced by Protestant lips without execration; who, under the auspices of
the tyrant, James I, persecuted the Protestants of Scotland to the death.
Among these refugees were the McKeans, the McGregors, the Cargills, and
others, some of whom were the ancestors of persons now resident of Antrim.

' The courage, loyalty, and Protestantism of these Scottish colonists were put
to a severe test in the memorable siege of the city of Londonderry, 1689. That
arbitrary Popish bigot, James I, had been expelled from his throne the preced-
ing year, and succeeded by William WI, a Protestant prince of liberal views.
This great revolution, the news of which was received in New-England with joy
unbounded, dashed the hopes of the Catholics of restoring Papal supremacy in
Britain, and gave promise of security to the Protestant religion. James, who
had fled to France, resolved on an attempt to recover his crown, and having re-
ceived aid in men and money from the King of France, crossed over to Ireland
and found such resources in the sympathy and zeal of the Irish Catholics, as
enabled him to raise a formidable army. His plan was, to pass with his force’
from the north of Ireland to the west of Scotland, to rally to his standard the
powerful clans of the Catholic Highlanders, and with this great, augmentation
of strengh to invade England, and bear down all opposition. To the execution
of this design, the possession of the city of Londonderry, the population of
which, and the surrounding region, was in large measure Scottish and Protest-
ant, was essential. Several treacherous efforts to seize the city by strategem,
were detected and bafiied. It was at length invested by a powerful Irish army,
who pushed the siege with the utmost vigor. Never was made a braver defence.
INTRODUCTION. vii

Guided and animated by the Governors of their own choice, the Rev. George
Walker and Col. Henry Baker, the Protestant defenders of the city, aware that
not only a kingdom but also their religious liberties were at stake, repelled,
during a siege of eight months, assault after assault, till their ranks were thinned
and their stores exhausted: To such extremities of want were they reduced,
that a quarter of dog’s flesh sold for five shillings, six-pence; a dog’s head for
two shillings ; a pound of horse-flesh twenty pence ; a cat four shillings six-pence ;

3 rat, one shilling ; a mouse, six-pence. Many feared they should be compelled

- to resort for food to the bodies of the dead. At length, vessels despatched from
England with provisions, forced their way with infinite difficulty to the city, and
were hailed by the famished defenders with acclamations of joy. Baffled and
disheartened, the Irish army, having lost some thousands of men by sword, and
camp diseases, raised the siege and withdrew. From some of these heroic de-
fenders of the city, a few of the present inhabitants of Antrim can claim descent ;
the McKeans, Cochrans, Dinsmoors, and perhaps others.

The successful defence of Londonderry, followed by the victory of William
over James at the Boyne water, and the speedy subjugation of all Ireland, gave
to the harrassed Protestants safety and quiet. They could worship God agree-
ably to their own sense of duty, without molestation, and lived for many suc-
ceeding years in comparative comfort.

Their condition, however, was not without distasteful circumstances. Rents
and taxes were burdensome; and in addition to the voluntary support of their
own ministers, they must pay tithes for the support of the established church.
It was natural for men who had suffered so much in defence of liberty, to thirst
for a more perfect degree of it than was attainable under a monarchial govern-
ment, an established church, and » landed aristocracy. Flattering accounts of
the rich and cheap soil, plenty, and personal independence attainable in America,
were wafted to them by almost every western breeze; inducing numbers to think
of a removal to the New World. Early in 1718, a large company of clergymen,
tradesmen, and farmers sent an agent to ascertain from Gov. Shute of Massa-
chusetts on what terms they could obtain grants of land :—the agent, Rev. Mr.
Boyd, received from the Governor every necessary encouragement, and carried
back a report so favorable, that in the latter part of the year five vessels, laden
with emigrants and their effects, sailed from the north of Ireland for Boston.
On their arrival, a part of them settled in that city, and after some years founded
a church, originally Presbyterian, but since known as “Federal Street Church.”
Another portion settled in other places in the central and western parts of Mas-
sachusetts, as Lunenburg, Worcester, Palmer, Pelham, and Colraine. A third
portion of these emigrants had -lived in Ireland under ‘the ministry of Rev.
James McGregor, who accompanied them to America; they wished to settle
Vili INTRODUCTION.

together in a compact body, and to enjoy the services of Mr. McGregor as their

pastor. To facilitate the exploration of the country, in order to the selection of
a proper location, they divided themselves into several parties, and passed their
first winter in America in different places, as Andover, Dracut, and Casco Bay.

‘The party who wintered at Casco Bay, near Portland in Maine, suffered much
from cold and want of provisions. Not pleased with the lands in that region,
they returned in spring to Haverhill, Ms., and soon ‘selected Nutfield, since called
Londonderry, as their future home. The plantation was begun April, 1719, by
sixteen families, that of Mr. McGregor being one of the number; & wise and
excellent minister, whose name isheld in honor to this day. Accessions poured in
rapidly ; many families of their countrymen were added to them that same season ;
in a few years, the church they founded in the wilderness contained about 300
communicants. They took the utmost pains to obtain a good title, both legal
and moral, to their lands. Lieut. Gov. Wentworth, then presiding over New-
Hampshire, essentially befriended them. From these people sprang the first
settlers of Antrim, Peterboro’, New-Boston, Bedford, and many other towns in
New-Hampshire, Vermont, New-York, Maine, and Nova Scotia. Not improb-
ably their descendants, in the United States and the British Provinces, are at
this time not less than 50,000 souls ;— Parker carries the estimate much higher.

President Dwight justly pronounces Londonderry to have been the most re-
spectable Scottish settlement in New-England. The settlers brought with them
the foot spinning-wheel, and soon manufactured Jarge quantitiés of fine linen
cloth and thread, which gained in market a high reputation; the sale of these
articles in distant towns and provinces, gave to many persons a profitable em-
ployment, and Jaid the foundation of some of the largest fortunes in the counties
of Rockingham and Hillsboro’. They were the first who introduced into the
State, to any considerable extent, the cultivation of the potatoe. Londonderry
presented, more than a century ago, many commodious buildings and well-cul-
tivated farms. Among the descendants of this people, are several of the
Governors of New-Hampshire, many members of Congréss, eminent ministers
of the gospel, and some military‘men of high distinction, both in the revolution-
ary war, and in that of 1812.

Many of the native New-Englandets at first regarded the settlers of London-
derry with prejudice and suspicion, called them Jrish, and ignorantly imagined
they must be Papists. Better acquaintance dispelled these illusions, and made
their English neighbors to understand that between the Scotch Irish and the proper
or Celtic Irish, there was a striking difference in point of race, language, manners,
and religion.

The Scotch-Irish were a people of simple habits, of little artificial refinement,
but of sterling intelligence ; high-spirited, quick in their resentment, of great
INTRODUCTION. ix

plainess of speech ; generous in their feelings; lovers of wit and repartee ; con-
stant in their friendships ; courageous and independent in their feelings and
bearing ; possessed of deep reverence for the institutions of Christianity, and
immovably attached to the religious principles of their fathers. Their hospi-
tality was unbounded, being freely tendered both to friend and stranger, and as
readily accepted. Great frankness in avowing their religious principles was a
trait of their character always prominent ; not that they were apt to obtrude the
subject on others, but if what they deemed cardinal religious truths were assailed,
they were not men to stand mute. Their fearless defence of principle often ap-
proached almost to that recommended by John Randolph to his colored servant,
with whom he ascended a lofty mountain ; when, excited and transported by the
glorious prospect spread out before him, he said, “Jack, if hercafter any body
says there is no God, do you tell him he lies!”

Of two other traits of their character, truth will not permit a representation
so favorable. Drinking together was regarded as a pledge of friendship, and it
was thought to be a matter rather venial to drink, provided they did not get
down. The other objectionable trait was a propensity to settle little personal
difficulties by a boxing-match. These traits are now effaced ; or no more prom-
inent among them than among those of English derivation. There were
many redeeming traits: if aman had hard thoughts of a neighbor, he did not
vent them in private slander; there was no “ snake-in-the-grass” management ;
he went with a bold step, erect gait, and loud voice to expostulate with the of-
fender ; if their anger was easily kindled, it was as easily appeased, when they
would be good friends as ever.

In their wedding ceremonies were some peculiarities. All their relatives,
however distant in consanguinity, and the neighbors, must be invited, two or
three days beforehand ; a short notice being considered as a slight. The bride-
groom and his friends set out on horse-back for the abode of the bride, and were
met on the way by a party of the bride’s ‘male friends and relatives :— each
party selected a champion “to run for the bottle ” to the house of the bride’s
father ; the one who arrived soonest being considered as the victor. They re-
turned with the bottle to the company on the road, all drank, and then proceeded
together to the scene of the wedding, being saluted from the houses on the way
by the firing of guns, and themselves firing a salute on their arrival at the bride’s
residence. If any in.adjacent houses felt themselves slighted by not being in-
vited, they sometimes vented their spleen by firing squibs instead of a full
charge ; one instance of this kind is said to have occurred in Antrim.

At funerals, all labor was suspended, people walked miles to the house of
mourning, and spirituous liquor was passed round the whole assembly, both before
and after the religious service.

1*
x INTRODUCTION.

These usages and peculiarities were quite perceptible in the early days of
Antrim ; modified indeed, and somewhat assimulated to those of English origin
by a half a century’s residence in America; yet presenting, at that time, points
of contrast, indicative of a different race. The speech of the early settlers was
considerably marked with the brogue, the broad Scottish pronunciation ; and
contained some words purely Scottish. To English ears this brogue was rather
pleasant; it seemed to add force and emphasis to the expression. One of the
former ministers of Londonderry having preached an election sermon before the
Legislature of the State, one of the members, on a motion to print the usual
number of copies, remarked that he should move to increase the number, if the
brogue could be printed with the rest of it. The two races, English and
Scotch-Irish, are now, in this region, so intermingled by marriage and assimilated
by social intercourse that almost the last vestiges of these peculiarities have dis-
appeared ; and instead of some shade of prejudice formerly existing, there is
now subsisting between them mutual respect and cordial good will.

The Scottish character has certainly a substratum of great energy and excel-
lence. The emigrants from the north of Ireland, and their immediate descend-
ants in New Hampshire, were a frugal and hardy, yet generous and well-prin-
cipled people ; diligent readers of the Bible; strict observers of the Sabbath ;
constant attendants on public worship, walking, if needful, many miles to the
church rather than be absent; great abhorrers both of Popery and Infidelity ;
attentive to the moral and religious instruction of their children, taking them to
the parish catechizings formerly observed in the Presbyterian church, and causing
them to commit to memory perfectly, not only the shorter, but in many instances
the longer catechism of the Westminster Assembly of Divines.

They brought with them many memorials of the “ father-land,” treasured
up in memory, in the form of ballads, songs, stories, and “catches of history ;””
most of which are now lost. Some of them met with thrilling incidents on
the passage, of which we will give a sample or two. A passenger vessel, in which
was a Mrs. Wilson, was taken by a pirate ship; soon after the capture Mrs. W.
gave birth to a daughter, an event which so awakened the sensibilities of the
pirate captain, who had a wife and children at home, that he permitted the pas-
senger ship to proceed on her voyage unharmed, having given Mrs. Wilson asilk
dress and other valuables, and requested that the child might be called after the
name of his own wife, Mary. Among the descendants of this Mary Wilson,
thus ushered into the world in the memorable “ pirate ship,” are some who have
been natives and residents of Antrim. Another ship, which brought to this
country a company of emigrants in 1740, was long talked of as “the starved
ship.” One of the passengers was Samuel Fisher, afterwards known as Dea.
Fisher, whose descendants now amount to almost one thousand. The provisions
INTRODUCTION. xi

were so far exhausted, that only one pint of oat-meal and a very little water re-
mained to each person. Mr. Fisher and the rest of the passengers and crew,
subsisted fourtcen days on one table-spoonful of meal to each person per day,
moistened with salt water. They were at length driven to the dreadful necessity
of feeding on the bodies of some who had died; and at last of casting lots to
determine who should die to preserve the rest! The lot fell on Mr. Fisher; but
in the critical hour a vessel hove in sight, saw their signal of distress, and sup-
plied their wants. It was said of him, “that in after life, he could never see,
without pain, the least morsel of food wasted, or a pail of water thrown care-
lessly on the ground.” Some Antrim families have been connected by marriage
with some of his posterity.
CIVIL HISTORY OF ANTRIM,

FROM 1744 TO 1844,

 

“We will tell you, if you listen, For a home they fronted danger—
How a hundred years a 0, Wrought with rifle lying near:
Pilgrims saw our waters glisten To all luxury a stranger
In the valley, far below. Was the dauntless Pioneer.
Where the forest, grand and lovely, Noble Fathers! silent lying -
In primeval beauty stood ; In your graves, rest —stern and cold :’
And the wandering red men, only, Still ye preach with voice undying,
Knew the windings thro’ the wood. To your children, from the mould!
Where our household fires are burning, -And ye tell us, ‘ Love each other;
Wild deer bounded, far and free : Guard the homes woe toiled to win—
Streams, our busy mill-wheels turning, Let no hatred of your brother, ,
idly sang a song of glee; Doubt or malice entertain.
Where our Fathers sat beside them, Chiefly on each household altar
After travel long and sore— Keep devotion burning bright ;
Fearing nought that could betide them, Then ye will not pause or falter,
Might they find a Homz once more. In the doing of the right.’ ”?

From the Litchfield County Centennial.

Inpraw and French wars desolated many of the frontier settle-
ments of New-England, during most of the period from 1675 to
1718. Explorers and hunters found it perilous to adventure far into
the interior wilderness, which was traversed by Indian enemies. The
only settlement then existing within the present County of Hills-
boro’, was Dunstable, now Nashua. The western part of the County
was not only a wilderness, but a region nearly unknown. After the
peace of Utrecht, 1718, enterprising settlers soon began to establish
themselves in Amherst, Merrimac, Hollis, Litchfield, and the vicinity,
and hunters penetrated into the valley of the Contoocook, in quest of
the moose, bear, deer, beaver, and other fur-producing animals, with
which the forests abounded. Tradition says that the celebrated Love-
well, who fell at last in the bloody’conflict with the Indians at Pe-
quawket, once led a scouting party, prior to 1725, from Nashua to
the present town of Washington, in search of Indians; and the cir-
cumstance that a.mountain near Hast-Washington bears his name,
lends to the tradition an air of probability. He must have passed
through or near the northeast portion of Antrim. In the quarter
century from 1715 to 1740, the fine valley of the Contoocook became
pretty well known. Near the close of this period, Massechusetts,
then claiming a large slice of the present New-Hampshire, and hop-
ing that settlements formed under her auspices would strengthen her
claim of jurisdiction, made several grants of land in this region :

2
14 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

among them, that of New-Boston, 1736; of Peterboro’, 1788; and
of Lyndeboro’ and Hillsboro’ about the same time ; the grants being
soon followed by the immigration of inhabitants. nn

In 1741, the line between Massachusetts and New-Hampshire,
which had been the subject of long and violent disputes, was defimitive-
ly determined by the royal authority, in 2 manner gratifying to New-
Hampshire, and distasteful to Massachusetts. . :

‘That the territory, now constituting Antrim, was the hunting-
ground of Indians of the Penacook tribe, and the occasional resi-
dence of some of them, is certain. Indian graves were found by an
early settler on the farm, now Mr. Dow’s; and traces of an ancient
corn-field, the hills being distinctly visible, on the farm, now Jesse
Goodell’s. Indian relies of stone in various localities have been turn-
ed up by the plow. An Indian stone pipe, of neat constraction'and
tastefully ornamented, was found imbedded in sand in the crevice of a
rock, near Esq. Parmenter’s, where it had been perhaps for ages.
The chief seats of the Penacook Indians were at Concord and Man-
chester. Their Sachem, when the English first became acquainted
- with them, was the celebrated Passaconaway, who made his subjects
believe that he was almost a Divinity ; that he could make trees dance
and water burn. This tribe, once familiar with these streams and
mountains, emigrated to Canada a century and a quarter ago.

There is some reason to believe that one of the parties’ of early
English hunters, who traversed these hills and forests before a settle-
ment-was effected, met a tragical fate within the present limits of
Antrim. More than sixty years ago, a Mr. Puffer, then living on the
farm now Artemas Brown’s, plowed up, on the flat, south of his house,
the greater portion of the skeleton of aman. Not far distant, he
discovered two old graves, each having a head and foot stone, rough,
yet plainly visible. On the bank of the adjacent brook he discover-
ed the ruins of a hunter’s camp; the logs being quite decayed, yet
exhibiting plainly the size and form of the camp. On the side of one
of the graves grew a beech tree, apparently thirty or forty years old.
The appearances induced Puffer and others to believe that the bones,
graves and camp, were not relics of Indians; but that a party of
three hunters had been attacked by some infectious disease; that as_
one died, the others buried him ; that when a second died, the Survie).
vor buried him'also; that when he died, none being left to bury him,
his body remained above ground, 'was gradually covered with leaves
and dust,'and the bones were at length turned up by the plow. The
explanation is conjectural, but-perhaps the most probable that can be

ven. To ee ne 3
= A few families had made openings in the forest, and erected their
log cabins, in the vicinity of the present Bridge Village, in Hills-
boro’, a little prior to 1744. One of their associates was Philip
Riley, a native of Ireland, who had resided for atime in Sudbury,
Ms. He began, 1744, to make a farm; the one now occupied by
Hon. Jacob ‘Whittemore, and built a small log house. The place
was supposed at the time to be included within the limits of Hills-

  
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 15

boro’, but afterwards on the adjustment of the lines it was found to
into Antrim. Riley was the pioneer of the settlement of the
place. Pe
Two years afterwards he was compelled to flee. April 26, 1746, a
party of Indians attacked a garrisoned house in Hopkinton, the in-
mates being ‘asleep, and the door having been left open by one who
had gone out early to feed the cattle; the enemy rushed in, and led
off eight captives into the wilderness. This event spread alarm
through the infant settlements on Contoocook river; the few families
in Hillsboro’ deserted their habitations, repaired to places of safety
in the lower towns, and did not return till after the lapse. of fifteen
years. Riley went with them, having buried or concealed whatever
of his effects he could not carry away. He went to Concord, Ms.
During his fifteen years’ absence, Antrim was uninhabited, and un-
visited, except now and then by hunters, and by one surveying party.

In 1746, a company of gentlemen in Portsmouth purchased of the
heirs of John Mason, the original grantee of New-Hampshire, all.
their claims on the vacant lands within the Province. _ By the politic
measure of quitclaiming all the towns that had been previously grant-
ed by New-Hampshire, and afterwards the townships that had been
granted by Massachusetts, they prevented any effectual opposition to
their title. These purchasers were often called at that day, the Lord’
Proprietors. The large tract of land between Hillsboro’ on the
north, Peterboro’ on the south, New-Boston and Lyndeboro’ on the
east, having never been granted by either Province, fell of course
into the hands of these Proprietors, and from the circumstance of its
being owned by them in company, it was called “ The Society Land.”
The name, “Cumberland,’’ sometimes given it in early times, soon fell
into disuse. It included Antrim, Hancock, Bennington, Deering,
’ and the west portions of Francestown and Greenfield. :

The peace of 1748 being followed -by a few years of respite from
the calamities of war, the Proprietors were enabled, 1753, to cause a
gurvey to be made of the Society Land, without danger of molesta-
tion from the Indians. Robert Fletcher, with a party of men, exe-
cuted the work, and divided the whole tract into fifteen shares. The
time was about midway between Riley’s departure and return.
. The capture of Quebec in 1759, followed by.the conquest of all
Canada from the French, having removed the danger of Indian in-
cursions, the refugees from Hillsboro’ returned to their homes, 1761,
and found the inclosed frame of a meeting-house, erected prior to the
abandonment of the town, burnt; probably by some reckless hunters.
Riley returned at the same time to Antrim, and found his' axe and
chains safe in the hollow log where he had hid them. A. thick
growth of young cherries and poplars had overspread his “clearing,”
and so effectually concealed his little log cabin, that it required some
search to find it. In the six following years, his was the only family
in town ; he was, however, near to neighbors in Hillsboro’. —

In 1766, the Masonian Proprietors published an advertisement,
setting forth the fertility of the lands on Contoocook river, and
16 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

inviting young men to visit and examine them. This induced seven
young men from Londonderry, James Aiken, William Smith, James
Duncan, James Hogg, George and James Otterson, and —— Perry,
to come the same seagon, and view the region, under the impression
that the proprietors would give to each a lot of land, to encourage
the settlement. They were pleased with the lands, made some small
openings in the forest near the South Village, and returned to Lon-
donderry to pass the winter. The next year, James Aiken removed
his family, consisting of himself, wife, and four children, into a log
cabin built on the first spot of dry land he came to on this side the
river, a little east of Thayer’s mill yard, Aug. 12, 1767; expecting
to be soon followed by his associates in the exploration of the pre~ —
ceding year. He was doomed in this- respect to a severe.disappoint-
ment. It being ascertained that the lands were attainable, not as a
donation, but only by purchase, some of them relinquished the en-
terprise altogether, and the rest resolved to postpone the matter.

Unexpectedly left alone in- the wilderness, Aiken, afterwards Dea.
Aiken, who was a man of fortitude, energy and perseverance, resolv-
ed to make the best of his situation. He had, as he supposed, proof
of a promise from the proprietors of a lot of land, as a donation ;
but in the end was compelled to pay for it at half a pistareen per

‘acre, the land being that which now constitutes the farm of Mr.
McKean. The nearest neighbor on the west was John Bellows, of
Walpole; on the north, Riley, at the distance of five miles; two
settlers had planted themselves in Hancock, three in Deering, and
five in Francestown. In autumn, his swine, ranging the woods for
beechnuts, were killed by a bear. Late in the season, Thomas Nich-
ols, a lad who had run away in discontent from a master in Newbury-
port, came to Dea. Aiken’s for concealment, and remained for a good
while, a useful inmate of his house. He soon shot the bear that had
killed the swine; having in jest promised beforehand to have that
bear “to grease his beard ;”” and not long after killed a moose near
the spot now occupied by Mrs. Crane’s barn.

The state of the surrounding country at this time may be inferred
from the results of a census taken this year, which gave to Hills-
boro’ 64 inhabitants; to Peterboro’ 448 ; to Lyndeboro’, then includ-
ing the eastern section of Greenfield, 272; to New-Boston 296.
The only settled minister in the region was the Rev. Mr. Morrison,
of Peterboro’. Rey. Mr. Moor had begun to preach in New-Boston,
but was not ordained till the following year.

In February, 1768, Dea. Aiken lost a young child by’ sickness.
He had no materials Yor a coffin but split pieces of ash, and no one to
aid him in the burial but. the lad, Nichols. An immense body-of
snow covered the ground. He buried the child in his own field, near
the site of the house recently built by George C. Duncan. The next
April, on the 15th, was born Polly, daughter of Deacon Aiken; this
being the first birth in the town: She married Hben’r Kimball, once
of Antrim, afterwards of Hill; survived her husband, and is yet liv-
ing, very aged, in Rindge. About four years after, was born James
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 17

Aiken, son of Deacon James, the first born male child in the place,
and now living in the State of New-York.

The nearest grain mills were at Hillsboro,’ Peterboro’, and New-
Boston. In the summer, Dea. Aiken went to New-Boston for corn,
and was detained there by illness four days. In his absence the cows
strayed away, and two days were spent in searching for them, in
‘ vain. The second night, the mother put her children to bed, sup-
perless and crying for hunger; not, however, without kneeling down
by the bed-side, and commending them to Gop. Next morning was
the Sabbath; Nichols discovered pigeons on a tree, asked Mrs.
Aiken if it would be wrong to shoot them on Sunday, and was told
that as they were starving it was a work of necessity. He made a
bad shot, killing but one pigeon; that one pigeon, however, with a
few ground nuts, made a broth which relieved their hunger. Tow-
ard night the cows, which had wandered over the river, far away, were
found near the present centre of Greenfield. The task of transport-
ing his grain to a distant mill, and of bringing the meal home, was
among the hardest that fell to his lot. On one occasion, the Deacon
and the lad who was in his service, started for the nearest mill, at
Hillsboro’, carrying on their backs a bushel and a half of grain.
Arriving at the nearest house, five miles from his own, he learned
that the mill was broken and could not be repaired for some days.
Leaving his grain, he returned. Necessity impelled to a second effort.
Having neither horse nor road, he had the alternative of carrying a
load to the mill in Peterboro’, either on his back, or by a canoe voy-
age up the river. He chose the latter, loaded the canoe with grain,
towed it with great fatigue up the stream, and arrived at night within
three miles of the mill, when by same mishap the canoe was overset,
and the bags went to the bottom. Before they could be recovered,
the grain was soaked and spoiled.

In 1769 he built a barn, the first framed building in town, on the
spot now occupied -by the barn of Mr. McKean. He had previously
cut the logg for the boards and plank near Hillsboro’ bridge, pro-
cured them to be sawed there, and transported the boards’ to’ his place
on the ice.of the river. He built the same season a new log house. -
The bark being peeled from the logs, and leaving them white, his
children felt quite proud of their new white house. It stood on the
site of Mr. McKean’s old house, now occupied by Starks Hadley.

A great freshet occurred, March, 1770, making the river for a time
impassable. Mrs. Aiken at this time gave birth to her youngest
daughter, the family being destitute of bread, and seeing none for
some weeks. As soon as the river was passable, her husband went
to New-Boston for a nurse and supplies, leaving her in the care of her
elder children, aided by John Gordon, a Scottish Highlander. Not
long after, a stranger knocked at the Deacon’s door one evening, and
offered to work in his service for his board. He gave his name as
George Bemain; was a foreigner, born on the seas, of middle age, a
deserter from the British at Boston; had followed marked trees, and
swam the streams, in search of a place of concealment. Next
18 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

morning he took up a Bible, remarking that he had scarce seen @ aed
book for forty years, and would try himself at reading. He ae
to be a good reader, resided in the family some years, and te
himself useful by laboring on the farm, and teaching the children 0
read. He taught the first school in Hillsboro’, and is said to ati
been in youth a school-mate of the well-known Dilworth, author of the —
spelling-book used in England and America a century ago. Enlist-
ing into the army, he finally lost his life in the American cause, 1
the battle of White Plains. In the course of the summer, John
‘Duncan and William Smith visited the place, were pleased with the
lands, and purchased each a lot at half a‘pistareen an acre. |

Dea. Aiken, having spent four years as the only occupant of
South-Antrim, had the pleasure to receive a near neighbor, by the
removal of William Smith hither, 1771, who built a house a little ;
south of Henry Hills’. Aiken and Smith were men of congenial *;
spirit, pious, and happy in’ each other’s society. As an instance of
their unbounded mutual confidence, it is said that Aiken having
bought a pair of oxen of Smith, and given his note for the money,
Smith said to him, “I have no ‘desk, do you keep the note till I eall
for it.” Aiken kept the note, uncalled for, till he was ready to pay
it; then delivered it safe to Smithi,,and immediately redeemed it, by
paying the full amount. ace

In 1772, Randall Alexander Wht the farm, now Mr. Dow’s;
John Gordon and Maurice Lynch” began settlements at the North
Branch. Soon after Gordon planted himself here, Philip Riley up-
dertook to make him a visit, laying his course from his home, (now
Judge Whittemore’s,) across the mountain. Darkness came on sooner
than he expected, he became bewildered on the mountain, and was
forced to lie out in the woods. Next morning he found his way to
Gordon’s, and, after relating his mishap, said, the mountain should
ever after be called “Riley’s Mountain.”

This is the date of a visit to Antrim, a narrative of which was
given at the celebrated Festival of the Sons of New-Hampshire, in
Boston, 1849, and excited a good deal of interest. Mr. Samuel
Gregg, the oldest son of New Mampellite present, stated his distinct
recollection, that his parents, residing in Peterboro’, determined to
visit their nearest neighbor on the river, James Aiken, of Antrim.
On a cold winter’s day, his mother threw on her the scarlet cloak, worn
by the. great-prandmothers of the present generation, and walked with
her husband on the ice of the river, twelve miles, to Antrim. On
their arrival, they found their friends absent, having gone on a visit
to New-Boston. Jane, the eldest daughter, about twelve years-old,
prepared for them the refreshment of a cup of tea and a short-cake,
then considered a first rate article, an almost indispensable accom-
paniment of tea for company; an article truly excellent, as baked by
our great-pgrandmothers before a glowing bed of coals. After tea
the disappointed visitants retraced their steps on the river ice, arriv-
ing at their home in the evening, wearied with the long and fruitless
walk. Their return was none too soon. That very night brought a

  
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 19

sudden change of weather, and a rain so powerful as to break.up the
ice of the river; and there being a great depth of snow and no roads,
their return home, had they lingered on their visit, had been for
weeks impracticable. Mr. Gregg, after relating at the Festival this
incident, offered the following sentiment :—“‘The first settlers of New-
Hampshire; their privations and virtues can never be forgotten by
natives of the Granite State.”’

