Contributions
CH) EE
History of Old Derryfield,
BY WILLIAM ELLERY MOORE.
Pree. PERS E.
PRICE TWENTY-FIVE. CENTS.
/
CONTRIBUTIONS ie ZA
TO THE
se wORY OF DERRY FIELD,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
TOPOGRAPHY AND LANDSCAPE
AS MODIFIED BY TORRENTS FROM MELTING ICE-FIELDS, TOGETHER
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF EARLY FLOODS AND OTHER
LOCAL EVIDENCES OF A GLACIAL EPOCH.
BY WILLIAM E. MOORE.
h
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE
MANCHES DERVIISTORIC ASSOCIATION:
dap Windy
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS.
Entered according to Act of Congress
in the
Office of the Librarian at Washington, D. C.
1896.
anane
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE
HiStORV OR IDERRYVPIELD.
BY WILLIAM E. MOORE.
Gin Arata = Ly
PRELIMINARY —LANDMARKS — ROCK RIMMON—THE PINNACLE — MERRI-
MACK — PISCATAQUOG — BLACK BROOK — COHAS — MASSABESIC
LAKE — SPECIAL FEATURES, ETC.
HE conscientious and self-respecting historian will always
aim at relating not only the truth but the whole truth. His-
tories of Derryfield have been written, but none of them began
at the beginning. It does not need to be added that very much
was omitted.
The present undertaking will give some account of pre-his-
toric times and will be brought down to date. The whole period
covered embraces more than a thousand centuries — how much
more cannot with certainty be computed. In the presence of
this time-problem the wisest are ignorant, since the facts with
which we have first to deal refer to times so remote as to make
ancient history a tale of yesterday. The story to be related in
these opening chapters relies for evidence upon no witnesses —
there were none —neither upon myth, legend or tradition. Our
sole authorities are certain eloquent ‘sermons in stones” and
sundry decipherable ‘‘books in the running brooks.’ These,
however, supply ample and conclusive testimony.
4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
All the available sources of information will be examined, and
the animal, vegetable and mineral creation interrogated. No
stone will be left unturned, no field unploughed, no plant or
animal permitted to escape.
LANDMARKS.
For the present we defer giving details of the early occupa-
tion and settlement of Derryfield and confine our view to some
prominent features of its natural scenery and topography. To
present these in intelligent order it will be necessary to broaden
our horizon to include the entire landscape, from the highlands
on the east to the mountains rising west of the Merrimack,
From the river valley the ground ascends rapidly at first, then
broadening into an extensive and nearly level plain, and again
mounting abruptly to the height of land in the eastern fore-
ground, Here the chief elevations are known as Wilson, Bald,
and Oak or Heath-Hen hills. From these highlands a magnifi-
cent panorama salutes the eye, and as the sun illuminates the
picture a thousand points of splendor punctuate the wide and
varied scene.
To the north may be seen Mt. Belknap and the Gilford moun-
tains, as well as a portion of the Ossipee and Sandwich groups,
while with favoring conditions glimpses of the Franconia range
may be seen without a glass. To the northwest is a distinct
view of Kearsarge and Ragged mountains, while in Vermont
the distant crest of Ascutney breaks the line of the horizon.
Westward and trending south we are confronted with Crotchet
and Temple mountains, dominated by Pack and Grand Monad-
nock, the blue lift of Wachuset in Massachusetts closing the
grand sweep as if of a hemisphere.
But these, with others scarcely less conspicuous, form only
the background of the picture, for nearer and in front stand the
Uncanoonucks and Joe English, flanked by the Dunbarton,
Mount Vernon and Lyndeborough ridges, while nearer still are
the rounded slopes of Hackett, Shirley, Scribner’s, and Yacum
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 5
hills, with a host of lesser eminences completing the details of
a picturesque landscape, which for quiet and restful beauty is
unrivalled in southern New Hampshire.
Ancient Derryfield included the whole river front, from above
the falls at Amoskeag on the north to below Goffe’s falls on the
south, and the mile-limit to the east crossed the summit of
Wilson hill.
ROCK RIMMON.
Directly west of Amoskeag falls, upon a level plateau extend-
ing from the ancient river terrace, Rock Rimmon lifts its solid
shoulder of gneiss above the plain. This rock is an object of
great interest, attracts many visitors, and offers a most superb
view of the Piscataquog and Merrimack valleys. The easterly
escarpment is a sheer and inaccessible precipice of one hundred
and seventeen feet, the crest reaching an altitude of more than
three hundred feet above the bed of the river.* The summit is
easily reached from the western and northern slopes.
THE PINNACLE.
Eight miles away to the north, on the west bank of the Mer-
rimack, is another bald and rocky peak, mounting also from a
terrace-plain, rising even higher than its Derryfield rival. Just
west and touching the base of the Pinnacle isa small lake. The
water is very deep, is popularly believed to have no bottom, and
in area and contour is said to exactly match the outline of the
Pinnacle itself. It has been contended that this great mass of
rock was lifted bodily from the bed of the lake and the hole
afterwards filled with water. When the Pinnacle slides back to
its old quarters we may the more readily assent to this theory.
A substantial observatory hass been erected upon the summit,
from which exceptionally fine views may be had.
* The exact figures, taken from the field-notes of the City Engineer, are as follows: Top
of rock above city elevation, 296.35 feet; base above the same level, 179.83 feet. and about 95
feet above low-water mark at Amoskeag eddy. Extreme height of rock, 116.53 feet.
6 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
THE MERRIMACK.
This river is now a continuous stream from its sources to the
sea, but there is little doubt that the present valley was once
filled with a great chain of lakes, extending from the Winne-
pesauke on the north to an indeterminate point to the south,
certainly as far as ancient Dunstable. The evidence in support
of this view is conclusive and will be considered in detail here-
after. Along the course of the river the ancient terraces form
a conspicuous feature.
THE PISCATAQUOG.
This river enters the Merrimack on the west bank, some two
miles below Amoskeag falls. The valley extends in a north-
westerly direction, passing to the west of Rock Rimmon. The
old terraces on either bank are remarkable.
BLACK BROOK.
This considerable water-course has its source in the Dunbar-
ton hills, twelve miles away, flows southeasterly and enters the
Merrimack on the west bank a short distance above Amoskeag
falls. The significent relation of this now somewhat reduced
stream to our history will become more apparent as the record
proceeds.
COHAS BROOK.
Aside from a number of inconsiderable brooks and rivulets,
this is the only local water-way remaining unnoticed. It is the
outlet of Massabesic lake and enters the Merrimack on the east
bank, immediately below Goffe’s falls. The foregoing, therefore,
comprise all the principal water systems properly belonging to
the Derryfield map, or which are of importance as relating to
our present inquiry.
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 7
MASSABESIC.
Four miles to the east, and wholly within the bounds of an-
cient Chester, this fine body of water lies in a series of bays, so
joined by necks and separated by headlands as to include a shore-
line of not less than thirty-six miles. From this lake the great
manufacturing city of Manchester derives its water-supply. The
Massabesic is dotted with numerous islands and surrounded by
highlands, conspicuous among them being a splendid rocky
promontory on the Auburn shore, Minot’s ledge, and the moun-
tain in Chester familiarly known as the ‘“ Devil’s Den.” The
old water-marks plainly show a much higher lake-level in a not
remote period, the water then wholly covering the present high-
way and involving the out-lying meadows and lowlands. Several
smaller ponds are found within the limits of ancient Derryfield,
but none calling for more than passing recognition.
SPECIAL FEATURES.
Over and above the more prominent landmarks of the terri-
tory we have attempted to describe there are in addition a num-
ber of less conspicuous but even more striking points of interest.
Chief among these are the following:
1. The great clay deposits about the Hooksett Pinnacle, and
extending north, especially on the east bank of the river.
2. The enormous accumulations of sand upon the site of Der-
ryfield proper.
3. The stupendous bulk of water-worn stones and gravel, high
above modern water levels, in ancient terraces and moraines.
4. Certain remarkable instances of rock-wear performed by
pre-historic streams.
5. Travelled blocks and rock-fragments transported from dis-
tant centres of dispersion.
6. Curious survivals of tropical trees and shrubs,
8 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
These, with added evidences of the work done by water in
another age, will be considered in the proper place, when it will
be shown that these wonderful monuments now bear mute but
unimpeachable testimony to the existence of powerful and long-
continued currents, flowing in so vast a volume as to make the
proudest river of to-day a plaything. These propositions, with
the facts referable to them, are as certain as anything in Deut-
eronomy, but we regret to say there are still otherwise intelli-
gent people who refuse to believe them. The Agnostic claims
that he can know nothing, and is aware of it; but even such
an one is less difficult to convince than he who likewise knows
nothing but has no knowledge of it.
Should it be desired to prove beyond question that New Eng-
land was once the scene of volcanic activity, a piece of Roxbury
pudding stone would be sufficient. So, in reference to our pres-
ent purpose, any strip of land in New Hampshire, with hills
and valleys and water-courses, will serve for illustration. Such
a region was Derryfield—a territory one mile wide and eight
miles long—ranging upon the Merrimack, and now the river-
front of Manchester.
Chien bie. iT
THE AGE OF ICE-WATER — GRADUAL DISAPPEARANCE OF WATER — EARTH
MAKES STEAM—A WITNESS OR TWO.
Stated by the best obtainable evidence, this zone of ours has
passed through at least one — possibly several — glacial epochs.
We have now to consider only the last, the cffects of which are
still to be seen about us on every hand, when sought for with
asking eyes.
The glacial and inter-glacial theories, as now understood and
generally accepted, offer a wonderfully inviting field for study.
No time will be lost in any discussion of the causes which made
necessary an age of ice, and we shall now simply illustrate our
history with some pictures showing the action of water, notably
of streams proceeding from rapidly melting ice-fields.
We are tempted to record much matter not wholly within the
scope of our story; we find it difficult to avoid asking and even
attempting some answer to questions which troop about and
beset us at every turn, but must be content with a few prelim-
inary generalizations.
We may conceive Earth in its desolation, its first-born naked-
ness, before desire arose, absolutely without life other than that
which may have been potential. We then reach a later period in
which there was indeed life, existing in low forms, maintained
with difficulty, intermittent and migratory, Still later we recog-
nize a true life-bearing age, in which plants and animals inclus-
ive of man appeared, moved and died.
To the foregoing it seems necessary to add that as there were
life-bearing and non-life-bearing periods so there were non-life-
producing as well as life yielding zones. Moreover, that climatic
changes in the same zone rendered it now fit now unfit for life,
and this entirely without reference to elevation and subsidence
IO CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
or any other so-called cataclysmal operation of the crust of our
planet. We intend to mean that the surface of solid Earth has
been by turns so blasted with fire, devastated by ice, and deluged
with water, that for long periods of time and large continental
areas life of most sorts was out of the question.
Our orthodox friends will observe that we have no wish to
ignore the flood; on the contrary, we insist upon several and
as many rainbows as called for.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF WATER:
We assert with some confidence that there was once much
more water upon the surface of our globe than at present; the
oceans were larger, the inland waters and streams of greater
volume. Should this position need reinforcement let us admit,
as it seems we must, that the earth once nourished no life, either
animal or vegetable, and we have at once nameless millions of
fluid tons to be somehow accounted for. Nor can it be claimed
that the atmosphere then and always held moisture in suspen-
sion as now, or that absorption by percolation was a process of
the earlier as well as of the later stages of creation. We are
thus brought face to face with a curious problem: Without
plants or animals, with an atmosphere totally rejecting it and
the earth stubbornly declining to take it in at the pores, what
was the status of water and where its abiding place ?
THE EARTH MAKES STEAM.
Not to be entirely in the dark or beyond our depth, we may
hint at the appearance and concede the existence of steam in
the earlier cycles and must give it a place as one of the prime
factors in the complicated processes of evolution, and to this
day and hour a powerful agent in its still uncompleted opera-
tions, to which it is not our present purpose to refer. Our read-
ers are expected to comfortably fix upon dates, either as to the
appearance or duration of the phenomena described or to be
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. Il
described in these opening chapters. We say only and stand by
by it, that there was fire, water and steam, fume of gas and’
molten flood, ice and snow, by turns and altogether, in such
horrible fashion as no new nor old notion of hell can illustrate.
If we seek for evidence, present and eloquent witnesses await
our interrogations.
Let us first suppose such a state of things as has been hinted
at, when there was this preponderating amount of surface water ;
that following this period, in necessary sequence, the effects of
evaporation and condensation succeeded ; that in simple obedi-
dience to cosmical laws milder methods of dissipation of energy
were made possible, and that finally, during a period of intense
cold, the whole or nearly the whole maximum mass of water at
this parallel was converted into ice, and we are furnished with
at least a tentative theory if not a working hypothesis.
One familiar with the testimony of the rocks and the environ-
ment of our modern water-systems cannot doubt that something
much like this did happen; that the very zone we now inhabit
was once and probably more than once delivered over to the
rigors of an arctic winter. In the light of the highest and best
equipped recent scientific authorities no prime fact is more
rightfully believed than that a large portion of this now temper-
ate belt was once deeply covered with ice, and for so vast a
cycle that it must have been regarded as perpetual by the people
of that age, if people there were.
A WITNESS OR TWO.
Again without pausing to discuss the causes which brought
about this condition, and not even considering the possibility of
its recurrence, it assuredly follows that such an age of ice could
not and did not come and go without leaving its mark.
During a long and busy life Prof. Agassiz accumulated a vast
amount of information as to the agency of glacial action in pro-
ducing geological effects, A student of glaciers for forty years,
12 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
and growing up in a glacial region, he was familiar with their
phenomena. He says: “As soon as geologists have learned
to appreciate the extent to which our globe has been covered
and fashioned by ice, they may be less inclined to advocate
changes of level between land and sea, whenever they meet with
the evidence of the action of water.”
Charpentier speaks of “perpetual snow-sheets and glaciers
reaching the sea, as far down as the middle of the present tem-
perate zone.” Prof. Gunning characterizes the New England
ice-sheet as “ colossal.’ Prof. Newbury, of Columbia College, in
a review of the evidence, reaches this conclusion: ‘The glac-
iers and snow-fields of Greenland stretched continuously down
the Atlantic coast;to and below New York. |*, 4t)( Soleo dinie
highlands of New England were completely covered and proba-
bly deeply buried in sheets of ice and snow.” Prof. Dana says
the ice-sheet was “‘semi-continental,” and adds: ‘The height
to which scratches and drift occur about the White Mountains
proves that the upper surface of the ice in that region was 6,000
or 6,500 feet in height, and hence that the ice was not less than
5,000 teet in thickness over the whole of that part of northern
New England. Facts also show that the surface height in south-
western Massachusetts was at least 2,800 feet, in southern Con-
necticut 1,000 feet,or more.” He again remarks that “the
continent underwent great modifications in the features of the
surface through the agency of ice,’ and points out in great
detail the effects produced by glacial torrents. ;
It would be easy to multiply authorities, but since they can
be consulted by questioners and doubters we will not forestall
their studies. We assume, then, that there is no one prime
fact in the past annals of our planet better proved than that of
an age of continental glaciers. Evidence of this is increasingly
convincing and may be found for the seeking upon nearly every
square yard of the hillsides and valleys of New England.
Mankind are prone to treat with indifference that which is
common, and the familiar aspect of our lakes and rivers, even of
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 13
the sea, provoke in us no commensurate idea of the stupendous
force which water is capable of exerting.
Two hundred and odd years ago the earliest printed descrip-
tion of Niagara was given to the world by Father Hennepin.
His account of this ‘vast and prodigious cadence of water”’ is
a mixture of childish exaggeration and sober truth.” But the
sublimity of this great cataract, which discharges the enormous
volume of eighteen million cubic feet of water every second,
needs not the aid of description. About 9,800 cubic miles of
fresh water —nearly half the quantity on the entire globe
c
are
ve reservoirs
makes the circuit of the falls, the St. Lawrence, the ocean,
vapor, rain, and a return to the lakes in a little more than a
century and a half.
But how shrinks this brief cycle of time and how fade the out-
lines of the scene when in imagination we stand beside the
gigantic operations of the past. What some of those operations
were let Mr. Clarence King tell in his own words. In alluding
in the upper lakes, and all the water from these hu
to volcanic activities he speaks of ‘ what was once a world-wide
and immense exhibition of telluric energy * * * distortions
of the crust, deluves of molten stone, emissions of mineral dust,
heated waters and noxious gases,” and asserts that modern vol-
canic phenomena are ‘insignificant when compared with the
gulfs of molten matter which were thrown up in the great mas-
sive eruptions” of the past.
He adds: ‘Of climatic catastrophes we have the record of
at least one;” and in reference to a glacial period he sets forth
the destructive effects of the invasion of our latitude by polar
ice, and the devastating power of the floods which were charac-
teristic of its recession. He contends that the modern rivers
are mere echoes of their parent streams in the early quarternary
age and utterly incapable, even with infinite time, to perform
the work of glacial torrents. Citing the wonderful cafions of
the Cordilleras, he says ‘‘they could never have been carved by
the pigmy rivers of this climate to the end of time.” In view
I4 HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD.
of all the ascertainable facts, Mr. King believes they present
“perfectly overwhelming evidence that the general deposition
of aérial water, as compared either with the phenomena of the
immediately preceding period or with our own succeeding con-
dition, constituted an age of water-catastrophe whose destructive
power we only now begin distantly to suspect.”
We have thus briefly cited the few foregoing authorities, in
order to reinforce and fortify our interpretation of certain local
phenomena, and to the end that our theories may not wilfully
be divorced from fact. To the mathematician, the geologist,
the astronomer—to those who walk without stumbling in the
wide ways leading to the sun — we leave the task of explanation.
We call to our support at this point but one other authority,
and quote from the works of Prof. Hitchcock, whose researches
in the very field of our inquiry are precisely in point and entitle
him to a hearing. He says: ‘‘ The evidence is clear of the pas-
sage of the ice-sheet over all the higher New England summits.”
The facts illustrating this statement may be found in the geo-
logical reports for Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Mas-
sachusetts ; for example as to Katahdin, the White Mountains,
the Green Mountains, and for Greylock in the state last named.
These reports are easily accessible. Prof. Hitchcock describes
in detail the moraines and the upper and lower till, and of the
former he says: ‘The capping of the hill is loose, the frag-
ments are rough, not far removed from their source, commonly
lying naturally.” He concludes that these materials were held
in the ice at the time of its melting. He also refers to exten-
sive “sloping plains of gravel and sand, deposited by streams
from melting ice acting upon the moraine.” He concludes by
remarking that ‘‘the numerous kames, elevated sand plains and
river terraces came into existence with the copious floods of
water resulting from the dissolution of the ice. The history of
the ice-age is incomplete without a discussion of the events
occurring in this great continental freshet.”
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD, 15
Our own century beholds Earth, as if newly-awakened from
a dream ; draped in beautiful garments, she has striven to hide
the scars of her terrific struggle for life. Time has obliterated
much; but there still remain records of an age that is past, and
the clear eye of science—the vision of him who seeks to know
—may still see the ancient ice-cap moving majestically over the
spruce and fir-clad hills of our own northland.
In the tremor of forgotten earthquakes and the outburst of
crater fires; in the fall of dew and the music of rain; in waiting
flakes of snow or crystals of frost ; in the quiet creep of glaciers
or the rush of enfranchised waters we recognize the play of the
old terrestrial forces by which the frame-work of our Earth has
been evolved.
CEVA TE eile
CONCERNING EARLY FLOODS. ,
There is at this day no excuse for descendants of our Derry-
field ancestors not knowing that a literal river of ice once flowed
down the now peaceful valley of the Merrimack. Its direction,
volume and extent are mapped upon their rock-wrinkled home-
steads. It crawled southward, grinding along at the rate of
a foot a week —a mile in accentury. It at some time halted,
for how long we may only guess, and then began the terrible
retreat. The rate of recession is not so well determined, but
was without doubt comparatively rapid, though probably arrested
at various stages and for undefined periods. To judge from the
wide-spread havoc to which this near section has been subjected
there must have been a halt near us. We know—since we
stand upon the scene of the event —that from the foot of this
retreating, melting glacier, poured frightful down-rushes of tur-
bid water, by whose action the landscape acquired its present
characteristic teatures, and by which the surface materials of
this region have been so strangely sifted and assorted.