Another of Dea. Aiken’s children died this season, and was bu-
ried in a spot fifty or sixty rods east of Dea. Nichols’, where it was

‘then supposed the centre of the town might be established. He
removed to this spot the remains of the child, whom he had buried
in his own field. Several other children were here laid in graves.
When the old burying-ground on Meeting-House hill was laid out
and inclosed, some of these children were disinterred and removed to
that cemetery, while the dust of others was suffered to remain undis-
turbed. The graves are now obliterated, and the precise location
cannot be ascertained.

John Duncan, afterwards Esquire, removed his family here, mak-
ing the seventh in the place, 1773. The cart on which ‘his goods
were transported from Londonderry, being the first that ever entered
the town, was driven by his uncle, the Hon. John Bell, father of the
late Governors Samuel and John Bell. The river was passed by ford-
ing at a sand bar near the mouth of Great Brook. One of Mr.
Duncan’s daughters, Naomi, then a litile girl in her fourth year, the
wife of Dea. Robert Duncan, is still living, having resided in town
seventy-nine years; sprightly for one of her years, and able constant-
ly to. attend public worship. _ :

In 1174, Joseph Boyd, James Duncan, Daniel McFarland and James
Dickey settled in the south-east part of the town; John Warren and
James Moor at the North Branch. The same year, John Burns began
the farm in the High Range, a part of which is occupied by Widow
Weston ; and a man named Hutchinson, from Amherst, made a “clear-
ing” on the lot west of Mr. Webster’s. Qn the approach of winter,
Burns returned to New-Boston, whence he came ; and haying exchang-
ed his lot in Antrim with his brother Robert, for a place in New-Boston,
he never came back to reside here, Robert taking his place. John
was aman of energy and perseverance. While a resident here, he
once went a hunting up North Branch river -with Moses Steele, of
Hillsboro’. Steele crossed the river to the north bank, while Burns
kept the south. A bear discovered and pursued Steele, who fled
across the stream toward Burns; the bear still pursuing and enter-
ing the water, Steele turned to fire at the animal, but in cocking his
gun, bis flint dropped into the water. He cried to Burns to flee, or
climb a tree! who coolly replied that he would take care of himself,
then fired and killed the bear, which had come almost up to Steele.
Mr. Burns represented New-Boston in the Legislature, half a century
ago ; nied thence to Whitefield, N. H., being the first settler of
that town ; represented that place in the Legislature a few years ago,
when eighty years old ; was much the eldest member, and was regarded
20 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

with respect as the Father of the House. About 1848, he visited
Antrim, performing the journey of one hundred and forty miles in @
waggon, alone. He died, 1852.

Additional settlers came, 1775, or very soon after: Alexander
Jameson, Matthew Templeton, Richard. McAlister, Thomas Stuart,
and John McClary. By a census taken this. year, the population of
Society Land was 177. From the original Society Land, a portion
had been detached, 1772, to aid in the. formation of the town. of:
Francestown ; and in 1774, another and larger portion, constituting
the whole of the town of Deering. What remained to constitute
Society Land as it existed in 1775, was Antrim, Hancock, the west-
ern section of Greenfield, and the greater portion of Bennington.
Of this sum total of 177 inhabitants, not more than sixty, or at the: .
most seventy, lived within the present limits of Antrim. Ones

Lexington battle, April 19th, electrified the country. The spring
was early:and the grass-fieldy green. Men either flew with speed,
or fired guns to give the alarm to their neighbors. The scattered
inhabitants of Society Land promptly assembled at Dea. Aiken’s, -
elected Isaac Butterfield, of Greenfield, their Captain, and marched.
forthwith toward Boston, to defend the liberties of their country : @
band of as brave hearts and as true patriotism as could be found in
America. Next morning, the women came together with the provis-.
ions they had prepared during the night ; and after a fervent prayer
by William Smith, his female auditory being in tears, he set out with
a load of provisions to overtake the company, John Gordon being
the only adult male left in town. The company proceeded to Tyngs-
boro’, there met Gen. Stark, who told them there were men enough
near Boston, and advised them to return and plant their corn, hold-
ing themselves ready to march at a moment’s warning: adding, that
however rusty their guns, he knew of no men with whom he would
sooner trust his life in the hour of battle. On being thus advised,
the company returned. ee

No inhabitant of Antrim was personally engaged in the battle of
Bunker Hill, June 17th. On the next day, Burns and Hutchinson,
who had resided here the preceding season, adventured to go toa
deserted house on Charlestown Neck, thinking they might perchance
pick up some articles that would be useful. While there, a. cannon
ball from a British ship of war struck Hutchinson, wounding him so
badly, that though he was carried off into the American lines, he
died in two days. .

The first sermon ever delivered in Antrim was in September, 1775,
by Rev. Mr. Davidson, of Londonderry, in Deacon Aiken’s barn.
A few weeks’ afterwards the Rev. Mr. McGregor, of Londonderry,
preached the first sermon ever. delivered in Francestown, in Dea.
Hopkins’ barn, on the Gibson place. To this meeting several chil-
dren were carried from Antrim to be baptized.

A saw-mill, the first in the place, was built, 1776, by John War-
ren, at the present North Branch village. Later in the season, James
Aiken and Joseph Boyd built another on Great Brook, on the site of
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 21

Thayer’s mill. The same year a bridge was built over Contoocook
river, east of Dea. Baldwin’s, and made barely passable, but was not
finished till three years after. To be told that in early times it was
called the Great Bridge, may provoke a smile on the part of those
familiar with bridges of modern erection; but it was truly great,
contrasted.with the poverty and fewness of the builders.

The precise date of the organization of the first military company
in town has not been ascertained. Its officers were, John Duncan,
Captain; Thomas Nichols, Lieutenant; James Dickey, Ensign.
That the organization must have been as early as 1776, is certain
from the circumstance, that in the Charter of Incorporation, granted .
early the next year, John Duncan is styled Captain; also from the
- fact, that about the time of the battle of White Plains, near New-
York, Sept. 1776, James Dickey, being placed as a sentry at night,
disappeared, and was never more heard of. Various conjectures were
formed in relation to his fate, but all were veiled in uncertainty. He
was a young married man of much promise, and his loss was lament-
ed. In the battle of White Plains, just referred to, George Bemain,
who had lived some years in town, and had enlisted in the American
service, was killed.

At this period the people were able to obtain only one or two Sab-
bath’s preaching in a year, furnished, in most instances. gratuitously,
by neighboring ministers; the Rev. Messrs. Morrison, of Peterboro’,
Goodridge, of Lyndeboro’, Moor, of New-Boston, Houston, of Bed-
ford, and Barnes, of Hillsboro’. On one occasion of this kind, Dea.
Aiken was conveying Mr. Morrison here in a boat, on the river, there
being no road; when.by some accident the boat was overset, both
were plunged into deep water, and Mr. Morrison narrowly escaped
drowning.

The year 1777. is an eventful one in the history of the town.
There being about. twenty families, and twenty-three resident free-.
holders, they felt the necessity of an Incorporation, conferring on
them town powers and privileges, and appointed John Duncan their
agent to present their petition to this effect, and to sustain it before ,
the Legislature. He obtained the Act, March 22d, and at. his re-
quest the place was called Antrim, after the County of that name
in Ireland, whence the fathers, or grandfathers of the first settlers had
emigrated to America. It was to include the northern half of the
unincorporated land west of Contoocook river, between Hillsboro’
and Peterboro’. The lines had been previously run by Fletcher, of
Portsmouth, and Col. Blanchard, of Amherst ; John Duncan, James
Aiken, and Daniel Nichols, being chain-carriers. The southern. half
of the tract was incorporated two years afterwards by the name of
Hancock. A copy of the Charter is subjoined, as a document not
uninteresting to the present and future generations -—

‘
22 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

‘In the year of our Lord, 1777..
STATE OF NEW- HAMPSHIRE.

An Acr to incorporate part of a place called the Society Land, in the
County of Hillsborough, in the State of New-Hampshire.

: Whereas, a petition has been preferred to the General -
Court in behalf of the inhabitants of a part of that
tract of land in the County of Hillsboro’, setting forth
that for want of an Incorporation they were exposed
to many difficulties and inconveniences, and praying
_ that they may be incorporated : of which due notice has been given,
and no objection having been made to it, and it appearing to be
for the public good,— ey ay

Bx IT. THEREFORE ENACTED by the Council and House of Rep-
resentatives, and by the authority of the same it is enacted, that
there be and hereby is a Township erected and incorporated by the
name of ANTRIM, within the following bounds, viz :—Beginning at
the north-westerly corner of Deering, and thence running southerly.
by said Deering, according to the course of Contoocook river, which
is the westerly line of Deering, till it comes opposite to the easterly
end of the line between. the great lots, number three and four; thence
running from the said river, westerly, to the northeasterly corner of
said lot numbered Three; thence running still westerly on the said
line between the said lots, to the easterly line of Packersfield,

now Nelson ;) thence running northerly by said Packersfield and by

toddard, to Campbell’s Gore, so called, (now Windsor ;) thence
running easterly by said Campbell’s Gore, and by Hillsboro’, to the
bound where it began. And the inhabitants of said tract of land
are erected into a body politic and corporate, to have continuance and
succession forever; and.are hereby invested with-all, the powers, and
enfranchised. with all the rights, privileges, and immunities which
any town in this State hold and enjoy. To hold to the inhabitants ~
of said tract of land and their successors, forever.

And Capt. John Duncan, of said Antrim, is hereby authorized
and empowered to call a meeting of said inhabitants, to choose all
necessary and customary Town Officers, giving at least fourteen days
notice of the time, place, and design of such meeting; and such
officers shall hereby be invested with all the powers of the like officers
. In any other town in the State. And every other meeting which
shall, be held annually in said town for that purpose, shall be on the
second Tuesday of March annually, forever.

Stare or New-Hampsuire. In the House of Representatives,
March 21,1777. The foregoing bill having been read a third time,
Voted, that it pass to be enacted. Sent up for concurrence.

John Dudley, Speaker pr. tem.

In Councrt, March 22,1777. This Act, having been read a
third time, Voted, that the same be enacted.

M. Weare, President.
A true copy: Attest, H, Thompson, Sec’y.”’

  
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 28

The first town meeting was holden May Ist, when Maurice Lynch
was elected Town Clerk, and Thomas Stuart, James Aiken, and Rich-
ard McAlister, the first board of Selectmen. The town. appointed
Lynch to make the necessary surveys to ascertain the centre, to receive
for his services a quarter dollar per day. It was’ agreed that each
resident freeholder pay one shilling, to defray the charge of obtain-
ing the Act of Incorporation. At a subsequent town meeting, Aug.
20th, at 8 o’clock, A. M., the surveyor and his assistants having
reported in favor of establishing the centre at the spot. where was
afterwards built the old meeting house, the town accepted the report,
dissolved the meeting, and immediately went to work at felling trees.

This season, James Moore built the first corn mill in town, on
North Branch river, on or very near the site of the Wallace mills.
This was hailed by the early settlers as a great acquisition. They
had thought themselves highly favored by the erection of Lewis’
mill, in Francestown, three years earlier; but to have a mill within
their own limits, was still better. The road from the Great Bridge, by
the Centre and the new corm mill, to Hillsboro’, was made passable
for horses ; and, with some shorter and minor roads, legally laid out
and recorded.

July 23d, a company of fifty-two men from Antrim, Deering,
Franeestown, Lyndeboro’ and New-Boston, mustered at the latter
place, to join the forces t6 be led by Stark against Burgoyne. They
took part in more or less of the military operations that issued in
the capture of the British army. Among the number from Antrim
were John Duncan, who served as lieutenantin this expedition, Wil-
liam Smith, and doubiless others. John Smith, the son of William,
was one of the number designated to march westward, but the father,
on'‘reflection, volunteered to take the place of the son: giving as his
reason, that should he himself fall in battle, he trusted he was pre-
pared to meet his Judge in peace; while, should his son go and be
killed, he could cherish in relation to him no such hope! A strik-
ing instance of paternal and disinterested affection.

In addition to those citizens of Antrim who marched under Stark
to aid in the capture of Burgoyne, several others, either hefore or
after this year, entered the. military service for a longer or-shorter
period: as James Dickey, George Bemain, Elias Cheeney, Samuel
Dinsmoor, Moses and David George, and probably others. With the
exception’ of Dickey and Bemain, they returned in safety. While
these men were absent in the army, the town aided their families ;
if they were single men, who had left what the old records call
“ pieces of chopped wood,” i. e., tracts of land on which the trees had
been felled but not cleared off, the town cut, piled and burnt the
wood, preparing the ground for a crop. The early records contain
numerous votes in relation to such matters.

The inhabitants found the year 1778 a trying season. The rapid
depreciation of the Continental paper currency distressed them severe-
ly; there was extreme difficulty in finding silver enough to pay the
State taxes. Inthe year preceding, labor on the highway was put
24 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

at three dollars, and ox-work at two dollars per day. The year fol-
lowing 1778, a day’s labor on the highway was rated at ten dollars ;
the town voted the Rev. Mr. Miltimore 70 dollars per Sabbath for
supplying the desk. The paper went down, down, till it became
scarce an object of valuation. In one instance the Rev. Mr. Barnes,
of Hillsboro’, paid his whole year’s salary for a pig of a month old ;
but was afterwards indemnified by that town for his loss. A silver
dollar was hardly to be found. These embarrassments, in this place,
were aggravated by complaints preferred to the Legislature by non-
resident proprietors of lands, against some doings of the town. John
Duncan and Thomas Nichols were chosen agents, to repair to the
seat of government and defend the town against those charges. The
complaints probably related to the assessment and collection of taxes
on non-resident lands. “How the matter ended, the records, being
very loose and indefinite, give us no data to determine. Another in-
dication of the pecuniary troubles of the times is seen in the fact
that in the next year the town appointed a committee to regulate the
prices of all vegetable articles offered ‘for sale; whoever sold for
more, was to forfeit the article or its equivalent in money, and the
Committee were enjoined to prosecute all violaters of the rule. The
attempt, like similar ones in other places, proved a failure ; prices of
conimodities being scarcely more controllable by human legislation than
the variations of the wind. ‘ 5
To many of the conveniences and comforts of life, the hardy gen-
eration then on the stage were strangers. Their dwellings were log
houses, without glass, ill fitted to exclude the cold. Had it not been
for the roaring fires kept up in winter in the huge fire places, fed
continually by great logs, which they were glad to be rid of, the in-
mates must have suffered. "Wood and timbér were so abundant that
the faster they could consume them the better. Their farming uten-
sils were clumsy; their clothing homespun and coarse, but durable;
the men wore tow shirts, striped woolen frocks, and leather aprons.
The best suit of coarse woolen cloth was reserved for Sabbaths and
special occasions, and lasted year after year. In winter they wore
shoes, excluding the snow by a pair of woolen leggins, fastened over
the mouth of the shoe by strings. Boots were rare; great coats and
surtouts rarer still, A pair of boots would last a man many years.
In summer, neither men nor women wore shoes at home; on the
‘Sabbath, the women often carried their shoes in their hand to save
wear, till they came near the meeting-house, when they would put
them on. They were clad, when engaged in their work, which was
nearly all the time on week days, in a short gown and petticoat of
some coarse material, with a striped apron ; calicoes being thought
quite a dressy article. The household furniture was rude and coarse ;
carpets, sofas, pianos, were unheard of ; instead of them was the spin-
ning wheel, both small and great, and the loom—articles if less orna-
mental, certainly more indispensable. Tea and coffee were almost
unknown ; broths of various kinds, corn, bean, barley broth, were in
constant use. In many families, hasty-pudding with milk, if milk
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 25

could be had, was almost the standing supper. For a lunch in the
intermission of public worship on the Sabbath, instances were not
wanting of men carrying in their pocket a few cold boiled potatoes,
and nothing else. Sometimes, in winter, families were conveyed to
meeting through deep snow on an ox sled; in summer, the man, if
he were the owner of a horse, rode to meeting with his wife seated
on a pillion behind him, and a child seated on a pillow before him ;
and sometimes another and smaller child in the mother’s lap, encircled
by one of her arms. A party of the smart young people once as-
sembled at a neighbor’s, in early times, for a social: interview. The
supper—what was it? Nota modern supper of roast turkey and oys-
ters, but hasty-pudding and milk! There being but three spoons, one
division of three guests sat down to table, then another division and
another, ti all had been served. All went off well, and it was con-
sidered a fashionable, well-managed affair.

That age has well been called “the age of homespun.” It was an
age of hard work and simple fare; interspersed, on the part of the
men, with trainings, musters, raisings, huskings, wrestling matches,
chopping-bees and piling-bees ; and, in the female world, with quilt-
ings, apple-parings and carding-bees. If the rude dwellings were
not often animated with the faces of visitants, they were daily enliv-
ened with the buzzing of wheels and the clatter of looms. If the
inmates had fewer means of high wrought excitement, they were not
destitute of the sources of contentment and tranquil enjoyment.

In the course of this and the preceding year, Jonathan Nesmith,
James Nesmith, Benjamin Gregg, Samuel Gregg, William Boyd,
Daniel Miltimore, James Carr, Nathan Taylor, James McAlister,
Phillip Coffin, and Elias Cheney were added to the number of settlers.
The first school kept in :town was commenced at the close of this
year, taught by one Dinsmoor, at Dea. Aiken’s, for one month ; con-
‘sisting of the deacon’s children and a few others, twelve in all.
Reading, writing, and a little arithmetic, were the only objects of at-
tention ; Dilworth’s spelling book and the bible being the only read-
ing books. No books on arithmetic, English grammar or geography,
were then ‘attainable. In. some places, at this date, the children
learned to write on birch bark, for lack of paper. Dinsmore taught
the same school a second winter. In the intervening summer, that
of 1779, as nearly as can be ascertained, the first school-house, a rude
and very small framed building, was erected on or near the site of
the present school-house in district No. 1, a little south of George
Burnham’s. The difficulties growing out of the depreciation of the
currency still pressing on the people with increasing weight, they at
this time petitioned the Legislature for some relief; with what suc-
cess does not appear. The winter of 1779 and 1780 was one of ex-
treme severity, long after called “ the hard winter.’ Storms were fre-
quent and driving, the snow very deep, the cold intense, so that for
six weeks water did not drop from the eaves. There was little pass-
ing, except on snow-shoes or rackets ; fael was drawn to the houses
- on hand-sleds ; some families, unable to get to mill, were obliged to
26 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

dispense with bread and live on boiled corn and broths. May 19,
1780, was the well known dark day—the obscuration being so great
that many persons lighted candles to see to eat their dinner. i
Mr. Samuel Gregg, having given the town a piece of land at a
old centre for a common, the remaining trees on the common and ad-
joining burying-ground were felled this season ; each man volunteer-
ing a day’s labor. The people in the course of, the year sent a peti-
tion to the Legislature for aid toward building a meeting-house. The
labor and expense, without some aid, exceeded their ability; the war
having drained the country of specie, and the paper currency being
unavailable to make purchases, dishonest men paid their debts. in
money hardly worth taking, and too many creditors, compelled to
receive the trash when legally tendered, were greatly injured, if not
absolutely ruined. . a

Asa Merril, from Hudson, was killed, 1781, by a fall in Dea. E

Aiken’s mill; this being, it is believed, the first death of an adult
that had occurred in the town. The same year, the first bridge, built
at the cost of the town, over the North Branch river, was constructed
in the present North Branch Village.

We are now come to the date of the first assembling of the Con-
vention which formed the present Constitution of New-Hampshire.
A town meeting was holden, June 1, to determine whether they
would send a delegate to this important Convention. The action of
the town is recorded in the following quaint language: “Voted,
that we send no man to Concord.” If the vote seem surprising to

the present generation, it must be recollected that those who :passed'

it were few and poor, and thought it better to waive their privile
than incur the expense of compensating the Delegate. :

As an interesting memorial of the strength of religious and devo-
tional feelings in the breasts of the early settlers, it may be stated,
that by a vote of the town, the 19th of May, this year, was observed
as a town fast; it being the first anniversary of the dark day.

The appointment of Thomas English, as Collector and Constable
for 1782, proved unfortunate for the town. The Legislature having
imposed a tax of a penny an acre on wild lands, for the support of
the war, and the tax being disregarded by some non-resident propri-
etors, English sold many lots at low rates for payment of taxes.
Some years after, these titles, derived from the .Collector, were
adjudged to be invalid, through some illegality in his proceedings ;
and the unfortunate purchasers had to submit, not only to the vexa-
tion and cost of lawsuits on writs of ejectment, but in the issue, to
pay for their lands a second time. Having collected a considerable
portion of the sums assessed in his tax-bill, Huglish absconded with
near two hundred dollars of town’s money, in silver, in his hands; a
loss more severely felt by the people of that-day, than would be the
loss of ten times the amount by the present citizens.

The news of peace with Great Britain, giving the prospect of relief
from the toils, anxieties, and heavy burdens of war, diffused wniver-
sal joy. The people of Antrim had borne a full share, in proportion

 

‘
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 27

to their number and means, in the sacrifices and sufferings necessary
to the attainment of American independence.

In the summer of 1783, Dea. Aiken, who had, by a contract with
the town, cleared off, during the preceding year, the fallen timber of
the old Common and Burying-ground, reaped the crop in one day,
with the aid of his two hired men and three daughters. These
daughters, one of whom fired the timber when the land was burnt
over, were as active reapers as any in the field, and all became intelli-
gent and respectable women. In that day it was deemed proper and
reputable for females to perform, at certain seasons of the year, out-
door work. They reaped, raked hay, pulled and spread flax; in
the absence of their husbands, housed and foddered the cattle ; milked
the cows, fed the swine, and, when occasion required, caught and har-
nessed the horse. They thought little of walking a few miles to
meeting ; carrying sometimes a babe in their arms. In addition to
all this, they carded, spun, wove, colored, and made up the garments
of the family. Surely our good grandmothers and sneioe Mdrotle
ers, many of whom were women of intelligence, high moral princi-
ple, and native, not artificial refinement, were far from eating the
bread of idleness.

This year, or about that time, Jeremiah Wier, formerly of Chelms-
ford, then of Antrim, disappeared in a manner that remains inexpli-
cable. He had served in the army through most of the Revolutionary
war; came home on furlough; and peace being declared before the
expiration of the furlough, it was not necessary for him to return
into the service. Considerable arrears of pay were due him. He
removed his family to Antrim, to a place near Hopkins Griffin’s, re-
mained with them one winter, and then went in the spring to New-
York for his dues. The money being not ready, he let himself to
labor there through the summer. In autumn he received the arrears
of his soldier’s pay and his summer’s wages, set out with the money
on hig return home, but never arrived, and was never more heard of.
Tt was the belief of his relatives, or at least feared by them, that he
was followed by some one who knew he had money, and murdered
on the way.

In answer to a petition of the inhabitants, the Legislature, in 1783,
imposed a tax of a penny an acre,for the three next years, on the
lands of non-residents, to aid in butldinga meeting-house. A large
portion of the town was still owned by the Masonian proprietors in
Portsmouth ;they submitted to the tax with rather an ill grace, but
it could not be evaded; it yielded a considerable supply of hard
money. Encouraged by this aid, the town voted at the March meet-
ing of 1784 to build, the next year, a meeting-house fifty feet by forty,
with a porch at each end, to be modelled on the plan of the west
meeting-house in Londonderry ; a house endeared to them as the place
where they and their fathers had worshipped. : es

This season, the town of Stoddard, having ascertained that. without
encroaching on other grants, they could claim a strip of land on their

west border, deemed more valuable than the land on the east [ne of
28 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

the town, claimed the land on the west; and in order not to exceed
the quantity allowed in their charter, disclaimed a strip of land on
their old east line. As the charter of Antrim extended its western
limit to Stoddard line, the former town voted to tax the land dis-
claimed by the latter; nor was the claim of Antrim ever contested.
The strip was almost a mile wide on the south line of the town, and
ran thence to a point at the northwest corner; making an addition,
in a triangular form, to the territory of Antrim of about 1200 or
1300 acres.

The winter of 1784~5 was very severe; snows lay deep on the
ground till late in April. The wolves at this period were very de-
structive to the sheep, and even the cattle were in danger from their
ferocity. The town voted a bounty of five dollars for killing a wolf,
in addition to the bounty paid by the State. The people were often
annoyed in the night by their howlings in the woods. .

Numerous instances are found in the old records of this period, of
persons being warned by the constable to quit the town. When they
moved into the place, it was the duty of the selectmen, if they appre-
hended it might subject the town to expense for their maintenance,
to direct the constable to warn them to depart. The notice was
served on quite a number of individuals; they might then depart or
remain, but if they became a public burden, the towns whence they
came were liable for their support. .

June 8, 1785, Col. Wm. Gregg, of Londonderry, an officer who
had borne a distinguished part in Bennington. battle, under Stark,
came to town as the master workman in the erection of the meeting-
house. The people engaged in the work with spirit. In the brief
space of twenty days all the timber was cut and hewed, the slitwork
sawed and the framing accomplished. The pine timber was cut on
the plain near Mr. Jonathan Carr’s; the hard wood timber on Meet-
ing-house Hill. The house was raised June 28, on which occasion the
town called in the aid of men from the towns adjacent.. As a sample
of the usages of the time, it may be stated, that a breakfast was pro-
vided for the raisers, of bread, cheese, and dry fish; a dinner of meat.
Two barrels of rum were purchased for the use of the workmen; it
being scarce needful to be added that the day of the temperance re-
form had not then come. ‘

So pleased were the people’with the idea of having a meeting-
house, that on the Sabbath next after the raising of the frame they
met in it for worship, having a Mr. Whipple for their preacher.
Nothing had been done to the. house: but to lay down a little loose
flooring, to place a few boards on blocks for seats, and a few on.the
beams as a screen from the sun. In time of service there arose a
violent thunder storm, and while the little congregation were fleeing
for shelter to Mr. Gregg’s, (now Mr. Gates’,) the rain poured down
copiously, wetting many to the skin. Little was done to the house
this season, except to cover the roof.

As the erection of the meeting-house was the work of the town in
their corporate capacity, a narrative of the matter seems to belong to
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 29

the civil rather than the ecclesiastical portion of this history. In
finishing the house they proceeded tardily, doing something each year,
but not striking the finishing stroke, and selling the pews, till the ex-
piration of six years. Nor is this strange. Atthe beginning of the
work there were but forty-three families in town, most of them living
in log houses; willing-hearted, but in narrow circumstances. There
wag! neither store nor tannery nearer than Amherst. An eye-witness
of the state of society at that period, remarks, “Then was a time of
brotherly love; each family sat under its own vine, having none to
molest; no haughty looks or mincing steps; no.jealousy, tale-bearing
or envy, known in town; but as population and wealth imcreased,
those evils crept in.” The picture is a pleasing one, colored no doubt
by the partiality of the witness to scenes of olden time, yet contain-
ing no small portion of truthfulness. The simplicity, sincerity, and
cordial hospitality of most of the men and women of that day, con-
trast favorably with the specious, but too often hollow, pretences of
modern refinement.

A certain individual, who at the March meeting this year had been
elected town-clerk and third selectman, happening to fall under the
displeasure of his townsmen, they, at a subsequent town meeting,
“ reconsidered” the choice, and elected other persons to those offices.
Whether such a procedure then had the stamp of legality it is not our
present business to enquire. The ground of dissatisfaction seems to

shave been the retention of money in the hands of this person, which
the town claimed as belonging to their treasury.

Among the settlers who came in between 1778 and 1785, were
Adam Michols, John McCoy, Samuel and James Dinsmore, William
McDole, Hugh Jameson, Nathan Austin, John Gilmore, Reuben
Boutell, Alexander Gregg, Adam Dunlap, Lemuel and Stephen Cur-
tice, John Stuart, Nathan Taylor, John and William Mellvaine, Da-
vid McClure, Thomas Day, Isaac Cochran, and James Wallace. Dea.
Cochran raised the frame of the first two story dwelling-house in
town, now occupied by his grandson, Ira‘Cochran, precisely two weeks
after the raising of the meeting-house. The same season, while Mr.
Whipple was performing divine service on the Sabbath at Daniel
Miltimore’s, the flooring gave way, and -both preacher and hearers
were precipitated into the cellar. All were frightened ; a few were
bruised ; but no bones broken.