The tourist of to-day who shall stand beside the source of the
Arveiron, “who drinks in the sublime view at the foot of the
glacier ; he who beholds this marvel, glorious with icy portico,
fagade and pyramid, who hears at night the scornful roar of the
Alpine flood,” may peradventure frame some dim conception of
energies which seem to know no yesterday nor morrow. But
greater things than these, which promised to flow forever, have
passed away.
Let us come nearer home. Passing westward from the river
let us climb the isolated ridge of Rock Rimmon—if, indeed, it
be not also submerged —and from that point observe. To the
west and trending northerly lies the valley of the Piscataquog ;
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 7
to the east front, ranging north and south, the valley of the
Merrimack, and between these the lesser valley of Black Brook.
From the point of time we have chosen—a matter of seventy
or eighty thousand years ago—these little resemble the peace-
ful landscapes with which we are now acquainted.
Three powerful, ice-fed streams, terrible in their energy, are
forcing their way southward, carving channels as they move;
bursting their banks, assaulting rocky barriers, raging, roaring,
eroding; with counter and cross-currents, eddies, whirlpools,
horrible, precipitous narrows, and tremendous rapids, forerun-
ners of still more tremendous cataracts. Borne along and
whirled hither and yon in the midst of these frightful torrents
we see indistinguishable masses of debris and angular blocks of
frozen clay, with an interminable procession of rifted fragments
of inland icebergs, accompanied with stones and rocks of differ-
ing dimensions, from the pebble to the bowlder. Add to this
the gloom of a cloudy sky, the ceaseless fall of rain, the riot of
winds, the song of the tempest. Try to picture the indescriba-
ble, continuous rush and turmoil of the elements, the intermit-
tent thunder of the pounding ice and bowlders, then turn to the
shrunken rivers of to-day.
The figures of the transporting power of water are startling.
We know the force is as the sixth power of the velocity; that
is, by doubling the rate we increase the power sixty four times.
To give concrete examples: A stream running at the rate of
three inches per second will wear away fine, tough clay ; with
a velocity of thirty-six inches per second the current will remove
angular fragments of rock from two to three inches in diameter.
The latter rate is quite moderate —a little more than two miles
an hour—and presents but a picture in little of the rapidity of
our earlier floods. We have taken no account of the influence
of gravity operating on descending slopes, and we may also call
to mind the fact that rocks lose nearly one-third of their weight
in water.
2
18 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
Let us now inquire in a general way what we find to be the
environment of our typical New England river. At its sources
we usually discover great rock masses, detached from the cliffs
of the mountains. Along the course of the precipitous, tum-
bling torrent —the trout-water of the sportsman — we find im-
mense bowlders, more or less carved and water-worn, their angu-
lar projections rounded, their bulk diminished and lessened as
they course down the rough miles of attrition. At the foot of
the descent we shall find aggregations of smaller bowlders, with
cobble-stones and pepples. He who wades and follows, rod in
hand, the bed of one of these mountain tributaries may step
confidently from one stone to another and find firm footing, rare-
ly meeting one that turns under his tread. The reason is as
simple as it is significant, for each of these detached rocks has
been many times rolled over and wrenched from its lodgment
until it has at length found the groove that fits and holds it.
Where two mountain streams unite we shall generally find a
tongue of land, or rather a delta of stone, usually symmetrical
in form and built of assorted layers of stones and pebbles, seem-
ingly put together with the discrimination of design. These
shining, parti-colored beds are the bowlders in miniature. Still
lower we find the smaller pebbles, gravels of varying fineness,
then sand, and last of all mud or silt.
We can never view a bank of earth, laid bare by accident or
design, exhibiting its curiously stratified layers, without refer-
ring to this sorting and sifting process, this violent picking and
choosing of torrents, while we stand in wonder at the delicate
threads of deposition laid almost tenderly in place by succeeding
quiet waters.
We have space merely to mention other tremendous agencies
which have contributed to the landscape some of its most rugged
features. We can only now hint at the ruin caused by streams
dammed by drifting ice, or by the accumulation of more perman-
ent obstacles, but there should not be left out of account the
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. IG
more terrible effects of land-slides choking the mountain gorges
until the gathering waters burst the mighty barriers, carrying
everything before them. That almost inconceivable havoc was
not infrequently caused by these agencies our torn and ravaged
plains attest. The White Mountains afford evidence of ancient
land-slides in many places. The Willey slide, though not large,
became widely known from the loss of life which accompanied
it. The great slide in Waterville was the most extensive ever
known in this region. An immense mass of loosened earth and
rock was precipitated to the valley from the steep western slope
of Tri-Pyramid mountain, the material covering acres in extent
and reaching as far as Mad river. The writer has personally
visited and examined the scene of this great land-slip. Within
quite recent years a considerable slide occurred on Cherry moun-
tain, to which excursion trains were run to enable the curious to
witness the unaccustomed sight.
But by far the most striking and picturesque slide ever occur-
ring in New Hampshire took place in the town of Albany, in
the county of Carroll, only a few years since. The north side
of Passaconaway mountain was cleft from peak to base, laying
bare the solid granite bed for the entire distance. The slide is
narrow at the top, gradually widening as it descends and comes
down in a straight line until the foot-hills are encountered.
Here the mass was sharply deflected to the west and forced in-
to the valley of Downs’s brook. The north slope of Passacona-
way is uncommonly steep and is densely wooded to the summit.
But every tree and rock, inclusive of every inch of the soil, was
carried down, leaving the very core of the mountain as clean as
if swept with a new broom. The brook-valley was completely
choked up with earth and stones piled with trees in inextricable
confusion, rising many feet in height, and for nearly three miles
the banks of the stream were lined with the blackened trunks
of great firs and spruces. The water rose incredibly and finally
forced its way through, but a splendid trout stream was ruined,
20 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
The event occurred in the night and had no witnesses, but its
horrible rumble and grinding roar shook the earth and was dis-
tinctly heard and felt by the inmates of houses more than five
miles distant. Passaconaway —signifying Child of the Bear— ,
rises toa height of more than four thousand feet and is the high-
est summit of the Sandwich range. The writer has repeatedly
visited the locality and made himself familiar with the scene by
climbing for a prudent distance up the slippery bed of this huge
but unworked quarry. Viewed from the Swift river valley, com-
monly known as the ‘‘Great Interval,’ at a distance of some
four miles by an air-line, the picture is magnificent. The great
rock-floor appears as steep as the sides of a church roof, but the
feat of climbing it has been successfully accomplished, and what
is more astonishing and apparently incredible, several persons
have ascended the summit by way of the “‘ Birch Intervale Trail”
on the south or Tamworth side, and safely walked down the
slide to the foot. It is well that they walked; to run would be
fatal, for once running there could be no stopping, and an at-
tempt to put on the brake by lying down would be simply a
changed mode of motion, as one would get about two miles of
roll, with an accompaniment of bumps better imagined than de-
scribed. In the exercise of an instinct quite common to many
of us, we have quite decided to go down in a sitting posture, with
a series of short hitches, which may consume time but will con-
tribute to our peace of mind. A number of ladies have climbed
Passaconaway, but none have made use of the rock-toboggan.
This is reserved for the new woman.
Flowing from the east flank of Tri-Pyramid mountain and en-
tering the Swift river a mile or more west of the base of Passa-
conaway is Sabbaday brook. Two miles from its mouth may
be seen the finest waterfall in the White Mountains. Itisa
right-angled fall, the first plunge being to the north, the second
tothe east. At the foot of the upper fall is a large, bowl-shaped
basin, some twelve feet in diameter, At the foot of the lower
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. ZE
fall is another basin, and leading from it is a deep flume cut in
solid trap rock. In the white, rushing foam of this flume, in the
summer of 1873, the writer caught his first genuine “rainbow
trout.” The surroundings of this waterfall add a gloomy gran-
deur to the scene. The deep gorge is enclosed by vertical walls
of trap rock, the ascent to the top being up a natural stone stair-
way, the steps as sharply defined as if cut with a chisel. Some
miles further up, the stream has been overwhelmed by extensive
land-slides and for a mile or more is entirely buried. The two
brooks referred to are mountain streams of the first order, with
wide valleys and free water-courses, averaging from two to three
rods in width, and flowing, the first for a distance of six and the
second for more than ten miles of winding water.
The above, with many other features of great interest in this
New Hampshire “garden of the gods” are little known, owing
to remoteness of situation and difficulty of access, the distance
from the nearest railway at Conway Corner being fifteen miles—
the entrance between the frowning walls of Moat mountain and
the peak of Chocorua. There is but one road by which to enter
or return, and if one seeks a shorter way he must climb over
the enclosing mountains. But woe to him who loses the trail,
for there are thousands of acres of timber blown flat by hurri-
canes, the passage of which is next to impossible.
The foregoing, although removed from the immediate sur-
roundings of our story, is given in cumulative support of what
has gone before, and as furnishing striking instances of the pow-
erful forces still reserved by nature.
We shall not fail to find along the Merrimack valley at every
mile of its course just what we might expect to find, in the light
of the previous considerations. To localize the inquiry, we may
now see both above and below Amoskeag falls, notably on the
west bank, vast mounds of water-worn and water-borne deposits,
consisting of sand, gravel and cobble-stones, the latter ranging
from a few inches to a foot or more in diameter, and as various
22 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
in composition as in size. These accumulations lie many feet
above any high water mark of which record or memory remains.
To be reckoned in millions of tons, they lie where they were left
of old in the rocky peninsulas between the floods. We may find
them at greater or less elevations, alternating with deposits of
sand, earth or clay, now presenting beautiful banks with differ-
ing colored strata, or again in a rude aggregation of unassorted
drift. Wherever found, and whether near or remote from exist-
ing water-courses, from which many of them are far removed,
these terrace-like elevations tell us of the waters that brought
them there.
A mile south of Rock Rimmon, passing over an elevated sand-
plain, one comes suddenly to the brink of high bluffs, which as
surely once looked upon a lake below them as Boar’s Head looks
upon the sea. The height, the waving contour-line following
the shores of bays and inlets, the sunken river beds beyond and
the shoals stretching between, all testify to the occupation and
conquest of water in that sub-glacial era, of which so little is
known, but concerning which so much still remains in records
awaiting research and interpretation.
We know in a half-thinking way that a great city occupying
the site of ancient Derryfield is built upon sand. How came it
here? To this there can be but one answer: It was made in
the first instance and fetched here by water, however much it
may have since been tossed about by the wind or shovelled about
by man. Ina similar mood we carelessly tread beneath our feet
in the concrete foundations of our public walks the stones worn
smooth in the beds of the elder floods. Our forests grow, our
harvests thrive upon soil leached and filched from the moun-
tains, while the very walls that give us shelter are built of clay
ground in the glacial mills and precipitated in the still waters
of glacial lakes.
With the approach of summer the thoroughfares to the White
Hills will be thronged with pilgrims. In the ceaseless but un-
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 23
recognized work carried on in the laboratories of nature, asking
only time and patience, how many inconceivable changes have
been already wrought. Time and patience—given these what
wonders have been achieved in the brief span of human effort ;
with these, nature will continue to supplement her tireless work
until the hills that remain shall follow those which have gone
before. Slowly but surely water is performing its allotted work
—the rivers are removing mountains.
Let no false conclusions be drawn from the record, and no
theory of unmixed evil be too hastily reached. Nature knows
no wrath. Earth, rent and torn in its early struggle with titanic
forces, succeeded to a period of rest and preparation. The
ordeal through which she passed was not beyond the measure
of her endurance, the baptism of water and fire was a consecra-
tion to a nobler use. Nothing is sweeter than the memory of
hardship and privations passed ; our planet shivered in a wintry
night, with rattle of driving sleet, a season of frowning skies,
a burden of icy sheets and snow-piled plains ; but in the infinite
reaches of time, healed and pacified, there came a spring of
grace and glory, a summer of fruitful seed, a harvest of plenty.
So, from the womb of appalling danger, has been begotten the
last inheritance — LIFE.
In the menacing roar of the thunderous fall, in the rainbow
of its mist, and in the sea that swallows all, we seem to behold
a glorious trinity of Power, Law and Order; we bow reverently
before the majesty of that Creative Will which walked in dark-
ness upon the face of the primeval deep, which brooded upon
the face of the waters.
[ A succeeding paper is in preparation, which will deal with
added evidences and consider other effects of the epoch under
discussion in the foregoing pages. It will form part second of
the series and will be paged continuously from the present num-
ber. Among the topics reserved for discussion are ‘“‘ The Sand
Area,” the ‘Great Clay Beds,” “Pot Holes and Rock Wear,’
thes Wevil’s Pulpit. cre]
Contributions
ow) Es
History of Old Derryfield, .
BY WILLIAM ELLERY MOORE.
PARI SECOND.
Pree LWENTYPIVE CENTS.
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO,THE
poe Or DERRY FIELD,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
SOME SPECIAL LOCAL; FEATURES
AS PRODUCED BY TORRENTS FROM MEI.TING ICE-FIELDS, TOGETHER
WITH A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF EARLY FLOODS AND OTHER
ALLIED EVIDENCES OF A GLACIAL EPOCH.
{44
BY WILLIAM E. MOORE.
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE
MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION.
PARTE
erformed by a pre-historic stream, located in our own im-
mediate neighborhood, in the adjoining town of Bedford, and
commonly known as the “ Devil’s Pulpit.” With the exception
of a brief and inaccurate allusion in Savage’s ‘‘ History of Bed-
ford,”’ we are not aware that any account has ever been published
or any accurate description attempted. How little importance
was attached to this phenomena, and how absolutely void of sig-
nificance it was regarded no longer ago than 1851, is shown by
Savage’s reference, which we append.
The historian says: ‘There are some objects of curiosity
worthy of note. On the west line of Bedford, near Chestnut
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 4I
hills, is a vast fissure or opening in a mighty mass of rock, ap-
parently made by some convulsion of nature; over the precipice
thus formed is a fall of water some 200 feet into the gulf below.
Here are found several excavations in the solid rock, sufficiently
large to contain several persons, and one of them, bearing some
resemblance to a pulpit, has given name to the place; at the
bottom there is always a small pool of water, where, in the hot-
test day, the warmth of the sun scarcely penetrates. As one
stands on the verge of this tremendous precipice, emotions of
sublimity will be awakened ; and any lover of nature, who should
find leisure on a pleasant day, would find himself well paid by
a visit to this wild and romantic spot.”
About nine miles from Manchester, as the bird flies, or near-
ly twelve by the highway, the “convulsion of nature” referred
to is found upon the farm of Mr. Clinton French. Our first
visit to this locality was more than twenty years ago, when it
may be said to have been in a state of nature. Since that time
an increasing number of visitors suggested to the owner the
idea of making it more accessible to the general public, and with
this in view he caused to be constructed a good carriage road
leading from the highway to the Pulpit. Convenient paths were
made, plank walks laid where necessary, and a substantial stair-
way built, so that the leading points of interest can be easily
reached. A turnpike gate guards the entrance and a small toll-
fee is exacted, sufficient to reimburse the owner for his care and
outlay.
The road descends to the level of a wet run, which it crosses,
and the Pulpit is located in an old pasture a short half-mile from
the highway. The swampy run is the source of a small brook,
entering upon the extreme left, and a still smaller stream, which
is trequently dry during the summer months, enters upon the
extreme right of the Pulpit. The direction of this curiosity is
west by south from the city hall, lying to the south and some
distance west of the Uncanoonucks and east and south-east of
4
42 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
Joe English. Between these mountains and their contiguous
highlands is a deep, well-defined valley or basin, generally trend-
ing north and south, and for much of its course more than two
miles broad. Standing upon the height of land near the French
homestead this great valley extends in either direction as far as
the eye can reach, the stretch to the southward forming such a
remarkable depression as to at once suggest the idea of an old
lake basin, and the contour of the country is such as to entirely
favor that assumption. From the near highlands is an uninter-
rupted view of the valley for certainly not less than twelve miles,
and the scene from the point of view looking towards the sharp
southern escarpment of Joe English is one of surpassing loveli-
ness, aside from a consideration of its more striking and sug-
gestive features. Another fine view of the extension of this val-
ley northward may be had at Dunbarton village, looking west.
In following the half-mile carriage way to the bottom of a lat-
eral valley, at nearly a right-angle with the larger basin, one
comes suddenly and without any manner of warning upon the
brink of an abrupt and forbidding chasm in the ledge. This is
the opening to the famous Devil’s Pulpit. It is neither more
nor less than a water-worn gorge in solid granite, extending in
a west by south course for about a half mile in nearly a straight
line. In width the gorge varies but little and will average from
one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. At the head of the
chasm is a fifty foot wall of rock, the cliffs upon either side main-
taining this altitude for from forty to sixty rods, gradually low-
ering until the level of the valley plain is reached. The whole
of this imposing rock-fissure has been eroded by the action of
water, as the evidence conclusively shows the former existence
here of a long-continued and powerful stream. The main fall
plunged over the precipice, causing a whirlpool below sufficient-
ly violent to excavate the bed-rock in a great circular cavity, worn
apace with the depth eroded, so that instead of there being found
the usual bow]l-shaped pool or basin the floor was level with the
bottom of the cliff. The height of successive stages of water is
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 43
distinctly marked by great semi-circular grooves worn into the
face of the wall; of these not less than five are shown, each from
fifteen to twenty inches vertical diameter, and from three to five
feet apart. The section directly above the base, to a height of
more than twelve feet, is eaten in back of the vertical line for a
considerable distance, and high upon the front of the cliffs the
granite plainly shows the wear of the great churning movement
of the whirlpool.
At the immediate left of the main plunge the action of the
water is even more remarkable. Here has been sculptured out
a huge stone chamber many feet in diameter; hanging midway
is an enormous hulk of rock detached from the cliff; the cavity
beneath this has been likewise eaten away, and an extending
flange of rock between the lower chamber and the main fall is
smoothly worn and polished, standing up edgewise like a stone
knife-blade. The hanging rock above described is the ‘* Devil’s
Pulpit,” and its gloomy and mysterious origin must have seemed
a sufficient excuse for the name bestowed by some superstitious
godfather. The vertical height of the wall at the centre of the
cataract is a little less than fifty feet, but the out-crop of the
ledges above on either side is some feet higher; the width im-
mediately over the fall is thirty-six and at the base from thirty-
one to thirty-seven feet, with a forward elongation of fifty-three.
The whole mass of rock eroded and removed at this point will
be seen to have been enormous. With the exception of the
supply from melting snows or occasional heavy rainfalls no water
now flows over the cliff and for the greater part of the year there
is but an insignificant drizzle.
At the left of the Pulpit there is a high, protruding mass of
rock, forming the south wall of the upper gorge, and at the foot
of the projection lie heavy masses of rock, thrown down from
the cliff above, the water having worn away the supporting ledge
beneath. These fallen rocks now have trees of considerable size
growing upon them. At various other points along the cafion
there are other great heaps of fallen rock; some of these lie,
44 _ CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
curiously enough, midway of the glen, showing conclusively, if
other evidence were needed, that the whole area between the
enclosing walls was carved out of a solid rock-bed by the action
of water. The upper gorge is sixty feet wide by ninety-four in
length.
The foregoing, however, is but the beginning of a series of
wonders. Seventy-eight feet from the upper fall is “‘ No-Bottom
Pool.” Unlike some other so-called bottomless pits, this is well
named. We made an attempt to probe it in the autumn of 1806,
reaching a depth of seventeen feet without difficulty with an iron
probing-rod of that length, but the bottom seemed as far off as
ever. Mr. French informed us that, in company with others,
he some years ago penetrated the pool, with birch poles spliced
together, to a depth of forty feet, without finding bottom. This
pool is fifteen feet in diameter, is nearly choked up with débris,
among which are several logs firmly wedged horizontally, and is
filled to the brim with water. If this excavation is a pot-hole it
is certainly the most remarkable example in New England and
fairly parallels the largest known anywhere. It is, however,
possible that the bed-rock at this point has been worn through,
affording an entrance into what geologists describe as a fault.
The question can only be determined by a thorough examina-
tion by a properly equipped scientific expedition. So far as ob-
served it appears to have all the characteristics of true pot-holes.
It is circular, vertical, and at the top fifteen feet in diameter.
The same authority informed us of his discovery of another
excavation near the foot of the stairway, in which no bottom was
reached at a depth of twenty feet. Its existence would not now
be suspected, as it is entirely filled up and covered with earth
and stones; and it is altogether likely there are others which
have similarly escaped observation. These instances are suffi-
ciently wonderful to invite scientific exploration.