The first grant of school money by the town was in 1786, amount-
ing to fifty dollars. The little school house first erected having be-

‘ come rickety and too small to accommodate the increasing number of
scholars, another and larger house was built this year in a more cen-
tral location, designed for the use of the whole eastern section of the
town, on the north side of the road from Mr. Raymond’s to Mr.
Cochran’s, near the brook a little east of Raymond’s house. It was
constructed of logs. as

Great discontent at this time existed in the public mind, arising
from the seareity of specie, and the difficulty of paying debts and
taxes. There was a popular clamor for an emission of paper currency,

3
30 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

by the State, to be lent to individuals on landed security, and to
be made a legal tender to creditors. Warned by past experience of
the disastrous effects of the old Continental currency, the wiser part
of the people maintained that a new emission would depreciate; that
the relief would be but temporary, to be followed by yet severer em-
parrassments ; that industry, frugality, and patience were the true
and only remedies. The town of Antrim showed their good sense
by instructing their representative to oppose the emission. The op-
position to the measure was successful.

This year the body of the meeting-house was inclosed by rough
boarding, and the under flooring laid. In these operations, James.
Dinsmoor, an active and promising young man, was killed by a fall
from the staging. Prior to this date, the people had attended public
worship, when they could obtain a preacher, in private houses, some-.
times in barns. Henceforth, they usually worshipped in the meeting-
house; rude and unfinished. as it was, it gave them comfortable ac--
commodations in the warm season. As they were unable to supply -
the desk but a part of each year, they were eareful to secure “the
supply in summer. For a number of following years there was.
little preaching in town in winter. —

In 1786, occurred a singular cireumstance at the funeral of a child
of Hugh Jameson, in the north-east part of the town. The funeral
procession, on their way to the centre burying ground, bad entered a
small piece of woods south of Mr. McCoy’s, when a furious wind +
met them ; trees began to fall; the bearers, on foot, ran forward with
the corpse to Dea. Cochran’s; while the mourners, on horseback, fled
back to Mr. MeOoy’s for refuge. When the tempest was over, the
two parties reunited and buried the child. The same blow, from the
south-west, prostrated much of the timber in the valley a little east
of Mr. E. L. Vose’s. ,

At what precise time Antrim began to be represented, in the Leg-
islature, has not been ascertained. No doubt, very soon after the in-
corporation, it was attached to a Representative District, formed by
classing together several adjacent towns; no town in the immediate
vicinity having a sufficient population to entitle it to a representative
of its own. The district was represented by John Duncan, Esq., in.
1787 ; perhaps for a few preceding years also; certainly for several
succeeding years, till 1797, when he was elected Senator. The town
records fail to elucidate this part of our history. As the respective
towns attained to a population sufficient to entitle them to a repre-:
sentative, they were detached from the district, anda new district
organized of such places as could be well classed together; the clas--
sification being occasionally changed to corréspond with the.state of
population. The district, in 1791, was composed of Antrim, Deer--
mg, and Hancock. Afterwards Antrim was classed with Windsor ;
but was able to return, in 1798, a sufficient number of polls to entitle-
it to a representative of its own.

Of the organization of the Presbyterian church, 1788, at the re-
quest of the town in legal town meeting—the only church existing
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 31

there for a period of thirty-nine years—the details will be given in
the chapter of ecclesiastical history. Of the original members, about
‘sixty in number, the last survivor, Widow Abagail Moor, daughter
of John Duncan, Esq., died 1848, at an advanced age.

For many years the people procured the few goods they were able
to buy, at Londonderry ind Amherst. At length a store was opened
at New Boston, and another, somewhat later, at Francestown, by
Hon. Peter Woodbury. There being but little competition in trade,
large profits were realized by the traders of thatday. The first store
in Antrim was opened, it is believed, 1789, perhaps a year or two
sooner, by Ebenezer Kimball, in a building which once stood on or
near the site of the dwelling house of the late George Duncan, Esq’
Mr. Kimball afterwards removed to Hill, where he transacted a large
business, and died several years ago.

The census of 1790 gave Antrim a population of 528; the num-
ber of families was about 90, having been doubled during the pre-
ceding five years. This is a greater ratio of increase than is given
by any subsequent period in our annals. Next year the meeting-
house was entirely finished, by the construction of the gallery pews,
and the pews on both floors were sold. The prices of the gallery
pews ranged from seventeen to twenty-five dollars; of the pews on
the lower floor, from twenty-two to forty dollars.

It may amuse the present generation to learn that in 1793 the
town chose three persons, (men who sat in the meeting-house near
the doors,) to be dog-pelters ; their office being to cane the dogs which
presumed to enter the house. The records of a few subsequent years
exhibit votes “continuing the old dog-pelters.” It is questionable
whether they did not create more disturbance than they prevented.

In those days it was customory for the town to elect, at the March
meeting, a chorister, or leader of the church music. Arthur Nes-
mith was elected to this office in 1794, and annually reélected for a
period of twenty years. He had probably officiated in the office,
without a formal choice, some years previous to the first recorded
election. et ;

What was long called the great frost occurred June 17, 1794. On
water standing in tubs in the open air, ice was formed an inch thick.
The fruit chiefly perished.

The first store in the north part of the town was opened not far
from 1790, by James Wallace, on the Stacy farm, who sold a few
goods for some years. Another store was opened in 1796, by Jacob
Tuttle, Esq., from Littleton, Mass., who transacted a large business,
not only with his townsmen, but with citizens of Hillsborough, Wind-
sor, and the east part of Stoddard. In those days the traders pur-
chased and drove to market the fat cattle; they bought up the farm
produce also of the citizens in general, with the exception of some of
the largest farmers, who had so mueh produce to dispose of as made
it an object to transport it to market themselves. The markets then
resorted to were Boston and Salem. Mr. Tuttle’s store was kept for
many years ina small building now connected with the dwelling
house of James M. Tuttle.
32 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

The question of a turnpike road from Cornish to Amherst being
before the public in 1799, and proposed to the consideration of the
towns through which it was to pass, the town of Antrim voted that.
they had no objection to its construction.

The census of 1800 showed a population of 1059; the number of
inhabitants having been doubled in the preceding ten years. This
period was marked by a happy, progress in relation to buildings, fences,
roads, cultivation, and the increase of the comforts of life. Nearly
all the log houses of former days gave place to more commodious
framed buildings. The rude household furniture of the first settlers
began to be succeeded by'articles more convenient and ornamental.
The bean porridge, the hasty-pudding, the-brown bread and milk, the
staple articles of former diet, yielded the field, quite generally, to
tea and coffee. The era, however, of chaises and pleasure waggons,
of carpets and sofas, did not arrive till almost a quarter of a century
later.

A malignant dysentery, in the summer of 1800, made the town a
scene of distress and mourning. From July 23d, to Sept. 23d, oc-
curred sixty-five deaths—all, save three, of the epidemic—the greater
part children; an average of more than one death per day for: two
months. Most of the people were clad in mourning, and a few fam-
ilies buried all their children. The season being dry and hot, the
physical as well as mental sufferings of the people were great. The
whole number of deaths during the year. was 69, about one fifteenth
part of the entire population. In Hancock the disease raged with
an almost equal violence. It was during the prevalence of this
epidemic, that the Rev. Walter Little, the first settled minister, was
ordained. There was not perfect unanimity of feeling in the invi-
tation from the town; but such was their distress at the time, and 80
urgent their need of the services of a minister, that those who felt
some objections to the ordination, forebore to press them, and there
was no visible opposition.

The opening of the present century, in. 1801, disclosed a decisive
change of ‘political opinion in the town. Before this date, a large
majority of the citizens had sustained the nominations of the Federal
party; but some unpopular measures of the Federal administration
of John Adams, together with the success of the Republicans in
the election of Jefferson to the Presidency, suddenly turned the
scale. At the March meeting, quite a majority of the citizens were
found arrayed with the Democratic party ; achange was made of most
of the incumbents of town. offices; Jacob Tuttle, the Democratic
candidate, was elected representative, and annually reélected for
many succeeding years. Liver since, by large and decisive majorities,

-has the Democratic party retained the ascendency in this place.

About this time the second New-Hampshire turnpike, from Cor-
nish io Amherst, passing through the north-east portion of the town,
was completed, and a line of stages put on it; the first that visited
Antrim. For near thirty years, a vast amount of travel from Canada,.
Vermont, ‘and western New-Hampshire, passed over this road to
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 83

Boston; great quantities of merchandise were transported on it. It
was not very judiciously located, passing over too many hard hills
for the accommodation of persons who aided in its constraction. The
tolls were high and burdensome to the travelling public; at the same
time, the benefits derived from it were undeniable. A large, three-
story tavern house was built om the road in Antrim, by Wm. Barnes,
from Hillsboro’ ; it was occupied by different inn-keepers, and was a
place of public resort for many. years, till it was burnt, and a two-
story brick house, now Elijah Gould’s, took its place. As other and
easier roads to market were constructed, the travel on the old turn-
pike diminished; some years ago the gates were taken down, and the
road became free, being relinquished by the corporation and left td
the care of the respective towns through which it passed.

Oct. 4th, 1804, is the date of the dismission, at his own request, by
the Presbytery of Londonderry, of Rev. Walter Fullerton; (his
name having been, changed from Little to Fullerton, by act of the
Legislature.) Happily the event excited no division among the
people, as it accorded with their wishes. Mr. Fullerton possessed
respectable talents, but his manners were not the most conciliatory,
and he hence became unpopalar..

A snow storm of remarkable severity happened this year, Oct. 7,
and covered the earth to the depth of almost a foot. The greater
part of the potatoes and apples were buried under the snow. In the
open fields it gradually melted and disappeared, hut in some cold
spots, secluded from the sun, the drifts lay till the next spring.

The particulars of the ordination, in 1808, as the town’s minister,
of the writer of this sketch, and the present Pastor of the Presbyte-
rian Church, will be given in another place. Ministers were then
considered as settled for life, unless some special reason should re-
quire a dissolution of the relation. Ordinations were then rare oc-
currences, and drew from neighboring towns crowds of people. It
was customary for the people of the place to provide for the gratui-
tous entertainment of all the strangers in attendance, however nu-
merous. On this occasion the people of Antrim displayed a hospi-
tality almost unbounded ; making a provision far exceeding the de-
mands of the guests, though hundreds of strangers were in town.
Times are since changed. :

Near theaclose of the year, John Moor, a respectable citizen, was
mortally wounded in the woods by the fall of a limb of a tree, which
fractured the skull.

Jan. 19th, 1810, is memorable for severity of cold, rendered al-
most intolerable by a driving wind, and- was long referred to as the
cold Friday ; the two succeeding days were memorably cold. No
snow was on the ground, and none fell till about the 20th of February.
On the cold Friday, several persons in N ew-Hampshire perished.
The population of the town by the census of this year Was 1277 ;
giving an increase of about twenty per cent for the preceding ten
years. The summer following, an unusual number of children died,
some of dysentery, and some of whooping cough.
84 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

The winter of 1811-12 was rigorous, and its snow-falls numerous
and heavy. William McClary was frozen to death, on the evening
of Christmas, 1811, and found dead next day by a great rock. In
January, 1812, the dwelling house of Hon. John Duncan was burnt
in the day time. He was alone in the house, reading, and the flames
had made such progress before he discovered them, that he barely
escaped. The citizens contributed generously to repair his losses..

This year, Feb. 7, that singular and fatal epidemic, the spotted
fever, appeared in Antrim, and spread with such rapidity that in the
course of two months there were two hundred cases and forty deaths.
Many cases were mild; others very malignant, terminating in death
sometimes in a single day ; the victims being of all ages from five to
sixty years. No-persons over sixty were attacked. One of the vic-
tims was Daniel Nichols, Hsq., one of the most respectable citizens
of the town. The physicians were at first at a loss as to the proper
treatment; there was a popular impression that warm steam and co-
pious sweating were essential parts of the curative process. To such
an extreme, in the alarm of the time, was this treatment carried by
steam and hot blocks of wood, that some sufferers were doubtless
hurried to the grave by well-meant, but ill-judged efforts for their
relief. Families in health at bed-time, dared not retire to rest with-
out all the preparations in their power to commence the sweating
process, should the disease attack them in the night. Experience
soon dispelled this illusion, and introduced a more rational treatment.
It was often difficult to find well persons enough to minister to the
sick, and break roads through the deep snows for the burial of the
dead. There were instances of three funerals in a day, one instance
of four; the dead’ being brought to the meeting-house, March 26,
for the funeral service, at an appointed hour. The late Gov. Pierce
once remarked that he passed through the town in this time of dis-
tress at the midnight hour, and saw lights gleaming from many of
the houses; making on his mind an impression not pleasant and
cheerful, but sad and gloomy, as an indication of sickness and anxiety,
if not of death, within !

The declaration of war against Great Britain, in June, was ap-
proved and sustained by a large majority of the citizens of the town.
James Aiken, Jun., Jonathan Hayward, John Witherspoon Theo-
dore Wallace, James Day, Robert Holmes, Moses Ps Wier, and
Swallow Wilson, enlisted into a United States regiment of regulars,
and served on the Canadian frontier. The following persons joined.
a regiment of volunteers commanded by Col. McCobb, of Maine:
Daniel Gregg,Lieutenant; Dexter Fairbanks, Serjeant; James Brown,
Musician ; Charles Gates, Ziba Curtice, John Stuart, Joseph White,
Charles Fairbanks, John Boyd, Silas Rhodes, privates. At the ex-
piration of their one year’s service as volunteers, Lieut. Gregg, Fair-
banks, Brown, Stuart and White, enlisted into the regular service, in
which Gregg was promoted to a captaincy. No one of the numbér
was killed in battle. Hayward, after receiving his discharge, set out
on his return home, and was never more heard of. Witherspoon
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 35

deserted in Canada, and his fate is unknown. Boyd died at the ren-
dezvous in Concord, before the regiment marched to the scene of
action. Holmes fell into the hands of the British at Fort Oswego.
They transported a force over the lake to attack the fort; the garri-
son being weak, and finding that it would be impogsible to make
good the defence, retired from the fort soon after the assault began.
Holmes, being later in retiring than the rest, turned about on his
retreat and discharged his gun at the enemy, on which a British sol-
dier shot him in the groin and he fell. The British rushed by and
over him in pursuit of the garrison, who however escaped. On their
return from the pursuit, four soldiers carried Holmes on a blanket,
roughly and unfeelingly, toward the fort; a British officer, possessed
of humanity, noticed their rough handling of the wounded man, and
ordered them, under threat of striking them with his cutlass, to carry
him gently. The British speedily evacuated and the Americans re-
possessed the fort, when Holmes found himself again in the hands of
his own countrymen. He never entirely recovered from the effects
of the wound, and died a few years after the close of the war.

A considerable British force, both naval and military, entered Pe-
nobscot bay in 1814, occupied some positions on the river, and threat-
ened an attack on the seaports of New-England. Numbers of the
militia of New-Hampshire either volunteered or were drafted to
march for the defence of Portsmouth. From Antrim, John Robin-
son, Charles Gates, Samuel Vose, Isaac Saltmarsh, William Roach,
Moody Barker, John Barker, Ira Wallace, Alexander Parker, and
Levi Thompson, entered the militia service, to be stationed on the
seaboard of the State. These, with militia men from contiguous
towns, constituted a company commanded by Capt. William Gregg,
of Antrim. As the British soon left the coast, all returned in safety
except Ira Wallace, who died of disease at Portsmouth. At the time
these men (some of whom volunteered and others were drafted,)-were
designated, the leading citizens met with the militia and gave a pledge
in behalf of the town of a considerable addition to the pay to which
they would be entitled under the law of the United. States.

The vicissitudes of the war kept the public mind for almost three
years in.a state of constant excitement. The welcome news of peace
came Feb. 1815, and produced an outburst of joy: The citizens of
.the town held, a few days after, a social meeting without distinction
of parties, for mutual congratulation.

Sept. 25th, a tempestuous wind extended over a wide region, un-
roofing or demolishing old buildings, and prostrating immense num-
bers of fruit and forest trees. The injury to orchards and woodlots
was greater in the northern section of Massachusetts than in New-
Hampshire.

Memorable as the cold season, or “ poverty year,” was 1816. Snow
fell in June; autumnal frosts were early and severe; very little In-
dian corn came to maturity. The next year also was cold and com-
paratively unproductive. In both season8, however, the crops of
English grain were. fine and heavy, yielding a supply of breadstuff.
36 HISTORY -OF ANTRIM. .

sufficient to prevent much actual suffering. There being a searcity
of materials for fattening pork, many families resorted for a substitute
to pickled mackerel, and these seasons were sometimes jocosely called
“the mackerel years.” . iad .
Deacon James Aiken, the first settler of South Antrim, having
lived here half a century, died 1817 ; esteemed and venerated by his
townsmen.
Violent thunder storms occurred, 1819, with more frequency than
was remembered by the oldest persons living; sometimes every day
for several successive days. No damage was done in Antrim by the
wind except in one instance to the house of Dea. Josiah Duncan. In

various other parts of New-England, buildings were set on fire and .

many persons killed by lightning. 1 wie

The census of 1820 returned the population of Antrim as being
1330 ; a very small increase during the preceding ten years ; attribu-
table partly to the ravages of spotted fever, and still more to numer-
ous emigrations of families and young men to the West.

On a week day, in the summer of this or the next following year,
the first meeting-house was struck by lightning. It was a time of
bright sunshine, after a sprinkle of rain, a little after noon; but a
single cloud, and that small, being visible. The flash was vivid and
the report violent, but soon over ; no other thunder clap it is believed
was heard that day. The electric fluid entered the roof directly over
the pulpit, being attracted by the large bar of iron by which the can-
opy, that old-fashioned appendage of ancient meeting-houses, was

suspended over the stand of the minister. It set the canopy on fire, ‘

and flames began to burst forth, when the people in the vicinity ar-
rived in season to extinguish them. The casings of the pulpit win-
dow, and the finishing of one or two adjacent pews, wereinjured. Had
the shock occurred in time of divine service, probably several persons
must have been killed. iS
Communication between the south and north sections of the town,
over Meeting-house Hill, being always inconvenient, and in winter often

difficult, the result had been a degree of non-intercourse, in the way:

of social relations, which had led for many years to some sectional

feelings and jealousies. To cement union and facilitate communica- -

tion between the two portions, a new road, west of the hill, was con-

structed, 1822; being the one leading from Solomon Buckmiinster’s
to Thomas Twiss’. , :

It was about this period (the precise year not ascertained,) that in-
dividuals in this and other towns were deluded into the belief that at

some former period, more than a century before, the noted pirate, -

Capt. Kidd, had penetrated into the wilderness and buried a treasure

on the shore of Rye pond. Rods were resorted to, for the purpose -

of determining the precise locality. Individuals dug im search of the
fancied treasure, but “had their labor for their pains ;” the whole
affair was a hoax on the part of some mischievous person, to see how
far he could impose on popular credulity. Similar delusions have ex-
isted at almost all times, and in all parts of the world.
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 37

Aware that the new road would divert the travel from the old
meeting-house, the people began to regard the location of that: house,
always inconvenient, as having become intolerable; especially in the
season of wintry storms and drifting snows. The subject of either
removing the old house, or building a new one, began to be agitated
in earnest. Some informal meetings for consultation were followed
by a town-meeting, Feb., 1823, when the town voted not to remove
the old, but to take measures to build a new house; and chose a
committee, one person from: each school district, to select a location.
At an adjourned meeting, in April, the committee reported that they
were unable to agree on a site; it was found that there was a conflict
ef opinions and interests; the subject was dropped for the present,
and the town, in their corporate capacity, never resumed it.

It was resumed, however, by individuals early in 1825, and a go-
ciety was formed, not without serious opposition, for building the
present Centre house. The transactions relative to the erection, con-
tain such an intermixture of town action and society action, that it is
not easy in this matter to run the line between the civil and ecclesi- -
astical portions of our history. It was erected 1826, at an expense of
$6,200, and furnished by subscription with a bell ‘at a cost of about
$400. Dissatisfied with the location, a number of citizens, in the
east part of the town, united with others in Deering and Society Land
(now Bennington,) and built, the same year, the Hast meeting-house,
at a cost of about $5000. Ata town meeting, Nov. 27, it-was voted
to discontinue public worship at the old house; also that the town’s
minister, Rev. John M. Whiton, should thenceforth officiate in the
new Centre house ; and on the question whether he should: preach
any part of the time in the east house, the vote stood, yeas 34, nays

There was a.:preat: drought in the summer of this. year, and such
surprising multitudes of -grasshoppers that by some persons they
were caught in nets and fed out to swine. ‘For years after, it
was referred to as “the grasshopper year.” The hay crop was di-
minished ngarly one half. .Qn the afternoon of Aug. 28 -a tremen-
dous rain swelled the little brooks into raging torrents, so that by
evening they were impassable, and the roar of foaming waters was
heard in almost.every direction. Much expense was incurred by the
town for the repair of damaged roads and bridges. The autumn
yielded an exuberant growth of grass, cold weather was late in com-
ing, and the cattle found, till into December, ample supplies of food
in the fields; happily disappointing gloomy anticipations of distregs-
ing scarcity.

Prior to 1827, almost all the citizens paid:a tax for the support of
the gospel, and diversity of denomination was scarce known. There
being now two houses for public worship, and of course a conflicting
state of feeling, a-considerable number withdrew from the support.of

. religious. institutions. at the Centre, of whom a: part contributed: to
the support.of. preaching at the Hast house, and others stood aloof
from any religious: organization. A. sufficient number remained

4

c
38 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

attached to the Centre house to sustain the ministry there, effectively
and permanently.

Within a short space after the erection of the new churches, the
old town burying-yard being remote from inhabitants, difficult of ac-
cess, and a large part of it filled with graves, three new cemeteries
were prepared : one near the Centre church, one near the Hast church,
and one on the Plain in the north part of the town. All these bury~-
ing grounds were opened for use in or near 1828. ae Ss

The commencement of manufactures in Antrim, on any consider- -
able scale, is referable to this year. There were then in the town _
three tanneries, six grain mills, seven saw-mills, two fulling and dress-
ing mills with machinery for carding wool, four blacksmiths’ shops,
with the usual proportion of other mechanics. Imla Wright erected, —
1828, a cotton factory. on Great Brook, a large half mile from the
Centre; an enterprise which gave birth to the present Clinton Vil-
lage, of which Mr. Wright may be justly regarded as the founder.
He prosecuted for some years the manufacture of cotton yara, wick-
ing, batting, and twine, a part of the time alone; another part m
connection with associates, under an act of incorporation; and is be-
lieved to have been the first who manufactured and brought into
market the cotton wrapping twine.. But the business was at last re-
linquished, and the factory sold; it was afterwards converted into a

_ manufactory of bedsteads, tables, bureaus, and other articles of house-
hold furniture. . A large business has been done in this line by Hall
.& Putnam, by Pratt & Putnam, and by I..B. Pratt, and much
of the’ work sent to Boston for sale. Samuel W. Abbot and Imka
Wright commenced in Clinton Village, 1835, the manufacture of hat
boxes and window shades; after they dissolved partnership, Abbot
continued the business, adding to it the manufacture of paper fans.
Since Abbot’s removal, the window shade business has been continued
by Samuel Abbot, by Abbot & Buckminster,:and next by IL. R. Ab-
bot, to a considerable extent; a portion of. the work finding its way
.to South-American markets. For the-sake of a connected view of
the progress of the manufacturing interest in Antrim,,we must an-
ticipate dates. Baldwin & White began the manufacture of cast-steel
hoes in the South Village, 1835, being the first in the State who em-
barked in the enterprise. They continued in ‘company about five
_ years, and were succeeded in the business by Robbins & Flint,.who
continued it two.or three years longer, to an amount of from $2,000
to $3,000 annually. In 1835, Thomas Poor, the owner of mills and
a large tannery in South Village, entered on the. manufacture of
patent leather, continued it about two years to an amount of a few
thousand dollars, when his shop was burned and the business was
not resumed. At this time shingle mills had been introduced and
been operative from 1829, and a large lumber business had sprung -
up in South Village, which still continues to be prosecuted. Boards,’
- planks, shingles, and other kinds of lumber, have been manufactured.
in quantities sufficient, not only to meet the. home demand, but also to
furnish large supplies to other places. The timber is obtained from
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 89

adjacent pine lands in Bennington. Seventy years ago these lands
were thought to be of very trifling value; the late Mark Woodbury,
Esq., bought some hundred acres, about 1800, for almost a song;
they might have been purchased in 1808 for five dollars per acre; at
the present time, if well timbered with full grown pines, they would
command per acre from $100 to $200. The stock of timber is fast
being exhausted.

Hyde & Breed commenced the manufacture of cassimeres and other
woolens, near the lower end of South Village, 1841, and prosecuted
the business in company five years. Breed continued it three years
longer. This factory has been burnt. Hyde erected two other
woolen factories in the village, higher up the Great Brook; the upper
one was operative for a brief period only, but now stands unoccupied ;
the middle one never went into operation, but has been removed a
few rods and applied to other uses.

White & Eaton introduced the manufacture of powder-kegs, 1848,
and prosecuted it not quite two years. The business was transferred
by them’ to Moore & Stearns; by the last named persons to J. 8.
Burnham, who rebiéquished it, 1850. The shop has passed into the
hands of J. Hi. Temple, who uses it for the manufacture of furniture,
including looking-glass frames. White & Haton commenced. the
manufacture of cast-steel hoes, 1845, in a new location, and have
done a business amounting, for the last four years, to ten or twelve
thousand dollars annually. For three years they have manufactured
a patented hoe of improved construction, called the “premium cast-
steel concave hoe,” which has been introduced extensively and highly
approved. They employ many hands. They are also the patentees
of a hay-cutter, of ingenious construction and approved efficiency...

Imla Wright erected, 1845, another cotton factory on a small scale,
in Clinton Village, where he manufactures cotton yarn, twine, and
batting. Hill & Fletcher built, 1848, in the same village, a factory,
now owned by John Johnson, Jun., and used for the manufacture of
chairs and powder kegs. 8. C0. & J. L. Kendall have lately put in
operation, below Clinton Village, a manufactory of doors, window-
sashes, and window-blinds, and where is done every kind of joiner’s
work. ‘

Little manufacturing business was done at the Branch Village till
1839, when Clark. & Buss began the manufacture of bobbins. The
business was continued by Isaac Boyd, and afterwards by A. Putnam,
—about six years in all. Dunkley & Co. commenced, 1849,.the
manufacture of raw imported silk—subjecting it to the successive op-
erations of winding, spinning, doubling and twisting, cleansing, col-
oring, and packing, to an amount exceeding $5,000 annually.

‘Isaac 0. Tuttle introduced the manufacture of shoe-pegs in ‘large
quantities, 1850; has recently sold out. The next year 8. W. &
J. G. Flint began and still continue the same manufacture.
“. 19 return to chronological order and resume the broken thread of
narration: The controversy relative to meeting-houses led to an
effort, in 1828, by citizens in certain sections of Antrim, Deering, and
40 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

Society Land, to procure the incorporation of a new town, to be com-
posed of the eastern part of Antrim, the western part of Deering, '
and Society Land. The town of Antrim voted to oppose the petition
for a division, and chose Isaac Baldwin their agent for this purpose,
with authority to employ counsel and take all proper steps to render
their opposition effective. At the nextsession of the Legislature: the
committee on the incorporation of towns reported adversely to the
petitioners for a division, and they had leave to withdraw their petition.