A few rods below, occupying a lower level, is a second gorge,
with a twenty-six foot wall, and a basin below thirty feet in diam-
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 45
eter. The supporting side-walls are from fifteen to thirty-two
feet vertical height. Still Jower along the cafion, and at varying
intervals, are other pools and basins, some of them many feet in
depth, and in diameter much larger than those described. At
all of these points, and high upon the front of the lateral walls
upon either side, is exhibited the same evidence of water-erosion,
as distinctly mapped upon the granite leaves as if drawn upon
sheets of modern card-board.
At the extreme left of the upper fall, separated from it by
high, protruding masses of rock, and flowing at a little lower
level, is the run-brook before referred to, which courses through
the entire length of the gorge, entering the sunken valley below.
This brook has at first a winding and steep descent, and goes
trickling along the bed of the cafion, broken in its course by a
series of beautiful cascades and miniature waterfalls, with many
fine pools and basins, some of them quite large and symmetri-
cal, with carved rock channels intervening. The brook itself,
however, as we know it to-day, is utterly incompetent to produce
even these minor but attractive features, the volume of water
being insufficient to account forthem. The stream ran down
for a considerable distance independently, until it coalesqued
with the main current from the upper right-hand fall.
But this brook affords another and striking feature to which
we are impelled to direct attention. Just above the point of its
entrance, upon a level ledge, ten or twelve feet higher than any
conceivable stage of water within modern times, is a well-defined
and undoubted pot-hole, whose age must certainly be referred
to the same period as that of the gorge itself. As will appear
hereafter, it is important to remember that after a course of sev-
eral miles the water of this brook finds a way to the Souhegan,
through the extension of the valley southward.
There is, almost of course, the inevitable Devil’s Oven, the
interior blackened with smoke, the most reasonable and obvious
inference being that His Bedford Majesty united in his person
the functions of preacher, sculptor and cook,
46 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
The foregoing description of the Devil’s Pulpit, although ex-
tended, is inadequate when viewed from the stand-point of its
importance as a factor in the measurement of geological time or
the value of its testimony to the stupendous work performed by
water in a distant age; and the preparation of this paper was un-
dertaken partly with the hope that the attention of geological
experts might be enlisted in explaining its further relations to
the genera] subject of glacial phenomena.
We now find established, by evidence as ample as it is con-
vincing, four prime facts: 1. A remarkable example of water
erosion upon a grand scale. 2. The dry bed of a once powerful
and long-continued stream. 3. That the stream was fed mainly
by water from melting ice-fields. 4. That there is no evidence
of the existence of any stream capable of performing the work
within the historic period.
It must further be concluded that a stream of great volume
flowed at the same time through the great north and south val-
ley to which allusion has been made, and that extensive sections
of this valley were occupied by one or more great Jakes. It on-
ly remains to corroborate the conclusions reached by citations
from admitted authorities. The following extract from Wright’s
‘Ice Age in North America” will well support the views ad-
vanced, and at the same time afford an impressive example of
the part played by glacial dams. Prof. Wright’s account is
based upon detailed surveys by Mr. Upham, the results of which
are published in the New Hampshire Geological Reports:
“The Contoocook river now empties into the Merrimack a lit-
tle above Concord and flows in a direction north-northeast. The
present outlet was, towards the close of the glacial period, ob-
structed by ice some time after it had melted off from the south-
eastern portion of the valley. During that period a lake was
held in the portion of the valley-freed from ice, at a height suffi-
cient to turn the drainage temporarily to the south and south-
east, At first the drainage was over the water-shed in Rindge,
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 47
through Ashburnham and Winchendon, Mass., and thence into
the Connecticut. The reality of this line of drainage is evi-
denced by the extensive kames and gravel deposits extending
from the Contoocook valley through the towns of Rindge and
and Winchendon.”
This evidence is as interesting as the facts are remarkable, but
that which follows is to us of more absorbing interest, since it
reinforces our assumption of a great water-way, fed from the
the same sources, and stretching southward immediately west
of the Dunbarton ridge and the Uncanoonucks. Our authority
continues :
“ When the ice had withdrawn a little further north, an outlet
was open to the southeast into the Souhegan river, and thence
into the Merrimack. The evidence here 1s also conclusive that,
for a period, a stream of water eighty feet deep poured through
this pass, and the lake formed in front of the ice was in its great-
est extent thirty miles long, and from two hundred to two hun-
dred and fifty feet in depth. The evidence of this remains in
delta terraces at that level formed at various points where
streams came into the lake.”
Here, then, we have high testimony to the existence of other
ice-fed streams and lakes nearly at our own door, distinctly cor-
roborative of the claims heretofore advanced. We are unable
to determine whether any portion of the current of this great
water-course contributed to swell the tremendous torrent which
rushed down through the gorge of the Devil’s Pulpit. It is cer-
tain, however, that the outlet of this lateral valley opened into
the great Contoocook lake, finally finding its way into the Mer-
rimack ; and it is altogether probable that the enormous water-
supply required was derived wholly from the glacial sheet which
still hung upon the summit and flanks of the Uncanoonucks.
We are able to add an additional link to the chain of evidence
already presented, in the existence of extensive clay-beds at the
site of the lake referred to. Before the day of railroads these
deposits were extensively worked, as many as twenty million of
48 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
brick being made in a single year. These were hauled to Reed’s
ferry and transported down the Merrimack to Lowell. In the
famous Manchester and Milford Railroad hearing a witness tes-
tified that he had clay enough upon his farm to build another
city as large as Manchester. Much other testimony to the same
effect sufficiently demonstrates an immense deposition of clay in
the basin of this ancient lake.
For the present we reluctantly draw the curtain upon the
series of scenes presented, some description of which has been
attempted in these opening chapters. For the most part there
has been little exhibiting nature in her gentler moods, having
thus far witnessed her more terrible yet fascinating aspects. It
is still reserved to modern science to continue the investigation,
to add to the already vast store of accumulated facts, and by
its method of patient investigation and research interpret for us
other problems which await solution. We confidently abide the
future; the spirit of inquiry, the interrogating attitude of the
age, made not less but more reverent by its courage, assure to
us further and perhaps more astounding revelations.
Time and circumstances permitting, some following chapters
will be devoted to the “ Flora and Fauna” of Derryfield and its
contiguous territory.
Contributions
AU EU MEETS
History of Old Derryfield,
BY WILLIAM ELLERY MOORE.
eR ELE):
PRICE TWENTY FIVE CENTS.
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE
free OF DERRY FIELD,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
THE LOCAL FLORA AND FAUNA.
BRIEF BOTANICAL SKETCH — EVIDENCES OF ARCTIC LIFE— PARTIAL
LIST OF TREES, SHRUBS AND FLOWERS— WILD ANIMALS,
BIRDS, FISHES, INSECTS, ETC.
BY WILLIAM E. MOORE.
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE
MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION.
PAR ALE
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS.
Entered according to Act of Congress
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington,
District of Columbia.
1897.
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE
HISTORY, OF DEKRYFIELD.
BY WILLIAM E. MOORE.
CHAPTER VI.
BRIEF BOTANICAL SKETCH — EVIDENCES OF ARCTIC LIFE— PARTIAL LIST
OF TREES, SHRUBS AND FLOWERS.
All plants are animals, minus the power of locomotion. This
lack is in large measure supplied by their wonderful power of
adaptation, and in the myriad methods of dispersion by which
they really move. Having neither wings nor feet, they do not
walk but contrive to be transported. They lie in wait for the
wind upon which they ride; lakes and rivers bear them from
shore to shore, from mountain to plain, and ocean currents waft
them to friendly or inhospitable coasts. They hide in the depths
of earth and lurk in the crannies of rocks; they cling to claws
and talons of bird or beast, and with deceitful simulation procure
themselves to be swallowed, that peradventure they shall be cast
out upon propitious soil, to await their resurrection morn. We
behold everywhere this curious paradox of the plant-world, inca-
pable of motion and yet migratory; and we may well look with
amazement upon the exercise of this marvellous instinct which
enables plants, under all the countless mutations of climate and
soil, to reproduce and perpetuate their kind.
The word extinct, written after the names of vegetable forms
which no longer exist, need not here concern us. That this
§2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
was once the home of a pre-historic flora is not open to question,
but our limits forbid more than this mere allusion, leaving the
imagination to supply the details of that first world-garden whose
leaves fell and whose flowers faded unseen.
We do not design to add to our description an account of the
large number of trees, shrubs, flowers or weeds, not indigenous,
but introduced by accident or design, and the writer’s limitations
preclude any attempt at a scientific botanical essay. From an
unpublished ‘“ History of Andover,’ New Hampshire, we ven-
ture to make the following extract: ‘The dwarf willow and
white birch were probably our earliest trees, succeeding lichens
and mosses, after the climate of the ice-age of this region became
sufficiently ameliorated to allow a growth of shrubs. The dwarf
willow now grows at the extreme north part of Spitzbergen,
within eight degrees of the Arctic pole, and the white birch
appears near the north cape of Norway.”
To the foregoing we are tempted to add the Norwegian pine,
the mountain cranberry, and the hardy highland blueberry. It
is probable that the hemlock, the pines, firs, spruces and hack-
matacks, with their congeners, came next, followed later by the
remaining deciduous trees which are with us to-day. The little
willow, now found growing in cold land, is the descendant of its
dwarf ancestor referred to. For thousands of years the struggle
for life went on, the law of the survival of the fittest prevailing
in this as in other organic kingdoms, until the rich covering of
our hill slopes and mountain crests, and the deeper soil of plain,
valley and meadow gleamed with verdure. Beneath the forest
and field growth of to-day the fallen generations lie, in their de-
cay enriching a soil which had scantily served their wants.
We share with others a deep regret at the destruction, almost
extermination, of our forest trees ; throughout nearly the entire
area of central and southern New Hampshire there are roundly
no old growth trees remaining, while the great timber tracts of
Coos are attacked year after year, its wooded acres despoiled by
the axe of the lumberman. Appeals and protests have been
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 53
made in vain; lovers of nature have bewailed the rapid razing
of our mountain groves, on the esthetic ground of disfigurement
and consequent loss of attraction to the summer tourist. But
these sentimental appeals have no effect upon the iumber kings
who have possessed themselves of our fair heritage. We must
first create an educated public sentiment, resting upon grounds
of public interest, and powerful enough to invoke the strong arm
of the state. To accomplish this it must be shown that the de-
nudation of the mountain slopes is a distinct menace to the prop-
erty and lives of our citizens. A paid employé has written and
caused to be printed in one of our city dailies an article in apol-
ogy and defence of the lumber interest. This was evidently
inspired by the unexampled freshet of the spring of 1896, which
involved wide-spread disaster, a burdensome interruption to pup-
lic travel, and a financial loss in the state of more than a million
dollars. The writer says the unprecedented and rapid rise of
the mountain tributaries was owing to a warm sun acting upon
reserves of snow; that the exposed slopes were coated with ice,
and that the melting snow, reinforced by rain, sped unchecked
into the valleys. This was all true; but he did not tell us how
the slopes became bare and ice-covered, nor did he suggest that
if the protecting timber-fringe had been allowed by the lumber
magnates to stand upon the steep flanks of the White Hills, that
the disastrous freshet of March would have been averted. We
utter this warning, at the risk of its being considered out of
place, anxious only to contribute to public enlightenment upon
a theme which must soon compel attention. The eyes of our
great manufacturing interests already look askance toward the
north, and their ears are primed to hear the roar of advancing
floods. It has already become a question of self-protection, and
efficient action is to-day imperatively needed.
Without further digression, we proceed at once to present a
list of the more common trees and shrubs now to be found in
or near this locality, a list necessarily incomplete, adding occas-
ional observations concerning them :
54 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
White Pine, Pzxus strobus. This magnificent tree, which in
colonial days alone had the honor of being marked with the
broad arrow of King George, formerly grew in great abundance
in this neighborhood, especially along the river and brook val-
leys. Forty years ago great pines flourished in what are now
compact portions of the city, along the ravines, and upon Ray,
Mile, Christian, Cemetery, and Cohas brooks, while the various
highways were lined with primitive forests. A group of huge
pines occupied a ravine on the south of Granite street, now the
site of wholesale warehouses, and more than fifty years ago the
children of the “cold-water army,” in what was known as the
Washingtonian movement, held a picnic in this grove. A little
later the children of the Unitarian sunday-school, not standing
in fear of ghosts, enjoyed a picnic in the then beautiful grove
of the Valley cemetery; in both these celebrations the writer
was an interested and hungry participant.
Pitch Pine, Pzzus rigida. Fifty years ago the sand-plains of
Derryfield were covered with a dense growth of these trees, ex-
tending over large areas to the north, south and east, as well as
upon the plains west of the river. Nearly the whole section not
actually built upon or under tillage, was invaded by pines. The
growth reached to Lowell street, immediately back of the first
high school building, over nearly all the territory east of Pine,
and rabbits were hunted and trapped in what is now Tremont
common. Parker was murdered in the pines just east of Beech
street, and a man tired of living in the woods hung himself on
Monument square.
Norway or Red Pine, Pzzus restnosa. This beautiful variety
was once not uncommon, but is now rarely seen hereabout. It is
remarkably free from knots and grows “as straight as a loon’s
hind-leg.”’
White Spruce, Adzes alba. Formerly existing upon Bald hill
and the Uncanoonucks, but now exterminated.
Black Spruce, Adzes nigra. Never plentiful here, and now
scarce, growing only as a shrub,
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 55
Balsam Fir, Adzes balsamea. A graceful and symmetrical tree,
formerly adorning our hill and mountain crests, but now very
rare, being brought here from a distance to supply the demand
for Christmas trees.
Hemlock, Adzes Canadensis. This extremely beautiful tree
is still common in moist woods, in plateau ravines, and upon the
higher ridges. But the once great hemlock groves bearing fine
specimens of the old-growth giants, have long since disappeared.
It may not be generally known that the trunk of a full-grown
hemlock yields a bitter, resinous gum, which has never become
popular for chewing purposes. One of our earliest recollections
is the gathering of materials for hemlock-brooms for one of our
grandmothers,
Juniper or Ground Hemlock, Juniperus communis. This low,
creeping shrub prevails in open woods and dry pastures; the
more arid the soil the better it seems to flourish, and a field or
pasture attacked by it is doomed, as nothing else can grow up-
on the ground it covers. This pasture-pest seldom reaches a
height of more than two feet, while single shrubs are frequent-
ly more than twelve feet in diameter. Axe and fire supply the
only remedy, and must be used without stint. It is the vegeta-
ble octopus of creation.
Rock or Sugar Maple, Acer saccharinum. With the exception
of scattered groves and single specimens, this valuable tree has
disappeared, although never sufficiently plentiful here to encour-
age the manufacture of maple sugar; but a few thousands are
fortunately growing as shade-trees.
White or Soft Maple, Acer dasycarpum. This variety grows
abundantly in moist lands, and is still common perhaps because
it has little value.
Red Maple, Acer rubrum. This extremely beautiful tree fav-
ors wet lands, but flourishes at considerable elevations. Its
scarlet blossoms offer to the eye one of the earliest and most
grateful promises of spring.
Striped Maple, Acer Pennsylvaticum. This member of the
56 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
maple family is commonly known as Moosewood, and is encoun-
tered in low woods.
Mountain Maple, Acer spicatum. This was formerly common
but is now infrequently seen.
Swamp Maple. This variety we thus christen independently,
as the authorities do not aid us. It is undeniably a maple, but
bears a large single-winged seed vessel, while all the text books
assign a double-winged pod to the maple and make mention of
no other. We have observed another variety which produces
a double seed-pod, the winged halves of which are almost invari-
able shed single. This curious habit is not referred to by the
authorities. We dismiss the maples by observing that among
living specimens of these trees those of first or ancestral growth
in Derryfield can be counted upon the fingers of one hand.
White Oak, Quercus alba. These were very common in this
locality, but have now largely gone the way of the rock maples,
alike hewn and consumed, their diminished successors occupy-
ing the scrub lands. An ancient oak, a relic of the native woods,
still stands in the southwestern quarter of Concord square, anda
few others similarly survive. A very fine specimen stands on
the south side of Milford beyond Carroll street, and here and
there are others at wide intervals.
Red Oak, Quercus rubra. This was the rail-splitting, stave-
making tree of our ancestors, in the days of hand-made barrels
and casks. Though formerly plentiful and attaining a great size,
from sixty to eighty feet, good specimens have become as rare
as cooper-shops.
Scrub Oak, Quercus tllicifolia. This little tree, scarcely more
than a shrub, supplants a once nobler growth and like many an-
other worthless thing flourishes,
Beech, Fagas ferruginea. This strikingly handsome forest
tree is fast disappearing, noble specimens being extremely rare.
None miss it more sadly than the squirrels, the harvest of nuts
supplying them with food. Gone are the ancient groves through
which the wild turkey stalked ; gone are the initials of colonial
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 57
lovers, rudely carved upon the smooth and mottled trunks. Civ-
ilization has brought us much, but of how much have we been
robbed ?
Elm, U/mus Americana. The elm is still flourishing, growing
wild about us in all directions, and native and transplanted spec-
imens of great size are numerous. We cannot be too grateful
for the wise forethought which resulted in the fine avenues of
shade elms which now adorn our older thoroughfares.
White Birch, Betula populaefolia. The ancient growth is but
a memory, having gone with the canoe of the Indian, but the
birches are so persistent and prolific that their diminished rep-
resentatives are still seen on every hand. We add to the above
the Grey, Silver, Red, and Yellow or Golden Birch. Whole
generations have gone to peg and toothpick-mills, and countless
cords to the wood-yards. One would now stand in amazement
before a birch large enough to furnish bark in one piece to make
a canoe fifteen feet long. There is said to be a golden birch in
Andover with a circle of shade large enough to seat five hun-
dred people.
Black Birch, Betula lenta. This is not uncommon and may
be recognized by the aromatic flavor of the twigs. The larger
trees were formerly made into table-tops, which may still be
found in old farmhouse kitchens, and also supplied hand-made
yokes and other wares of husbandry.
Brown or Basket Ash, Fraxunts sambuctfolia. Once common
but now met only as scattered trees. The White, Prickly, and
Mountain Ash are now scarce. The ash is undesirable as a
shade tree, the leaves coming late and going early.
Chestnut, Castanea vesca. This tree grew and still grows in
all directions, and flourished in such profusion as to cause the
whole section hereabout, including all the adjoining towns, to be
known as the “ Nutfield country,” long before permanent settle-
ments were made. Many extensive groves have been swept
away and the forests culled for material for fence-posts and rail-
road ties, the work of extermination still proceeding. The near
58 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
extinction of our nut-bearing trees will soon deprive us of the —
red and grey squirrel.
Hickory, Carya alba. In addition to the Shagbark there were
several other nut-bearing varieties once numerous. The great
value of the wood for fuel, as well as the demand for its use in
wood-working arts, have contributed to its practical extinction
in this locality. Doubtless, God could make a better nut than
the hickory, but doubtless God never did.
Butternut, /uglans cinerea. This is still common in open pas-
tures and along roadside ways. The outer bark of the nut was
extensively used by our grandmothers in dying wool. The wri-
ter well remembers wearing the brown home-spun,
Poplar or American Aspen, Populous tremuloidus. Formerly
quite common, now comparatively infrequent. The bass wood
is still here and still valueless.
The Black Cherry is frequently seen in open fields and _ pas-
tures, This is the “rum-cherry” of our spirit-loving forefathers,
bad ‘imitations of which are sold to-day in various rum-holes.
There is also a wild red cherry and the choke-cherry. A great
many boys have not died by drinking milk after eating freely of
the latter fruit.
There are still a number of varieties of the genus Willow, in-
cluding the Osier or Basket Willow. The common willow is
undoubtedly doomed to immortality, as it is impossible to destroy
a tree that will grow without roots and flourish after death.
A Wild Plum, Prunus Americana, formerly grew in plenty
but is now rare.
Other varieties of trees, both native and introduced, will sug-
gest themselves to the reader, such as the alders, elders, leather-
wood, mountain sumach, horn beam, leverwood, etc.
The group of shrubs is large, but we must content ourselves
with a mere mention of the more common examples: We still
have the white-rod or withe-wood, the fence-mender of the old-
time farmer ; the witch-hazel, curious and interesting in its habit
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD, 59
of late flowering, the towsled yellow blossoms surrounding the
ripe seed-pods, which like miniature howitzers discharge their
contents to an incredible distance ; the button-bush, swamp and
highland huckleberry, blueberry, high and low blackberry, red
and black raspberry, thimble-berry, hardhack, iron-weed, high-
land and swamp laurel, sheep laurel or lamb-kill, cornel, poison
sumach or dogwood, bayberry, sweet fern, swamp and sweet
brier rose, skunk currant ; creeping, bush and climbing poison
ivy, thorn-bush, etc.. The number of shrubs omitted probably
largely exceeds the number above enumerated.