Not discouraged by a single failure, they renewed the effort in
1829, and obtained’ on petition the appointment by the Legislature of
a viewing committee, of three persons, to visit the place, hear the
respective ‘parties, and report on the expediency of creating a new
town. The committee, of which C. F. Gove,of Nashville, was chairman, —
came here on this business, May, 1830. Antrim and Society Land,
by special agents, and Deering by their selectmen, opposed the grant-
ing of the petition. After viewing the location, examining witnesses, ©
and hearing counsel, the committee reported in favor of the creation .
of anew town; but, at the June session, the House of Representa--
tives, by a great majority, decided adversely to%the report. No ef-
fort for a division has been made since this period, and these uapleas-
ant agitations gradually subsided. :

That portion of the road from Stoddard. to Hancock, passing «
through the southwest corner of Antrim, a rough, uninhabited tract,
on the west side of Bald Mountain, had been for many years kept in
tolerable repair by this town, at no small expense, and not without °
some complainings ; as the citizens scarce ever used the road, and had
no access to it except by passing through other towns. Gladly
would they have rid themselves of that angle of the town, but no
neighboring town would accept it. At this period, the Forest Road,
passing from Charlestown, N. H., through Stoddard, Hancock, and
Greenfield, toward Nashua, attracted public attention—constructed in
many places on hew ground; and designed as a new avenue to mar-
ket. Thoroughly to repair the portion of it lying in this uninhabited
corner of Antrim, subjected the town to a heavy expenditure, which,
however unpalatable, must be submitted to. A line of stages soon
yan over this road. About the same time another market road was
constructed from Newport to Amherst. These two roads attracted
from the old turnpike a large portion of the travel, which-had ren-
dered it for many past years a busy and lively thoroughfare.

A Court’s committee laid out, 1831, what was called the new Keene
Road, from Hillsborough Bridge by the Branch Village to Stoddard
line, and thence, by the Box tavern and North Nelson, to Keene.
The town of Antrim made all possible opposition to this road, but
were at last compelled to construct the portion of it within their
limits, at the expense of not less than $4,000. About the same
time another Court’s committee laid out a new road, a part of the way
on new ground, from Hillsborough Bridge by the South Village to
Hancock Factory Village; the cost of which, to the town of Antrim,
was not far from $2,000. Both roads were built, 1884.
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 41

From 1826 to 1832, the old meeting-house had stood unoccupied,
“except as a place for town-meetings. In accordance with a vote of
the town, it was taken down the latter year, reduced in its dimen-
sions, and. reconstructed into the present town-house. The contractor
for the removal and reconstruction was Charles Gates. Its loca-
tion was fixed by a disinterested committee from abroad, consisting
of Solomon McNeil, of Hillsboro’, Russell Tubbs, of Deering, and
Thatcher Bradford, of Hancock, Esquires.

Prior to 1836, the salary of the minister had been granted by the
town in its corporate capacity ; assessed and collected by the proper
town officers. This year the town ceased to act ag a religious organi-
zation, and the support of a Presbyterian minister was assumed by a
society, not incorporated, yet effective to.accomplish the object on the
pure voluntary principle. So long as the town, as a corporation, sus-
tained the ministry of the Gospel, it is believed that im no instance,
where persons protested against paying a minister’s tax, or declined
to pay, was the payment ever enforced; at least no such instance is
known to the writer. The thing was done under the forms of law:
it was, nevertheless, in the proper sense, a /ree-will offering.

At this period town taxes were, and had been for two or three
preceding years, excessively high. ‘Two expensive roads and several
minor roads had been built, a town farm for the support of the poor
had been purchased, at a cost, including repairs and stock, well nigh
$2,500. The amount of town indebtedness was at one time about
$9,000. The citizens did not attempt to liquidate the debt at once,
but resorted to a gradual process of extrication ; a thing easily done,
ag on the credit of the town, money could be easily borrowed. Fortu-
nately, the distribution of the surplus revenues of tle United States,
on deposit with the respective States, came to the aid of Antrim in
a time of need. From the sum deposited with New-Hampshire, the
town, by its agent, Samuel Fletcher, Esq., received, in 1837,.as its
proportionate share, about $3,000 on deposit. There being no ap-
prehension that the deposit would ever be reclaimed, it was applied
to the payuient of town debts; an important relief to the burdened
tax-payers, which helped them “ to see their way out of the swamp.”

Early in 1840, the existence of small pox in an adjoining town
created alarm here, and led to the call of a special town-meeting, for
the adoption of preventives to the spread of the infection. The

appointédithe physicians, Doctors-Stickney and Burnham, agents

at@,;at the expense of the town, all the inhabitants who

should apply to them. As the alarm subsided, the work of vaccina-

tion soon languished, and the results of the meeting were unimpor-
tant.

The formation of one town after another, out of the large tract
'. constituting the original Society Land, as it was prior to 1772, has

. been noticed in preceding pages. After the- incorporation of Antrim
and Hancock, all that retained the name of Society Land lay on the
east side of the Contoocook. A large slice was separated from it in
1791 to aid in forming Greenfield, of which town it constitutes the

 
42 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

western section. The remaining Society Land, inhabited in 1830 by
about twenty-five or thirty families, retained the ancient name till
1842, when, together with some contiguous portions of Hancock,
Greenfield, Francestown and Deering, it was formed into the present
town of Bennington.’ The old name of Society Land is now extinct;
the territory to which it was applied in early times forms six towns,
or parts of towns; contains between five and six thousand inhabi-
tants, and ranks high among the flourishing agricultural districts of
New-Hampshire.

In compliance with a town vote, the whole territory of the town-
ship was divided by the selectmen, 1848, by metes and bounds, into
thirteen school districts, very nearly as now constituted.

As an index of the sentiments of the people of Antrim, 1844, on
some subjects then attracting public attention, it may interest the
‘next generation. to know that on the question of the abolition of
capital punishment, the votes in town-meeting were, yeas 27 ; nays,
175. On the question of the revision of the Constitution of New-

Hampshire, yeas 23 ; nays, 137.

The year last named brings us to the close of our proposed histor-
ical period, one century from the first settlement. Hi is hoped some
one will be found, at the end of another century, to take up the
broken thread of the narrative, and detail the events and changes of
another hundred years!.. What they will be is known only to the
Omniscient. May the year 1944 find Antrim inhabited by an in-
dustrious, well educated, christian population ; fearing God, honor-
ing religion, seeking truth and righteousness. Long ere that day
comes, time will have leveled the graves and obliterated the mem-
ory of the present actors on the stage of life!
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF ANTRIM,

FROM 1744 TO 1844,

THE fact that for almost sixty years the town acted both ag a civil
and ecclesiastical corporation, occasions in the early records a remark-
able blending of the two departments, and renders now and then a
repetition necessary, to preserve the connection of the series of events.
The reader must pardon it as unavoidable.

From the settlement of the place, almost to the close of the last
century, the town was destitute of a stated ministry; not from the
want of anxious desire and effort to obtain a pastor, but from obsta-
cles to the attainment of their wishes. During Riley’s first residence
here, his fifteen years’ absence, and the first fourteen years of his
second residence, it is not known that there was a religious meeting
holden in town. In 1772, the Rev. Mr. Barnes, the first’ minister
who was settled in any adjoining town, was ordained’ in Hillsboro’.
For many succeeding years, the people of Antrim, when destitute of -
a supply, applied to him to solemnize marriages and attend funerals.
He performed here, cheerfully and gratuitously, many fatiguing ser-
vices, which merited and received the gratitude of the people.

As stated in another place, the first sermon preached in Antrim was
in Sept., 1775, by Rev. Mr. Davidson, of Derry, in Dea. Aiken’s barn ;
and, in a few weeks after, the Rev. Mr. McGregor, of Londonderry,
preached a sermon in Francestown, in the barn of Dea. Hopkins, who
lived on the well-known Gibson place. To this meeting several chil-
dren were carried from Antrim for baptism. In the two or three
following years a sermon was preached here occasionally, and gratui-
tously, by clergymen in the county; as the Rev. Messrs. Morrison,
of Peterboro’, Goodridge of Lyndeboro’, Heuston, of Bedford, Moor,
of New-Boston, and Barnes, of Hillsboro’.

The year after the incorporation, the town granted thirty-two dol-
lars, to which they:made, at a subsequent town-meeting, an addition,
to obtain preaching; a liberal grant for a community so small and
poor. They obtained the services of Mr. Aaron Hutchinson, then a
candidate for the ministry, afterwards an attorney at Lebanon, N. H.,
44 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

and of the Rey. Mr. Clarke, a native of Ireland, each a few Sabbaths.
Mr. Clarke was a learned and good man, but full of eccentricities
and oddities. In 1779 they voted to procure eight Sabbaths’ preach- .
ing, and obtained the services of Mr. James Miltimore, afterwards
minister of Stratham, N. H., and Newbury, Mass. Mr. Miltimore
was again engaged here for some Sabbaths in 1780, when the people
gave him a unanimous invitation to become their pastor, offering him»
a lot of land as a “settlement,” and an annual salary of $233. This
was atruly liberal offerfor so small a people. For reasons not appear-
ing on the town records, Mr. Miltimore declined an acceptance ; but
preached in town some Sabbaths in each of the years 1781, 1782,
1783. He was.a worthy man, and possessed in a high degree the
confidence of the people. The reasons of his declining the invitation «
are supposed to have been, that the Portsmouth proprietors were not
inclined to give the town a lot of land for the first settled minister ;
an impression on his part that his support might overburden his
friends, and that he might be more useful in a larger field.

In 1782, Daniel Nichols was chosen by the town “to read the
Psalm.” "This vote may refer to religious meetings when no minis-
ter was present, and lends probability to the inference that the early
settlers sometimes held meetings for prayer, singing, and reading
sermons, when they had no ministerial aid.

Rev. Mr. Whipple preached here a few Sabbaths in 1785, and it
was then that, at a meeting at Mr. Miltimore’s, the flooring gave way
and precipitated the assembly into the cellar. Up to this date, the
religious as well as the town-meetings had been holden in private ©
dwellings and barns.

As the transactions in relation to the building of the first meeting-
honse, 1785, were matters of town business, the details have been .
already given in the civil history of the place.

From this period, onward, for six or seven years, the annual grants
by the town for the supply of the desk were from fifty to eighty dol-
lars. It was the day of small things; seed was however being sown,
destined to yield much fruit afterwards. In 1786-7, the Rev. Aaron —
Hutchinson, father of the aforementioned Aaron Hutchinson, for- .
merly minister of Grafton, Mass., preached here a part of each sum-
mer: a man of many singularities, but possessing’ a memory sur-
prisingly retentive. It has been said that were the Greek Testament -
lost, he could have restored it from memory, word for word ; doubtless -
an exaggeration; but that he was in a remarkable degree familiar
with the Greek, cannot be questioned.

Though many of the first settlers and their wives were persons of ©
piety, they had hitherto retained their relation to the churches with
which they had originally united; attending sacramental seasons in
those places when it was practicable, and often carrying their children
thither for baptism. They, with a considerable number of new com-
municants, were organized into a church, 1788, consisting of about
sixty members. It is singular that the preliminary steps toward this
important transaction were taken by the town in legal meeting. - They
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 45

appointed Isaae Cochran their agent, to apply to the Presbytery of
Londonderry to authorize a minister to visit Antrim, and organize a
church. They designated to this service the Rev. Wm. Morrison, of
Londonderry, who preached here August 3 ; organized the Presbyte-
rian church, and ordained a board of elders elected by the church and
congregation ; viz: Deacons James Aiken, Isaac Cochran, and Jona-
than Nesmith. He came a second time the same month and admin-
istered, Aug. 24, for the first time in Antrim, the Sacrament of the
Lord’s Supper. Mr. Morrison, afterwards D. D., repeated for many
succeeding years, at the request of the people, his annual visits for
the administration of christian ordinances; was holden by them in
the highest respect, and, indeed, regarded by them as their spiritual
father. He was a native of Scotland ; educated for the ministry in
Pennsylvania ; aman of ready talent, winning manners, and excel-
lent reputation ; one of the most popular and useful ministers of that
day, in New-Hampshire. He died, 1818.

The original members of the church, being chiefly of Scottish de-
scent, educated in the Presbyterian faith and discipline, were strongly
attached to the principles and usages of their fathers, and placed
themselves from the very first under the care of the Presbytery of
Londonderry. No other ecclesiastical connection would have been
equally acceptable; it was a connection which has subsisted ever
since. ‘They, however, maintained a most fraternal intercourse with
all the neighboring churches, freely uniting with them in all acts of
christian fellowship. -Between Antrim and Londonderry there was
for many years a great deal of intercourse, social as well as religious ;
numerous ligaments of consanguinity connected them. If, through
lapse of time and change of circumstances, the mother and daughter
are now partially estranged, it is only one of those mutations to
which earth is subject.

The sacramental services of the church in Antrim were modeled
after those of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. They had a
sacramental season annually at least; semi-annually if practicable.
The Thursday or Friday preceding the Sabbath was observed as a
Fast, there being two public services,:and no servile labor being al-
lowed. There were also public religious-services on Saturday after-
noon and Monday forenoon; the latter being the usual time for the
baptism of children, At the preparatory Fast, tokens, small pieces
of lead stamped with the letter A, were distributed among the com-
municants, as an indication of their right of access to the table:
a, practice borrowed from the church of Scotland, and continued by
the force of custom Jong after the original and sufficient reason for
its introduction had ceased to exist. “When receiving the sacramental,
elements, the communicants sat at long tables, covered with white
linen, and extended through the aisles; the tables were sometimes
filled with guests three or four times successively ; the whole service
being interspersed with singing, prayers, and exhortations: These
were seasons of deep interest, drew crowded congregations, and were
often productive of the most salutary religious impressions. Some,
46 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

who came merely to look on, went away thoughtful and serious. -
This was the course of things almost to the time of leaving the. first

meeting-house. When the present church was built, 1826, the con-

struction was such as to render the use of tables, extended through

the aisles, inconvenient; and for this reason they were laid aside.

The tokens and the Monday service had been discontinued two or.
three years earlier. For almost forty years from its organization,

the Presbyterian was the only church existing in town. —

Reference to the tokens formerly used in Presbyterian churches
may lead- to the inquiry, What was the origin of this usage? It
was this: during the progress of the reformation from Popery, in
Scotland, three centuries ago, Presbyterian ministers and churches -
were few and far between, intermingled with a great mass of Roman-
ists. To enjoy sacramental communion, many Protestants must
travel great distances ; a Scottish sacrament brought together crowds
of strangers. To prevent the intrusion of improper persons, tokens
were introduced as a substitute for written certificates of membership
in the church. A stranger might apply to some minister or elder, ;
who could vouch for his christian character and standing, and receive
a token, which at the proper time he produced as an evidence of his
right of access to the Lord’s table. In the state of society then ex-
isting, the usage was proper and almost indispensable ; after the Refor-
mation had become established, the power of custom continued the
practice, long after the necessity for it had ceased.

From 1788.to 1791, inclusive, it is not ascertained what clergymen .
preached in Antrim, except that in one of these years the Rev. Mr.
Clark, afterwards of Greenfield, supplied the desk for a time; a man
so exemplary, that his host gave him the just and high commendation
of being an “every day preacher.” During this period, probably, a
Mr. Carpenter preached here for some weeks. In 1792, the services
of Rev. Mr. Tomb were obtained, and the town gave him an invita-
tion to become their minister; offering him a settlement of $2662,
and an annual salary of $2334, to be afterwards increased to $2664.
He returned a negative, and left the town for a time; the desk being
supplied after his departure, for a few Sabbaths, bya Mr. Noble. In
1793 Mr. Tomb was requested to return, and the town renewed their
invitation to him to settle here as their pastor. To their great dis-
appointment he again declined. Mr. Tomb was a man of handsome
talents and respectable character, and was afterwards settled in the
ministry at Salem, N. Y., where he remained till his death, exten-.
sively known and valued. u

Of the supplies of the desk in 1794-5 no record remains. A Mr.
Duff preached here it is believed in the summer of 1796. Rev. Da-
vid Goodall, afterwards of Lyttleton, supplied the desk in the latter
part of 1796 and the former part of 1797. A meeting was called
the latter year to- invite him to become the town’s minister; but a
vote to this effect was not obtained. "Whether the people were not
united, or whether it had been ascertained that Mr. Goodall did not

“incline to remain, is not now known. He was a man of great moral
 

HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 47

excellence, useful as a minister, a missionary and a legislator. His
missionary labors were attended with some incidents of thrilling in-
terest ; but this is not the place to tell the story.

In the five or six preceding years, the annual appropriation by the
town for the supply of the desk had been gradually increased from
eighty to two hundred dollars; corresponding with the growth of the
place. Rev. Mr. Howard preached here in the summer of 1798, and
the town voted to. give him an invitation to settle with them in the
ministry. At a subsequent meeting, an article in the warrant to fix
on the sum to be offered him as a salary was dismissed. It is not
known whether this was meant by the town as a withdrawal of the
call, or whether Mr. Howard declined to receive proposals. He af-
terwards became the minister of Dunstable, Masa.

Mr. Walter Little, a native of Peterboro’, and a graduate of Dart-
mouth College, was employed here, 1799, as a candidate for settle-
ment. Aug. 15, the church and town acting in concert, invited him
to take the pastoral charge, offering an annual salary of $300, to
which $20 more were afterwards added. He was not ordained till
Sept¢ 3, 1800; on which occasion the Rev. Dr. Morrison, of London-
derry, preached the sermon ; the Rev. Mr. Taggart, of Colrain, Mass.,
offered the ordaining prayer; and the Rev. Dr. Dana, of Newbury-
port, gave the right hand of fellowship. At that time the dysentery
was raging, and the town was in affliction. During the twelve years
from the organization of the church to the ordination of Mr. Little,
forty-five had been admitted to membership ; these, added to the orig-
inal number, with some deduction: for deaths and removals, woul
make the number of members at this period about ninety.

In addition to the existing session, the congregation elected, Sept.
25, as Ruling Elders and Deacons, John Duncan, Joseph Boyd, Dan-
iel Nichols, James Nesmith, Arthur Nesmith, James Carr, Sutheric
Weston, Barachias Holt, and John Alexander, who were duly or-
dained, Oct. 17; making in all a church session of twelve members,
exclusive of the pastor; all of whom are since deceased. Though
the Presbyterian form of church government recognizes a distinction
between the,offices of elder and deacon, and though some churches
have a board of elders, and a distinct board -of deacons, yet it has
been the usage of this, and other Presbyterian churches in this State,
to consider the same men as holding both offices, as being both elders
and deacons.

Considerable religious interest existed in the first year of Mr. Lit-
tle’s ministry, resulting in the addition to the church of thirty-six
persons. In the three succeeding years thirty-one more were added.
For some reason he obtained an act of the Legislature changing his
name to Fullerton. He possessed respectable talents, but, to a por-
tion of the people, his manners were unacceptable ; dissatisfaction
arose and increased. Finding his situation becoming unpleasant, he
applied to the Presbytery, Sept. 4, 1804, for leave to resign his charge.
The people, having been - duly notified of his request, instructed the
elder who represented them in Presbytery, to offer no objection ; and
48 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

that ‘body, at a special meeting, Oct. 4, dissolved his relation to his
people. He was re-settled at Hebron, N. Y., and in a few years
again dismissed. His death occurred on a journey, many years since,
in the State of Maryland. It was during the brief ministry of Mr.
Fullerton that some infidel publications; as Paine’s Age of Reason,
and other kindred works, found their way here, and infected a few
persons with the moral poison ; whose unceasing efforts proselyted. a
few of the young to infidelity. It proved a root bearing gall and
wormwood, the effects in relation to its votaries being, in most in-
stances, profanity and intemperance, sometimes gambling and reck-
lessness ; in two or three instances premature death. The great mass
: of the people, however, adhered steadfastly to the faith of their fathers.

Mr. Thomas Cochran, a candidate for the ministry, supplied the
desk some part of 1805, and received from the town, in May, a call
to become their stated minister. He declined the invitation, and was
afterwards the pastor of a'church in Camden, Maine. This year the
session voted to admit persons of sober life and conversation, who
had been themselves baptized, though not members of the church in
full communion, to the privilege of bringing their children to baptism ;
a considerable number availed themselves of the permission. In
some portions of New-Hngland this practice prevailed to some extent,
and was called, in the language of the times, “the half-way practice,”
or, “owning the covenant.” It was in use here but five years, when,
on general conviction of its impropriety, it was given up. :

Nov., 1806, Mr. Wm. Ritchie, from Peterboro’, having supplied
the desk for a time, was invited by vote of the church and congrega-
tion in legal town-meeting, to assume the pastoral charge. He de-
clined, and was soon after ordained at Canton, Mass.

The present pastor of the Presbyterian church came here to supply
the desk, July 11th, 1807 ; remained with the people, that season,
three months ; and received in September an invitation to become the
town’s minister, which he at that time declined. The call being re-
newed, May, 1808, he returned in June, and was ordained as pastor,
Sept. 28, by the Presbytery of Londonderry. Rev. Dr. Austin, of
Worcester, Mass., preached the sermon; Rey. Dr. Morrison, of Lon-
donderry, gave the charge; and Rev. E. P. Bradford, of New-Boston,
the right hand of fellowship. The church then consisted of about
125 resident members, only eight or nine having been added during
the preceding four years.

From 1808 to the close of 1812, thirty-four persons were admitted
into the church. The melancholy scenes of the spotted fever, in the
latter year, were not productive, in this place, of that deep moral
impression which might have been anticipated. They had, indeed,'a
salutary influence on some minds, and twelve persons in that year
professed the religion of Christ. It is remarkable that in the neigh-
boring town of Francestown, these scenes made a deeper impression
than in the locality of their occurrence; there being in that town a
general and powerful revival of religion, many of the subjects of the
work referring to the ravages of death they had heard of in Antrim,
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 49

as the first thing that aroused them to serious reflection. The years
1818 and ’14 were years of religious declension. The events of the
war engrossed the public attention. Six were added to the church in
the former year; but in the latter, not one.

A day more favorable dawned, 1815, in which year thirteen. indi-
viduals united with the church. In July, 1816, some of the former

elders having deceased, removed, or become enfeebled by age, the
church elected Samuel Vose, Josiah Duncan, John Taylor, Epps
Burnham, and Tristram Sawyer, to be elders, all.of whom accepted
and were ordained. Soon after this event an increase of religious
interest. became quite visible ; extended itself, without special efforts,
silently and. gradually, from one neighborhood to another, continued
two years and a little more, in which period more than fifty were
added to the church. It was like a copious, refreshing morning dew.

In the three years, 1819, 1820, 1821, the church received into its
fellowship twenty-eight persons. The five succeeding years, begin-
ning with 1822, exhibit a less favorable aspect of religious feeling,
giving a total number of admissions of only fifteen. In 1825, there
was not a single admission. The agitations and divisions then ex-
isting in relation to the location of a meeting-house were adverse to
spiritual prosperity. This year, Amos Parmenter, John Bell, Robert
Duncan, and Robert Steele were added to the session. James Wal-
lace, Jun., now a resident of Manchester, was elected with them to
the office of an elder, but declined to accept.

Such a blending of town and society action is found in the transac-
tions relative to the erection of the Central church, 1826, that the
civil and ecclesiastical portions of our history are, on this point,
strangely commingled. To the details given in the chapter of civil
history it may be added that the Centre house was dedicated Nov.
15, 1826; sermon by the pastor, from Gen. 28:17. In accordance
with a previous. vote of the town, the congregation held the last ser-
vice in the old house in the forenoon of Dec. 3, the sermon being
from John 4 : 20,“ Our fathers worshipped in this mountain.” In
the intermission, the assembly. repaired to the new house for the af-
ternoon service, the sermon being from Psalm 132: 8,9. The Hast
church was dedicated Dec. 20th; sermon by Rev. Mr. Lawton of
Hillsboro.’ The society worshipping ‘in this house obtained, not long
after, the services of Mr. Roswell Harris, a candidate for the congre-
gational ministry ; a respectable and estimable man, who preached
to them somewhat over a year.

Without any anticipation of such a blessing, or the use of any
special means whatever, by far the most general and powerful revival
of religion. ever enjoyed in Antrim, manifested itself in 1827. It
was found in May that a few persons, hitherto void of special religious
impressions, were inquiring what ie Reo do to be saved. Ina
few weeks the interest spread into almost every part of the town ;
religious meetings were: crowded with thoughtful and listening hear-
ers, and opposition stood dumb before the power of the Divine Spirit.
Few were found hardy enough to deny the finger of God. The good
50 _ HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

work was at its height in August and September. In the course of
sixteen months one hundred and three persons united with the Pres-
byterian church; the greatest number received at one time. being
fifty-one; the greater part of whom ever after sustained, in the
judgment of charity, the christian character. It was a merciful dis-
pensation, following a scene of protracted controversy about the loca-
tion of a church; coming to strengthen the cause of religion at a
critical time ; and exerting a great and lasting influence on the moral
state of the community. The whole number of professed converts
in the town was not less than one hundred and twenty. ;

Oct. 25, a Congregational church of seventeen members, chiefly
subjects of the existing revival, was organized by a council, in which
the pastor and session of the Presbyterian church assisted, at the
east meeting-house; to whom were soon added nine others, dismissed
at their own request, from the Presbyterian church, and four more
from other churches; making thirty in all. The sermon at the or-
ganization was by Rev. Mr. Cook, then of Acworth, from Ps. 4:3,
first clause. ;

In 1829 and 1830 the additions to the Presbyterian church were
only four. - William Little and Joel Wilkins were added in the latter
year to the session; John Vose was also elected an elder, but ex-
cused himself from an acceptance. —_ ;

Memorable in the churches of this region is the year 1831, as the ,
season of “protracted meetings,’ so called. Such meetings were
holden in very many places; and though some objectionable features
were discernable, the general results were in most instances decidedly
good. The attention of great numbers was attracted to the truths
and obligations of religion, and the moral state of society was ame-
liorated. Such a meeting was holden here during three days the
latter part of August, and was attended, with deep interest, by crowds
of people from this and other towns, and by many ministers. A con-
siderable number of hopeful conversions ensued, many of which
appeared, ever after, to be genuine and abiding: Thirty-six persons
were added to the church that year. It was at length found that
such meetings, like other things good in themselves but liable to per-
version, were not free from some ill consequences; that some placed
on them an undue reliance, to the disparagement of the ordinary
means of grace; that they created a taste for exciting rather than
instructive preaching ; that some itinerant preachers used them as a
means of disseminating unsound principles, and of introducing rash
innovations. When these evils became apparent, the Spirit of God
ceased to set on them, as heretofore, the seal of divine approbation,
and the churches wisely returned to their.former reliance on the or-
dinary means of religious instruction.

About 1831, the Rev. Joseph Davis, of the Baptist denomination,
was engaged to preach at the East house, and supplied that desk,
some portion of each-year, for a period of twelve or more years ; fre-

_ quently preaching for a time in other places. Several families of that
denomination in Antrim, Deering, and Society Land, together with
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 51

some others in the vicinity, attended-his ministry. A small Baptist
church was organized, of which he was pastor, and in which Benja-
min Nichols officiated as deacon. After an existence of about ten
years its members thought it expedient to dissolve it, and the greater
portion of them united with the Baptist church in Bennington. After
Mr. Davis ceased to occupy that desk, other temporary supplies were
obtained occasionally, chiefly from ministers of the Baptist and Meth-
odist connections.

From 1832 to the close of 1835 the religious aspect of the town
exhibited no noticeable change. In these four years, seventeen were
received into the church, and the total number of resident members
during this period exceeded two hundred. But the spirit of emigra-
tion had begun to make inroads into the number, and, from this time,
towns and villages presenting higher encouragements to business and
enterprise, drew away many of the more youthful members, and some
of the more aged. Near one third of a Congregational church then
existing at Alexandria, N. H., was composed of emigrants from
Antrim. Death was rapidly removing the original and earlier mem-
bers, and the additions, though more than equaling the number of
deaths, were not adequate to make up both for that diminution, and
also for the continued. drain by emigration. In 1835 Samuel Fletcher
and James Hopkins, Jun., were added to the board of elders, both of
whom have deceased. The death-bed scene of Dea. Hopkins pre-
sented one of the most striking exhibitions ever witnessed in Antrim,
how calmly, and sometimes joyfully, a christian can die. Dea. Fletcher
was for years one of the most prominent and valued citizens of the
town, being not only an elder of the church, but selectman, town-
clerk, representative, justice of the peace ; a man always to be trusted.
The disease which proved fatal to him was malignant erysipelas, con-
tracted, as was supposed, by innoculation, while aiding in preparing
for the grave the body of his neighbor and friend, Mr. Joseph 8.
Atherton.

In 1836 occurred a revival of limited extent, almost confined to
Clinton village and its immediate vicinity, resulting in several hopeful
couversions. The church received that year an accession of twelve
members, most of them young.