The grasses, native and introduced, now number more than
thirty varieties.
We append a partial list of additional flowering and non-flow-
ering plants: Wild grape, clematis, woodbine, cranberry, May-
flower, club and tree-club moss, columbine, true and false Solo-
mon’s seal, checkerberry, partridge berry, sarsaparilla, cardinal
flower, arrowhead, pipsissewa, the blue closed, five-fingered and
fringed gentian, Jack-in-the-pulpit, Indian tobacco, bunch berry,
skunk cabbage, fire-weed, pyrola, gold-thread, garget, pitcher-
plant, mullein or the American velvet plant, purple and yellow
lady's slipper, several sorts of milk-weed, St. John’s wort, white
and pink yarrow, pearl everlasting, cinquefoil, yellow, and sour
or narrow leaved dock, nettle, sweet flag, cat-tail, white water-
lily, cow-lily, pickerel weed, flower de luce, blue flag, blue-eyed
and star-grass ; yellow, and red or tiger lilies, many varieties of
violets, the rushes, the thistles, purslane, robin-run-round, pig-
weed, called in the south lamb’s-quarter and used for greens;
burdock, screw-stem, self-heal, wild morning glory, smartweed,
purple orchis, spring and fall dandelion, wild sunflower, daisy or
white weed, black-eyed-Susan or ox-eye daisy, horsetail, many
species of goldenrod, several members of the aster group, spear-
mint, peppermint and other square-stems, pennyroyal, mother-
wort, thoroughwort, elecampane, wild buckwheat, artichoke,
garden wormwood, formerly supposed to be necessary to digest
60 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
new rum and prevent nausea; ragweed, accused of causing hay-
fever; primroses, plaintain, snake’s head, buttercup, cowslip,
wild pink, chickweed, Indian maliow, field and wood sorrel, twin
Linnza, jewel weed, may weed, touch-me-not, deadly nightshade,
wild carrot, wild parsnip, wild strawberry, yellow gerardia, etc.
Besides these and many others we have lovage, liverwort, sweet
Sicily, baneberry, joint-weed, bind-knot weed, vervain, skull-cap,
hoarhound, crowfoot, horse-radish, mustard, blue harebell, wild
honeysuckle, colt’s-foot, tansy, bell wort, queen of the meadow,
and others unnamed but not unknown. Of parasitic plants we
have the curious form known as the “ Dodder.” We have also
growing here the dog-tooth violet, which is really a lily, as well as
several native orchids, among them the so-called Lady’s Tresses,
the pink Arethusa, and the most exquisitely beautiful flower of
our wild collection, the Pogonia ophioglossoides.
For a full list of ferns and cryptogamic plants we refer the
reader to the text-books, since any attempt to array them here
would be a servile reproduction. Should our brief and inade-
quate account serve to arouse in others a love of forest and field
lore we shall be contented ; and we venture to indulge the hope
that some one better fitted will soon prepare an elaborate and
more exhaustive monogragh of our local flora.
CHAPTER VII.
THE WILD ANIMALS OF DERRYFIELD.
It requires no severe exercise of the imagination to associate
the presence of arctic animals with an arctic climate. During
the rigor of the glacial epoch there is little room for doubt that
the arctic fox, reindeer and polar bear roamed over the plains and
that the seal and walrus were found upon the coast. It is equal-
ly certain that other forms, partly owing to the absence of food,
became extinct, their embedded bones alone remaining. Among
these extinct types were the mastodon and woolly elephant. At
the same time a great exodus of animals took place to the south,
fleeing before the threatening advance of the great ice-sheet,
again returning as the ice retreated.
The Panther or Puma, Fe?zs concolor. This ferocious and dan-
gerous animal once lurked in our forests, and was occasionally
killed by the early hunters and trappers. Almost alone of all
others, this beast had no fear of man, who at any time was liable
to be attacked. A panther was killed in Pittsfield some years
before the settlement of the town, in 1770. A party of hunters
came up from Durham, through what was then an unbroken
wilderness, after a pack of wolves which had been killing their
sheep. There had been a snow-fall, hardened with a firm crust,
over which new snow had fallen, so that travelling was good
and the wolves easily tracked. These hardy men followed the
trail over the summit of Catamount. Here night came on, and
being tired with the long tramp the party, three in number,
went to sleep upon a ledge. When preparing breakfast the next
morning they discovered an enormous panther watching them
as he laid crouched upon the limb of an oak. The three men
fired simultaneously and the animal fell dead. This incident,
the details of which were given to us by Mr. John C. French,
62 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
gave rise to the name of “ Catamount,” a considerable eminence
to the east of the village. Some confusion has long prevailed
and still exists concerning the panther, his true habitat being
Asia and Africa, while his cousin in our continent is limited to
South America, the Mexican Cordilleras and the Rocky Moun-
tains, and is otherwise known as the puma or cougar. — Its pres-
ent range is probably from Texas to Patagonia, but there is no
doubt that it was formerly wider and more northerly. In North
America it has been in the east generally known as the cata-
mount, and in the west as the painter.
Wild Cat or Bay Lynx, Felts catus. This variety is also dan-
gerous and will sometimes attack man. It is known in the ver-
nacular as the ‘“bob-tail,” and is a very ugly customer at close
quarters. Before Manchester became a city, the highway lead-
ing to Goffe’s falls ran through thick woods for nearly the whole
distance. A man was hauling a load of wood into town, accom-
panied by a small dog, and after reaching a point near the Val-
ley cemetery, a wild-cat came out of the woods and attacked the
dog. The driver took a round four-foot stick of wood from his
load and killed the cat, bringing the carcass into town, where it
-was for some time on exhibition in a window of the old town
house, and the writer well remembers seeing it. They were in
the early days quite common, but are now seldom seen, though
occasionally encountered to this day. Only last September the
writer with his nephew heard the wailing, long-drawn and lone-
some cry of a lynx, probably calling for its mate. This was in
the thick woods of Tamworth, sixty miles away, but in a short
half-day journey these wild-cats might make a honeymoon trip
to Derryfield Park.
Canada Lynx or Loupcervier, Felis Canadensis. This is an
extremely shy little animal, not prone to attack man or beast un-
less driven toacorner. It is also popularly known as a wild-cat,
and was once common here.
Wolf, Canzs occidentalis. None have been seen here outside
of a menagerie for a hundred years; before that time they had
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 63
to be reckoned with, especially in winter when food was scarce.
These destructive beasts were persistently hunted by early set-
tlers, and large numbers were trapped or shot, each capture at
once ridding the settlement of an enemy and giving the captors
a valuable pelt. The writer has never seen a wolf but has met
an old gentleman who saw one in his boyhood. He said they
looked at each other for a minute; the boy then threw up his
hands, yelled and ran towards home, and the wolf ran the other
way. The cowardly nature of wolves and their habit of hunting
in packs is well known.
Wolverine, Gulo /uscus. This diminutive, carnivorous glut-
ton has been supposed to be not nearer to us than Michigan, but
on the authority of the late William Little this animal was once
in New Hampshire and had been seen in Warren.
Black Bear, Ursus Americanus. This terror of sheep, calves,
pigs and woman-folk was common in this locality in the time
of the first settlers and long afterwards, disappearing about the
first of the present century, with the exception of wanderers,
which were seen here as late as 1834. Though classed with the
carnivora, the black bear is a vegetarian, subsisting mainly upon
edible plants and fruit, especially blueberries, of which he is ex-
tremely fond, and indulging in a diet of honey whenever he can
get at a wild hive. He is fond of green corn and created more
havoc in corn-fields than in any other way. He is not especially
dangerous, and stories of terrific hand-to-hand encounters with
bears are greatly exaggerated. Bears very rarely permit them-
selves to be seen. The writer has climbed, fished and camped
among the mountains in the wooded regions about Albany and
Waterville, and from Livermore Falls to Ossipee, where they
are still somewhat numerous, but in twenty-five years of such
experience has not had the pleasure of seeing or even hearing a
black bear. We were finally permitted to see one from the top
of a stage-coach, on an excursion from the Crawford House to
the “Flume and Bowlder.” When young the bear is playful,
easily tamed, and is an expert in the art of hugging.
64. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
Moose, Ale Americanus. Hunters now seek Canadian covers
or the wilds of Maine to kill these magnificent animals, which
are even there becoming scarce. They were once numerous in
this section, but withdrew before the advancing settlers. The
well-known moose yards on sheltered slopes and thickets of the
neighboring mountains, especially in Deerfield and Nottingham,
were visited by early colonial hunters, the deep snow making
the herded moose an easy prey.
Deer, Cervus Americanus. This is the common fallow-deer,
known generally as the red or brown deer. One hundred years
ago and earlier deer were more common than cattle are to-day,
and were especially valuable, serving both for food and clothing.
The skins were home-tanned and made into jackets, mittens,
leggins and boots, or made useful in a great variety of ways, in
making chair seats, snow-shoes, etc. While the deer was at first
killed solely for these purposes, there came a time when they
were hunted nearly to extermination, at the close of the Revo-
lution, on account of the great scarcity of grain. The crime of
the deer consisted in their eating and tramping down the grow-
ing crops of wheat, corn and rye. So much mischief was done
in this way that many towns offered a bounty for their destruc-
tion, and the office of “deer keeper” was created, the duty of
that official being to abate the deer nuisance. They are still
common in the northern part of the state, and have been seen
even within the city bounds during the last twelve-month.
Caribou or American Reindeer, Zavangus zangifer. Thisisa
woodland ranger, now confined to Canada and northern Maine,
or found in the region of the great lakes.
Beaver, Castor fiber. This wonderful animal has furnished
the world with an example of intelligent instinct scarcely paral-
elled in the whole range of the brute creation. Engineer, sur-
veyor, architect and builder, his achievements are comparable to
those of men supplied with the tools of civilization. The exist-
ence of beaver-meadows and the finding of logs knawed asunder
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 65
by their industrious teeth testify to their former residence here.
The beaver passed with the last century, but we were informed
by the late Joseph M. Rowell, one of the oldest native-born res-
idents of Derryfield, that he had in his boyhood seen their fresh
skins brought in by trappers, and he distinctly remembered what
was pointed out to him as a ‘‘ beaver slide,” on the bank of an
inlet to the Piscataquog river. The fur of this animal has always
been valuable, and many an old settler paid for his first cow with
a bundle of beaver skins.
The Black or Silver-Grey Fox, an animal of the genus Vulpes,
is now seldom found within the limits of the state; once here in
considerable numbers, stray specimens having been seen within
the last quarter-century. The skins are now valuable and are
sometimes in use for hearth-mats.
Red Fox, Vulpes fulvus. This cunning and mischievous ani-
mal still survives in this and neighboring towns, and notwith-
standing there are more hunters than game the fox is said to be
upon the increase. His favorite dishes are domestic fowls, the
larger and fatter the better, and he makes nothing of carrying
off a full-grown gobbler. When young they are easily tamed,
but not easily kept, as they will escape if possible. The fox is
a thief by nature, a criminal by heredity, and takes to the road
as inevitably as a highwayman. He is the embodiment of cun-
ning and adroitness, and in folk-lore tales is always assigned the
part of combined rogue and villain, which he perfectly plays in
real life. It is said that he has never less than two holes to his
burrow, and it is certain he has a good many strings to his bow.
His survival to this day, amid the civilized surroundings of a
great city, is little less than a miracle.
Raccoon, Procyon lotor. Most of our older citizens have seen
and hunted the “coon” in his hollow. Year after year, since the
larger sorts of game became scarce, the sport of coon-hunting
has gone on under the eyes of the October moon, but in spite
of men and dogs the sly old coon contrives to live, even within
6
66 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
gunshot hearing of the mayor’s office, and coon-suppers are still
served by the chef of the Derryfield Club. In old times the fur
of this animal was extensively used for home-made overcoats
and winter caps. As long as there are country corn-fields there
will be coons. The raccoon belongs to the bear family and like
him lives upon both a flesh and vegetable diet.
Otter, Lwtra Canadensis. This aquatic, fish-feeding animal
was formerly not infrequent here, haunting the trout-streams,
being partial to fish without scales. They are expert swimmers
and divers and marvellously swift in movement. A single pair
of otters will depopulate an ordinary trout brook in an incredibly
short time. They are now rare this side the upper Cods mead-
ows. Their fur is very valuable.
Mink, Patorius vison. This fur-bearing animal belongs to the
weasel family and is carnivorous. It is semi-aquatic and makes
its burrow usually in the bank of a river or brook. Lines of
traps were laid along the Merrimack, Piscataquog, Black Brook
and their tributaries, and along other streams to the north, by
down-country trappers, many years before any permanent occu-
pation or settlement. The “Mink Hills” in Salisbury received
their name more than one hundred and sixty years ago. The
animals most sought after were the beaver, otter, fisher-cat and
mink, but the traps were sometimes sprung by less desirable
creatures. Mink skins were early esteemed and even passed
current in lieu of money for many years. The mink is here
practically extinct, though stray specimens are occasionally met.
They are also fond of trout and will travel long distances to
obtain them. The late Bradbury P. Cilley had for years a small
trout-pond on his premises at the corner of Amherst and Walnut
streets. These fish, which had attained good size, disappeared
in anight. The owner supposed some one had caught them
with line and hook, until the real culprits were discovered to be
a pair of minks. These had made their way along the course of
Mile brook, which ran for a distance of many blocks in a closed
culvert through a thickly settled part of the city. The outlet of
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 67
the brook was then into a pond on Hanover square, within a
few rods of the trout. And yet many people think that man
is the only animal that knows anything. The fish in the large
Derryfield trout-preserves, a few miles south of us, have been
also destroyed by minks. These depredations were committed
within the last ten years.
Muskrat or Musquash, /2der zzbithicus. Common to-day and
in all places where there is water and comparative seclusion,
It is probable they even now prowl through the covered culverts
of the city. The Indians made use of them for food, and Dr.
Saccalexis Glossian, an Oldtown Indian formerly residing here,
pronounced them delicious. This depraved taste is hard to be
understood by delicate white men accustomed to pig’s liver and
stewed kidneys.
Hedge Hog or American Porcupine, Hystrix deperie This
curious animal is seldom seen, as it is strictly nocturnal in its
habits and haunts the most secluded spots, usually among rock-
masses at the foot of high cliffs. Their food is said to consist
of insects, worms, snails and salamanders. The dog that tackles
a full-grown hedge-hog will be consumed with regret and his con-
fidence in himself will be impaired for about three weeks.
Skunk or Pole Cat, Mephitis Americana. The less said about
this unsavory animal the better, but we regret being obliged to
record the fact that he is still with us, even at our cellar-doors.
Within three years, in the basement of a house on Union street,
between Concord and Lowell, and hard by the Bishop’s palace, a
box-trap was baited with the neck of a chicken, and his crown-
lavender highness captured therein and afterwards successfully
chloroformed by a woman ; and yet some of us are deluded with
the idea that woman needs our protecting care.
Woodchuck or Ground Hog, Arctomys monax. This trouble-
some farmer’s pest has always been and is still common here,
and is destructive to bean-vihes and other growing crops, espec-
ially to the red clover, trampling down much more than is eaten.
The tanned skins are extremely tough and durable, and were
68 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
formerly cut up in narrow strips and braided into whip-lashes.
The process used by farmer boys fifty years ago was as follows:
Bury the hides in wet ashes, to remove the hair; then put them
in soft soap over night; take out and scrape the skin and hang
it over the back of an old chair in the attic—this is important ;
let it get dry but not too dry, and finally work by hand until it
becomes soft and pliable. The writer has used these home-made
whips when riding “the old mare,” in the delightful pastime of
plowing ona side hill. It is not generally known that the wood-
chuck is a good whistler; he has a habit of sitting in front of
his burrow in a thunder-shower and uttering a series of short,
sharp notes, twelve or more in number, in a curious diminuendo.
They will sometimes whistle when about to be taken from a trap,
but that performance is usually brief.
Rabbit or Northern Hare, Lepus caniculus. Common always
and even now plentiful though hunters are numerous. It isa
rodent and very prolific. From being brown in the summer the
fur, which is of small value, changes to nearly white in winter,
and affords an instance of protective coloring.
Weasel, Putorious vulgaris. There are several varieties, in-
cluding the white weasel, stoat or ermine, the tawny weasel, the
small weasel and the little nimble weasel. Though so small as
to make a hole in the snow no. larger than a broom-handle, the
weasel is a terror to hens and chickens, which he kills by a bite
in the neck from which he sucks the blood. They are said to
be spry enough to get away between the flash of a rifle and the
bullet. The fur is valuable, and some weasels with glass eyes
may still be seen clinging to the necks of fair women.
Grey Squirrel, Sczwrus Carolinensts. The grey and black, the
chickaree or red, the chipping, chipmunk or striped squirrel, and
the flying-squirrel, once very common here, are now compara-
tively scarce. In size the black squirrel equals or exceeds the
full-grown grey ; these are now rarely seen but have been killed
here within forty years. A white chipmunk is said to have been
recently shot in Pembroke ; probably a freak,
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 69
Several other valuable fur-bearing animals were once found
here, among them the sable or pine-marten, and Pennant’s mar-
ten or fisher-cat. These were formerly trapped in great numbers
but are now generally confined to the White Mountain region
and northerly. We have seen the tracks of the fisher-cat along
the mountain brooks in Albany.
There were several varieties of moles, some of which are still
with us. Among these were the star-nose, shrew, Say’s least-
shrew, and Brewer’s shrew mole. Similarly, we had Wilson’s
meadow mouse, American white-footed mouse, Leconte’s pine
or field mouse, the jumping mouse, and soon after the settlers
had provided themselves with homes the house mouse appeared.
The last-named are extremely dangerous. With advancing civ-
ilization came also black and Norway rats, which now make the
lives of women one long-drawn and suspicious misery. We have
also the common little slate-colored bat, which, unlike the flying
sqirrrel, actually flies. There is not the slightest truth in the
nursery fable that bats will suck the blood of sleeping infants,
or that they purposely fly into heads of hair.
Concerning birds, now or formerly found here, it will be con-
venient to divide them into four classes: First, game birds or
birds fit for food, hunted for that purpose. Among these were
the wild turkey, spruce partridge, wild pigeon, and the ruffed
grouse ; our woods once abounded with these fine game-birds,
but they are now practically extinct. Of those surviving, the
brown partridge or American quail, woodcock, wild goose, the
black duck, wood duck and sheldrake, and very rarely upland
plover, may be mentioned. Second, song and other birds now
rare—bald eagle, golden eagle, black hawk, goshawk, great horn-
ed owl, and long-eared and short-eared owl; three-toed banded
woodpecker, the pileated, red-headed, yellow-bellied, and black-
banded-three-toed-woodpecker, and the green and night heron.
Third, in addition to the above the ears of the early settlers were
greeted with the notes of not less than twenty native birds, all
70 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
rare at this day and rapidly becoming extinct. Fourth, the mi-
grants, rapidly joining the class of rare birds; these include also
about twenty varieties.
Of birds which were considered common twenty-five years ago
Mr. William Little gave a list of eighty-five, and even in the
brief period which has since elapsed not less than one-third of
the whole number may now be classed as rare. In another place
we intend further comment upon the threatened extinction of
our songbirds,
Under the head of reptiles we find to-day, although some are
very rare, the following: The black or snapping turtle, and the
mud turtle or musk tortoise ; also the painted, spotted, box and
Blanding’s box tortoise and the wood terrapin.
Of snakes we have the common striped snake, the green or
grass snake, ribbon snake, house or milk adder, field and swamp
adder, the black snake, the red or brown wood snake, the ring-
necked snake, black water snake and rattlesnake. Ring-necked,
ribbon, and rattlesnake are nowrare. The latter, the only pois-
onous variety, was formerly common here. The writer knows
of but one authenticated case of a rattler being killed within the
city limits in the last twenty-five years, but it is said they still
haunt the neighborhood of “The Pinnacle” and other rocky
ledges in Hooksett. Until quite recently it was claimed they
were killed there at the rate of about one perannum. Notwith-
standing a wide-spread, popular belief to the contrary, not one
of the other snakes mentioned is poisonous. The black water-
snake, still common in the Massabesic and other neighborhood
ponds, and the cause of so much unreasoning terror, is entirely
harmless, its bite being no more fatal than that of a pickerel, and
finally they never bite anything but frogs. They can be easily
caught by tying a live frog to a string and sinking it in the bay
or inlet which they haunt ; said snake having swallowed the frog
aforesaid may be pulled ashore, whereupon he will at once dis-
gorge his prey. The released frog, like Jonah of old, sometimes
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. Wa
escapes unhurt, perhaps to furnish food for another of these ter-
rible freshwater sea-serpents.