In the eight years from 1837 to the close of 1844, the Presbyte-
rian church admitted to its fellowship forty-three individuals, and con-
tained, at the close of this period, one hundred and seventy resident
members; possibly a few more. The numbers stated in the preced-
ing narration as added, include the additions both by profession and
by letter ; far the greater portion by profession. Soon after the or-
ganization of a Congregational church at the village, now Benning-
ton, 1839, seven or eight members of the church in Antrim, having
nearer and easier access to Bennington, requested and received letters
of recommendation to that church. The Congregational church at
the East meeting-house being much reduced in number by the remo-
val of its members, was dissolved, 1843, when the most of its remain-
ing members united with the Presbyterian church at the Centre.
52 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

We have now brought the details of our ecclesiastical betery
through a period of a century from the first settlement, to 1844.
continuation must be left to some other pen. As an aid, however,
to the future annalist of the church, it may be stated (though it 1s
traveling beyond our prescribed limits,) that the total of Sear eres
to the Presbyterian church from 1845 to 1851, inclusive of et :
years, was fifty-seven; of whom thirty-five were added in 1851;
making the total number for a period of 434 years to be four hun-
dred and thirty-three. In the religious interest of 1851 all the de-
nominations in the town shared, but the details fall not within the
limits of time proposed for this sketch. . .

A brief notice of the singing choir in Antrim will be of interest
to some readers, and may be not unfitly added to the chapter of eccle-
siastical history. The vote of the town, 1782, appointing Daniel
Nichols “to read the psalm,” is not easily explained; possibly it
was meant to designate him to lead the church music. Dea. Arthur
Nesmith came here, 1786, and is believed to have been the leader
from that time to 1814; a period of twenty-eight years. From 1794
he was formally designated to the office by successive reélections in

town-meeting. His courteous, amiable manners made him acceptable |

to the choir and to the congregation. John Taylor officiated as first
chorister a few years from 1814, having as associate choristers, Wil-
liam Gregg and David McAuley. Capt. McAuley died, 1817, and
Mr. Taylor removed to the west about 1821. After the year last
named the choir was led by William Gregg, with Charles Gates as
associate chorister. Capt. Gregg died 1829. The leaders of the
choir since that date have been, successively, Charles Gates, Giles
Newton, Joel Wilkins, Solomon J. Buckminister, and Frederic 8.
Little.

The religious denominations existing in town,,and holding meet-
ings for worship, in 1852, (the year of the publication of this sketch,)
are the Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists. A very large ma-
jority of the families, attached to any.religious organization, are con-
nected'with the Presbyterian society. A society of Baptists resident
in Antrim, Bennington, and Deering, worship in a hall in South Vil-
lage, to whom the Rev. Mr. Lovejoy statedly ministers. A number
of families of the Methodist denomination hold religious meetings in
North Branch Village and at the Hast meeting-house, alternately, to
whom the Rev. Mr. Dudley has preached for a period of from one to
two years. A considerable number of families are not connected
with any religious organization.
NOTICES OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF ANTRIM.

Puitip RIvey, the first settler, has been already noticed. He
was a man of very limited information, and in old age became de-
pendent on the town for support. A son-in-law, named Cochlan, was
for some years freed from taxes on condition of keeping the father
from becoming a charge on the town, which after a time he failed to
do. Riley’s death occurred not far from 1790.

a

JAMES AIKEN, afterwards the well known Deacon Aiken, the first
settler of South Antrim, 1767, was the grandson of Edward Aiken,
who came from Ireland, 1722, to Londonderry. His sons settled
around him,from whom the neighborhood was called “‘ Aiken’s Range.”
Deacon Aiken had served as a soldier in the second French war, in
the celebrated corps of Rangers commanded by Major Rogers, and
used to relate thrilling incidents of olden time. He was once out on
a scout with the Major near Lake George; the party was almost
famished with hunger and thirst; nothing remained save one glass
of rum in a‘soldier’s canteen, to whom the Major offered a dollar for
the rum. The soldier, suffering not less than his officer, replied,
Major Rogers, I love you, but love myself better,”—at the same
moment turning up the canteen and swallowing the rum. Dea. Aiken
was a man of energy and benevolence ; his house was a father’s
house to early settlers, whom he befriended to the extent of his power,
and the home of the ministers who preached here occasionally in
early times. He died, 1817, aged eighty-five ; universally respected
and leaving a numerous posterity, of whom a few remain in Antrim,
and more are dispersed in other and distant States.

Wi11aM Smira, the second settler of South Antrim, came from
Londonderry, 1771. He was a quiet, peaceable, pious man; died
1800, aged eighty-five. His son, John Smith, a celebrated marks-
man and hunter, died 1826, leaving a widow who still survives.
Another son, Robert, lived many years on the John Wallace farm,
and removed into the State of Maine. ie

Joun Gorpon was a Scottish Highlander, came here as early as
1770, and in 1772 settled on the Dustin place. After a few years
he removed to some neighboring town, and thence to some place in
or near Canada; died many years ago, among strangers. His son,
Daniel, having resided successively in Hillsboro’, Washington, and
Windsor, returned to Antrim, 1850, and died a few weeks after, aged

5
54 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

. s oa.
eighty-two. He remembered working at felling trees, in Mr. Dustin’s
Sion, on the intensely hot day of Bunker-hill battle ; being then a
boy seven years old.

Mavrice Lyncox was from New-Boston, and began the >
farm, 1772. He was a man of some education, a land surveyor, an
the first town-clerk. Having lost a child by death, before it was
known where the centre of the town would fall, no mode of burial
was in his power, other. than to inclose the body in a rough box or
trough, to carry it in his arms into the woods, and bury it m a spot
as near as he could guess to the future centre. He remained here
but a few years; returning with his family to New-Boston about
1784, where he afterwards died.

RanpatL ALEXANDER, the descendant of an early settler of Lon-
donderry, began to subdue the farm now Lyman Dow’s, 1772; had
been a soldier in the last French war; removed his family from town
about 1784 ; and after an absence of forty years, returned as a pau-
per, with locks whitened by age, scarce remembered by the aged in-
habitants. He died, 1826, aged ninety-two. Some one objected to
ringing the bell at his death from an impression, perhaps erroneous,
that in Canada he once stood a passive spectator of the murder, by
a brutal soldier, of a little French girl, for her gold beads, when the
child flew to him for protection, and he’might have prevented the
bloody deed.

Joun Duncan, afterwards Esquire, was the great-grandson of
George Duncan, who lived and died in Ireland. His son, George,
emigrated to America.soon after 1720, settled in Londonderry, was a
magistrate, and a prominent citizen. Deacon George Duncan, son of
second George, married a Bell, a descendant of a Scottish emigrant,
who settled in Ireland in 1612, and was the father of Hsq. John, of
Antrim. He removed his family here, 1773, making the seventh in
town. He was long an eminent citizen, being selectman, town-clerk,
magistrate, representative, and senator. In one instance he was
Speaker of the House, pro. tem. His cheerfulness, candor and in-
tegrity won him many friends. Asa magistrate, he was eminently a
peace-maker, often relinquishing his fees to induce contending parties
to settle their disputes. As an elder of the church, he labored to
advance the moral and religious interests of the town. Sometimes,
but sparingly, he indulged in sallies of wit. A Mr. Pickering, an
eminent lawyer, once said in the House of Representatives that
lawyers were the pillars of the State, as without their aid not a sin-
gle important bill could be drafted. Mr. Duncan rose and said, in
his Scottish accent, “Mr. Speaker, there are different kinds of pall-
yars ; there is a kind of pallyars that supports buildings; there is
also another kind of pallyars called caterpadlyars, that devour men’s
substance ; if the gentlemen refer to the latter kind of pallyars, I
perfectly agree with him.” Mr. Duncan closed his long life, 1823,
aged eighty-nine ; it being justly said at his funeral that no man in

eg
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 55

town had done more good. His only son William, died, 1846, leav-
ing the old homestead to the present Josiah Duncan. John’s

grandmother was a native of one of the Orkney Islands, on the north
of Scotland.

James Dickey, a descendant of an early emigrant from Ireland
to Londonderry, planted himself in Antrim, 1774, on the farm re-
cently purchased by Reuben Boutell ; enlisted into the Revolutionary
service, and mysteriously disappeared, as before related, at White
Plains, 1776. His widow and family, who were very respectable,
removed, many years ago to New-York.

JosEPH Boyp, afterwards Deacon Boyd, son of William, an emi-
grant from the north of Ireland to Londonderry, became a resident
of Antrim, 1774, and began the Jesse Goodell farm. He was a
man of singular industry, candor and sincerity, an elder of the Pres-
byterian church, and enjoyed the general respect of his townsmen.
Tt used to be said of him that no man ever saw in him any thing un-
fair or dishonorable. He died, 1816, of a disease of the bladder ;
his death probably hastened by being thrown violently out of his
carriage, near the old meeting-house on the Sabbath. Dea. Boyd had
two brothers who settled in Antrim: William, who came here a
year or two later than Joseph, began to cultivate the farm now Mr.
Starret’s, and after a residence of about twenty years returned to
Londonderry ; and James, who began, about 1791, to subdue the
large and valuable farm now his son’s, the present James Boyd.
James, senior, died 1835, aged sixty-seven. He married Fanny
Baldwin, of Hollis, 2 woman of great excellence of character, who
died 1828.

James Duncay, a cousin of Hon. John Duncan, settled in 1774
on the place of Cyrus Saltmarsh, Esq.; died 1825, aged seventy-

nine.

DanitEL McFaRLAND, a native of Goffstown, began, 1774, the
place now N. W. ©. Jameson’s. He was a man of many eccentrici-
ties. Under some mental hallucination, he at one time fancied him-
self to be the heir of an earldom in Scotland, and built, as a proper
appendage to his supposed dignity, a very large house, which stood
in his day unfinished. Part of it has been taken down, and the re-
mainder converted into a tasteful residence by the present owner.
Mr. McFarland died, 1829, aged ninety-six. It may amuse the
reader to learn the origin of the name. .As tradition will have it, a
stranger, named John, came some centuries ago from a foreign coun-
try to Scotland; to distinguish him from other Johns, and to indicate
that he came from a far country, the people called him Far-land, and
by adding the Scottish prefix, Mac, John McFarland.

JoHN WaxzREN began the clearing of the John Wallace farm 1774;
built the first saw-mill in town, two years after; removed his family
to Canada about 1800. Little is known of the incidents of his life
while a resident of Antrim.
56 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

JAMES Moor was an emigrant from Ireland, settled in gue
1774, on the farm once owned by Josiah Wallace, at | present TT :
in part by Isaac C. Tuttle; built the first grist-mill in town, 1/11 ;
was familiarly known as Miller Moor. His nephew, Samuel, came
hither from Ireland about 1778, and married James’ daughter, Han-
nah. He was from a respectable family, well educated for the times,
and served as town-clerk. Miller Moor died about 1788. Samuel,
who had twelve children, removed his large family to Walpole, 1790,
and has been dead many years.

Joun Burns, from New-Boston, began, 1774, the place in the
high range now owned in part by Widow Weston; remained here
but one summer, being succeeded, in 1775, by his brother Robert,
who resided in town till his death, 1829, aged eighty-one.

Hurcutnson came here from Amherst, 1774, labored one
season on land afterwards the Boutell farm, west of Mr. Webster’s,
now converted into pasturage. As related on another page, he was
mortally wounded by a cannon ball, on Charlestown neck, the day
after Bunker-hill battle.

Samuel Nichols emigrated from the county of Antrim in Ireland,
about 1754, resided in other towns many years, came to Antrim in
his old age, and died, 1804, at the house of Daniel Nichols, Esq.
He was the father of four sons, early settlers of Antrim, viz: THoMaAs,
born in Ireland, brought to America when an infant at the breast,
came to this town when a lad, 1767, lived with Dea. Aiken, and after
a few years settled on the place now Josiah W. Christie’s. He was
an enterprising, influential citizen, served in various town offices, and
was captain of the militia; an office of more consideration then than
at this day. In the dysentery of 1800, Capt. Nichols buried three
children in one day. He removed to Lake Erie, 1808, and died
soon after of the lake fever. Of his grand-children, one was a mis-
sionary, and another a female teacher among the Seneca Indians.
DaniEL, afterwards Esq., came here a young, single man, 1774, and
in a few years after settled on the farm at this day Mr. Turner’s. He
was much employed in town business, was a magistrate, an elder of
the church, and the delegate of Antrim to the Convention which
revised the Constitution of New-Hampshire, 1792. His death, of
spotted fever, 1812, was much lamented. His son, John, a young
man of much promise, was a missionary to India, and died near
Bombay, in 1824. A heathen native, having conducted a succeeding
missionary to Mr. Nichols’ grave, said with emotion, “ He was a good
man.” His widow married an Episcopal missionary in Ceylon, and
is deceased. Mary, youngest daughter of Daniel, a young lady of
superior talents and education, was a successful teacher of female
select schools, and died in early life, 1823. Apam came here with
his brother Daniel, began the McCoy farm, removed, 1805, to New-
York, afterwards to Kentucky, where he died, 1846, in his ninetieth
year. John, another brother of Daniel, and a soldier under Stark,

 
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 57

at Bennington battle, came here somewhat later than his brothers ;
removed first to Francestown, and thence about 1812, to Genessee
County, New-York; died there, 1849, aged almost ninety. His
posterity are in the far west.

Martrrew Temrieton, from Londonderry, began, 1775, to sub-
due the Ira Cochran farm, lived there nine or ten years, removed
thence to Peterboro’, where he died at an advanced age. He was an
upright man, but remarkable for his strong antipathy to instrumental
music in churches. The pitch-pipe used in olden time, he called
the whistle ; the bass-viol, Dagon. At Peterboro’, on a certain Sab-
bath, the chorister, John Smith, a brother of Gov. Smith, gave the
key with the pitch-pipe; the choir began to sing the psalm, but be-
came confused and stopped; old Mr. Templeton, who sat near- the
pulpit, turned his head slowly round to the choir, and exclaimed
aloud, “ Ah, Johny Smith, ye maun blaw your whastle again !”

Tuomas Stuart, from Merrimac, long known as Capt. Stuart,
settled, 1775, on the farm now Esquire Flint’s. His sound judgment
and exemplary life commanded respect, and procured his election to
various town offices. He died, 1803, aged 55. His wife, Sarah Mc-
Auley, a woman of excellent character, survived her husband many
years. Having lost their children by death, their nephew, Capt.
David McAuley, inherited their property. He became one of the
leading citizens of the town, much employed in town business, but
died in the prime of life, 1817. Capt. Stuart had a brother, Francis,
who settled near the Branch Village, but after some years removed
his family to Canada. /

RicnarD McAuistrr built a house, 1775, on the north side of
Meeting-house Hill, on or near the spot where now stands a small
house owned by Isaac Barrett; brought under cultivation a farm ;
removed, about 1793, to Alstead, and thence to Springfield, Vt.
His brother James came to Antrim about the same time with Rich-
ard; began the farm at this day Miles Tuttle’s; died 1823, advanced
in years. His wife, daughter of John McClary, died about 1845,
very aged; much respected for her uniform piety and exemplary life.
When their barn was raised; help was scarce in those early days; the
men, having raised a band half way up, came to a stand; raise it
higher they could not, and to let it fall back threatened broken bones.
Their calls alarmed Mrs. McAlister, who with two other women there
on a visit, ran to their help; the addition of the women’s strength
barely enabled the men to raise the band to its place, though with
the utmost exertion; and perhaps prevented a sad catastrophe.
Another brother of Richard, John, a blacksmith, came here in the
course of the revolutionary war; settled at first on the north side of
Meeting-house Hill, afterwards on the Woodburn Wallace farm, and
removed, about 1814, to Vermont.

Joun McCuary, the first settler on the Madison Tuttle farm, 1775,
was from Ireland, brought here a considerable family, was a linen
58 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

weaver, an occupation then followed by men, and deemed respectable
died, 1796. His son John married a McN eil of Hillsboro’, and
soon removed to that town, and afterwards to Vermont. Another
son, Thomas, was frozen to death, about 1790. He went ona cold
January evening to a little store in Hillsboro’, asked permission to
stay over night, was refused, and in the attempt to return home, be-
came bewildered and perished. Another son of first Ji ohn, William,
lived on a place west of Elijah Gold’s, and was frozen to death on or
near the old Turnpike, in December, 1811. David McClary, who
lived long in the Woodbury family, and died, 1850, was the son of
second John.

ALEXANDER JAMESON, from Dunbarton, established himself on
the Temple farm, certainly as early as 1776, resided there over twen-
ty years, and removed, 1798, to Cherry Valley, N. Y. Hugh, bis
brother, came here a little later, built a house on the old Turnpike,
and died in early life, 1795. His widow, who was a Steele, removed
to Allegany County, N. Y., and died there, 1848, aged ninety-five.
Thomas, brother of Hugh and Alexander, settled in Antrim, about
1785, on the farm inherited from him by his son, the present Alex-
ander Jameson; was known as Capt. Jameson, was an active and
valuable citizen, and died, 1839, aged seventy-nine. The Jameson
families, though immediately from Dunbarton, originated from Lon-
donderry.

Those names in the preceding list, printed in SMALL CAPITALS,
comprise the resident freeholders in the town at the date of the in-
corporation, 1777.

Jonathan Nesmith, son of James, who was born before the emi-
gration of the family to America, or as some say on the passage, and
the grandson of Elder James Nesmith, an early and respectable set-
tler of Londonderry, who emigrated 1718, from the valley of the
river Bann, in the uorth of Ireland; settled in Antrim, 1778, hav-
ing previously labored on hig land a part of two or three preceding
summers. He was among the most respectable citizens, was select-
man, one of the first board of elders, and representative for four
years. Deacon Nesmith was eminently social and hospitable, had a
great flow of spirits, and withal a sound judgment and a blameless
reputation. No man enjoyed a larger share of public confidence.
He was present as an elder in the church at each communion, save
one, for half a century ; died, 1845, aged eighty-six. His son, Capt.
Thomas D. Nesmith, inherited the paternal estate, but died in the
prime of life, leaving the old homestead to his son, the present Jona-
than Nesmith. Another son of Dea. Nesmith, George W., is a dis-.
tinguished attorney at Franklin, N. H., and was for some years
President of the Northern Railroad.

James Nesmith, a cousin of Dea. Jonathan N., began, 1778, the farm
now owned by Chandler Boutell, and lived afterwards on the north
declivity of Meeting-house Hill. He had been in the revolutionary
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 59

service ; was an honest useful man, an elder of the church, select-
man for some years, for twenty-seven successive years town-clerk,
generally chosen by a unanimous vote, even in times of high party
excitement, and would have been continued longer in the office, had
he not become legally disqualified by ceasing to be a freeholder. He
used pleasantly to remark that the perquisites of his office about found
him in his tobacco. Intentions of marriage were not then, as now,
posted in writing, but published orally by the town-clerk in the
church. A multitude of such publications were made by Dea. Nes-
mith, in his loud and sonorous voice. He died, 1845, aged eighty-
seven.

Arthur Nesmith came to Antrim a few years later than his brother
James, and began to subdue the farm at this day owned by Jonathan
Carr. The mother of the two brothers was Elizabeth Reid, sister of
Gen. George Reid of Londonderry, an officer of distinction in the
revolutionary war, and a frequent correspondent of Washington.
Arthur was a man of good talents, amiable and unassuming in his
manners; was frequently chosen selectman; was an elder in the
church ; led the church music more than a quarter century, by an-
nual reélections by the town, and succeeded in preserving in the choir
analmost uninterrupted harmony of feeling. To the regret of the
citizens he removed to Ohio, 1816, under the impression that a mild-
er climate would be more congenial to his health. He was the sub-
ject of deep religious impressions in early life, but association with
thoughtless companions almost effaced them fora time. The remark-
able northern lights in the revolutionary war, and the dark day of
1780, recalled those impressions, which happily resulted in an abid-
ing moral change. His cheerful and uniform piety was an ornament
to the christian profession. In 1823, on his way to church on Sab-
bath morning, in apparent health, he fell down in the road and im-
mediately expired, at the age of sixty-three.

It will be seen from the above, that at one time there were three
Deacon Nesmiths here, who were distinguished in common parlance
as Deacon Jonathan, Deacon James, and Deacon Arthur.

Daniel: Miltimore, from Londonderry, established himself on the
John Blanchard farm certainly as early as 1778; perhaps a year or
two sooner. He was aman of capacity, had much influence among
the early citizens, was selectman and town-clerk. After some years
residence, he returned to Londonderry, was well known afterwards as
Col. Miltimore, and died there many years ago.

James Carr, afterwards known as Deacon Carr, was the son of
John, an emigrant from Ireland, 1722, who married Isabella Walker,
a domestic who came to America in the family of Rev. James Mc-
Gregor, and settled in Merrimac. John had a brother James, killed
by the Indians at Bow, 1748, whose faithful dog, though stunned by
the blow of a hatchet, revived, guarded the corpse of his master all
night, and the next day would hardly allow his neighbors to remove
60 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

the body. Dea. Carr came to Antrim, 1778, and began the farm
now his grandson’s, Reed Carrs. Though his parents resided in
Goffstown, yet he was born in Litchfield, his mother happening to be
there at the time on a visit. He was a kind, cheerful, good man,
respected for his exemplary life; died 1834, aged 86. His sons have
deceased or emigrated; only a daughter, Mrs. Brackett, remains here.

Two brothers of Deacon Carr settled in Antrim: David, who lived
in a house once standing on the present Keene road north of Reed
Carr’s, resided here some years, and removed to Holderness ; and
John, who came a few years later than James, began the Oren Carr
place. Died 1822, aged 63. His aged widow, once Sarah Hickson, of
Sharon, Ms., survives, and lives with her son Jonathan Carr. Her
retentive memory has been a help in the preparation of some of these
notices.

John Stuart came here, it is believed, from Londonderry, or the vi-
cinity, 1778, lived at first in a house once standing south of Mr.
Stacey’s, removed with a son to Unity, about 1810, and died there
not long afterwards. His wife was Abigail Phipps, said by tradition
to have been great grand-daughter of the celebrated Sir William
Phipps, first Governor of Massachusetts under the second royal Char-
ter. She had aslight tinge of African, as her husband was said to
have had of Indian blood. Mrs. Stuart, familiarly known of old as
Granny Stuart, was a kind, neighborly woman, an excellent nurse, a
self-taught Doctress, ready to aid the sick by day or night, and often
useful, before there was a regular physician in the place. She died,
1800.

Robert McKean, grandson of Justice McKean, one of the patriarchs
of Derry, came hither about 1778, began the John Dodge farm, which
he exchanged with Col. McClure for the Raymond farm. He was an
upright, worthy man. Having buried three out of five children here,
he removed, about 1800, to Corinth, Vt. Soon after his removal, his
wife and his only daughter died of fever. Two persons from Canada
coming to the place, communicated to Mr. McKean the small-pox in-
fection; his neighbors in alarm carried him to a little camp in the
woods, remote from inhabitants; he had the disease of the confluent
and malignant kind; and destitute of suitable attendance, died, 1809,
his head being frightfully swollen and disfigured. His brother, Rev.
Joseph McKean, of Beverly, afterwards President of Bowdoin Col-
lege, hearing of his death, and that his only child, Joseph, was left a
destitute orphan, made a journey to Vermont, took the orphan under
his protection, and gave him a liberal education. The nephew, a na-
tive of Antrim, afterwards went to New-York, acquired distinction,
and became Superintendent of the Public Schools of the State. Such
are the mutations and vicissitudes of human life !

Elias Cheney came here about 1778, lived in an old house, now or
lately standing on the west side of the road from William Duncan’s
to Cork bridge, and after a residence of many years removed his fam-
ily to Cabot, Vt. Ziristram Cheney, perhaps a brother of Elias, and
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 61

one of the first Deacons of the Church in Hillsboro’, resided, at least
for a time, within the limits of Antrim, near Hillsboro’ line, and af-
terwards removed to Marlow.

John Me Coy, from Windham, emigrated to Antrim, 1779, began
the farm on the Turnpike afterwards occupied as a tavern stand, now
Elijah Gould’s, removed after some years to the farm now Milton
McCoy’s, died 1823, aged 73. In the war of Independence he served
in a privateer, sailed round the North Cape of Europe, and put into
a port of Russian Lapland, the ship’s crew and the inhabitants hav-
ing no communication except through the medium of the Surgeon of
the vessel and the Russian priest, both of whom understood something
of latin. His son, Thomas McCoy, an influential and useful citizen,
who held important town offices for many years, died 1851, aged 69.

Philip Coffin was an early settler, coming here about 1779, and
living near Elijah Gould’s. Little is known of him, except that after
some year’s residence he removed from the town.

John Campbell, son of Hugh, an emigrant from England, who
fixed his abode at New-Salem, N. H., prior to 1755, emigrated to
Antrim, 1779, began the farm at present owned by James Woods,
died 1843, aged 88. With the exception of James, his numerous
family of sons have deceased or emigrated.

Samuel Gregg was the grandson of Capt. James Gregg, an emi-
grant from Ireland, and one of the first sixteen settlers of London-
derry. Samuel came to Antrim, 1779, with a family of six children,
and subdued the farm at the Centre, owned in part at this day by
Charles Gates. He was a man of enterprise and laborious industry.
Coming home one evening from the place now Dea. Nichols’, with a
jug of milk in his hand, a bear attacked him; he struck him a power-
ful blow with the jug, breaking it and scattering the milk over bruin’s
face, who, not relishing his reception, quickly made off. Mr. Gregg
removed, 1793, to the Buswell place, built the first set of mills there,
and gave his name to the adjoining pond. Between his death, 1809,
and that of his wife, was an interval of only a few days; his age be-
ing 69, hers 66. His son Robert began the place now David Hill’s,
Jun., enjoyed the confidence of his townsmen, was town-clerk, and
for many years chairman of the board of selectmen; removed to the
State of New-York about 1832, died there 1849, aged more than 80.
Another son of Samuel, was Daniel, a captain in the regular service
in the war of 1812, who afterwards removed to Ohio and died there,
Another son, David, resides in Antrim, quite aged.

Benj. Gregg, a cousin of Samuel,.came here as a resident, 1779,
and began the Edward L. Vose place, at the Centre. Both he and
Samuel had probably worked on their land a year or two before their
permanent residence. He remained here about twelve years, sold his
farm to Samuel Caldwell, and returned to Londonderry.

William McDole came from Goffstown, 1779, began the farm of
6
62 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

Wn. S. Foster, having bought the land at a quarter of a dollar per
acre, resided there till 1808, then removed his family to Lansgrove,
Vt. He has since died.

Thomas English took up his abode in Antrim, 1779 or 1780 ; lived
on the Tuttle hill, on the old road from Branch Village to Madison
Tuttle’s; had been a fifer in the revolutionary service; absconded,
1782, with a sum of money belonging to the town, who laid an
attachment on his land, and afterwards made some sort of a compro-
mise with his friends.

Samuel Dinsmoor, a son of John D., of Windham, and a grand-
son, on his mother’s side, of Justice McKean, one of the earliest mag-
istrates of Londonderry, came here, 1780; was working on his land
on the dark day of that year. Died, 1822, aged 66. He was cousin
of the elder Gov. Dinsmoor ; was succeeded on his farm, first, by his
son, Col. Silas Dinsmoor, now of Stoddard; afterwards by another
son, Samuel, the present owner.

He had a brother, James, who began, 1779, the Zadoc Dodge farm,
and was killed by a fall from the first meeting-house, 1786.

Another brother, Silas, a man of wit and shrewdness, was em-
ployed by government as an agent in Indian affairs. He is said to
have lost his office by a witticism. Receiving in-a letter from the
Head of his Department, the inquiry, “How far Tombigbee river
yan up into the country ?”’—he replied, “‘ The river ran down, and not
up at all.” The next communication from the seat of government
brought him a dismissal from his office.

Major Riley, son of Philip, the first settler, began about 1780, the
original Elijah Gould farm, removed to a place within the limits of
Deering, and died, years ago, at an advanced age.

Nathan Austin, who had lived in Pelham and Hudson, commenced
the clearing of the Danforth farm, west of Elijah Gould’s, 1780, re-
sided there at least twenty years, removed to Rochester, Vt., and died
a few years since. Many of his descendants are at the west.

Samuel Patten emigrated to Antrim from Bedford, 1780, made a
farm on the lofty hill still bearing his name, and lived there, it is be-
lieved, not far from fifteen years. He was well known as Capt.
Patten; was a respectable citizen and selectman ; was a grandson of
John Patten, an emigrant from Ireland to America, 1728, and a
brother of Hon. Matthew Patten, of Bedford, the second judge of
probate for the county of Hillsboro’. Capt. Patten, finding his resi-
dence on the hill lonely, and in winter almost inaccessible, removed
his family into the State of Maine.