Under the head of fishes we can make only brief mention of
the commoner sorts remaining. The salmon, shad, sturgeon,
ale-wife and lamprey-eel will be considered later, observing here
only that their great abundance in these waters led to an occu-
pation and settlement much earlier than that usually assigned
by historians. The rivers once abounded with the red roach or
bearded chub, the white chub or dace, suckers, shiners, silver
eels, etc., the lakes and ponds with pout, perch and pickerel, and
the contributing streams hereabout were fairly alive with the
speckled trout. More than forty years ago the writer caught
the red roach in the rapids of the lower canal weirs, and great
pickerel, weighing from six to seven pounds each, were in those
days caught from the end of a short plank wharf on the Offutt
shore of the Massabesic. Several alewife brooks run into this
lake and in recent years large numbers of alewives have been
taken from them in the annual spring runs. Their presence is
an anomaly, and like land-locked salmon they must be referred
to a time when the sea covered a large part of the state. Sixty
years ago silver eels were so plentiful in the Massabesic that
they were salted down by the barrel for winter use. To-day a
native fish worth the catching in brook, lake or river is almost a
curiosity. We still havea few fine trout streams, some of which
have been restocked ; the removal of the timber, however, has
so reduced their volume that we can never hope, even under
‘“‘ protection,” that the brooks will again offer to anglers more
than a shadow of the old-time sport. The lakes have also been
stocked — with bass which no one wants, with wall-eyed salmon
which no one can catch. Meantime lake, pond, river and brook
grow less yearly and threaten by and by to dry up; meanwhile
the work of felling the woods along the water-courses and upon
the sloping shores of lakes goes on, and people begin to wonder
if our water-supply will fail, and why. Massachusetts has in the
72 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
past come to us more than once for ice; she now very strongly
hints that she needs some of our water. While we desire to
be very neighborly, it is just possible we shall soon have none to
spare for either love or money.
We seem to see in dim colonial vistas a scene like one painted
upon the canvas of a dream. Hardy trappers and hunters roam
the woods ; through the thick glades the crack of the flint-lock
musket rouses the echoes, answered by the call of early-risen
birds, the noise of waters, the trampling feet of beasts. Over
the wooded plains sweeping to the Merrimack, following the
paths of brooks and guided by the roar of river rapids, children
ranged without fear through thickets far from the rude shelter
of their homes. The smoke of the settler’s fire had supplanted
the smouldering heap of the Indian; but for years every sense
was alert to interpret the sounds borne in upon the air of night,
to question each fresh trail through the dew of morning. A
broken twig, a fall of moss, the crushing of a tuft of deer-grass
—did these betray the heel of a foe or of a friend? No strange
noise escaped the settler’s ear; startled, perchance, in the pur-
suit of game by a sudden bruit and clamor, he leans to listen
only to the far-away cry of the loon or the crescendo in the for-
est where the partridge beats his drum.
Contributions
History of Old Derryfield,
BY WILLIAM ELLERY MOORE.
Papo OU RTH.
PRIGE TWENTS-FILE CENTS.
4754 Or
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE
BetOm Or DERRYFIELD,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
INDIANS AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
PRELIMINARY—THE NIPMUCKS—INDIAN HABITS AND RELICS—MARRIAGE
AND MOTHERHOOD—PATRONYMICS—FAMOUS SQUAWS—SERMON ON
FISH—TRANSITION PERIOD—OCCUPATION AND SETTLEMENT.
BY WILLIAM EY MOORE.
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE
MANGE ES Ek EISTORIC ASSOCIATION:
PAE,
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS.
Entered according to Act of Congress —
ak hh In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, _ A
ih District of Columbia. efi: mi
;
1897.
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE
HISTORY COP DERRYFIELD.
BY WILLIAM E. MOORE,
CHAPTER VITE
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
The historian who attempts to draw aside the veil which has
for centuries hidden the annals of an obscure people, scant in
numbers, low in civilization, destitute even of a written tongue,
has before him no easy task, and one rendered still more difficult
from the fact that in his first contact with civilization the Indian
was surrounded with white men who were themselves illiterate.
Only after the passing of the tribe was the effort made to put
into some sort of order the scattered records and traditions con-
cerning them, and this was so scantily done that a single para-
graph might set forth the story, as who should say: There
were Indians; there are no Indians.
THE NIPMUCKS,
There appears to be a general agreement that one or more
tribes of Indians inhabited a belt of inland country in Massa-
chusetts and southern New Hampshire, more or less removed
from the sea, and that these were known as Nipmucks, signify-
ing by a license of free translation, freshwater Indians. They
seem to have been neither numerous nor warlike and probably
76 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
held a position of little importance among the stronger and more
ambitious tribes surrounding them. It is quite certain they
took no prominent part in the bloody drama of the French and
Indian wars, since no Nipmuck name adorns nor deed disfigures
the page of history. It is said that the tribe with which we are
more immediately concerned was subject to the Penacooks ; and
this is rendered more plausible from the fact that the headquar-
ters of that tribe, generally made at Penacook, were sometimes
transferred to Amoskeag, probably in the height of the fishing
season, and in virtue of the right of the stronger.
INDIAN HABITS AND RELICS.
From evidence which appears conclusive we locate the head-
quarters of the Nipmucks at or near Amoskeag Falls, a place
famous for hunting and fishing. Hunting has become a thing
of the past, though to this day the search is kept up for any stray
fish which may have escaped the Nipmuck nets. The chief vil-
lage, or more accurately the village of the chief, was situated on
the hill-bluff known as “ The Willows,” now owned by Ex-Gov.
Frederick Smyth. In the steep banks of this bluff, and where
the soil had been upturned, there was found a great number of
broken fragments of rude pottery and other utensils used by the
Indians. Nearly everything naturally grouped under the head
of Indian relics has been found on the site of this village, includ-
ing arrow and spear-heads in great variety, stone mortars and
pestles, stone axes, gouges, clubs, and fish-knives, stone tools for
removing fish-scales or scraping skins, bone fish-hooks, needles,
hairpins, and numerous other relics, some broken, but many per-
fectly preserved. When making an excavation on the premises,
for the purpose of forming a small artificial pond, there was un-
earthed a deposit of arrow and spearheads, knives, etc., of quartz,
flint or chert, which with unfinished specimens and chipped frag-
ments amounted in the whole to several bushels. This was
probably one of the workshops or armories of the tribe, and un-
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 77
doubtedly the first Amoskeag manufactory. Over the whole sec-
tion surrounding the falls, on either side, in fact from Goffe’s
Falls to Martin’s Ferry, a great number of the various relics
above enumerated have been picked up, several valuable collec-
tions having been made, perhaps the most interesting being that
of the late Samuel B. Kidder. They were more numerous up-
on the village-site referred to, on the elevation west of the P. C.
Cheney Company’s mills, as well as elsewhere and near by, on
the large island below the falls and the level stretch of land im-
mediately below the great eddy. At all these points, as well as
in the bed of the river, valuable finds have rewarded the patient
relic-hunter. At the mouth of Christian brook, known also in
later times as the “ fair-ground brook,” and also at the mouth of
Ray brook, there have been found many interesting relics. The
bank of the river north of the latter stream is quite steep, and
here about twenty years ago the writer found a nest of a dozen
or more large chipped slate-stones, wholly unlike the convention-
al spear-head, but yet of undoubted human workmanship, which
had been probably used for cleaning fish. They were buried at
a considerable depth, having been uncovered by a fall of earth
occurring because of high water. There are signs of old fires,
pieces of charred wood remaining at a depth of three or more
feet. Throughout this entire section similar mementos have
been discovered, especially on the sandy margins of lakes and
ponds. A symmetrically chipped arrow-head of milk-quartz was
found by the writer, when a mere boy, on the beach at Massa-
besic Lake.
The foregoing facts, even in the absence of other evidence,
is ample to establish the presence of Indians here in considera-
ble numbers and for a long period, probably centuries before the
advent of the whites. Tradition assigns no spot which we can
point out as an Indian burial place. It is said there are several
Indian graves near the entrance from the highway to the Devil's
Den in Chester. It is also said and has long been currently
believed that the site of a number of wigwams was upon Brown’s
78 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
Island in the Massabesic, and this is altogether likely. The sole
indication of a burial place in this immediate vicinity, which has
come to our knowledge, was the finding of human bones sup-
posed to be those of Indians, in the grading of Penacook street,
about 1875.
The only approach to a permanent settlement was that around
the home of the chief. More than forty wigwams were scattered
over this picturesque knoll, a fine view of the Merrimack being
afforded from the willow palisades surrounding the village. It
is quite certain that numerous temporary wigwams were erected
at or near the more important points above mentioned, on both
sides of the Merrimack, some of which may have been perman-
ent. From the well-known roving character of the Indian it is
likely that in the summer months at least they grew like the
mushroom in a single night and as soon vanished.
The traditional, dark-red, fawn-like Indian maiden was not of
the Nipmucks. She is the creation of a diluted sentimentality,
a mere dream of a class of poets too lazy to saw wood but able
to invent aboriginal lies by the gross. The bewitching squaw
who leaped for love from the top of Rock Rimmon was not after
mayflowers ; it is much more likely that she was overloaded with
muskrats and lost her way. The noble Nipmuck lover was also
an invention, patented by Cooper. If these romantie types ever
existed it was before the era of discovery. In contact with the
white man the Indian adopted only his vices; these, superadded
to savage traits, could not well produce heroes either in love or
war. We have ransacked the records of the past, turned to the
testimony of the dead, and listened to the lies of the Jiving, but
have failed utterly to discover proof of greatness, or even the
dawn of a progressive and civilizing instinct among either the
Nipmucks or Penacooks.
The red man was fond of fishing and hunting, but he killed
solely to obtain food, clothing, or materials to give him shelter,
and was not ennobled by the zest of sportsmanship. In him the
instinct of self-preservation scarcely rose above the level of the
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 79
wild beasts he slew. Our people, however, seem to have a weak-
ness for idols of all colors and stand ready to bow down and
serve them. All that is needed is a remote historical episode,
recounted by a white Ananias, and an ideal Pocahontas appears.
But we soon tire of the old favorites, and one by one the saints,
martyrs and heroes of history are knocked off their perch. His-
tories are no longer tales agreed upon, but begin to be viewed
with suspicion. William Tell is a myth, the Scottish Mary was
freckled, even King Richard was not a hunchback, and George
Washington swore. Soon shall the frivolous generations pass,
and as they die will fade the memory of men once deemed im-
mortal. Philip, Tecumseh, Logan, Oceola and Passaconaway
have vanished, to be followed by the red drunkard of the reser-
vation.
With as little success we have sought for an esthetic trait in
the Nipmuck character, or for some evidence of a moral sense.
Surrounded upon the one hand with beauty and upon the other
by terrifying aspects of nature, he was blind to the one and by
the other affrighted. A seen enemy he attacked and tried to
kill ; before an unknown danger he cowered and prayed, his so-
called acts of worship inspired alone by ignorance and fear.
About him grew myriads of flowering plants and shrubs, in
dell or defile, glade or glen, in the natural meadows and over the
upland slopes, terraces and plateaus. When following the chase
or crouching in wait for game the moccasined foot could scarce-
ly fall without crushing a blossom. Here the wind-flower and
the blue and yellow violet grew, the laurel and the flower de
luce; the blue closed gentian and its white-fingered sister, and
the great fringed orchis. These do not detain the hunter. He
hears not the oration of Jack-in-the-Pulpit ; the wild rose spreads
its bloom to him who hastens. To such a woodsman the scarlet
robe of the cardinal-flower has no meaning, the sweet-brier no
fragrance, the queen of the meadow no style. The red scalp or
flaming coat of tanager or wood-tapper may allure him, but the
80 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
rare blush of Arethusa he passes with indifference. Concerning
the world of plant life his thought is, if he has one, Can I eat it,
or will it cure snake-bite? The wild deer for which he waits
will reason as acutely.
The hues of the sky at sunset may suggest to the Indian rain
or drowth, but never beauty; and as he looks from his hemlock
bed to the crimson light of dawn upon the western summits, in
his breast no emotion kindles, as with gutteral accent he says,
This is another day. Toa meteor he gives a grunt, to a comet
two; and when the Northern Lights begin to flash and in the
intermittent gleam the stars grow pale, he sees only a reflection
from the campfires of a mightier race of hunters in the far and
frozen north.
The wants of the Nipmuck did not make him unhappy, though
in this very evil case we find the civilized citizen of to-day. The
savage saw neither virtue or sweetness in a useless plant; the
average society atom sees no sweetness in character or loveliness
in life without a bank-account. We wish to be just—even to
an Indian.
The agriculture of the Nipmuck was of a rude sort, the rich
soil of natural meadows or intervales being usually selected as
planting places, and when these were not available other tracts
were reclaimed by fire and the larger trees killed by the process
of girdling. The preparation of the ground, planting, hoeing
and harvesting —nearly everything coming under the head of
work — was performed by women and children. The men were
kind enough to furnish the raw material for the manufacture of
tools, such as the axe, the stone or clam-shell hoe and other cut-
ting implements, his own time being otherwise fully occupied
in making arms and equipments for the hunt and allied mascu-
line occupations. So that numerous avenues of employment
remained open to the gentler sex, and we are beginning to recog-
nize in our time the wisdom of this arrangement. We now per-
mit our wives and mothers, but more especially the larger class
of sisters, cousins and aunts, to whom these relations of life are
HISTORY. OF DERRYFIELD. 8I
closed, or which have been declined with thanks, to assume some
portion of our burdens, at a reduced rate of compensation.
The range of cultivated food-products was generally limited
to corn, squashes, pumpkins, melons and kidney-beans. They
derived, however, a large part of their winter food-supply from
nuts, sweet acorns, dried fish, smoked meats, etc., prepared in
various unpalatable ways, but capable of supporting life. There
were no seasons throughout the year when fresh flesh food, of
fish, fowl or animal, could not be had in abundance, and if there
were times of scarcity the cause usually proceeded from indo-
lence or improvidence.
Weare unable to give the Nipmuck name of the Indian after-
wards known as Christian or Christo. This name is said to have
been bestowed upon him soon after his conversion to christian-
ity by the Apostle Eliot, but this lacks probability. It is much
more likely that he had it from the Jesuits, or assumed it for pur-
poses of his own. Like St. Paul he was at times all things to
all men—a Nipmuck, an Arosagunticook ; a Puritan, a convert
to catholicism. Christo is first heard of in company with a St.
Francis Indian called Plausawa, a not very good pronunciation
of Francois. They had sufficient intercourse with the settlers
to ascertain that white christians made slaves of black men,
and that the profits of the trade were large. Acting upon this
hint they stole two negroes in Canterbury and started with them
for Canada, one escaping upon the way and the other being sold
toa French officer. Christo seems to have had seasons of back-
sliding and repentance, such as the praying Indians generally
enjoyed, and after a series of apochryphal adventures he settled
at Amoskeag. His cabin or hut was near the mouth of Chris-
tian brook, which entered the Merrimack immediately west of
the Amoskeag Paper Mills. Here he lived in an outward show
of peace for some years, professing friendship for the whites,
by whom he was distrusted. At length he was suspected of
conveying intelligence and giving secret aid to the hostile St.
Francis or Arosagunticook Indians, whereupon, during his ab-
82 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
sence they confiscated his personal belongings and burned his
cabin. Potter says that Christo subsequently returned and for-
gave the whites for this cruel injury. Other accounts, more in
consonance with the Indian character, say that he openly joined
the Arosagunticooks and became an active and implacable foe.
This little trout-stream is now hidden beneath the surface by
the march of improvement, for nearly a mile of its course, and
the generation to come will know neither name nor place.
Plausawa had also been an occasional visitor at Amoskeag,
accompanied by another drunken brave called Sabbatis, a name
representing his baptism into christianity, literally St. Baptiste.
These Indian thieves and murderers, after the commission of a
series of outrages in Canterbury, Salisbury and Warren, as well
as in this neighborhood, were finally killed in Boscawen by one
Peter Bowen. The full details of this affair are given in Little’s
History of Warren.
Upon the authority of certain early historians we are asked to
believe that upon the death of the great chief of the Micmacs
or Taratines, a powerful and warlike tribe in the Province of
Maine, to whom the Penacooks were subject, a war of succes-
sion arose, which resulted in the choice of Passaconaway to
succeed the dead Bashaba, who had been slain in battle. This
war for supremacy became general and involved all the tribes -
from New Brunswick to the Hudson river and from Massachu-
setts to Canada. The exact limits were not known and proba-
bly can never be determined. The numbers engaged were large,
the war continued for years; it is said to have been conducted
with great ferocity and to have been especially disastrous to the
coast tribes, who were no match for the hardy inland hunters.
Many of the names preserved to us are those of chiefs and war-
riors who had become famous in this great war, which was the
most sanguinary and relentless ever waged among the Indians
of the east. The great plague, to which nearly all the earlier
accounts refer, raged among the Nipmucks towards the close of
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD, 83
this war. The origin of this plague has never been satisfactorily
accounted for, or its nature clearly understood, but we hazard a
conjecture that the contagion was communicated by the Indians
of New France, who in turn received it from the whites then in
Canada in considerable numbers. At all events it was believed
the loss by battle and plague literally decimated the ranks of the
savages and brought the war toa close before the landing of the
Pilgrims at Plymouth. The early accounts must be received
with great caution, ample allowance made for the time in which
they were written, and due regard had to the sources of inform-
ation. ‘ Broken English” is scarcely a fit vehicle for the trans-
mission of historical data. The skeletons of those who fell in
savage strife, or succumbed to plague and famine four centuries
ago, might as easily be clothed with life as could the details of
that distant scene be dug from their oblivion.
Upon this middle ground, between the Plymouth Puritan and
the pioneer Jesuit of New France, there was another curious en-
counter, an episode in the struggle between two forces, whose
declaration of war ante-dated the discovery of America. When-
ever and wherever these met, in the long centuries, the hostile
lines were drawn. And so it came to pass that in a new world,
for the soil of which kings contended, the adherents of Pope and
Prostestant, in savage bands, the one inspired by a Mather, che
other by a Marquette, each in the name of a common Redeemer,
stood opposed in conflict. Thus, upon the virgin soil of New
Hampshire, in that first century of its occupation, was shed the
blood of religious hatred. Time has fortunately softened these
asperities, and in the new dawn of a wiser christian charity we
seem to see the promise of brotherhood and reconciliation.
As the light of the fire-fly is illusive or intermittent, so Indian
lore and tradition lead us along a pathway sometimes overcast
with darkness and often difficult to follow. The time is distant,
the actors are defunct, and the record is becoming more indis-
84 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
tinct and uncertain. But we still follow the trail with ardor in
an endeavor to enrich our barren annals, and we know that we
are on the ground. Some may even thank us for this attempt
to restore these fast-fading pictures of the past.
MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD.
It is not certain that the Nipmucks were polygamous, but the
line was not far removed. They seldom lived with more than one
squaw at the same time, but on the other hand a healthy brave
generally contrived to marry from six to nine maidens during an
average life of four-score and ten years. The squaw was wedded
when quite young, frequently at twelve years of age; but con-
stant drudgery and exposure broke them down early, so that at
thirty they became prematurely old and were wrinkled at forty.
They endeavored for a time to keep up appearances, just as we
observe the old hens of our generation in their efforts to parade
with spring chickens. It made little difference to the mother,
and none whatever to the pappoose, whether the medicine-man
was called in or not. When his services were invoked he com-
monly made a great pow-wow in front of the wickyup before en-
tering, and more pow-wow upon emerging, concluding with an
invocation or chant addressed apparently to the great Square of
Pegasus. In order that the old wife might be supplanted by the
new, separation was made easy, and the discarded wife and moth-
er did not complain, afterwards contenting herself with adopting
some captive as a son or husband, as the case might be. Some
of these captives, thus summarily wedded without ceremony or
consent, were white men, and part first of the very pathetic story
of Pocahontas rests solely upon this custom.
We have purposely omitted the disgusting details of home-life,
suggesting merely that an ample water-supply was not dimin-
ished or contaminated, as the Nipmuck squaw never took a bath
or any other step toward cleanliness.
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 85
INDIAN PATRONYMICS.
We have so long been familiar with the names of the neigh-
mountains, streams and lakes that we seldom pause to inquire
concerning their godfathers, and in many cases have not even
suspected their Nipmuck origin. As will have been observed,
the names of most of our larger rive~s, lakes and highlands are
purely Indian ; the Merrimack, Piscataquog, Souhegan, Nashua,
Cohas, Soucook, Suncook and Contoocook ; the Baboosic and
Massabesic, Pawtuckaway and the Uncanoonucks—supply us
with instances. The manner of spelling these various names
has from time to time been curiously varied, while their pronun-
ciation has been no less capricious. The examples heretofore
given, however, may from long usage be now regarded as settled.
The etymology of Indian names offers an attractive field for
study, and if many are involved in obscurity it only adds zest to
the chase. The scope of our contributions will not permit us
to enter upon this department of inquiry, and it is relegated to
experts in barbarous philology. We have observed that the
modern author appears over-anxious to disagree with writers
who have preceded him. Each latest-adopted history or school
atlas requires the student to commit to memory a new set of
names of persons, places and things never before heard of, and
should he attempt in after years to repeat these his own children
will laugh at him.
As to the survival of certain names to the exclusion of others
we have been impressed by its significance ; the law of euphony
undoubtedly plays a part, but the reason must rest upon deeper
principles. The sight of certain names appeals to the ear like
strains of music; but they also evoke pictures to the eye, as if
the name was the ghost of its owner, while we seem to see the
shifting scenes summoned by these memories of sound.
Passaconaway is certainly the most striking figure among our
native chiefs, and all accounts agree in assigning to him the
86 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
highest place in war or peace. We pass in silence the old-wives
tales concerning him, his superhuman strength, his miraculous
cures, his astounding feats of divination, nor shall we add anoth-
er to the list of seven dying speeches reported by as many sober
histories. The authentic record is brief, his fame rests largely
upon tradition, but that by his people he was esteemed great
is the highest praise that can be accorded. He was born about
1540 and was an old man when the Pilgrims landed. His old
age was passed in poverty ; once lord of thousands of acres, he
was compelled to beg the poor privilege of living upon a patch
of intervale and two little islands in the Merrimack. Even these
were taken from him by the puritan rulers of the godly Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts. But the title-deeds to his vast
possessions, wrung from him by white cunning, served to enrich
the state, assisted in the spread of the gospel, and erected the
cradle of liberty.
It is known that Passaconaway had four sons and two daugh-
ters; of the sons Wonolancet alone became famous in his time,
and the Appalachian Club has given his name to a small moun-
tain of the Sandwich range, which nestles like a pappoose under
the towering shoulders of his sire.
When the first white hunter or trapper actually settled at the
falls of Amoskeag, Acteon was one hundred years old and was
alive twenty years afterwards; in 1726’ he was known as “ Old
Acteon.” The terrible Pehaungun, ‘ Beware of Me,” was killed
in a drunken frolic in 1732. He was then one hundred and
twenty-four years old, and in his youth no white man had stepped
upon the soil of Derryfield. It will serve but little purpose to
recount a further list of long-forgotten names, to which nothing
authentic can be added. Acteon has gone to the home of the
Coosucks, Wahowa lives only in the classic yell of Dartmouth ;
Watannumon rests by the Mikaseota, the bones of Paugus lie
hidden in the white sands of Ossipee, and Passaconaway sleeps.
Forty years ago a worn-out locomotive of the Northern Rail-
way was sent to the junk-shop. Emblazoned letters upon the
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 87
cab spelled the word “ Tahanto.” But this evokes no memories
—it is a name but it is no more, and may as well be that of a
cloud at midnight. The roar of iron and the rush of steam have
supplanted the war-cry of the savage, but to-day the path of the
shining steel follows northward the ancient trail to the home of
the Arosagunticooks.
FAMOUS SQUAWS,
It is not from choice that we have spoken slightingly of the
Nipmuck squaw. She may have filled her place, and there is no
doubt that wherever her home it was humble. But she must be
put without prejudice in the column of silent factors — passing
away without sign.. Record, journal, memoir, narrative or his-
tory, shed little lustre upon her life or character; fiction and
poetry have alone befriended her. The eldest daughter of Pas-
saconaway, by her marriage with the great Nobhow, became a
queen, but not even her name survives. Her younger sister,
the fair Wetamoo, became the bride of a seven-syllabled son of
Paugus and has been apotheosized in Whittier’s verse. The
wedded life of Wetamoo was not a happy one ; the youthful pair
soon separated and she went back to the paternal tie-up in Der-
ryfield, where she held court for many years as a grass-widow.
These are the facts—the rest is fancy.
After all, it is but a step from the dawn of tradition to our
own times; with a stroke ot the pen, the turning of a leaf, we
pass to the century of base ball and cotton batting.
CHAPTER.
A SERMON ON FISH—THE TRANSITION PERIOD—EARLY OCCUPATION AND
SETTLEMENT.
All narrators recount the same fish-stories about the falls of
Amoskeag. Great salmon and salmon-trout, shad, and even the
sturgeon were plentiful, while ale-wives and lamprey-eels were
sO numerous as to impede navigation. Probably the most com-
plete account of the manner of taking these fish is found in Pot-
ter’s History of Manchester.
Early in the last century there was printed a curious sermon,
the title-page of which is as follows: ‘ Business and Diversion
inoffensive to God, and necessary for the Comfort and Support
of human Society. A Discourse utter’d in Part at Ammauskeeg-
Falls, in the Fishing-Season. 1739. * * * Boston, Printed for
S. Kneeland and T. Green in Queen-Street. Mpcexwuit.”
The very quaint dedication is as follows: ‘To the Honora-
ble Theodore Atkinson, Esq; and Others the Worthy Patrons of
the Fishing at Ammauskeeg. Gentlemen, It’s not to signify to
others that I pretend to an Intimacy with you or that I ever had
a Share in those pleasant Diversions, which you have innocently
indulged yourselves in, at the place where I have taken an an-
nual Tour for some Years past. Yet I doubt not you’l Patronize
my Intention, which is to sence against Bigottry and Supersti-
tion. All Excess I disclaim, but pretend to be a Favorer of
Religion, and of Labour as an Ingredient, and of Recreation as
a necessary Attendant. I believe the Gentlemen who moved
me to preach there in some odd Circumstances, and those at
whose Desire and Charge this Discourse is Printed, (asking
their Pardon if my Suggestion appear to them ungrounded ) were
moved more from the uncommonness of the Thing, than any
Thing singular in it, I have put off the Importunity for near
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 89
these three years; but least it should be, that I fear, it’s being
seen by the World, I submit it to sight and Censure. So little
as I know you, Gentlemen, I heartily present it to you; tho’ all
the Reason that I intend to offer is, that we have fished upon
the same Banks. And tho’ I know this will be no Bait, I am
fond of being esteemed, in the Affairs of Fishing. Gentlemen,
_your most Obedient and very humble Servant. Fluviatulis
Piscator.”
This sermon was by the Rev. Joseph Secombe, a minister of
Kingston, New Hampshire, and was delivered before a mixed
assemblage of hunters, trappers, fishermen, settlers and Indians.
From the tone of the dedication it is evident that among his
hearers were a number of civil or military officers in the service
of King George the Second, together with other “ gentry-folk,”’
from Portsmouth, Ancient Dover, and Exeter. The ‘some odd
Circumstances” alluded to probably had reference to preaching
in the open air, perhaps to the mixed quality of the congrega-
tion. The most significant statement, however, is that to these
fishing-grounds he had ‘taken an annual Tour for some Years,”
and that the distinguished company, the Gentlemen of the ded-
ication, had “ fished upon the same Banks.”’ This very clearly
shows that the Amoskeag fisheries were not only known consid-
erably earlier than the spring of 1739, but that the sport afforded
was more enticing than that offered at ‘Great Salmon Falls”’ in
Somersworth or the falls of the Cocheco at Dover. Otherwise
we should not hear of annual tours to Amoskeag, made by con-
siderable parties, involving a journey of from thirty-five to forty
miles through the wilderness. We shall be prepared to show
in another place that the reputation of Amoskeag as a great
hunting and fishing place was known to white men for much more
than a hundred years before Secombe’s sermon was delivered.
Our preacher chose his text from John 21-3, “ Simon Peter
saith unto them, I go a Fishing.’ The discourse sets forth that
the Apostles were fishers, and that “ fishing is innocent as Busi-
8
90 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
ness or Diversion”; that “in fishing we are so far from delight-
ing to see our Fellow-Creature die, that we hardly think whether
they live. We have no more of a murderous Tho’t in taking
them, than in cutting up a Mess of Herbage.” That God “has
implanted in several Sorts of Fish, a strong Instinct to swim up
these Rivers a vast Distance from the Sea. And is it not re-
markable, that Rivers most incumbered with Falls, are ever
more full of Fish than others. Why are they Directed here ?”
The preacher concludes from his ingenious reasoning that, ‘If
they may be taken, any may make a Business of taking them
for the Supply of others,” and adds, ‘If I may eat them for Re-
freshment, I may as well catch them, if this recreate and refresh
me. It’s as lawful to delight the Eye, as the Palate.”
The bulk and balance of the discourse is in the approved or-
thodox style of that age, with frequent reference to scripture
texts, citations from the church fathers, Latin quotations, etc.
The whole sermon seems to have been inspired by its romantic
surroundings, and to be addressed not so much to unconverted
men but more to a fellow-feeling of sportmanship in the minds
of his hearers. While the way was pointed to godly living, the
pleasant invitation of foaming waters held fast his fancy, and in
the sunlight the glint of leaping salmon made a present heaven
stronger to allure than the pictured joys of a new but remote
Jerusalem.
Twenty-odd years ago certain enthusiastic citizens so exerted
themselves as to move heaven and earth and the legislature, out
of which agitation a fish-way was built at Amoskeag, to enable
salmon and other fish so inclined to pass up to the headwaters,
to deposit their spawn at their leisure and return unmolested to
the sea. Time and money were expended, the fish protected by
law, and everything was in readiness to revive the old time sport
except the salmon and Massachusetts, It was said the fish-ways
at Lowell and Lawrence were constructed, either in ignorance
or by design, to prevent the passage of fish. Finally, after long
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. OI
waiting, a few stray salmon, accompanied by a small colony of
eels, actually made their way to the foot of Amoskeag falls and
possibly some passed up the fish-way. Great things were hoped
but never realized ; each spring the number grew less, and ina
few years entirely ceased. The fish-way is falling to pieces with
rot, the fish commissioners of two great states catch nothing but
their salary, and the dream is over, The real difficulty, however,
was not so much in the way as in the water; this had become
so contaminated by the wash and refuse of mills and the sewer-
age of cities that fish would not enter a stream loaded with saw-
dust, colored with dye-stuffs, and flavored with extract of gar-
bage and gas-works. As with felled forests game-animals and
birds have departed, so from our polluted streams the noble sal-
mon has disappeared ; and these are among the sorry penalties
exacted in exchange for calico and gingham.
THE TRANSITION PERIOD.
Not the least curious and interesting portion of the early his-
tory of Derryfield is the transition period —that stretch of time
during which the white man appeared while the Indian had not
yet departed. For the sole purpose of setting forth in orderly
sequence the procession of events leading to permanent settle-
ments in North America, we introduce the following dates as
landmarks: The Cabots, under Henry VII, in 1497, seventeen
months before Columbus touched the mainland of America;
Verazzano, 1524; Cartier, 1534. This is undoubtedly the date
of the first but not of the first permanent settlement. But the
fisheries at Newfoundland had in the meantime become known.
Parkman says there is strong evidence that the trade began as
early as 1504, and it is well established that in 1517 Spanish,
French and Portuguese vessels were engaged in it; he adds that
from 1527 the Newfoundland fishery was never abandoned. In
1578 more than three hundred and fifty vessels visited the banks,
and in 1607 there was an old French fisherman at Canseau who
92 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
had sailed thither for forty-two successive years. We pass rap-
idly to De Monts, at Nova Scotia in 1604, wintering with the
colony at St. Croix. During that year he wrote from the banks
of the St. Lawrence, ‘The Indians tell us of a beautiful river
far to the south, which they call the Merrimack.” The dream
of this river haunted him, and in 1605 he accompanied Cham-
plain on a voyage of discovery southward along the coast. In
that year we find him at the Isles of Shoals and Portsmouth har-
bor. Passing down the coast they discovered the Merrimack,
which Champlain named ‘La Riviere du Gas,” (du Guast) in
honor of De Monts. In 1611 the Jesuits came, to rescue the
perishing souls of the natives, and incidentally to become pro-
prietors of “the greater part of the future United States and
British Provinces.” To quote the text of Parkman, “On the
banks of James River was a nest of woe-begone Englishmen, a
handful of Dutch fur-traders at the mouth of the Hudson, and
a few shivering Frenchmen among the snow-drifts of Arcadia ;
while deep within the wild monotony of desolation, on the icy
verge of the great northern river, the hand of Champlain upheld
the fleur-de-lis on the rock of Quebec.”
In this brief recount of years we have almost unconsciously
drawn the lines of a historical triangulation, with New Hamp-
shire at the centre. The converging lines, in the years imme-
diately following, drew toward us from three cardinal points —
south, east, and north. Nearly a full quarter-century elapsed
between the earliest white settlements at Quebec and Montreal
and that of the Plymouth colony in 1620; this was separated by
thirteen years from the date of the Popham colony at the mouth
of the Kennebec, in 1607, while the Piscataqua settlement in
1623 closely followed that at Plymouth. The whole time em-
braced between 1600 and 1750 —a round century and a half —
constituted this great transition period from barbarity to civili-
zation. It is the task of the careful student of the past to illus-
trate the striking details, at once picturesque and shameless, of
this border-land of American history.
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 93
OCCUPATION AND SETTLEMENT.
In the century preceding the first settlement upon the soil of
New Hampshire numerous attempts at colonization had met
with failure, and it will have been seen that the first permanent
settlements, made respectively by the French, Dutch and Eng-
lish, were nearly contemporaneous. It is definitely known that
there were not less than four great through Indian trails leading
from points upon the coast to the country of the St. Lawrence.
One of these was from Portsmouth up the Salmon Falls valley,
passing to the east of Winnepesauke, west of Ossipee, and so
northerly through the Pequauket region, leaving the White
Hills to the left. This was the line of subsequent white exten-
sion from Exeter and Dover. The great Nipmuck trail followed
the Merrimack, Pemigewasset and Baker River valleys, passing
Moosilauke on the right, over Warren summit, and thence up the
valley of the Connecticut. This was likewise the line followed
by the stream of settlement from Massachusetts. These con-
spicuous routes, if they did not coalesque, were joined here and
there by cross-country trails, one of these being from Ancient
Dover, through old Chester to Amoskeag, to which further ref-
erence wil] be made.
These old Indian ways were probably first trodden by the feet
of French explorers, nearly if not quite three centuries ago,
accompanied by Indian guides from Quebec, and their footsteps
were followed northward a few years later by the English. The
Pilgrim father played the double réle of Puritan and pioneer ;
while austere and saintly, he was adventurous and daring. The
wilderness had no terrors and the sea no dangers to deter the
hearts of oak who in the wake of the Mayflower settlers every-
where pushed on beyond the Plymouth homesteads. Without
guide or compass they followed the fertile valleys ranging to the
north, camping only when arrested by the gloom of night. Be-
side the flowing waters each hunter halted where he wished and
chose his home.
94. _ CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
There was another and darker side to the Puritan character.
He was not only selfish but greedy ; compelled to be prudent,
he became stingy. Ina trade with his neighbor he stretched
the tenth commandment and for the time being forgot the other
nine. It was small wonder that the rights of savages weighed
little in the presence of his wants, which he persuaded himself
were necessities. It soon came to pass that bloody reprisals
followed Indian cruelty and outrage, the sole answer which a
barbarous people could make to civilized treachery. The wasp
did not sting until the nest was ravaged ; smarting with pain, in
hot revenge the spoiler trampled to death those whom he him-
self had driven to madness and revolt.
In a review of the first contact of the whites with the Indians,
and by an impartial consensus of the records, the whole story of
that contact, with scarce'y an exception, is dishonorable to the
whites. Bad faith and broken promises, advantage gained by
guile and dishonest diplomacy, were followed by encroachment
and dispossession. Through the centuries which have inter-
vened our children have been taught to revere the rugged vir-
tues of their Puritan ancestors; poetry and romance, even the
historic page, has surrounded them with a shining aureola of
sanctity, but in this era of research and impartial scholarship an
awakened national conscience sees them beneath the deceitful
glamour of distance clothed upon with the old frailties of human-
ity. Again we witness the old paradox of saint and sinner; the
one erects achurch, but for convenience of the other “ the devil
builds a chapel hardby.”
Without a single exception, so far as disclosed by the record,
every permanent settlement in New Hampshire was preceded
by an actual or quasi-occupation. This took various forms; the
territory afterwards formed into townships was early overrun
with hunters, trappers, fishers, adventurers of all sorts ; some of
these were employed by French companies in Canada, some by
the Dutch traders of New Netherland. Others came from the
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 95
Massachusetts colony, and many from the settlements at Ports-
mouth or Dover. The wilderness was threaded with lines of
traps, running to and from depots of supplies, while to provide
necessary storage for fur or other commodities bark-cabins and
log-houses were built here and there at points of convenience.
With the arrival of each vessel from the old world, there came
an accession of rough and turbulent spirits, many with nothing
to lose and all inspired by the hope of gain. Fabulous stories
of wealth and exaggerated accounts of mineral treasures found
ready acceptance, and the decks of vessels clearing for New
England were crowded with saints and swash-bucklers, dissen-
ters and desperadoes. To these, indiscriminately, some of our
genealogical cranks are crazy to trace their ancestry.
Along all the avenues of exploration, on sea or land, by way
of lake or river, the wilderness was traversed ; some merely in-
spired by the strong lust of adventure, some inflamed by the
thirst for gold, others more soberly in search of homes. Out of
these early exploitations came the first definite information of
the character and topography of New England. Toiling through
dense forests, the sudden sight of a mountain was as welcome as
the first glimpse of land to the mariner, and afforded a landmark
to direct his steps. One by one these great natural boundary
marks were at Jeast approximately located, lakes were plotted,
and the course of rivers roughly indicated, sketched perhaps up-
on birch-bark maps with pencils of coal. Sometimes accompan-
ied by friendly Indian guides, familiar with the territory, the
way was made easier; here a mountain or height of land, there
a swamp or thicket was avoided; here he was led past a broad
lake or conducted to river shallows where the stream offered a
fording place. One by one names were given to mountains,
rivers and lakes, or other natural features, and it is one of the
astonishing facts of the time that these early pioneers gener-
ally accepted without question the names given by the Indians,
and that so many of these survive.
96 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
It is somewhat difficult for us to understand and appreciate the
tremendous difficulties to be overcome, the hardship and priva-
tion encountered, and the resolute courage required to face the
dangers that beset the first settlers, even in times of peace. The
mere exhibition of physical strength and endurance almost sur-
passes belief. Aside from the inseparable musket and hunting-
knife, powder-horn and shot, an axe or hatchet was always a part
of the outfit ; to these was frequently added a pack of blankets,
a pot or frying-pan, and other utensils and tools, the combined
weight of which was often fifty or more: pounds. In summer
the pack was sometimes slung on poles, between two sets of
stalwart shoulders, or in winter drawn upon sledges, and the
varied yield of the chase or the treasures of traps were trans-
ported in like manner.
Further evidence of this early occupation and settlement will
be considered in the next and concluding part of the series, to
which will be added some sketches of home-life, churches and
schools, the whole to conclude with an account of the rise, de-
cline and fall of the Derryfield Social Library. These contribu-
tions will not at present bring the record of events later than
the first quarter of the present century.
Contributions
ely EE;
History of Old Derryfield,
BY WILLIAM ELLERY MOORE.
PAR h eR TERRE.
PTACE TAVVENTY TIVE CENTS.
CONTRIBUTIONS
TOSLHE
fee eon Or DERRY FIELD,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
OCCUPATION AND SETTLEMENTS:
EARLY OCCUPATION AND FIRST SETTLEMENTS CONTINUED—HOME LIFE—
CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, ETC.—THE DERRYFIELD SOCIAL LIBRARY—
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.