James Steele, son of Thomas, one of the first sixteen settlers of
Londonderry, removed his family from that place to Antrim, 1780,
began the cultivation of the farm now owned by his grandson, Dea.
Robert Steele, lived to the great age of almost 95, and died, 1820.
Two of his sons emigrated, many years ago, to Carolina. Two other
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 63

sons became permanent inhabitants of Antrim ; James, who for man
years was the owner of the Asa Goodell farm, died, 1826, aged 68 ;
and Samuel, the father of Dea. Robert S., who died, 1843, aged 80:
—hboth were respectable, substantial citizens. Several of the daugh-
ters of the first James married and resided in Antrim, of whom, Su-
sannah, widow of the late Dea. Spaulding, of Hillsboro’, was the last
survivor, dying 1850, and leaving bequests of several hundred dollars
to religious charities.

_ Simeon George removed from Newburyport to Antrim, 1781, and
lived at first in a log-house near the rose-bushes still flourishing a little
west of Dea. Nichols’. Several adult sons came here with him; David,
who lived near a clump of apple-trees, in the north-west corner of
Stevens Paige’s pasture; Michael, who began the Dea. Wilkins farm ;
and Simeon, who lived in a log-house once standing in Geo. F. Par-
menter’s field, and afterwards built a frame house on the spot at this
day occupied by Dea. Nichols’ dwelling.’ Mr. George, and his sons,
David and Michael, had served in the war of Independence. The
various branches of the George family removed, about 1795, to the
State of New-York.

Samuel and Daniel Downing, brothers, came here from Newbury-
port, probably about 1781. Samuel began the Stephen Butterfield
farm, lived afterwards in a log-house south-west of Mr. Bond’s, and
removed from town. Daniel commenced the cultivation of the farm
now occupied by the widow of Wm. Wilkins, and not far from 1792
removed to Marlow.

John and William McIlvaine, brothers, were sons of Daniel, an
emigrant from Ireland, who settled in Windham more than a century
ago. They came to Antrim about 1782; John settled on the farm
occupied at present by Robert Hopkins, and William planted himself
on the place now John Barker’s. After a residence of some years,
both sold. their farms and removed to Francestown. Their brother,
Daniel, came here a few years later, settled on the farm occupied at
this date by his grandson, the present Daniel McIlvaine, and died,
1833, aged 84. His son, Lieut. Daniel McIlvaine, a worthy and
respected citizen, died the same month, in the prime of life. He was
once bitten in the heel by a large adder, and supposed that the bite
had ever after an unfavorable influence on his health.

Thomas Day came from New-Salew, Ms., was in the revolutionary
service, became an inhabitant of this town, 1783, lived at first in a
log-house south-east of Mr. Dinsmoor’s, afterwards in a house once
standing between Oren Carr’s and Jesse Combs’ ; died at New-Salem,
1824, aged 75. None of his children remain in town except the

, widow Thompson.

Reuben Boutell was from Amherst or the vicinity, and settled in
1783 or 1784, first on the Benj. Symonds farm, afterwards on land,
once cultivated as a farm, adjoining to Mr. Webster’s. He was a la-
64 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

borious, valuable citizen; died, 1816, aged about 60. Two of his
sons, Chandler and William, reside in town.

James Hopkins, afterwards Esg., was from Windham, began, in
1783 or 1784, the clearing of the farm owned by Silas Hardy, soon
exchanged this place for the farm now Lyman Dow’s, became a prom—
inent citizen and a large land-holder; was selectman and justice of
the peace. He had served for a time in the revolutionary war. Died,
1843, aged 81. He married, for his first wife, Catherine, a daughter
of Dea. Aiken, a woman of more than ordinary benevolence and ex-
cellence of character, who died, 1820. Only one of his children,
Clark Hopkins, remains in town. Another son of Esq. James, was
Deacon James, who died 1888, in the meridian of life. Dea. Hop-
kins’ son, Luther, died not long since at Key West, in Florida, and
was buried in a grave dug out of a rock, to prevent the body being
washed away by the waves. The precaution was suggested by the
previous occurrence of a tropical tempest, producing so violent an in-
flux of the sea as to wash away many of the graves.

James Wallace, a grandson of John, an early emigrant from Col-
raine, Ireland, married Jennet Walker, and came to Antrim, 1784.
He had been a soldier under Stark at Bennington; settled on the
Stacey farm; at one time kept a small store of foreign goods; was a
man of respectahle and christian character, selectman and represent-
ative. In the early part of his residence here, he was once pursued
by a bear, and forced to climb a tree, for safety ; the bear sat watch-
ing him an hour or more, and then slowly walked off. He died at
Bedford, about 1848, some years over four-score. Of his sons, John
is the only one remaining in Antrim; James resides in Manchester,
and Benj. F., late editor of the Manchester Messenger, in Bedford.

Mr. Wallace had two brothers who settled in Antrim: John, who
came later than James, lived on the place now Samuel Wilson’s, and
removed to Putney, Vt., about 1812; and Josiah, who came here,
1806, built the three story house in the Branch Village, owned the
mills there, and died, 1843, aged 75.

Thomas Mc Coy is referred to in an old record of a road in 1783,
as then owning a house in this town, supposed from the tenor of the
record to be near Hopkins Griffin’s. No farther information in rela-
tion to him has been found accessible.

David Mec Clure, afterwards well known as Col. McClure, was from
Goffstown, became a resident of Antrim, 1784, began the farm now
Mr. Raymond’s which he afterwards exchanged for the John Dodge
place ; died, 1835, aged 77. Col. McClure was a respectable man,
and, after passing through the various subordinate grades, was for
many years colonel of the 26th regiment, which had been formerly
commanded by Gov, Pierce, and was at that day the “crack’’ regi-
ment of the State. All his children, save two sons, have died or re-
moved from town.
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 65

Nathan Taylor, successor of Sohn Gordon on the Dustin place, re-
moved his family from Amherst to Antrim, 1780, and died of a can-
cer about 1792.

Zsaac Cochran, afterwards Dea. Cochran, a grandson of John, an
early emigrant from Ireland to Windham, removed to Antrim, 1784,
and built the first two story house in town. His father had a sister
Elizabeth, who married a Dinsmoor, and became the mother of Dea.
Robert Dinsmoor, of Windham, the well-known “ Rustic Bard,” and
of the elder Gov. Dinsmoor; also the grand-mother of the younger
Gov. Dinsmoor. Dea. Cochran was one of the most useful and re-
spected citizens of the place, selectman, a member of the first board
of elders, a man of uniform and eminent piety. He possessed a
portion of true genius, was the author of many poetical effusions, and
died, 1825, aged 84. No man labored more faithfully to sustain re-
ligious institutions, and to preserve the peace and good order of the
church and community. His son James, distinguished for activity
and energy, remarkable also for accidental wounds and broken bones,
died, 1851, aged 78, after several years of extreme suffering, having
honorably discharged the duties of a good citizen, and leaving the old
homestead to his son, Ira Cochran. Another son of James, Andrew
C., resides in Hancock. Andrew, brother of James, died, 1820. One
of his sons, Rev. Sylvester Cochran, resides in Michigan, highly use-
ful as a minister of the gospel, and preceptor of a private Academy. |
A daughter of Andrew, Clarissa, resides at St. Augustine, Florida,”
and owns 4m extensive orangery.

The preceding list includes all, or nearly all, who became residents
of this town within forty years from the first settlement in 1744.
The period from 1784 to the close of the last century, in 1800, ex-
hibits a large ratio of increase; numerous emigrants fixed their dom-
icil here. To avoid tedious prolixity, our subsequent notices must be
brief, with the exception of a few instances, when matters of interest
require a little more minuteness of detail.

Alexander Gregg, from Windham, began to reside here, 1785, had
served in a privateer in the revolutionary war, and sailed into the
Arctic ocean, in quest of British whalers, and vessels trading to
Archangel, in Russia; began the farm now Stickney Buck’s; died,
1830, aged 77. One of his sons, Capt. Wm. Gregg, an esteemed and
valuable citizen, who for some years led the church music, died a
year before the death of his father. Another son, Dr. James W.
Gregg, is in California.

Lemuel and Stephen Ourtice, brothers, from Boxford, Ms., came
here, 1785, perhaps a year earlier, and began to clear off the forest
on Windsor mountain; the former’ lived on the farm inherited from
him by his son, the present Lemuel Curtice; built his house just
within the line of Antrim, died many years ago quite aged; the lat-
ter lived in a house once standing half a mile east of Lemuel’s, died,
1832, aged 77. None of his descendants remain here.
66 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

Robert Willey, an emigrant from Ireland, came to this town about
1785, began the John Robinson farm, and removed, about 1801, to
some town in the northern part of New-Hampshire.

Percy Dow became an inhabitant, 1785, lived in a house once
standing on the west side of the old road, a fourth of a mile north of
the first meeting-house, and after a few year’s residence here, removed
to Cornish.

Benj. Butterfield came here, 1785, built a log house a third of a
mile west of Capt. Rodney Sawyer’s, lived there four or five years,
and removed from town. :

Another Butterfield, whose given name was Charles, lived a few
years, from 1795 to about 1800, in a house then standing on the side
of the mountain, north of Artemas Brown’s. Prior to his removal
from town his house was burnt.

Eben’r Kidder removed from Chelmsford to Antrim, about 1785,
lived on the place which has descended to his grandson, Reuben Kid-
der, and died after a residence here of about fifteen years. His son,
John Kidder, died, 1815.

Adam Dunlap came from Londonderry to this town, 1786, had
been in the revolutionary service, began the farm now Mr. Moulton’s,
died, 1823, aged at least 70. His wife, and also the wife of Alex’r

Gregg, were sisters of Hon. Wm. Adams, of Londonderry. —

%. Tobias Butler was an emigrant from Ireland, was educated a Cath-
olic, designed, as tradition says, to be a Catholic priest. e, however,
became a Protestant, and resolved to try his fortune in America; re-
sided some years in New-Boston, and served at Ticonderoga in the
revolutionary war; came to Antrim, 1786, lived where Silas Hardy

_ now does; was at one time town-clerk; being often employed as a
school-teacher, he was familiarly called Master Butler ; was a man of
honesty and religious principle, but rather unacquainted with business
affairs. He removed, about 1804, to Hillsboro’; afterwards returned
to Antrim to live with a son, and died 1829, aged 83. Almost all
his descendants, with the exception of Thomas, have emigrated from
Antrim. Qne of his sons, about 1800, built a small store at the Four
Corners, by the town-house, but soon relinquished trade. John, brother
of Tobias, a man of some education, came to this country, lived a
short time in a small log house in Silas Hardy’s pasture; but, not
being pleased with America, returned to Ireland.

Sutheric Weston removed from Amherst to Antrim, 1786, lived on
the Dustin farm in Branch Village, was elected an elder of the church,
1800, died, 1831, aged 79. He was an exemplary and good citizen.
His descendants have emigrated, some of them to the far west. He
served in the war of Independence, was taken prisoner at the Cedars,
in Canada, suffered much from starvation ; himself and fellow prison-
ers were once relieved by a benevolent French lady, who sent them
pork and peas enough for a plentiful meal.
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 67

William Brown, came from Chester, about 1786, began the farm
oe Woods’, died, 1830, aged 84. His descendants have left
e town.

William Holmes, from Dunbarton, became a resident of Antrim,
1786, began the farm at this day his son’s, Thomas Holmes, Esq. ;
died, 1798, in early life. A brother of his, Robert, began the farm
now the town’s farm, but after a residence of two or three years, sold
it, and returned to Dunbarton, where he was afterwards well-known as
Col. Holmes. Another William Holmes, a wheelwright, not known
to be a relative of the first William, came about the same time to the
place at present owned by Hopkins Griffin, lived there some half
dozen years, and removed to Peterboro’.

John Moor, a descendant of an early emigrant from Ireland to
Londonderry, began to subdue the Bartlett Wallace farm, 1786, per-
haps a year earlier ; was mortally wounded by the fall of a limb of a
tree, 1808. His widow, Abigail, daughter of Hon. John Duncan,
died, 1848, very aged, being the last surviver of the original members
of the Presbyterian church, with which she had been connected sixty
years.

Isaac Patterson came here, 1786, lived a few years in the west part
of the town, then left the place. Little is known of him.

John Alexander, from Londonderry or vicinity, was the first settler
on the farm now Daniel Holt’s, 1787, afterwards removed to Branch
Village, yas a respected citizen and elder of the Presbyterian church,
died, 13

Peter and Abijah Barker, brothers, were from Atkinson ; the lat-
ter came here, 1787, settled on a farm now owned in separate parts
by his sons, Abijah and John; died, about 1847, aged 84. The
former came three or four years later than his brother, began the farm
inherited from him by his son, Capt. Moody Barker; died, 1829.
Both were revolutionary soldiers, and useful citizens.

Jonathan Ladd was the first occupant, 1787, cf the farm now Capt.
James Wilson’s, lived there five or six years, and emigrated to Tun-
bridge, Vt.

William Parker, from Dracut, began, in 1787, the farm east of
Bartlett Wallace’s, resided in this town more than thirty years, then
removed to Anson, Maine. His aged father, William, came with him,
and died here almost sixty years ago.

William Carr, from Goffstown, began, 1787, to subdue his farm,
the one which has recently became Mr. White’s, died, 1840, aged 81.
His son, the late Wm. Carr, Esq., was often employed in town busi-
ness, was representative and justice of the peace; died, 1850, aged

John Brown, son of an emigrant from Ireland, removed his family
from Francestown to this place, 1788, lived on the place at the corner
of roads, a little north of Dea. Bell’s; died, 1808, very aged. His
68 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

son, Thomas, lived on the place now his nephew’s, the present Thomas
Brown’s; was a revolutionary soldier, and stationed for a time at
West Point; used to relate that the soldiers were often driven by
hunger to seize the sheep of the neighboring Dutch farmers ; was at
West Point at the time of the detection of Gen. Arnold’s treachery,
and had opportunity to witness the execution of Maj. Andre, but his
feelings revolted from the sight; died, 1847, aged 86. Francis,
another son of John, lived many years in Antrim, part of the time
on the Blanchard farm, and removed, 1818, to New-York. Margaret,
daughter of John, married Dea. John Bell, and is the mother of Rev.
Hiram Bell, pastor of a church in Killingworth, Conn.

Jacob Puffer, from Weare, was the first settler on the Artemas
Brown farm, 1788, was a blacksmith, and after a residence of near
ten years, removed to the vicinity of Glenn’s Falls, on Hudson river.

Samuel Christie came here from New-Boston, 1788, built a large
two story house a fourth of a mile north of the first meeting-house,
which he occupied as a tavern for many years; died, 1818, aged 54.
One son, Josiah W. Christie, remains here. Another son, Daniel M.,
is a distinguished member of the bar at Dover. A daughter, Mary,
married Rev. Levi Spaulding, missionary at Ceylon, and has resided
in India, engaged in useful efforts for the spread of christian knowl-
edge among a benighted people, more than thirty years. In this pe-
rida, she has made one visit to America.

Nathan Hawes built a house, 1788, on the old Butman germ, and
* resided there about three years. He came from Goffstown, and re-
moved to Hooksett.

Thomas Dunlap, a native of Windham, son of James, an emigrant
from Ireland, became a resident of Antrim, 1788, and subdued the
farm now his grandson’s, the present Thomas Dunlap; died, 1815,
very aged; esteemed as a religious, respectable man. He was a sol-
dier in the second French war, and was one of the garrison of Fort
William Henry, which, in 1756, was surrendered to the French, un-
der a pledge of protection from the fury of the Indians. The French
perfidiously violated the engagement, permitting the Indians, after
the garrison had given up their arms and marched out of the Fort, to
massacre many of them. Out of a New-Hampshire regiment of 200
men, 80 were thus slaughtered! A savage pursued Mr. Dunlap,
caught him by the queue, and tore out a large portion of the hair of
his head. He escaped from the Indian and fled back to the fort,
where the French gave him protection. His son, James, married a
MeNiel, of Hillsboro’, and died, 1846, aged 80. There is a tradition
in the family of Mrs. Dunlap, first wife of James, that the first Mc-
Niel who came to America was a refugee from Ireland, under the
following circumstances: he visited a friend, who gave him a stick to-
make into a scythe-snath. On his return home he met the lord of
the manor, who charged him with stealing it from his forest, and on
his denial, called him liar, and struck him with his whip; on which
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 69

McNiel struck him a powerful blow with the stick, and without wait-
ing to see whether the wound proved mortal, fled to America.

Samuel Caldwell, a revolutionary soldier, came to this place from
Weare, 1788, lived some years on the Edward L. Vose farm, after-
wards on the place recently purchased by Mr. Starrett; died, 1834,
aged 79.. None of his descendants reside here. In common with

the revolutionary soldiers, he idolized Washingt ee aa
him “That beloved man.” ington, and used to ca.

Samuel Vose, afterwards Dea. Vose, was the fifth in descent from
Robert, an emigrant from Lancashire, England, to Dorchester, Ms.,
1638 ; came from Bedford to Antrim, 1788, began the farm now
Capt. Rodney Sawyer’s ; worked on his land a few years prior to his
marriage, during which time a bear once broke into his camp during
his absence and made quite too free with his provisions; was a man
of strict integrity and firm religious principle; died, 1830, aged 71.
So exemplary was his observance of the sabbath, that if a man spoke
to him that day on secular business, he has been known to show his
disapprobation by turning away from him without giving any reply.
One son, Edward L., resides here; another, Samuel, is a physician
in Maine ; still another, Deacon John Vose, resides in Peterboro’.

William Bodwell was from Haverhill, Ms., came here, 1789, set-
tled on the place at present owned by Reuben Robinson, Sen., and
after a residence of some years, went to Ohio, or some other portidn
of the West.

Charles Woods, from Methuen, became a resident of this town,
1789, brought under cultivation the farm recently bought by Mr.
Wilson, died, 1848, aged 78. His constitution was remarkably sus-
ceptible of fever ; a disease which, either of the bilious or typhoid
type, he had in the course of his life from thirty to forty times. His
two sons, Samuel and James, live in town.

Alexander Witherspoon, from Chester, came hither 1789, began
the Samuel Tuttle farm, afterwards removed to the Artemas Brown
place, died, 1848, aged 87. His son, Joseph S. Witherspoon, who
changed his name to Atherton, 2 man of much promise, universally
eet for his piety and integrity, died, 1845, in the meridian of

ife. :

Hugh Orr, a brother of Hon. John Orr, of Bedford, removed
from that town to this, 1790, and lived in a house a little south of
Mr. Temple’s, which was then thought to be in Antrim, but, on the
final adjustment of the town line, fell just within the limits of Han-
cock. He was a man of information and integrity; to the regret of
the citizens, he emigrated about 1799, first to Rockingham, Vt., and
thence to Homer, N. Y. His numerous descendants are scattered
through the Western States.

Joel Reed became an inhabitant of Antrim, 1790; built a house
between Jeremiah Hill’s and Daniel Holt’s, lived there about twelve
years, and removed to Washington, N. H.
70 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

John Woodcock came from Peterboro’, 1790, lived on the Chandler
Boutell farm, removed to Hillsboro’ about 1804, where he resided
many years, and changed hisname to Bertram. Afterwards removed
to Newport. Hada son who became a physician of much promise,
and established himself in medical practice at Townsend, Ms. Dr.
Bertram acquired a large practice, but died in early life, much re-
gretted.

William Heuston, a mason by trade, was a native of Bedford, em-
igrated to Antrim about 1790, lived where Miles Tuttle now does,
died, 1830.

Robert Vose, brother of Dea. Samuel Vose, came from Bedford or
Goffstown, 1790, and struck the first blow on the land constituting
the former Gates place. After a stay of some years, he removed to
Vermont. :

James Pierce was from Hudson, became a resident of this town
1791, built a house on the hill west of Capt. Worthley’s, and after
two or three years removed to Swanzey.

Samuel Edes, a native of Dedham, Ms., took up his abode here,
1791, lived a little east of Mr. Dinsmoor’s, buried his wife in An-
trim, and about 1801 removed to Peterboro’, where he died at the
great age of 938.

Daniel Buswell, from Bedford, Ms., settled in Antrim, 1791, is
still living in comfortable health, in his 90th year, being the oldest
man in town, having resided in it sixty-one years. He was a revolu-
ticnary soldier; in an action near Fort Washington, on the Hudson,
he had discharged his musket once at the enemy and was reloading,
when a bullet struck and bent his bayonet, and a fragment of the
ball inflicted a painful wound in the eye.

John Worthley, grandson of Timothy, an emigrant from England,
who lived in Weare to the great age of 100 years, came here from
Goffstown, 1791, and made the first opening in the forest at the place
he still owns, and where he has resided sixty-one years. One son,
Dea. John Worthley, resides in town, whose son, Otis, died in Cali-
fornia, 1851.

Samuel Hall was from Windham, emigrated to this town 1791,
lived a few years on the Stephen Butterfield farm, then in a house
once standing in a pasture west of Daniel McIlvain’s, and last at the
place now occupied by Isaac Barker. Removed to Washington many
years ago, and died there. William, brother of Samuel, came here
somewhat later, lived a few years on the Wm. Wilkins farm, and re-
moved to Massachusetts.

Ebenezer Cummings, once a resident of Hudson, removed to this
place, 1791, and began the cultivation of the John Hill farm; died,
1815, aged 47. His aged widow still survives; two daughters, the
wives of Charles Gates and David Hill, Jun., reside in town. In
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 71

ve Me causes lost a little son, in his sixth year, killed by the

Abijah Hadley, a well known citizen of Hancock, lived in Antrim

@ short time from 1791 to about 1793 or ’94, on the Butman farm,
then removed to Hancock.

James and Ephraim Hall, brothers, lived on the farm now Rev.
Mr. Davis’. James came first, began to subdue the place, soon sold
to Ephraim, and removed to Hillsboro’. The commencement of his
residence here must have been as early as 1791, if not sooner. Ephra-

im lived on the place a few years, sold it to Dea. Holt, and removed
to New-York. :

Nathan Cross, from Litchfield, began the Asa Robinson farm,
1792, and in four or five years removed to Amherst.

David Parker, grandson of Alexander, an emigrant from England
to Dunstable, (now Nashua,) came from Litchfield, 1792, and began
the farm still owned in his family, south of Alexander Jameson’s ;
is yet living at the age of 85, and resides with his son, Alexander
Parker.

Benjamin Ring, from Dunbarton, built a house, 1792, or near
that date, east of John Symond’s, lived there about ten years, then
deserted his family, and went to parts unknown.

John Thompson came to this town, 1793, from Hamilton, Ms.,
lived at several different places, died 1842, aged 81. He performed
two or three tours of military service in the war of the Revolution,
and was a good deal at sea, in privateers. Once he was taken by the
British and carried into Halifax ; again he was captured and impris-
oned in the island of Bermuda. Here he was charged with being a
British deserter, deprived of his rations, and threatened with being
shot. Being examined by a British officer, who was a tory refugee
from the States, and had some knowledge of the town from which
Thompson came, his claim of being an American was admitted as
true, and he was exchanged or liberated. After the death of his first
wife, he was for a period engaged in the regular naval service, about
1798. One of his sons, Thomas, resides here.

Henry Campbell became a citizen of Antrim, 1793, lived ina house
then standing on the spot now occupied by Mr. Newman’s, and opened
a small store; having gone to Boston in the summer of 1801 to buy
goods, he went into Charles river to bathe, in a hot day, and was un-
fortunately drowned.

Lemuel Paige, the fifth in descent from John Paige, an emigrant
from Dedham, England, who was born 1586, and came to America,
1630, in the company which, under Gov. Winthrop, founded Boston ;
he settled at Dedham, Ms., died 1676. Lemuel removed his family
from Weare to Antrim, 1793; lived on the farm now owned in part
by Mr. Gates; died 1805. One son, Stevens Paige, and a daughter
the wife of John Wallace, reside in town.
72 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

Mark Woodbury was from Beverly, Ms. ; opened the first store at
the Woodbury stand, 1794, a little before he became of age; was a
large land-holder, and transacted for many years an extensive business
both in trade and agriculture ; was justice of the peace and represent-
ative; died 1828, aged 52, leaving to his heirs the largest property
which had been accumulated in Antrim. He has been succeeded in
trade by his sons, Mark B., Levi, and John B. Woodbury. His
eldest son, Hon. Luke Woodbury, attorney at law, for many years
judge of probate for the County of Hillsboro’, and at the time of
his decease the nominee of the democratic party for the office of
Governor, with the fairest prospects of an election, died, 1851, aged
51. The widow of Mark, who was Alice, daughter of Dea. Joseph
Boyd, survives, and two daughters reside in town. ;

Esq. Mark Woodbury’s aged father, Peter, who had been a seafaring
man, and his wife, a woman of shrewdness and energy, lived with
him many years before their death; she died, 1812; he in 1817,
aged 79; both sleep in the old burying ground. It is singular that
two of their grand children, Judge Luke Woodbury of Antrim, and
Judge Levi Woodbury of Portsmouth, who were divided in their
deaths by an interval of only a few days, were at the time prominent
candidates, the former for the office of Governor of New-Hampshire,
the latter for the office of President of the United States.

Barachias and Elijah Holt, brothers, and natives of Andover,
Ms., removed to this place from Wilton, 1794, and built each a
small house east of Reuben Boutell’s, near the river. Elijah soon
sold his land and removed to Columbus, N. Y. Barachias bought
the place now Rev. Mr. Davis’, lived there many years, was an elder
of the church, regarded by all as a pious, good man, died, 1846, aged
89. When a youth of fifteen, he witnessed the catastrophe at the
raising of Wilton meeting-house, of the fall of about fifty men from
the high beams to the ground, some being killed and many more
badly injured. The scene left on his mind, as well it might, a deep
impression. None of his descendants remain in town. He had
another brother, Hnoch Holt, who lived some years in town, at dif-
ferent places, and died about 1805.

Robert McAllister took up his abode in town as early as 1794, per-
haps a little sooner, lived in a house once standing between Dea.
Steel’s and the brick school-house, and removed bis family about
1804 or 1805 to Newbury, Vermont. :

John Butman came here from Topsfield, Ms., 1794, lived on the
farm still bearing his name, died 1824, aged 87; his widow lived to
be 94. He was an estimable man. His son, Eben, removed from
Antrim to Bradford about 1822, and still lives at an advanced age.

Nathan W. Cleaves established-himself here as a physician, in
1794, or a little earlier, and built the house at present owned by Hop-

kins Griffin. An account of his professional career will be found on
another page.
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 73.

Enoch Sawyer brought his family from Goffstown to this place,
1794; had been a magistrate, and representative of that town in the
Legislature ; lived in a house once standing south of Amos Dodge’s ;
was aman of strong mental powers; died, 1817, aged 76.° Three
sons settled in Antrim: Samuel, who began the Caleb Clark farm,
resided there many years, removed to Bedford, and died in Frances-
town, about 1847 or 748; noch, who began the Tenney farm, lived
afterwards at different places, died 1840, aged 63; Zristram, well
known as Dea. Sawyer, who lived in the house now Capt. Hutchin-
son’s, once standing a few rods north of the old meeting-house, and
removed it from that to its present location; was an elder in the
Presbyterian church, and selectman; to the great regret of the citi-
zens, whose confidence he fully possessed, he removed to Hillsboro’,
1831, and still resides in that town.

Daniel Bickford, a hatter, from Pembroke, settled in town, 1795,
on the old road south-west of Judge Whittemore’s, removed to
Hillsboro’ about 1810.

Elijah Gould was from Amherst, purchased the farm once Maj.
Riley’s, about 1795, is still living on the place formerly the tavern
stand on the turnpike.

Nathan Cole, from Boxford, Ms., came to Antrim, 1795, lived on
the Jeremiah Hill farm, had a large family. His son, Nathan, lived
near Lynn Parker’s, and removed with his father-in-law, Capt. T.
Nichols, to New-York. Another son, John, lived a short time on
Meeting-house Hill, and removed together with his father, Nathan,
about 1802, to the town of Hill.

Abraham Smith was a native of Hudson, bought the farm now
owned in part by Mr. Preston, 1795, lived in a house then standing
on the old road, died, 1816. None of his numerous family remain
in town.