BY WILLIAM E} MOORE.
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE
MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION.
PARI -V.
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS.
Entered according to Act of Congress
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington,
District of Columbia.
1897.
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE
BiDlORY OF wDERRYEIBLD.
BY WILLIAM E. MOORE.
CHAPTER): xX!
EARLY OCCUPATION AND SETTLEMENT CONCLUDED.
In the preceding chapter the attempt was made to present a
long-distance view of the times preceding and immediately fol-
lowing the first permanent settlements in New England. Con-
tinuing the inquiry it will be our endeavor to ascertain and set
forth in order the dates of the first authorized expeditions into
New Hampshire.
The first patent granted by the London Company to the May-
flower Pilgrims was applied for in 1617 and granted in 1619.
Landing and luncheon over, like cats in strange garrets, these
colonists sent out exploring parties in every direction, and were
not long in discovering the Merrimack, which they approached
in the neighborhood of Haverhill, the course of the river at that
point being nearly due east. Disregarding an earlier patent of
1606, under which some abortive attempts at colonization took
place, we come next to the Gorges and Mason patent of 1620,
superseded in 1621 by what was then known as the “ Mariana”
grant. It is only necessary for our purpose to remember that
the grantors were so ignorant of the territory granted that they
had supposed the east and west course of the Merrimack contin-
ued to its source, which was thought to be Lake Champlain. In
100 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
1622, however, another patent to Gorges and Mason conveyed
what was known as the Laconia grant, including land “ situated
between the Rivers of Merrimack and Sagadehock, extending
back to the great lakes and rivers of Canada.” Under this last
grant settlements were simultaneously made at Portsmouth and
Dover Neck, in the spring of 1623. In March, 1627, a grant to
Henry Roswell conveyed ‘the territory between a line running
from the Atlantic ocean three miles south of the mouth of the
Charles River, and every part thereof, and a line extending from
the Atlantic ocean, three miles north of the Merrimack river and
every part thereof.” How far inland this great paralellogram
extended from the sea no one knew, and at that time no one be-
lieved, not even the grantees, that the northern limit extended
more than three miles beyond an east and west line projected
from Newburyport to Haverhill. The last fatal misconception
was the source of much subsequent trouble and disagreement,
the last echo of which did not die for two hundred and seventy
years, when the boundary line between New Hampshire and
Massachusetts was finally and definitely agreed upon —in favor
of Massachusetts.
Up to this time every grant and patent, and all the territory
held or claimed to be held under them, as well as every occupa-
tion and settlement, were made in entire disregard of the right
or ownership of the Indians to any of the territory in question.
In the spring of 1629, however, the famous Wheelwright deed
was executed by Passaconaway and three other owners of the
soil in fee simple, conveying an extensive tract of land for a con-
consideration of ten or twelve pounds in lawful money, This
deed was subsequently pronounced a forgery, but no sufficient
proof has been produced to show that it was not a genuine con-
veyance. Our interest in the question is mainly historical and
especially in the local trend of the northerly line, described in
the instrument as passing through the present towns of Straf-
ford, Northwood, Deerfield, Candia, Hooksett and Manchester,
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. IOI
thus covering the whole of our title to Derryfield and the lands
immediately adjoining. It is of further interest to remember
that the identical territory thus acquired by purchase under this
deed was afterwards, in November of the same year, granted to
Mason by the “Council of Plymouth,” at his request. No con-
sideration was mentioned, but the obvious inference is, in the
light of all the known subsequent facts, that this new grant was
designed not only to repudiate the Passaconaway deed but to
forever disallow an Indian claim of ownership anywhere. Thus
early did these god-fearing and land-loving people of Massachu-
setts covet the soil, and from that time on they grabbed what
was in sight and claimed the remainder.
In the meantime the Roswell patent of 1627 had been merged
in an exclusive and inclusive charter from King George to the
‘“Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New
England.” It is scarcely necessary to explain that this charter
included Boston. About this time the authorities discovered
what had long been known to hunters and rangers in the north
country that the Merrimack made a great right-angled bend at
Dracut and thereafter ran northerly, whereupon not only their
maps but the plan of possession was modified accordingly, and
a new boom of geographical discovery and exploration was born.
Scouts and surveyors were at once privately commissioned to
spy out the land and report. Some years passed, during which
a number of expeditions were quietly set on foot to explore the
country in various directions, some of which tollowed the coast,
some the Merrimack and others the Connecticut valley.
From these various sources of information the Massachusetts
Bay people took their cue, and in 1638 openly sent out ‘“‘a com-
mittee to find out the most northerly part of the Merrimack
River.”’ The committee reported that “some part of it above
Penacook was more northerly than forty-three and a half de-
grees.” This means literally, allowance for error considered,
that upon reaching Franklin the committee took the Pemige-
102 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
wasset branch, which they followed beyond Plymouth and past
Baker river to the neighborhood of Woodstock. Here they
would naturally halt for two reasons: First, the Pemigewasset
near this point divides into a net-work of headwater streams, of
which the East Branch, Hancook, and Franconia are the chief.
Second, the explorers would find themselves in a veritable cud
de sac formed by the mountains; on the right the water-shed of
Sawyer and Swift rivers, tributaries of the Saco; on the left the
water-shed of Baker river, and in front the steep dividing crest,
down whose northern slope the Wild Ammonusuc tears down
to the Connecticut. On the other hand the committee may
have followed the valley of Baker river to Warren. Here they
would have been surrounded by a circular sweep of mountains,
among them Mt. Carr, Mt. Kineo and Moosilauke; it is likely
the way by Baker river would be chosen, rather than that of the
Pemigewasset, as the old Indian trail followed the former. On
the other hand they must have halted before reaching the height
of land at Warren summit; had they climbed to this point they
would have seen the white foam of trout-streams tumbling down
toward the north, might have caught glimpses of the frightful
precipice of Owl’s Head, and could not have failed to see spread
before them the broad valley of the Connecticut, with the great
ox-bow in Haverhill. None of these things were alluded to in
the report of the 1638 committee. It is equally certain they did
not follow the Winnepesauke, since the lake would have been
encountered before the parallel of 43%4° was reached, but the
lake is likewise unmentioned. So that we are forced to con-
clude either that this committee followed the Pemigewasset,
that they were themselves mistaken as to the distance traversed
or that they made a false report.
In 1639 another committee was sent “to find out the north-
ernmost part of Merrimack river.” This committee must have
made a lame and inconclusive survey, for they established the
line at a great pine tree three miles north of the junction of the
Pemigewasset and Winnepesauke,
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 103
Early in 1652 still another commission was appointed by the
General Court of Massachusetts, to establish the north head of
the Merrimack, and on the first of August, 1652, it was formally
fixed at 43° 40’ 12'’—namely, at the outlet of Winnepesauke,
with an allowance of three miles more north, ‘‘ wch run into the
Lake.”” Thus, with rare forecast, the surveyors drove all other
contrary-thinking people into deep water. This was the famous
“Endicott Rock” expedition, concerning which there has been
much misdirected enthusiasm. Upon the soil of the Bay State
the shaft at Bunker Hill bears witness to the unselfish heroism
and self-sacrifice of the sons of New Hampshire ; the monument
at the Wiers commemorates an act of Puritan greed and perfidy,
committed against men of their own blood and lineage. The
heirs of Mason, the assigns of Gorges, the possessors by pur-
chase, and every claim of occupancy whatsoever was for years
stubbornly denied by Massachusetts. Forced construction of
charters, chicanery, indirection, falsehood and fraud failing to
be sufficient, the General Court resorted to threats of force, in
turn followed by arrest or banishment. The whole history of
this usurpation, however, is too black to be painted.
All of these expeditions, with others set on foot by other par-
ties in interest, passed directly through Derryfield and around
Amoskeag Falls; and yet we are soberly told that these were
first discovered in 1739, a hundred years later than the excur-
sion of the first Massachusetts committee.
We should be glad to believe that the Apostle Eliot preached
and taught at Amoskeag. Potter labors to show that he came
here by invitation of Passaconaway a little later than 1650, and
asserts that here were a number of praying Indians who were
preached and prayed to, and that schools for the youth were also
established. In 1648 Eliot wrote, with undoubted reference to
Amoskeag, ‘There is another great fishing place about three
score miles from us, whether I intend (God willing) to go next
spring.” In 1649 he again writes, “I had and still have a great
104 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
desire to go to a great fishing place, Namaske, upon the Merri-
mack river.” In the same letter he adds, “ But in the spring
when I should have gone, I was not well, so that I saw the Lord
prevented me of that journey.” There is no direct evidence that
Eliot ever carried out his intention, or that he came farther in
this direction than Nashua. But it is important to note this
cumulative evidence that Amoskeag was not only thus early
known, but that it had been long familiarly known as a great
fishing place.
Let us now briefly trace the course of advancing settlements
in this direction from Massachusetts. Many towns contiguous
to Boston were early settled, several of which, like Rehoboth,
embraced extensive tracts afterwards formed into three or more
townships. The date of settlement is given for Beverly, 1630;
Andover, 1634; Newburyport, 1633; Salisbury, 1639; Haver-
hill, 1640, and Dunstable in 1659. A considerable number of
other towns in Massachusetts were settled between the latter
date and 1700, but fewin southern New Hampshire. This was
mainly owing to the fact that comparatively few emigrants came
to New England during the period following 1640, and it is said
that for a century and a quarter thereafter more people went
back to England than came hither. These facts have been too
often overlooked by historical students, who found it difficult to
account for the delay in making settlements in this part of New
England. The rigor of the climate, the fear of wild beasts and
Indians, even necessary hardship and privation, had less effect
in checking the tide of immigration than the dis-llusion of the
dream of wealth in which many of the earlier adventurers had
indulged. The golden bubble had been pricked, no longer com-
pelling by its false and glittering allurements.
Old Dunstable, a portion of which was settled as early as 1659,
embraced more than two hundred square miles, and out of this
seven entire townships and parts of several others were subse-
quently carved. Litchfield was one of these, where a claim of
settlement is made as early as 1656.
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 105
Following the list of towns referred to above we find Pelham,
1721; Amherst, 1728; Goffstown and Bedford, 1733, and Derry
and Londonderry, 17109.
Looking to the east we see the settlers creeping toward us
in much the same order, from Exeter and Dover. From these
towns the people came to the Merrimack valley and became ac-
quainted with its fisheries long before 1650. As to this western
extension of our sea-coast towns most historians begin with the
records and not with the facts. They agree in assigning 1719
as the date of settling the ‘Chestnutt Country,” afterwards
“ Walnut Hill,” “Cheshire,” and finally Chester. Charles Bell's
notes are extremely valuable, although written when he was but
eighteen years of age. He died young, as the editor's preface
naively says, ‘at the early age of 29% years,” and in his death
the state lost a born historian. The courts have always claimed
that records make the best witnesses — but there are others —
and although we are historically limited to 1719 we shall attempt
to project the reverted eye to an earlier date. For some years
many towns not included in Ancient Dover were within the lim-
its of Exeter, and those not in either were included in Chester,
which embraced Epping, Raymond, Candia, Auburn, Hooksett,
and parts of other territory known to the geography of guess-
work, The early surveyors ran lines hither and yon, forcing a
balance among the figures read from their rickety transits, but
being always careful to add, include and reckon enough, with an
extra allowance for error. So these early surveys, reinforced by
conjecture, allotted the whole woodland acreage about us, with
the exception of Derryfield, which was providentially reserved
for greater things.
Here we are impertinent enough to inquire, Why not Derry-
field? Let these four points be remembered: That the first step
was discovery, the second occupation, the third either grant and
survey or survey and grant as it might happen, and fourth an
actual settlement. In the case of Derryfield the surveyors hes-
106 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
itated and finally halted, not because they were weary nor at the
command of conscience, nor elsewise by any claim of prior grant
or survey, but because they found the soil occupied and actual
settlers in possession. This fact alone strongly reinforces our
claim that the accepted dates must be revised and put back to
a time certainly not later than the year 1700 and undoubtedly
much earlier.
A society was formed in 1719 ‘‘for settling the Chestnutt
country.” The members were familiar with the land they de-
sired to erect into a township, for they had hunted and fished in
it for years and had eaten of its nuts. The record recites that
a previous petition had been preferred in the autumn of 1718,
by virtue of which the petitioners claimed some rights, setting
forth that they had “been at a vast expense of blood and treas-
ure tO maintain the same against the enemy.” No precise de-
scription is given of the enemy, but it was intended that those
to whom they ever prayed should believe them to be Indians,
though we are inclined to think them certain down-country peo-
ple from Haverhill, who then claimed to have an Indian deed to
the whole territory. In any event nothing is more certain than
the fact that a considerable number of hunters, trappers, fisher-
men and scouts, if not actual settlers, had ranged back and forth
for years before the society was formed and that the organiza-
tion was only a step taken to keep what they already had, and
at the very least to prevent others from getting it.
There was at this time and had been from time immemorial
what was known far and wide as the “‘ Pennacook Path,’’ which
ran all the way from Exeter through Chester, passing over the
east shoulder of Mine Hill and so on by “ Jake Chase his house,”
to the present highway in Auburn; thence, skirting the Auburn
shore to Sucker Village, the trail turned west, making a detour
northward around the Merrill brook swamp, and again easterly,
leaving the Massabesic to the south, thence to Amoskeag and
by way of the Merrimack valley to Concord. We are informed
that the nearer easterly section of this path ran through “ Sam
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD, 107
Bell’s orchard,” and down over Wilson Hill south of the poor-
farm to the old falls road. There was a similar path to King-
ston, another to Haverhill by way of Tyngsborough. At about
the same date the bridge over Exeter river was only passable
for foot-passengers or riders in single file, but was made ‘ con-
venient for carts”? in 1720. It is said the incorporators of old .
Chester had no shadow of right upon which to base their peti-
tion, which was only granted by preference over earlier combin-
ations, although the secretary credited himself with five shillings
for a “copy of an Indian deed.” This was one of the pretences
early employed by our forefathers, as it was an easy matter to
induce any Indian under the seduction of Jamaica rum to affix
his mark to a deed or any number of them, and the wily settlers
were quick to employ these opportunities.
That the soil of Chester was occupied by actual settlers long
before 1719 is sufficiently shown by the action of the new pro-
prietors at their first meeting, when the selectmen were empow-
ered to eject all trespassers upon the land covered by Governor
Shute’s charter, and a committee was subsequently chosen for
the same purpose.
In August, 1737, Chester had a visit from Goverr or Belcher,
and in the earliest account of his tour we read that ‘ His Excel-
lency was much pleased with the fine soil of Chester, the extra-
ordinary improvements at Derry, and the mighty fall at Skeag.”’
This was two years before the date of Secombe’s famous sermon
at the falls, and conclusively shows that even at that date there
were good bridle-paths from Portsmouth to Amoskeag and from
the falls to Derry. Asa matter of fact nearly every part of the
territory under consideration was much better known and easier
of access than the historians would have us believe.
In May, 1739, John McMurphy was granted a privilege to
build a grist-mill at ‘‘Massabesic River,” below the great fall,
“provided said McMurphy shall not stop or impede the course
of the fish up the said river, but shall and will leave, continue
and make sufficient passage for that purpose.” This allusion
108 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
to “great falls’”” upon what we now know as Cohas Brook very
clearly indicates that a much heavier volume of water commonly
flowed from the lake at that date than has been known for two
generations. The cause of the present greatly decreased and
diminishing flow is obvivusly to be attributed to the disappear-
ance of the great forests. The object of this old provision for a
fish way was to protect the ale-wives in their run to the lake, as
they furnished a considerable food-supply to the settlers. Laws
were also passed to prevent the killing of deer and “ Deer In-
spectors’’ were duly appointed. On the other hand a bounty of
twenty shillings was offered for each head of ‘a full-grown
wolfe.”” In this year more than twenty wolves were killed in
Chester and Derryfield, of which John Stark killed two.
In 1745 a man by the name of Bunten was killed by Indians
in Hooksett. He was from Pelham and on his way to Penacook,
following the old path to which reference has been made.
The 1719 Chester petition before referred to was “signed by
about 100 hand,” and modestly asked for a tract ‘on the east to
Kingston and Exeter, on the south to Haverhill, and on the
West and North to ye woods.” This elastic piece of ‘“ waiste
land,” originally intended to be eight miles square, was after-
wards increased to ten and finally to fourteen, which was under
the limit, and extended from the Exeter line westerly to the
Merrimack north of the Derryfield reservation. This latter ap-
pears to have been first known as Harrytown or Henrysburg,
and originally consisted of about eight square miles, but in 1751
eighteen square miles from Chester and nine from Londonderry
were added.
At various dates between 1639 and 1733—the Massachusetts
century of dishonor—that commonwealth made an extensive
series of land grants in the disputed northern territory, ranging
as far north as Lake Winnepesauke. These grants were of two
classes, those given to friends and supporters of her claims and
those made to soldiers. It was well understood that none others
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 109
need apply. Many of the grants issued to soldiers who had en-
gaged in the old French and Indian wars were hastily made, the
bounds illy defined and the land hard to locate. Whole town-
ships were granted by guesswork. Of these the record remains
as to Bow, Todds-Town, Beverly-Canada and Bakerstown. Of
other early grants known to have been made one was of a part
of Derryfield, but the records are lost, and we are inclined to
believe this to have been the original Harrytown grant. The
charter for Derryfield was not issued till 1751, and did not even
then include that part of old Harrytown near Martin’s Ferry,
which was added later. The evidence as to Bow and Dunbar-
ton is conclusive and the lines stand. Some grants were early
settled while others were not ; but the Derryfield grantees came
without delay, the fishery alone presenting the principal induce-
ment, much of the soil being very poor.
Not a few towns changed names from three to six times in ten
years, were granted and regranted to differing parties, lines and
bounds over-ran, fell short or conflicted, and order only came
after the Revolution, when the original claimants, like Gridley,
had died out of court and chancery. The history of those old
claims and counter-claims, though full of stirring incidents, can
never be written; many a settler defended his homestead gun
in hand against the emissaries of the Great and General Court
of Massachusetts, and his dogs were trained to discover in the
wind the smell of Boston. In the general absence of fences, cat-
tle and hogs ranged at long and at large, and we read of farmers
who turned out cows to graze in Haverhill and the next day
found them in Hooksett. Thus here and there are caught brief
glimpses projected upon the scene by the side-lights of history.
The most patient research and scholarship is in our day engaged
in unravelling the tangled threads of our early colonial annals,
and in this task any contribution, however slight, must be of
value, and to this end we have labored.
The date of the settlement of Salisbury, for instance, is given
as 1748, and yet it is traditional that as many as eight families
IIO CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
resided in the township before that year, the “ Mink Hills” hav-
ing been known and named in 1737, and Kearsarge certainly as
early as 1657. A similar state of facts is generally true of all
the earlier townships.
Nutfield gives a good example of historical uncertainty, the
probable occupation ranging from 1629 to 1719, the latter date
alone standing for settlement. But it is known that not less
than four Indian deeds previously passed to the whole or a por-
tion of that territory, one of which from Indian John was dated
March, 1701. In one deed the description recites ‘a certain
tract of land about thirty miles square, to run from the Merri-
mack river eastward and so up the country.” In another the
“northerly bound was the westerly part of Oyster river, which
is about four miles northerly beyond Lampereele river.” As
Oyster river is in Durham and the Lamprey in Raymond it is
easy to see the Nutfield people had a good margin.
Finally, the first presence of white men in Derryfield must be
put not later than 1636, the date of a probable survey by Bur-
det, under instructions from Governor Winthrop, carried out by
Captain Wiggin, and even at that time the route was familiar to
hunters and scouts, to which the record adds “artists,” which
term was probably intended to mean surveyors. Waldron’s
testimony is conclusive as to this point. Peter Weare says that
since 1637 he had “in the same way become familiar with the
same region,” he having ‘oftentimes travelled the country,” and
“some of the natives always with him.” He adds that he had
been on ‘a great mountain north of Lake Winnipicioket.” All
these expeditions went up the Merrimack because that river was
the bone of contention, and without doubt followed and contrib-
uted to make the famous “ Pennacook Path.” We find also the
record of Woodward and Stratton’s survey in 1638, of Wood-
ward, Howlet, Jacob Clarke and Manning, in 1639, and after
that a deluge of expeditions by opposing factions. Some of these
long-lost records may yet be brought to light.