Asahel Cram came from Francestown, 1795; lived at first in a
house once standing between Jeremiah Hill’s and Daniel Holt’s,
which was built by Samuel McMaster ; afterwards on the farm lately
purchased by Clark Hopkins ; died, 1835, aged 69.

Heath, from Hampstead, lived a few years, from 1795 to about
1800, in a house then standing between Clinton Village and James
Boyd’s. Removed from town.

Jonas Hubbard began to reside in Antrim, 1795, in a dwelling
which stood on the eal from Reuben Robinson’s, 2d, to the north end
of Gregg’s pond. Removed to Hollis, 1801.

“amin, Robert, and Nehemiah Knight, brothers, removed to
ie from Middleton, Ms., 1795, and lived on the farm now Mr.
Starrett’s. Their sister, Phebe, was killed by the fall of a tree, 1799,
as she was gathering oven wood near the spot where her brothers
were felling trees. The next year, Robert was killed by the fall of a

 
74 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

tree, his axe being driven almost through his shoulder ; Benjamin
was wounded by the same tree, but recovered. He removed not long
after 1800, with his aged father, Jonathan, to the farm where John
Robinson now lives, died, 1827, aged about 80. His widow lived to
be considerably more than 90. Nehemiah, after living at various
places in town, removed to New-York, and died there many years ago.

Josiah Duncan, afterwards well known as Dea. Josiah, was from
Hancock, and planted himself in Antrim, 1795, on a farm recently
purchased by N. W. C. Jameson, a little west of Mr. Newton’s. He
was an elder of the Presbyterian church, a pious and exemplary man,
died, 1833, aged 62. Most of his descendants have emigrated to
other places.

William Starrett, tanner, came here from Francestown somewhat
prior to 1795, possibly two years earlier ; built the house recently oc-
cupied by Nathan White, removed to Maine about 1801.

Isaac Baldwin, from Amherst, became a resident of this place,
1795, lived on the farm inherited from him by his son, Dea. Isaac
Baldwin, was an enterprising and useful citizen, frequently the mod-
erator of town meetings, died 1811, aged 53. Four of his daughters
married physicians; one of his sons, Doct. Dexter Baldwin, is a
physician in Marlboro’, Ms.; Samuel resides in Bennington; Cyrus,
a graduate of Dartmouth, has been for years an associate preceptor
of the Academy at Plainfield, N. H.

Samuel and William McAdams, brothers, removed here from
Hudson, 1795 ; were originally from Londonderry; Samuel lived on
the Daniel Holt farm; William on the Patten hill, in a house which
cc tela years ago; both removed to Tunbridge, Vt., about

808.

Taylor Joslin fixed his abode in town, 1794 or 795, on the farm
now George F. Parmenter’s; removed, 1809, first to Holderness,
afterwards to Northfield. Was in the Revolutionary service; at one
time was taken prisoner by the Indians, and compelled to run the
gauntlet between two lines of savages, one of men, the other of wo-
men, each giving him a blow. He used to say that the blows given
by the squaws were harder than those of the men.

Benj. Symonds, from Mont-Vernon, became an inhabitant of An-
trim, as early as 1798, lived on the farm where the widow of his son,
Benjamin, at present resides; died 1827, aged 65. One son, John,
and two daughters remain in town.

Robert Tennant removed to this town from Deering, 1795, lived

many years where Cyrus J. Whitney now does; died 18438, aged
more than 80.

Hutchinson Flint, was from Mont-Vernon; came to this place

1795 ; lived on the farm now the town’s farm; was bed-rid many
years; died 1817.
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 75

Zadoc Reed, a revolutionary soldier who had served through the
War, and was never wounded, came here in 1795, lived on the Clark

farm and at other places in t died 182
ae p n town, die 7, aged 75. Came from

Boyd Hopkins, from Francestown, purchased the farm, 1796, at
present occupied by his son, Robert; died 1833, aged 78. His aged
widow survived, at the age of about 88 3 two daughters live in town,

eee daughters have deceased. Solomon, a son, resides in

_ Jacob Tuttle, from Lyttleton, Ms., opened a store at the place now
his son Madison’s, 1796, and transacted there a large and profitable
business, both in trade and agriculture ; afterwards removed his resi-
dence and trade to Branch Village. In 1800, he lost all his children
by the dysentery, but had a numerous family afterwards. He
sustained many town offices; represented Antrim in the Legislature
for many years; was Senator, Councillor, a Judge of the County
Court of Sessions, an Elector of President of the U.S. Died 1848,
aged 81. His widow, an intelligent woman, much respected, died
1852. Two sons and two daughters reside here; others have died
or removed.

Benj. Sargeant, clothier, from Mont-Vernon, lived on the old
Breed stand, in South Village, from 1796 to about 1800, and re-
moved to Maine.

Andrew Robb, from Peterboro’, became a resident of Antrim, 1796,
lived on Robb mountain, to which he gave his name, was a large
landholder, removed to New-York many years ago, and died there.
One daughter, wife of John Robinson, remains here. A brother of
Andrew, Moor Robb, also lived on the mountain, and emigrated to
New-York.

John Case, a native of Middleton, Ms., emigrated from Mont-
Vernon to this town, 1796, had been a revolutionary soldier, lived
some years on the Stephen Butterfield farm, died, 1828, quite aged.

Samuel Potter, from Dunbarton or Goffstown, purchased the
Stephen Butterfield farm, 1796, lost all his children, three in number,
in the dysentery of 1800, removed to Henniker about 1803.

Alex. Thompson was an emigrant from Perth, Scotland, became a
resident of Antrim, 1797, died 1827, leaving the homestead to his
son, George Thompson.

James Taylor, from Dunstable, became an inhabitant as early as
1797, married a daughter of John Duncan, Esq., lived at different
places in this town, removed in 1814 to Lyndeboro’, thence to Cor-
nish, and thence to Herkimer, N. Y., where he died about 1838.

William Wilkins removed to this town from Mont-Vernon, 1798,
lived on the farm at the present date occupied by his widow, Betsy
Wilkins, died 1837, aged 63. William had a brother, James, who
came here two or three years later, lived on the farm now his son’s,
76 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

Dea. Joel Wilkins, died 1804, in early life; also another brother,
Enoch, who died suddenly, 1850.

Isaiah and Nathan Webster were from New-Salem, N. H., and
brothers. The former came here about 1795, lived_a few years on
the Dea. Nichols farm, and removed from town. He was in the
military service in the war of 1812, and died in this place, 1815, of
lung fever, on his return from the army to his family in Salem.
Nathan came hither, 1798, died 1845, aged 73, leaving his home-
stead to his son, Enos Webster.

John Allds, from Peterboro’, became a resident here about 1798,
lived on the Jesse Combs place, removed from town near thirty
years ago, and is supposed to be yet living in north-western Pennsyl-
vania.

Ebenezer Marsh lived in a house once standing on the mountain,
west of Dea. Worthley’s, came from Hudson, 1798, removed back to
that place, 1807, and has since deceased.

Parker Morse lived on the Amos Dodge farm from about 1798 to
1816, when he removed, first to Vermont, afterwards to northern
Illinois, where he is still living, aged about 80. He was known as
Capt. Morse, and was a valuable citizen.

Zaccheus Fairbanks was from Framingham, Ms., removed to An-
trim, 1798, lived on the Edward L. Vose farm, and at other places,
died 1845, aged 86.

Jesse Wilson lived on the farm inherited from him by his son,
Capt. James Wilson, from 1798 to 1812, when he died of spotted
fever, in middle age. He was from Pelham.

Josiah Hayward removed his family hither from Westford, Ms.;
1798, lived in town at various places more than thirty years, removed
to Alexandria, and died a few years since.

Peter Robinson emigrated with his family from Hudson, 1799,
lived where his son, Reuben, now does, died 1828, advanced in years.
Two other sons, Asa and John, reside in town.

John M. Collins came from Braintree, Ms., 1799, purchased the
mills in Branch Village, removed to Francestown, 1806, still lives
there, quite aged.

John Taylor, known as Dea. Taylor, removed to this place from
Beverly, Ms., in 1800, lived on the Raymond farm, was an elder of
the Presbyterian church, removed to Union, N. Y., about 1824, and
has deceased ; his son, John, who for some years led the church music,
also removed to the west, and died in Wisconsin.

George Gates removed his family hither from Framingham, 1800,
lived in a house that once stood south of Daniel Holt’s, died 1844,
in his 93d year. He recollected that when a boy, about ten years
old, he knew a man in Framingham, then over 100 years old, and
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 77

~ who lived to be 110; Mr. Gates was of course cotemporary with a

man, who was cotemporary with many of the very earliest Pilgrim
fathers of New-England. He was a revolutionary soldier, and re-
tained to the last a vivid recollection of the incidents of the war.
One son, Charles, and two daughters reside in town.

Amos Parmenter, who still lives at the age of 79, came from Fra-
mingham, 1800; is an elder of the Presbyterian church; has
sustained various town offices, been representative and justice of the
peace. Three of his sons, Prescot, John S.,and George F., reside in
town ; others of his children have died or emigrated, some of them
to Illinois.

James Ball came from Townsend, about 1800, lived many years on
the western declivity of Robb mountain, removed some years since
to. Marlow, and still survives at a great age.

Charles and William T. Tuttle, father and son, removed their
families hither from Hamilton, Ms., as early as 1800, if not a little
sooner ; both lived, in separate houses, on the northern declivity of
Tuttle mountain, imparting to it their own name. The father,
Charles, died 1826, aged 78; his widow survived to the age of about
94. The son removed, many years ago, to the State of Ohio.

William Combs, from Peterboro’, came to this place as early as
Ok lived some years on the Thomas Holmes farm, died 1840, aged

The above list of names comprises almost all who became residents
of Antrim, prior to the close of the last century. A few other names
have been found, of whom very little information hag been obtained :
as Thomas Patch, Hoyt, Jona. Flanders, David Hopkins, Henry
White, Stephen Hall, William Davidson, Stephen Reynolds, William
Johnson, Robert McAuley, and Adam Dickey. The first five lived,
in succession, through the period from 1788 to about 1804, each for
a short time, in the Dea. Sawyer house, when it was standing a little
north of the old meeting-house. To many readers, the list will be
uninteresting ; to others, whose memory extends back to olden time,
it may be gratifying. Great pains have been taken to ensure correct-
ness in the dates; very many of them, being derived from records,
are reliable ; as to others, dependent on the memory of aged persons,
there may be some uncertainty ; an error, now and then, will doubt-
less be discovered ; but even those dates not perfectly correct, will be
found, it is believed, near approximations to the truth.

Many of the pergons named in the preceding list, of whom no
character is given, were valuable citizens—men of moral excellence,
and undoubted piety.

 

———_————— “Those suns are set!
O, rise, some other such.—”

Within the present century, Antrim has received numerous acces-
sions of enterprising and respectable immigrants; but further to
extend notices of individuals, many of whom are yet living, would be
scarcely proper, and would tax too severely the patience of the reader.

7
TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION.

 

The town of Antrim lies in the north-western part of the county of
Hillsboro’, twenty-two miles north of the Massachusetts line, almost
equidistant from the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers, and a few
miles east of the height of land between them. Its boundaries are
as follows: beginning at the south-east corner of the township, on
Contoocook river, thence running due west one hundred and forty
rods on the north line of Bennington, to the north-west corner of
that town; thence, still due west, on the north line of Hancock,
1855 rods, to Nelson line; the whole south line extending six miles
and almost a fourth, with the exception of a break in its continuity
and a small indentation into the territory of the town, by the annex-
ation, a few years ago, of the small homestead of John Flint to
Hancock. From the south-west corner, the line runs north twelve
degrees east, on the east line of Nelson, in the county of Cheshire,
302 rods, to the south-east corner of Stoddard, in the same county;
thence north fifteen degrees east, on the east line of Stoddard, 1450 rods,
to Windsor line, the whole extent of the west line being very nearly five
and a half miles. From the north-west corner, on Stoddard line, the
line of Antrim runs east three degrees north, on Windsor south line,
two miles and 312 rods, to the south-west corner of Hillsboro’ 3 thence
east, five degrees north, on the south line of Hillsboro’, three miles
and two hundred and forty rods, to Contoocook river; the whole
north line being in length six miles and 232 rods. The river forms
the eastern boundary of the town, dividing it from Deering and Ben-
nington; its general course from the south-east to the north-east
corner varying not far from north fifteen or twenty degrees east. The
outlines approach somewhat to the form of a diamond, the average
breadth from south to north being about five and one third miles.
The superficial contents are not less than 32 square miles, and 21,000
acres. In the records of the perambulations of the town lines at
different periods are found some discrepancies, but the account here
given is taken from the latest record, and probably the most correct.

The prevailing soil is loam, rocky, but deep, in many places warm
and moist, and not deficient in fertility. Some tracts approach to
the character ofa sandy loam, and are of easy cultivation. Of ara-
ble land most of the farms have a sufficient.proportion. There are
some knolls of coarse gravel and pebbles, of little value ; but the pro-
portion of such land is small. Many of the streams are bordered, in
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 79

part, by natural meadows, fertile and beautiful 3 Some of them are
overflowed in times of freshets, when the subsidence of the waters
leaves a deposit of considerable value.

Surrace. It is a tract of hills and vallies. On Contoocook river
the handsome intervals and gradual rise of the bordering hills, im-
part to the scenery a character approaching that of softness; as you
go west, it becomes bolder and more rugged; and rises near the west
line of the town into a mountainous range, extending from North
Branch river southerly, four or five miles, to Hancock line. This
range is divided by two depressions of moderate depth into three
distinct parts; the northern portion is called Tuttle’s mountain 3 the
central, Robb’s mountain ; the third and south part, Bald mountain,
from the circumstance that in early times a fire destroyed much of
the timber, leaving the surface naked and bald. The two first divi-
sions, Tuttle’s and Robb’s, were named from men once residing on
their sides. Each of them has some minor depressions, breaking
them into distinct summits, not distinguishable at a distance, but
quite visible to the near observer.

Windsor mountain, north of North Branch river, is an elevated
ridge, in some places precipitous, extending from east to west about
three miles. Near its summit passes the line between Antrim and
Windsor. On the southern front is a cave, not however of great ex-
tent, and not very well repaying the labor of visiting it.

Riley’s mountain, in the north-east part of the town, deriving its
name from the first settler of the place, rises to an elevation of per-
haps 1500 feet, and has two distinct summits, separated by a moderate
depression. It lies between the Contoocook and North Branch rivers,
near the point of their junction. A small portion of it extends into
Hillsboro’. On the northern side of it plumbago or black lead is
found, but not in such position and quantity as to encourage mining
operations.

Other elevations, not dignified in common parlance with the name
of mountains, yet worthy of notice, are Goodhue hill, east of Bald
mountain, some hundred feet high, a portion of which extends into
Hancock ; Patten hill, east of Grege’s pond, quite elevated ; Holt’s
hill, south of Patten’s, inferior to it in height and magnitude, but
commanding an extensive prospect, and covered with a rich, deep
soil; Hedgehog hill, east of Holt’s, presenting a mural precipice
worth visiting; Meeting-house hill, sometimes called Christie hill,
extending from the Centre more than two miles, north-eastwardly.
Nahor hill is chiefly in Hancock; the northern portion, however,
extends into Antrim almost to the South Village. Of smaller hills
there are many a few of them presenting an outline gracefully
arched, while a larger number appear somewhat angular and rougher.
These mountains and hills are covered with ranges of pasturage of
excellent quality, to the amount of many thousand acres, particularly
the range on Robb’s mountain. It is supposed that no fatter grass-
fed cattle are driven to market from any part of New-Hampshire,
80 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

than from the pastures recently owned on this mountain by the late
William Weston, to an extent of one thousand acres.

Srreams. Much the largest is Contoocook river, one of the prin-
cipal tributaries of the Merrimack. From its source in Rindge to its
mouth in Concord is more.than fifty miles, and its general course is
a little east of north to Hillsboro’, thence north-eastwardly to its
entrance into the Merrimack. Its name is of Indian derivation ; all
other Indian names of objects in Antrim being irrecoverably lost. For
six miles of its course, this fine stream forms the east boundary of
the town, presenting in this distance no considerable rapid. Before
the day of roads and bridges, its winter surface of ice gaye to the
early settlers almost their only channel of communication with other
towns. It is bordered by many fertile intervals, is crossed within
the limits of the town by three bridges, and contains the usual
variety of river fish. Salmon formerly ascended to Antrim, and
even higher.

North Branch river rises in Washington, and takes at first a south
course through Long Pond, a singular sheet of water six miles long,
and from two or three rods to half a mile in breadth, to Mill Village
in Stoddard; thence through Island Pond almost to South Stoddard
Village ; thence north-eastwardly into Antrim to the Branch Village ;
passing thence near Hillsboro’ Lower Village, it falls into the Con-
toocook near the north-east angle of Antrim. This stream is
romantic, easily swollen by rains, and in some parts of its course,
roaring and impetuous. Within the limits of the town it is crossed
by seven bridges. On it are three saw-mills, one trip-hammer, a
tannery, two manufactories of shoe pegs, and an establishment for
preparing raw silk, of foreign growth, for domestic uses. A good
deal of valuable water power on this stream remains unoccupied.
Formerly there were on it three grain mills, not now in operation.

Great Brook has two sources in the mountain range in the west
part of the town; these streams form a junction, and then run through
meadows into Gregg’s pond. The outlet, on the east shore, takes an
eastern course, inclining to the south, three miles, into Contoocook
river; the fall of the stream being in this distance about 460 feet!
On it are three corn-mills, four saw-mills, one woolen factory, not
now operative, a small cotton factory, two tanneries, two hoe factories,
a manufactory of looking-glass frames, one of powder kegs and chairs,
one of colored window shades, three manufactories of tables, bedsteads,
and cabinet-work, one of them on a large scale, four trip-hammer
establishments, and a manufactory of doors and window-blinds.
Although thirteen or fourteen dams have been built across this short
stream, yet on the upper part of it quite an amount of water power
remains unoccupied. Perhaps no other stream in New Hampshire,
of a length not exceeding three miles from the pond to the river,
furnishes an equal number of sites favorable to the propulsion of
machinery by water. Few towns in the State, not situated on a large
stream, are in this respect better provided for than Antrim.
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 81

Cochran’s brook, the outlet of Campbell’s pond, takes a course of
about three miles south by east, into Contoocook river, and affords
water sufficient to turn a saw and grain mill, near its mouth. Mea-
dow brook, so called in the old records, rises in a bog east of Caleb
Clark’s, takes a north-east course into Stelee’s pond, where it mingles
with the waters of North Branch river. Salmon brook falls into the
North Branch at the “Trout-hole,” once a noted fishing-place. Nu-
merous other brooks and rivulets intersect the town in all directions,
furnishing to almost every farm an ample supply of water. Springs,
both superficial and subjacent, are in abundance ; few wells requiring
to be sunk more than 12 or 16 feet.

Ponps. Gregg’s pond, formerly called Pleasant pond, is the
largest, covering an area of at least 200 hundred acres. It derived
its name from Samuel Gregg, who built, about 1793, a corn and saw-
mill near its outlet, and lies a little more than a mile south-west from
the centre. The bottom of a large portion of it isa plain, covered by
a depth of water from 32 to 34 feet; the remaining parts are more
shallow. It is fed in part by subjacent springs; the north-west shore
is formed by a tract of low meadow; other portions of the shore are
broken and precipitous, especially on the east side, where Patten’s
hill rises abruptly from the margin of the water. Originally it
abounded with perch and shiners, together with other varieties of
pond fish, but contained no pickerel. About 1800, John Smith and
others transported pickerel from Contoocook river to the pond, where
they increased rapidly, soon exterthinated the shiners, and have for
many years yielded to the neighboring anglers large supplies. This
pond is a favorite resort for parties of pleasure, and has been the scene
of many a chowder dinner, and many a fourth-of-July pic-nic. For
sixty years it has been crossed on the ice in winter bysleighs and heavy-
laden’ sleds; some lives have been periled, but no person has been
drowned in its waters. The pond serves asa great reservoir to many
manufacturing establishments on its outlet.

Willard’s pond derived its name from an old hunter, who, before
the first settlement, fished in its waters and trapped on its shores. It
lies in the southwest part of the town, near the Hancock line, on the
eastern base of Bald mountain, and covers a surface estimated at 150
acres. Some portions of it are from 70 to 80 feet deep. When first
discovered it abounded with large trouts, some of them weighing five
pounds, and was full of shiners, but had no pickerel. Large trouts
are still taken here, but not in such plenty as formerly. Fine white
sand is found on the shore. The outlet, on which is an establish-
ment, formerly occupied as a saw and shingle-mill, now converted
into a manufactory of bobbins, wash-boards, and clothes-pins, passes
south-eastwardly, through Hancock, into Contoocook river. ;

Rye pond, near the south-west corner of the town, lies partly in
Antrim, partly in Stoddard, and the residue in Nelson ; covers a sur-
face estimated at 40 or 50 acres; and is encircled in part by a shaking
bog, overlaying a deep substratum of mud.. The central part has some
82 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

deep water, but much of the pond is shallow, covered with lily leaves
and a coarse rush grass, shooting up its long spires above the surface.
Tt derived its name from the waving~of this grass in the breeze like
that of a field of rye. The outlet passes north, unites with another
and larger stream coming from Nelson hills, and falls into North
Branch river, in Stoddard.

Steele’s pond, half a mile south-east of the Branch Village, has a
surface of perhaps 20 or 25 acres, and contains most of the usual
varieties of pond fish. The North Branch river enters this pond, and
flows out fifteen or twenty rods from the place of its influx.

Campbell’s pond, lying at the south base of Riley’s mountain, is
about the size of Steele’s pond, is replenished with fish, and has a
dry, pleasant, grassy shore, not deformed with aquatic weeds. Its
outlet, a lively brook, passes south into Contoocook river.

Little pond, half a mile south-west from the centre, has a surface
of only some half dozen acres. It is bordered in part by a shaking
bog; as you recede a little from the water, the bog becomes drier and
firmer, and spreads into a meadow, overlaying a deep substratum of
peat or swamp mud, an article of which there are tens of thousands
of cords, and which is valued as an important ingredient in compost
manure. This substance, with proper management and intermixture,
is capable of enriching all the adjacent farms. The pond has no fish
except the horn-pout, the eel, and a very few straggling trouts.

Bogs. In the north-west part of the town is a bog of perhaps
300 acres, called Cedar Swamp. Bog brook, rising near Windsor
line, passes through it, southwardly, into North Branch river. The
swamp was originally covered with a growth of large cedars, which
were found dead by the first settlers. At a place where the high
lands project toward the brook, the beavers at some remote period
had built a dam, of which the traces are still visible, which created a
flowage over the whole bog, killed the cedars, and changed the course
of the outlet to a south-eastern direction. In process of time the dam
was broken and the waters drained off. Among the dead cedars

“sprang up a growth of spruce, white maple, and young cedars, ap-
pearing to be from one to two centuries old. This was the condition
of the bog when first discovered. From these dead cedars, which
seem almost to bid defiance to the tooth of time, have been manufac-
tured many thousand dollars worth of shingles, clapboards, firkins,
and pails. The stock is almost exhausted.

A considerable tract of bog and meadow land lies east of Caleb
Clark’s. Another tract extends west and north-west of Gregg’s pond;
to the south-west of this tract lies the Robinson meadow, on a brook
near the east base of Robb’s mountain. The three last named bogs
or meadows, are in the west part of the town, and each of them ex-
hibits the ruins of a beaver dam. That beavers were numerous here
in ancient times is unquestionable. The old hunters from the lower
towns, who began to resort to this region about 1715, either exter-
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 83

minated them, or destroyed so many that the rest, taking the alarm,
retired to localities distant and less accessible.

Puan. There is but one in town, and that of very limited extent,
not much exceeding fifty acres. It lies half a mile south-west of
Branch Village, and was originally covered with a thick growth of
large white pines, of which scarce one remains. So little value was
‘attached to these trees in the early days of the town, that whoever
wanted pine timber, went to the plain and cut at his pleasure.
About 70 years ago, the late Dea. Carr was offered fifty acres of this
timbered plain land for a pair of small three-years old steers ; think-
ing he could not wellspare the steers, he refused the offer. The
same land in the state in which it then was, would be worth at this
day six or eight thousand dollars. The Deacon, a man of cheerful
temperament, not greedy of gain, never expressed chagrin at his mis-
take, but used pleasantly to wind up the story with the remark “Ah,
but I missed it!”

Views. The best views of Antrim are taken from Cork mountain,
in Deering and Bennington. Seen from this stand-point, the town
appears like a spacious amphitheatre, surrounded by hills and moun-
tains; dotted with buildings; variegated with cultivated fields, pas-
tures, woodlands, and groves; exhibiting in the season of summer
foliage a verdant landscape, which has often attracted the attention of
strangers. Not less striking is the autumnal view, presenting to the
eye the variegated hues of the decaying beauty of the year. The
foliage of an American forest, as affected by autumnal frosts, creates
a scene of great beauty. As the frost affects different trees, and
different leaves of the same tree, in unequal degrees, there is an end-
less variety of hues, many of them intense and brilliant, from green,
through yellow, orange, and crimson, to adark brown. Where ever-
greens are intermingled, their deep green hues form a fine ground-work
of the picture. This autumnal scenery is said to be peculiarly
brilliant in northern New-Hampshire ; perhaps no portion of southern
New-Hampshire affords a better specimen of it than Antrim.

Roaps AND Bripaces. Some of the leading roads of the town
have been described in another place. Of some of the minor roads
it may not be amiss to give the dates of laying them out. The road
from Miles Tuttle’s to Robert Hopkins’ was laid out, 1783; from
the Stacey farm to Windsor, 1779; from Dea. Bell’s, by Thomas
Dunlap’s, to Hillsboro’, 1779 ; from the old Centre, by Oren and
Reed Carr’s, to Stoddard, 1780; from Jesse Goodell’s, by John
Blanchard’s, to the old Centre, 1780; from Chandler Boutell’s to
Lemuel Curtice’s, 1782 ; from the old Centre, by Clinton Village, to
Hancock line, 1784; from Thomas Dunlap’s, by John Barker’s and
Daniel McIlvaine’s, to the old Centre, 1787; from South Village,
by Giles Newton’s, to Rodney Sawyer’s, 1788 ; from the pound, by
Daniel Holt’s and Reuben Robinson’s, to Capt. Worthley’s, 1794;
from Esq. Parmenter’s to Thompson’s mills, 1795 ; from the town-
house to the pound, 1807. A portion of some of these old roads
has been discontinued, and many later ones constructed. The annual
84 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

labors of three generations have rendered our roads comparatively
smooth, and easily passed over in carriages. ;

Over the Contoocgok and North Branch rivers, and Great Brook
are sixteen bridges; none of them large. . ;

VILLAGES AND Epirices. South Village, the largest in town, 10
the south-east part of it, stands on the summit of an easy slope,
rising from the interval bordering the west bank of the Contoocook.
It contains thirty-three dwelling-houses, most of them commodious ;
a few are elegant with ornamental appendages; two stores; mills;
two neat school-houses; several factories and mechanic’s shops. Two
lines of daily stages come to the village, the one line passing to the
Depot of the Contoocook Valley Railroad at Hillsborough Bridge ;
the other to the Depot of the Hast Wilton Railroad, at Hast Wilton
Village. A large edifice, originally designed to be a manufactory of
woolens, but since converted to other uses, contains a hall which the
Baptist society in Bennington and Antrim have recently occupied as
a place for public worship. ods

North Branch Village, on North Branch river, two miles north of
the Centre, is pleasantly situated, has twenty-five dweiling-houses, one
storé, a commodious school-house, a tannery, a silk factory, mills, and
several mechanics’ shops. A line of stages from Hillsboro’ Bridge
Depot to Keene, make three trips a week, giving the village a daily
mail. Several of the houses are neat and commodious, and the sur-
rounding scenery agreeable.

The little collection of buildings at the Centre can hardly be called
a village, as it includes only the Presbyterian church, town-house,
schcol-house, and seven dwelling-houses. Half a mile south of the
Centre, is Clinton Village, on Great Brook, embracing sixteen dwell-
ing-houses, and several factories and mechanics’ shops. The village
is of recent date, is a lively and busy place, has a considerable amount
of manufacturing business, and promises to grow into importance.

The Centre and East meeting-houses are substantial and costly edi-
fices, ornamented with spires, and the former furnished with a good
toned bell. Of the dwelling-houses, scarce half a dozen can be set
down as jirst class houses; of the residue, a considerable number are
of brick ; of the wooden ones, many are well finished and painted.
Most of the dwellings have an air of thrift and comfort. Very many
of the barns and out-buildings are large and convenient.

PROGRESS OF CULTIVATION. Antrim contains a large number of
good farms, and not a few excellent ones, mostly inclosed and divided
by substantial stone walls. The average size of the farms, about 100
acres. Many of the swamps have been reclaimed, and converted into
productive meadow. Very many of the fields, now smooth and arable,
were once deformed and encumbered with stones, which patient labor has
removed and deposited in walls; thus accomplishing the highest feat
of manual labor, the conversion of a nuisance into a value.

VecETABLe Propvucrions. Forest trees of the deciduous kind,
are the oak, both the red, and in small numbers the white; the ash,
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 85

three varieties, the white, black, and mountain ash; the maple, both
the white and sugar maple; the beach, the white and the red; the
birch, three varieties, white, black, and yellow; the elm; the but-
ternut; the locust; the bass; moose-wood; lever-wood; horn-beam ;
the white poplar ; the balm Gilead; the willow. The evergreens are
the pine, and in one locality the Norway ; the hemlock, two varieties;
the spruce, three kinds, white, double and bald.

We have also the wild cherry, both the black and red ; the sumach ;
and the fir balsam, which is in reality a variety of the spruce.

Of shrubs and medicinal plants there are nearly all the species
common to southern New-Hampshire. Blackberries and raspberries
grow in profusion; field strawberries are abundant; bilberries and
low blue-berries are found, but not in great plenty; also the wild
currant, and the wild gooseberry. The low or running blackberry is
regarded as a nuisance in the mowing fields; and there is another va-
riety of berries, perfectly resembling the blackberry in form, size
and flavor; in every thing but color, it being of a very pale yellow.
By an odd misnomer, some call it “ the white blackberry |”

There is not known to be a walnut, chestnut or sycamore, growing
in the town. A few mulberries have been brought here from other
places, and flourish well. The woods, lowlands and fields, exhibit
all the variety of flowering plants common to the climate.

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. Not the slightest geological examina-
tion of the town has yet been made, and the writer regrets that he
is too little informed on the subject to pretend to say much in rela-
tion to it. Coarse-grained granite, both in ledges and boulders,
abounds; some of the latter are immensely large, weighing hundreds
of tons; one, near Robb mountain, computed to exceed in weight a
thousand tons, rests on a subjacent rock, on a base not exceeding in
extent 4 common tea-table. Many of these large masses are frac-
tured or split. No traces of lime-stone have been discovered. There
are two beds of clay in the east part of the town, not far from Con-
toocook river ; and a body of sand in the west part, on the farm of
John Symonds, of which large quantities are transported to Stoddard,
and used in the manufacture of black glass wares. The only mine
known to exist is one of black lead on Riley’s mountain; not now
wrought, being thought to be nearly exhausted. On land of Harvey
Holt is a bed of some mineral substance, exhibiting a few particles
bearing a metalic lustre, whether of mica or some other component
part is not known.

Wiip Antmats. The moose, the largest species of the deer kind,
was once common, and furnished to some of the earliest settlers, now
and then,a winter’s stock of meat. The last one seen here was
killed about 1790. Wolves and bears, once numerous, are now ex-
terminated. The former annoyed the early inhabitants by their noc-
turnal howlings, and by the destruction of their sheep ; the last in-
stance of their ravages having occurred about 1825. Sometimes they
attacked cattle. A Mr. Curtice, who lived on Windsor mountain,
86 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

once turned out his cattle to browse in a swamp; a pack of wolves
beset them; the cattle made a quick but well planned retreat, the
cows taking the front, the small cattle the centre, while the oxen as-
sumed the perilous task of guarding the rear, and beating back the
wolves with their horns. The herd made good their retreat; that
the oxen killed or at least wounded some of the enemy, was inferred
from the fact that their horns were bloody on their arrival at the barn.
The bears sometimes killed swine, and made havoc in the corn-fields.
With the exception of a single straggler, seen about 1845, not a deer
has been seen here for many years. A large and ferocious lynx was
killed on Bald mountain about thirty years ago; and that one not the
last visitant of his kind. Foxes, the most of them red, a few of the
black and silver grey and wood grey varieties, are occasionally killed.
Racoons are in considerable number; of squirrels, the striped and
red are numerous; there are a few grey ones; and somewhat rarely a
flying squirrel. The skunk, gentle and inoffensive when not disturbed ;
the woodchuck ; the hedgehog; the mink; and the musquash are
found, but not in great numbers; with now and then an otter. _

Happily, the dreaded rattle-snake never found his way here; black
snakes are seen very rarely ; the only serpents noxious in any degree
are the common speckled adder, and a species of water-snake, by no
means numerous. a
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.

PopuLaTion AND Lonerviry. The number of inhabitants by
the census of 1850 was 1143. Of dwelling-houses there are 236,
and of families not less than 240.

From the commencement of 1809, through a period of forty-
three years, there were 780 deaths; giving an annual average of 18
and a small fraction over; and showing one death in a year out of
each number of 71 souls. Of the above 780 persons deceased, eleven
were from 90 to 974 years; sixty-three were between 80 and 90
years of age; and seventy-nine were between 70 and 80. After the
dysentery of 1800, and the spotted fever of 1812, an impression
was extensively prevalent that Antrim was less salubrious than other
adjacent towns. The preceding statistics demonstrate the incorrect-
ness of this impression; most of the early settlers attained to a
good old age; probably few towns in New-Hampshire can exhibit
more numerous instances of longevity in proportion to the population.
Antrim is remarkably free from stagnant water and dead swamps,
sending forth pestiferous exhalations. °

At the time of writing this article there are living in the Centre
school district of Antrim twenty persons of various ages, from 70 to
91, whose average age would fall not far short of eighty years. Can
any school district in the county exhibit a more favorable return ?

The average population of the town during the above named period
of forty-three years, would vary little from 1250. From the first
settlement of the place to 1852 the whole number of deaths will
somewhat exceed one thousand.

EMIGRATION FROM TOWN. It is believed by the writer that more
than four hundred families, who have resided here for a longer or
shorter period, have removed to other locations. Adding to the
present population the numbers who have died or emigrated, and we
have a probable total of between four and five thousand persons, who
have at some period found in this place the attractions clustering
round that little word, Homz. Especially since 1825 has the spirit
of emigration been rife. In almost all of the thirty-one States, in-
cluding even Texas and California; in Canada; in Mexico; in the

island of Cuba; in India, Ceylon, and China, you may find either
88 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

survivors who went from Antrim, or the graves of those who cher-
ished it as the spot of their nativity. Who ever forgets the natal
soil, or ceases to recur with fond attachment to the scenes of early
life ?

Prysicrans.. In the time of the revolutionary war, the nearest
physician was Doct. Young, of Peterboro’. Doct. Little, one of his
pupils, established himself in practice at Hillsboro’, 1782, and fre-
quently attended patients in this town. A Doctor Frye came to
Antrim about 1788, but found the prospect of business not suffi-
ciently inviting to induce him ‘to stay more than a year or two. Next
came a Doct. Wm. Ward, who was here in 1791, but left town, pro-
bably, the next year. Doct. Nathan W. Cleaves, from Mont-Vernon,
who studied his profession with Doct. Jones, of Lyndeboro’, com-
menced medical practice in Antrim about 1793, had: a respectable
share of professional business, and died 1807, much regretted. Soon
after his death, Doct. Jeremiah Stickney, from Pelham, established
himself at Branch Village, and had a good share of practice till 1849,
when he relinquished his business to Doct. D. W. Hazleton, from
Hebron, N. H.. Contemporaneously with Doct. Stickney, Doct.
Charles Adams established himself at the Centre, soon removed to
South Village, and thence, 1816, to Oakham, Ms. He was succeeded
in the practice at South Village by Doct. Israel Burnham, from
Greenfield, who came here soon after Doct. Adams left town, and
continued in practice till the failure of his health. He relinquished
his business to Doct. G. H. Hubbard, in 1848, and died in 1849.
Doct. Hubbard remained in the place less than two years, and re-
moved to Hast Washington; Doct. Hazleton being now the only
physician in town. Doct. Burnham was a useful and respected citi-
zen; léft to the Presbyterian church, of which he was a member, a
legacy of $100, and several hundred dollars to other religious charities.

Artorneys. The only attorney who opened an office here prior
to 1844, was the Hon. Luke Woodbury, a native of the town. He
commenced the practice of law in Hancock, but soon removed his
office to Antrim South Village, about 1826. . He was representative,
and often was elected moderator of town meetings; possessing, as he
did, a happy talent at preserving order and expediting business. At
the time-of his death, 1851, he was, and had been for about thirteen
years Judge of Probate for the county of Hillsboro’, and was in
nomination for the office of Governor, with a high probability of
election, had his life been continued. John McNeil, Esq., from
Hillsboro’, has commenced the practice of law, this present year,
1852, in South Village.

CoLLEGE GRADUATES AND ProresstonaAL Men. The following
persons, natives of the town, have graduated from some one or other
- of the New-England colleges: John Nichols, missionary at Bombay,
deceased; Daniel M. Christie, attorney at law, Dover ; George W.
Nesmith, attorney at law, Franklin; Luke Woodbury, attorney at
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 89

law and Judge of Probate ; Thomas W. Duncan, minister of the
gospel, Vermont ; Sylvester Cochran, minister of the gospel in
Michigan ; Hiram Bell, pastor of a Congregational church, Killing-
worth, Connecticut; Seneca Cummings, missionary to China; Isaac
Baldwin, Jun., student at law. :

John McFarland was admitted to the bar, 1815, practiced law in
Hillsboro’ till his death, 1819. Doct. Bertram, of Townshend, Ms.,
deceased, had been brought up, if not born in town ; Doctors James
A. Gregg, now in California, Samuel Vose of Maine, and Dexter
Baldwin of Marlboro’, Ms., were natives of Antrim, and studied
their profession, in part, in town. .

Post Orricrs. The first in town was established, it is believed in
1812, at South Village, and James Campbell was the first postmaster.
His successors were George Duncan, Luke Wodbury, George Dun-
can, Jun., James Breed, and James W. Bradford. "This office was
for many years supplied with a mail by a route from Concord, through
Deering, South Antrim, Hancock and Nelson, to Keene. This old
route has been discontinued, and other ones established. In 1827,
another office was established at the Centre, and supplied from the
same route, but was discontinued about 1833. The successive post-
masters were Robert Reid, M. L. Chandler, and Charles Gates. A
post-office was established at the Branch Village about 1835, soon
after the completion of the Keene road, where Hiram Griffin, Wm.
P. Little, and Hiram Griffin a second time, have successively been
appointed postmasters. Until the commencement of the present
century there was no post-office nearer than Amherst.

Deratus py Casvuatty. The first in town was that of Asa Merril,
killed by a fall in Aiken’s mill; the second, that of James Dinsmoor,
killed in 1786 by a fall from a staging of the first meeting-house..
Since that period, five have been killéd by the fall of trees or limbs;
nine have been drowned; two have been found frozen to death, and
two others have died in consequence of exposure to cold; one was
accidentally shot, and mortally wounded ; four have been found dead
either in the road, field, or woods; one found dead in bed; eight
have committed suicide within the limits of the town, of whom one
belonged to Francestown and one to Stoddard. One of the cases of
suicide was by opium, taken with design to destroy life.

A few years ago, more than twenty persons in and near the South
Village were poisoned by eating of a western cheese, which had been
purchased in Boston and retailed in small quantities to different fam-
ilies. A few of the sufferers were affected so severely that life was
endangered ; but by timely medical aid all recovered. Whether the
poisonous quality was derived from the feed of the cows, or from col-
oring matter used by the dairyman, or from some substance mali-
ciously infused, remains unknown.

Scnooxs ; their former state. Until 1794, or about that. period,
there was but one school-house, and that a log one, in town; stand-
90 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

ing a little east of Mr. Raymond’s. For eight or ten preceding
years, however, schools had been occasionally taught in private houses
at the Centre, the Branch, and in the High Range. Master Butler
was frequently employed as a teacher; females sometimes taught in
summer, in’ private dwellings; among them was a woman, her name
not recollected, who resided in town some time, and was the widow
of the captain of a vessel, who had been lost at sea. Not far from
1794, the eastern section of the town was divided into two districts ;
a school-house was built a little north of N. W..C. Jameson’s, and
another near the corner of roads, a short distance north of Dea. Bell’s.
About the same time was erected the first school-house in Branch
Village ; another was built in the High Range, 1795. Until this
time, the children in the Branch and in the Range had generally
attended the same school, kept in the two sections alternately. The
first school-house at the Centre was built in 1801 or 1802, standing
40 or 50 rods north of the town-house. This house was burnt, 1811.

_ Other school districts were afterwards organized as the increase of
population required. | "

Scuoots; their present condition. Yn the thirteen school districts
of the town, about 400 children and youth annually attend, for a
longer or shorter period. More than half the districts have schools
both in summer and winter. Several of the school-houses are well
arranged, neat, and commodious; the rest, with one exception, are
decent and comfortable. In point of literary attainment, the schools
have been for years gradually progressive, and frequently exhibit, on
examination, favorable specimens of improvement. The chief defects
are, in some instances, laxity of discipline; too much inattention to the
manners and habits of the pupils; and a deficiency of moral and
religious instruction. How to educate, in one and the same school,
the children both of Protestants and Catholics ; of those who rever-
ence and those who discard the Bible; of parents connected with
different denominations, holding views not harmonious ;— without
exciting on the one hand jealousies of sectarian influence, or on the
other turning religion out of doors ;—is a problem of no easy solu-
tion. If our system of popular education should ever become a
Godless system, what must be its influence on the state of society ?

Barty Domustic Manuracturss. In all the latter part of last
century, most of the clothing of each family was manufactured by its
female members. The material was by them carded, spun, woven,
colored, and in many instances made up into garments. There was
also a manufacture by females, to some extent, of fine linen cloth and
thread, much of which was bought by traveling pedlars, and sold at a
distance. The amount cannot be stated, but it was not inconsiderable.
To furnish the material, many of the farmers grew flax. Since the
commencement of the present century, this branch of female industry
has been declining, and for many years has been known only as
“among the things that were.” Other forms and departments of in-
dustry have taken its place.
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 91

Eariy NAMES IN ANTRIM, Now ExtINoT. Previously: to 178
the inhabitants with only two or three exceptions, were of Soonteh
descent. After that year, settlers of English derivation came in nu-
merously. Many of the early Scottish names, as Aiken, McFarland,
Alexander, Templeton, Dickey, McClary, Moor, Gordon, Warren,
Lynch, Miltimore, Gilmore, MeDole, are not found in town. Nichols
is both English and Scottish; we have now English families of the
name ; but of the Scottish families bearing the name, once numerous
here, there are no remains. The Scottish names remaining are those
of Boyd, Nesmith, Hopkins, Cochran, Thompson, Christie, Bell,
Duncan, Steele, McCoy, Jameson, Campbell, McIlvaine, Dunlap,
Grege, Wallace, Carr, McClure, Allds, Dinsmoor; perhaps a few

ers. me

CoMPARATIVE POPULATION AT DIFFERENT PERIODS —
1744. One small family.
1767. Two families and about ten or twelve inhabitants.
1775. Sixty persons, by estimate.
1777. Twenty families and probably 100 inhabitants.
1785. Forty three families, and about 250 inhabitants.
1790. 528 inhabitants.:
1800. 1059 o
1810. 1277 «
1820. 1330 “
1830. 1309 6
1840. 1225 ee
1850. 1143 “

From the above table it will be seen that from the first settlement
of the south part of the town, there was a constant and comparatively
rapid increase of population till 1800; and a moderate increase from
1800 to 1820. From 1820 to 1830 the population remained almost
stationary, exhibiting however a very small diminution. Since 1830,
our step has been more decidedly retrograde, and we now number
almost 200 less than thirty years ago. The diminution is attributable
to two causes ;— the conversion of several tracts, once inhabited and
cultivated as farms, into pasturage; and the emigration of large
numbers of the young to cities and manufacturing villages, in quest
of more profitable employment than they could find at home. It is
believed that our population reached its maximum about 1825.

Propucts or AGRIcULTURE. A sufficient supply of corn and rye
is raised to meet the consumption of the inhabitants; in favorable
seasons there is a moderate surplus of the former article sold out of
town. Many thousand bushels of oats are annually carried to other
places. Very little barley is grown; beans are raised in considerable
quantities, and the surplus, after supplying the home demand, is sent
to market; peas are not an object of much attention, beyond the
production of early ones to be used when green. Wheat was for-
merly grown more than at present; but the great uncertainty of the
crop has induced most of the farmers to abandon the culture of it.
92 HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

Yet the consumption of wheaten bread has greatly increased, and not
much less than 1000 barrels of western flour find a sale here. Of
root crops the potatoe is far the most important ; in former years this
article was raised in great profusion and of excellent quality, but the
ravages of the rot have diminished the cultivation. The carrot begins
to be more appreciated, and a few farmers raise a considerable quan-
tity as a feed for cattle, horses, and swine. We have few ornamental,
but many productive kitchen gardens, in which the common culinary
vegetables are raised in great plenty.

Fruit cutture. Most of the early inhabitants planted large
orchards, and manufactured and drank large quantities of cider.
After the general disuse of cider as a beverage, some of the orchards
were unwisely cut down. Soon, however, the value of the fruit as a
feed for stock, and of the finer varieties as an article of luxury, began
to be better appreciated. Many of the old orchards have been ren-
ovated by grafting; young trees are preserved and either grafted or
budded ; many trees of the fine varieties have been introduced from
distant nurseries, and Antrim now produces fine fruit sufficient to
supply the home demand, and to furnish a considerable quantity for
exportation. The, plum, the cherry, the currant are abundant; of
peach and pear trees we have but few.

Stock. Few blooded animals are found here; yet there are many
good specimens both of horses and neat cattle. Fat cattle to the
amount of some thousands of dollars are annually purchased in town
for market. More horses are reared than are required for home use.
In the line of sheep husbandry, there has been a decline; : fourteen
or fifteen years ago there were many flocks of mixed blood, number-
ing from 50 to 800 or 400; the number has since diminished more
than one half. Pork was formerly raised in large quantities for
market, but since the decline of prices, and the prevalence of. the
potatoe disease, the quantity does not greatly exceed the home de-
mand. Poultry-raising is on the increase, and large quantities of
the common kinds, and also of eggs find a sale in the large manufac-
turing towns of the State.

PRODUCTS OF THE DAIRY. Cheese-making is not attended to on
an extensive scale. It is doubted whether the quantity produced ex-
ceeds the home consumption. Of butter, much of it is of excellent. ::
quality, and hundreds of firkins find a quick demand abroad.

Rerariers or ForEIGN AND Domzstic Goops. The first store
was opened by Ebenezer Kimball, about 1789, near the house of the
late George Duncan, Esq. He traded there about five years, and
was succeeded in business, first by Andrew Seaton, next by Moses
McFarland, who after two or three years failed and went to the west.
Others, who have successively done business at that stand in former
years, are William Whittemore, Miller and Caldwell, and James
Campbell. Mark Woodbury opened a store in South Village, 1794 ;
his successors in business at that stand have been Thomas McMaster,
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 93

zt B. Woodbury, M. B. Woodbury and Co., and L. and J. B. Wood-
ury.

From about 1790 James Wallace kept a small store a few years on
the Stacy place. Jacob Tuttle commenced trade 1796; after many
years removed his business to Branch Village; his successors in trade
at that stand have been Hiram Griffin, Griffin and Bell, Fairfield and
Shed, and Almus Fairfield. Henry Campbell sold goods at the
Newman place, from 1793 to 1801. Robert Butler built a small
store, not now standing, near the town-house and sold a few goods,
but failed in business about 1800. John Hopkins opened a small
store, about 1822, on the place now occupied by James Eaton, and
transacted business for two or three years. R. and H. Reed com-
menced trade at Antrim Centre 1827, continued business there seven
years. Others, who have succeeded at that stand, not now occupied
as a store, are Martin L. Chandler, Chandler and Vose, Charles Gates,
and John M. Whiton, Jun. Charles McKean commenced trade in
South Village, 1845, and has continued business to the present time,
either in company with James W. Bradford or alone.

Since the writing of the above article it has been ascertained that
a man of the name of Wallace built a small store opposite the seat of
N. W. C. Jameson, about 1795, but in two or three years relinquished
business at that stand, and returned to his native place, Milford.
Thomas Jameson began the business of a retailer in a store on the
old turnpike, more than thirty years ago, but continued in that place:
for only a brief period.

ARTICLES NOW MANUFACTURED IN ANTRIM — i fiek

Of metals. Hoes, hay-cutters, edge tools of some kinds in small
quantities.

Of wood. All the common kinds of lumber, doors, window-sash,
window-blinds, looking-glass frames, sleighs and wagons, chairs, bed-
steads, tables, bureaus, and other kinds of cabinet wares, window-
shades, powder-kegs, pails, tubs, firkins, shoe-pegs in quantity,
bobbins, wash-boards, clothes-pins, and brush-woods.

Of cotton. Yarn, twine, batting.

Of silk. Raw imported silk is subjected to a variety of prepara-
tory processes and then put up in packages for sale.

ANNEXATION OF A SMALL PORTION of ANTRIM To Hancock. On
the petition of John Flint, whose small homestead adjoined Hancock
line, and who had no access to Antrim save by a circuitous route
through Hancock, his place was annexed, by act of the Legislature, to
the latter town, 1847. This of course breaks the continuity of the
south line of Antrim and makes a small indentation into the territory
of the town. -

Hian Rane. A range of lots on the northern declivity of the
Tuttle mountains, the old Stoddard road intersecting them, acquired
in early times, from its elevated position, and still retains the name
of High Range.

9
94

HISTORY OF ANTRIM.

TOWN OFFICERS.

The year on the left hand of the name denotes the time of election ;
the figures on the right hand the period of continuance in office by
elections in immediate succession.

SELECTMEN.

1777 Thomas Stuart
—James Aiken . .
— Richard McAlister
1778 Daniel Miltimore .
—— Daniel Nichols
1779 John Duncan .
—— Samuel Moore .
—— Adam Nichols .
1780 Daniel Nichols
—— Benj. Gregg

—— Thomas Stuart
1781 Samuel Moore
—— Daniel McFarland
—— John Duncan

1782 Thomas Stuart
1783 Samuel Dinsmoor
—— Adam Nichols
1784 Samuel Moore
— Samuel Patten
—— Richard McAlister
1785 Isaac Cochran
— Jona. Nesmith .
Daniel Nichols
1787 Thomas Stuart
1788 Samuel Dinsmoor
—— David McClure -
1789 James Hopkins
1790 Daniel Miltimore .
— Jona. Nesmith .
1791 William Brown
— Daniel Nichols .
1792 Arthur Nesmith .
1793 John McIlvaine .
1794 Daniel Nichols
1796 Thomas Stuart
1797 James Hopkins
1798 Daniel Nichols
—— James Wallace.
1800 William Starret
—— Jacob Tuttle .
1801 Nathan W. Cleaves
—— Samuel Vose
—— Robert Gregg .
1802 John Alexander
—— James Dunlap .
1804 James Nesmith
—— Thomas Jameson
1805 John Worthley
1807 Jona. Nesmith .
—— James Wallace
1808 Robert Gregg .
—— Samuel Vose
1809 Thomas McCoy
1810 Robert Gregg .

 

Cr ey

PND CO 9 eR ND ND ED ND OND OO OD 00 CO ee Oe ee et

 

1811 James Nesmith

— Stephen Woodbury . .

— Charles Adams
1812 Robert Gregg .
1813 James Wallace
— Jacob Whittemore
— Thomas McCoy
1814 Robert Gregg . .
1816 David McAulay .
1817 George Duncan
—— Amos Parmenter .

1818 Robert Gregg .

— Jacob Tuttle

1819 John Wallace .
—_ John McNeil

1820 Robert Gregg .
1821 Tristram Sawyer .
1822 Jona. Nesmith .
—— Samuel Fletcher .
—— John Worthley .
1823 Samuel Tuttle
1827 Jacob Tuttle

1828 Thomas McCoy
— Isaac Baldwin .
1831 Thomas McMaster
—— Jacob Tuttle

1832 George Duncan
1834 Jacob Whittemore
1834 Thomas McCoy .
— Jonathan Carr’
18386 Thomas Dunlap
1839 Samuel Fletcher
— William Carr .
1840 Henry C. Smith
— John Barker .
1841 John G. Flint .
1842 Samuel Fletcher
David McKean
1848 William Carr ..
1844 Jonathan Carr
Manly McClure
1845 Thomas McCoy .
— Josiah W. Christie
— David McKean
1846 Thomas Dunlap
—— Manly McClure

 

 

1847 Reed P. Whittemore .

1849 Rodiiey Sawyer
1850 Ira Cochran

1851 Samuel Dinsmoor
1852 Thomas Dunlap
— Clark Hopkins
—— John Dodge

*

_
HISTORY OF ANTRIM. 95

The persons who have held the office of Selectman for the longest periods
of time, are Thomas Stuart, 10 years; Arthur Nesmith, 9 years ; Jona. Nesmith,
13 years; Robert Gregg, 15 years; Samuel Fletcher, 15 years ; Thomas Mc-
Coy, 18 years. Thomas Dunlap is now in office in his eighth year of service as
Selectman.

TOWN CLERKS.

1777 Maurice Lynch. + 1] 1822 Amos Parmenter . 4
1778 John Duncan - 1/1826 Samuel Fletcher 1
1779 Samuel Moore 1] 1827 Jacob Tuttle 3
1780 Daniel Miltimore 2/1830 Samuel Fletcher 1
1782 Samuel Moors »- + + . 8/1881 George Duncan 8
1785 Daniel Miltimore + « » 8|1839 Hiram Griffin 5
1788 Tobias Butler. . . - 1) 1844 Joseph Davis . 1
1789 Daniel Miltimore . - 2)1845 Hiram Griffin . 2
1791 James Nesmith . « 2711847 Charles McKean 5
1818 Amos Parmenter . 3 | 1852 Almus Fairfield

1821 Robert Gregg . 1

REPRESENTATIVES.

For a considerable number of the years between the incorporation of the town
and 1797, the district, of which Antrim constituted a part, was represented in
the Legislature by John Duncan, Esq.

1797 Jona. Nesmith . . . . 4/1833 Luke Woodbury 1
1801 Jacob Tuttle + + « 10/1834 Samuel Fletcher 1
1811 James Wallace . . : 1/1835 Luke Woodbury goo 1
1812 Mark Woodbury 1/1836 Thomas McMaster, jun. . 2
1813 Jacob Tuttle 5 | 1838 Jacob Whittemore 2 3
1818 Jacob Whittemore 2} 1841 Joseph Davis 2
1820 Jacob Tuttle 1] 1843 Samuel Fletcher 1
1821 Mark Woodbury 1/1844 Joseph Davis 1
1822 Amos Parmenter 4) 1845 Hiram Griffin . 2
1826 George Duncan 1/1847 William Carr . 2
1827 Samuel Fletcher 4| 1849 Thomas Dunlap 2
1831 Thomas McMaster, jr. 2| 1851 Charles McKean

MODERATORS OF THE ANNUAL MARCH MEETINGS.

From 1777 to 1821, inclusive, the Moderators of the annual March meetings
were John Duncan, Maurice Lynch, Thomas Stuart, Daniel Nichols, Isaac
Cochran, Jona. Nesmith, Samuel Dinsmoor, Daniel Miltimore, James Nesmith,
Isaac Baldwin, Jacob Tuttle, and Mark Woodbury ; the latter for several years.
Since 1821 they have been as follows: James Nesmith, 1822; Jacob Tuttle,
1823 and 1825; William Gregg, 1824 and 1826 ; Amos Parmenter, 1827 ; Geo.
Duncan, 1828 and 1830 ; Sutheric Weston, jun., 1829 ; Jacob Whittemore, 1831,
1839, 1844, 1846, 1847, 1850; Luke Woodbury, from 1832 seven years in im-
mediate succession, and also in 1840, 1841, 1842, 1845, 1848, 1849; William

; Bartlett Wallace, 1851, 1852.
ee ae to various town offices, Jacob Whittemore has sustained the
office of Sheriff of the county of Hillsboro’, and afterwards that of Justice of
the Court of Common Pleas for the same county, which last he resigned, 1852.
44A63 W62

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Date Due

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