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. III
The earliest map of the Merrimack river from its source to its
mouth is also the latest discovered, but is unfortunately without
date. It is finely drawn and certainly the work of an “artist.”
The “plot” gives the photography of the river, with lakes and
mountains on either side. It shows the islands, bends and falls ;
the Uncanoonucks, Massabesic Lake and Amoskeag Falls are
laid down, and the Suncook river is put where it belongs. The
work is of such a character that the whole valley from Dun-
stable to Penacook is seen to have been pictured from an actual
survey, probably the first undertaken by competent hands.
We cannot now further prolong our researches in this field of
inquiry. We have purposely abandoned the beaten route hith-
erto followed by historians, and have hazarded an attempt to
revise some of their conclusions by methods of historical deduc-
tion. Wherever possible ascertained dates have been assigned,
and whenever by reasonable inference these were found to be
misleading the known facts have been compared and the logical
interpretation followed. In concluding our pictures of the past
we may be pardoned for renewing the suggestion that we claim
for them nothing not included in the title chosen, and that they
pretend to be no more than contributions. Should these serve
to awaken a new dawn of inquiry and rouse the spirit of research
the writer will be well contented,
CHAPTER? Xa:
HOME LIFE, CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS—THE DERRYFIELD SOCIAL LIBRARY
—SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.
The home life of the first settlers of Derryfield, so far as the
direct testimony can be relied upon, was in marked contrast to
that of most New England settlements, and outwardly presented
few characteristic Puritan features. All accounts agree in pro-
nouncing them generally a rough lot, much more closely resem-
bling the frontiermen of our own day than the traditional relig-
ious community of that age. The negative evidence as to this
point is still stronger, as the record discloses no movement or
organized effort to provile for preaching or religious teaching of
any sort whatever; public means of grace and an active spread
of the gospel were of so little importance as utterly to escape
the notice of local historians. If gospel privileges were enjoyed
the opportunities were wide apart. There were no settled min-
isters, no stated supply, and occasional preaching. was as rare as
earthquakes. Before Secombe’s salmon-sermon in 1739 it is not
certainly known that any religious exercise or exhortation what-
ever took place within the limits of Derryfield, nor for rather
more than a quarter of a century thereafter.
The religious record — or non-record — would be amusing if it
were not distinctly disgraceful. Potter says McDowell probably
preached here now and then before 1754, in which year the
town voted to build a meeting house, but this was the next year
reconsidered. In 1758 the frame was raised and the building
boarded and shingled in 1759, though still without underpinning
and having but one door, one layer of rough flooring and no
pews, and this skeleton of the visible church was then badly in
need of repairs. Fifteen years later, though some preaching in-
tervened and the Rev. George Gilmore was called, the call was
not answered, and the ravages of decay continued to affect both
God’s house and people.
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 113
The Revolution now became matter of concern to the exclus-
ion of a multitude of interests ; there was no Sunday for soldiers
or citizens, and the cause of Zion languished. In 1780 an effort
to repair the building failed, three years later the repairs were
not completed, and this state of affairs continued without better-
ment until 1790, at which time the “ pew-ground”’ of the main
floor was sold at public auction, and the gallery area similarly
disposed of three years later. But the gallery pews were never
built and no part of the house’ ever finished. In the thirty-five
years which had elapsed the progress of decay had outstripped
the process of repair. Potter says, “The house was fit fora
place of worship at no time, but in summer and of a fair day it
answered better than a barn.” The old, weather-beaten struc-
ture is well remembered by the writer, and remained in a dilap-
idated condition in Hallsville till 1853, when it was sold, moved
a short distance, and converted into a dwelling-house block,
which is still standing.
Throughout this entire period we hear next to nothing about
schools. It is said there were none in Derryfield before or dur-
ing the Revolution, and Dr. Wallace asserts that no steps pro-
ductive of actual results were taken until some years later than
1788, and adds that “for nearly a century after the settlement
of the town there was neither lawyer, physician or minister
among its permanent inhabitants.” It is certain there was no
schoolhouse untill 1795, and even that was built by private sub-
scription, none being built by vote of the town earlier than the
year 1798, possibly later.
In such a community the morals of the people must have kept
pace with their ignorance and inattention to godliness. The
pursuits of fishing, hunting and river-rafting were not calculated
to favor a devout frame of mind, and the conventional restraints
of the church were lacking. A considerable number of the ear-
lier inhabitants were rollicking, devil-may-care roysterers, who
spent their spare time in wresting, bowling, or pitching horse-
10
114 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
shoes for pennies, accompanied with a daily diet of rum. The
records show frequent brawls and fighting, sometimes among
themselves, sometimes with kindred spirits from Londonderry,
who were not averse to liquor at home or abroad. The annual
reproduction of Donnybrook Fair by our Scotch-Irish neighbors
included the more lively features of its old-world model. The
reverend historian of Londonderry, with an unusual devotion to
truth, says that this fair ‘‘ proved a moral nuisance, attracting
chiefly the more corrupt portion of the community and exhibit-
ing for successive days in each year scenes of vice and folly in
some of their worst forms.”’ These fairs were attended by large
delegations of the rougher element of Derryfield. Our limits
permit us to give no more than the setting and outline of the
picture ; details are not difficult to be supplied, since the same
causes and like effects still surround us.
DERRYFIELD SOCIAL LIBRARY.
An opportunity has been afforded us to examine the book of
records of the ‘‘ Social Library,” which has never been printed.
Contrary to our first design, which contemplated a mere epito-
me, we have thought best to reproduce the entire record, with
the exception of the charter, which may be found in the first
number of the published papers of the ‘ Manchester Historic
Association.” A verbatim copy follows:
Ata Library Meeting held December 12th, 1796
Voted to form a society by the name of the Proprietors of The Social Li-
brary in Derryfield —
Voted To Raise Two Dollars on each Right or share
Voted Capt John Goffe Clerk to said Meeting
Voted Daniel Davis Receive the money & purchase the books
At a Library Meeting held January 12th 1797
Voted Capt John Goffe Moderator
Voted Daniel Davis Librarian & Clerk
Voted Capt John Perham Daniel Davis & John Goffe Inspectors
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. I15
At a Library Meeting held on the 6th November 1797
Voted Capt John Goffe Moderator
Voted Daniel Davis Librarian & Clerk
Voted That the Proprietors keep their books three months
Voted Capt John Perham, Daniel Davis, & David Young Directors
Voted to accept Capt John Goffe book at 50 Cents
Voted To Raise Fifty Cents annually as an increasing fund to support
said Library
At the Annual Meeting Held on Monday the 5th November 1798 At 4
oClock P M
Voted Daniel Davis Moderator
Voted William Farmer Librarian & Clerk
Voted Samuel P. Kidder, Daniel Davis, & William Farmer Directors
Voted That the Words ( Derryfield Social Library Annual Meeting First
Monday in November ) be printed in each book belonging to said Library
Voted That the Fifty Cents as an increasing Fund be Omitted the ensu-
ing year —
Voted that the Two Vollumes of the Magazene shall be taken out & Re-
turned as one other Vollume
At the Annual Library meeting on the First Monday of November 1799
at Four O Clock P M
Voted Daniel Davis Moderator
Voted Daniel Davis Librarian & Clerk
Voted To Raise Fifty Cents on a share the present Year
Voted Samuel P. Kidder, Daniel Davis & William Farmer Directors
Voted that the Fifty Cents be paid to the Clerk by the zoth December next
Voted That Daniel Davis Purchase the books
Voted That new subscribers be admitted the year ensuing at two Dollars
Each share
Voted that no Proprietor that keeps a book three months shall take it out
again at Return.
{ Here follows the Charter.]
At a Meeting Legally Warned and holden on Monday 3d Novr 1800
Voted Capt John Perham Moderator
Voted William Farmer Librarian & Clerk
Voted Samuel P. Kidder, Benja F. Stark & Daniel Davis Directors
Voted To Raise Fifty Cents on each share for purchasing New Books
Voted Daniel Davis be the Person to purchase said Books
Voted to allow Danl Davis $1.60 Cts for Paines writing
Voted to Purchase two Blk Books one for the purpose of Making Records
the other for accompts —
Voted that the Clerk make the proper Records in said Books
116 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
Voted that Fifty Coppys of the Constitution be printed
Voted that Benjn F. Stark be the person to hire the aforesaid printing —
Voted that any person may be admitted the ensuing year For two Dollars
Voted that the Directors be authoris’d to purchase a book Case for the
use of the Proprietors.
At the Annual Meeting holden on the First Monday in Novr 1801 at the
House of Wm Farmer
Voted Lft Benja F. Stark Moderator
Voted Daniel Davis Librarian & Clerk
Voted Samuel P. Kidder Daniel Davis & John Perham Directors
Voted To Raise Fifty Cents ona share
Voted that the Librarian Collect all arrearages by the First Day of Janu-
ary next ensuing
Voted that Daniel Davis Purchase the Books
Voted that New Proprietors Come in at Two Dollar the year Ensuing
The Subscribers Finding it necessary to Call a special Meeting do hereby
Notify and warn the Proprietors of Derryfield Social Library to meet at the
Dwelling House of Daniel Davis in said Derryfield On Monday the Fif-
teenth Day of March next at Four OClock P. M to Act on the Following
Articles (Viz)
1st To Choose a Moderator to Regulate s’d Meeting
2d To Choose a Clerk Librarian & one Director for the Remainder of
the present year A punctual attendance of the Proprietors with their Books
are Requested —
Derryfield 24th Febry 1802 John Perham
Daniel Davis Directors
Sam’! P Kidder
At a Special Meeting Legally Warned & Holden on Monday 15th March
1802 at the House of Daniel Davis —
Voted Benja F. Stark Moderator
Voted Saml P. Kidder Clerk & Librarian
Voted David Flint Director
We the Subscribers acknowledge ourselves to be members of the Derry-
field Social Library Company and promise to Conform to all rules and regu-
lations which may at any time be adopted by the society while we remain
members of said society
James Griffin paid Asa Haseltine sold his rights to his son
Philip Haseltine Jr Asa
John Dickey Jr paid David Flint
Stephen Worthley Reuben Sawyer
Peter Hills Ephraim White
Moses Davis interest of John G. Moor Joseph Farmer Jr
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. Mahe
James Parker
Jesse Baker
Moses Heseltine for Pingrey
Amos Weston
Isaac Huse
John Proctor
Elijah A. Nutt
John Hall
John Frye paid By Book No 30
Nathan Johnson paid
Daniel Hall Jr
John Dwinell Paid
Samuel Jackson
Nathaniel Conant
Phinehas Bayley
John Perham
Benja F Stark
Saml P Kidder
Wm Walker
Israel Webster
James Nutt
William Perham
David Webster Jr
Job Rowell
John Ray
Saml McAllaster
David Adams
Phinehas Pettengail
Ephraim Stevens
Jacob Chase
John Stark Jr paid
Saml Moor Jr paid
Stephen Moor
Joseph Moor paid
Robert Hall in lew of John Gammel
Asa Heseltine 3rd
[ These names were all signed in the handwriting of the subscribers. The
following names were also written, but for some unknown reason were after-
wards crossed out with a pen:
‘“‘Benjn Leslie, Ann E Couch Paid Stephen
Pingrey Wm Farmer transferd to John Gambel Mrs Edna Davis”.]
At a Library Meeting held on the first Monday of November 1802
Voted Lt Benj F Stark Moderator
Voted to admit new members at two Dollars Each
Voted to Relinquish John Tufts fines
Voted Saml Moor Jr Clerk and Librarian
Voted Saml P Kidder Saml Moor Jr Capt John Perham Benj F Stark and
David Adams directors
Voted to except the Constitution in lue of the old one that was lost
Voted that all fines due be paid the first of January 1803
At the annual Library meeting held on 7th Novr 1803
Voted, John Stark Moderator.
Voted, to excuse Philip Heseltine Jr his taxes and fines for the Book case
Voted, Philip Heseltine Jr Librarian —
Cash on hand six Dollars and seventy two Cents
Philip Heseltine
Voted, Samuel Hall
William Farmer
Voted, to buy Gordens History and Rollins,s antient History
Directors
At the annual meeting of the members of Derryfield social Library held
on the fifth of November AD 1804
Voted, to adjourn the meeting until the r2th of Novr
Derryfield r2th Novr 1804 meeting being opened according to adjournment
Voted, B F Stark Moderator
Voted, to admit new members at two Dollars each down
118 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
Voted, Samuel P Kidder Treasurer —
B F Stark
Samuel Moor Jr_ |
Voted, Capt John Perham } Directors
John Stark Esq
Ephraim White
Voted, the Directors meet the first Monday in February May and August
Voted, Benjamin Leslie Librarian and Clerk
Voted, that the Librarian collect all the Debts and fines that now is or
may become Due the year ensuing
Voted, to give Lieut Daniel Davis two Dollars in full of all accounts he
hath against the society —
Voted, to abate Samuel Hall his fine of twenty five Cents
Derryfield, November 4th 1805 at a Libraiarys Meeting held for the pur-
pose
Voted Saml P Kidder Moderator
Voted to Choose three directors
Nathaniel Moor
Voted directors ? Ephraim White
Capt John Perham
Voted Samuel P Kidder Treasurer
Voted New members be admitted for two Dollars
Voted to Choose an agent to Collect the tax and the fines that are due
Voted Capt Perham Collect the above tax &c
Voted the Money be Collected in thirty days
Voted the directors overhall the Books and Select out such as they think
proper and sell them to the highest bidder this night
Voted to Choose an agent to lay out the money and purchas the new books
Voted Sam] P Kidder purchas the Books
Voted Saml Moor Jr Librarian and Clerk
Derryfield November 3d 1806 Annual Meeting
The proprietors of the Derryfield Social Library Met Novmr 3d agreeable
to Constitution and acted on the following articles
1st Voted Capt Joseph Moor Moderator
2d Voted John G Moor Librarian and Clerk
3d Lt Job Rowell
Voted Benjamin Leslie
Directors ) John G Moor
4th Voted that Each man pay the Money which is due Before he recev a
Book
Voted New members Come in at 2 Dollars Each
Voted to reconsider Capt Perham as Collector
Voted John G Moor Collector of the whole
Voted the Librarian Purchase the Books
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 119
Voted the Librarian Call on the last years treasurer for Money which be-
longs to the Library
Derryfield November znd 1807
At an annual Meeting of the proprietors of the Derryfield Social Library,
holden at the house of John G Moor’s in sd Derryfield, proceeded as follows
Voted rst Lt Job Rowell Moderator
znd To ajourn this Meeting to the 2nd Monday in November to Meet at
John Hall’s Jr in sd Town at four of the Clock Afternoon
Novemr gth Mett according to ajournment
Voted Mrs Farmer Clerk & Librarian
James Nutt )
Voted John Stark, Jr ¢ Directors
Job Rowell §
Voted the Directors Collect all Taxes & Moneys that shall be found due
Voted not to raise Money the present year
Voted the Directors sell all such Books as they may think proper
Voted to Reconsider the 4th article in a Meeting of the year 1806
At a meeting of the proprietors of the Derryfield Social Library holden at
Mrs Farmers house on February 8th 1808
Voted Joseph Moor Moderator
Voted To Excuse Mr Flint one Dollar for the two first Taxes Charged to
him
Voted to relinquish 50c of Capt Moor’s fine
Voted The remainder of the fines be Colected
Voted to Disolve this meeting
Mrs Farmer Clerk &C
Derryfield Novr 7th 1808
At an anual Meeting of the proprietors of the Derryfield social Library,
holden at the hous of Mrs Farmer’s in sd Derryfield proceded as follows
Voted 1st Robt Hall Moderator
Voted 2d To ajourn this Meeting to the rst Monday in December next at
four of the Clock P. M.
December 5th 1808
Met according to adjournment and Chose Amos Weston Clerk and Li-
brayan
Samuel Moor Jr ¢
Amos Weston
Voted Joseph Moor < _ Directors
John Adams
Robert Hall L
Voted the Directors Collect all the Money that shall be found due to Li-
brary by the next annual meeting Voted the directors lay out the Money
due to the Library and purchase the Books
‘
120 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
Derryfield 6th of November 1809 the proprietors of Derryfield social Li-
brary met and voted as follows
1st Voted to adjourn the meeting the 13 day of this month at 6 of the clock
PM
November 13th 1809 then met according to adjournment and Voted as fol-
lows 1st Amos Weston Clerk and Librarian the present year
2nd Voted Amos Weston Collect all moneys due to the society and be
treasurer
3rd Voted Isaac Huse Esq Robert Hall & Saml Moor Jr be Directors the
present year
4th Voted that new proprietors be admited to the society on paying two
Dollars
5th Voted that the Laws of the State of New Hampshire be bought for
the society
6th Voted that the Laws of New Hampshire be returned within forty five
days from the time it is taken out
7th Voted the Directors purchase such Books as they see proper
Manchester 5th of November 1810
At an annual meeting of the proprietors of the Derryfield Social Library
holden at the house of Amos Weston in S’d Manchester proceded as follows
Voted rst Isaac Huse Moderator of sd Meeting
Voted znd Amos Weston Clerk and Librarian
Isaac Huse
Voted 3d Samuel Moor Jr ? Directors
Robert Adams
Manchester November 4th 1811
At an anual Meeting of the Proprietors of the Derryfield Social Library
holden at the house of Mr Amos Weston in said town proced as follows
Vot 1st Isaac Huse Moderator
Vot znd to adjourn this Meeting to the last Monday in November
November 15 1811
Met according to adjournment Voted Isaac Huse Librarian and Clark
Job Rowell
Voted Robert Adams ?; directors
John Perham
November zd—1812 Four of the proprietors met and agreed to ajorn our
anual meeting to 16 Novr ins at 4 oclock P M
Novr 16th 1812. Met agreable to ajournment
Voted Samuel Moor Moderator
Voted Moses Haseltine Librarian & clerk —
Voted Capt Perham Job Rowell & Robert Adams directors
Voted to Relinquish to Mr Ephraim White a claim of 50 cts
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. I2I
Voted Isaac Huse Agent to Collect what appears to be due to the Incor-
porators
Manchester November 1st 1813 Isaac Huse Moderator the proprietors
Met and Agreed to ajorn our anuel meeting to the 15 of November Instant
at Six oclock P M
November the 15 1813 Met according to adjournment and voted to ajourn
to the twenty Ninth of November Instant Met acrding to ajournment and
procded as follows Voted Robt Perham Libirian and Clark
Robert Adams
Samuel Moor ¢ Directors
Job Rowell
November Manchester November 7th 1814 this Being the Day of the
anual Meatting For the Proprietors of the Manchester Socel Library Not a
Nuf to hold a meaten or to Do Buseness Chose John G Moor Moderator
and adyourned the meating to this Day Fortnight at the house of Robert
Perrams at four Clock P M
November 21th this Day Met accordang to adjournment and Chose John
Dwinnell Clark and lybrarein
And
Samuel Moor
Samuel P Kidder Durectors
John Stark Esq
November 6—1815
The Members of Manchester Social Library Met and proceeded to the
Choice of officrs for the year ensuing
Choose John Stark Moderator John G Moor Clerk protem
Choose; John Dwinel Clerk & Librarian
Isaac Huse
Directors John Stark
Job Rowel
Voted John Frye be Treasurer
Voted that the directer be authorized to examin the Books and sell at auc-
tion all such Books as they shall think propper for sale
Voted that new propritors be admitted for the usual price of $2.00
Voted to adjourn the meeting to the zoth November
attest John G. Moor Clerk p t
November 4th 1816
At a meating of the Proprietors of the Derryfield Library holden at the
house of John Dwinell on Monday the 4th of November 1816 and proceded
as follows
1 Chose John Stark Esq Moderator
2 Chose John Dwinell Librarien and Clark and Colector and treausury
Chose ( Isaac Huse
} John Frye Drectors
James Nutt
122 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
November Monday the 3th 1817
at a meating of a number of the Proprietors of the Manchester Library
holden at the house of John Dwinells and Chose Isaac Huse Esq Moderator
and Voted to agorn said meeting till the 17th Day of November instant at
4 oclock afternoon
November 17th 1817 the proprietors of the Social Library met according
to a agournment and Voted that Isaac Huse Esq stand Moderator of said
meeting and Chose John Dwinell Clerk and libarien and Chose
John Dickey
John Stark Esq ¢ Directors
and Nathan Johnson
and Chose Isaac Huse Colector and tresurer and Voted that all the fiens
Due on the Book be Corlected
Voted not to have anything to do with any Books of Elijah Nutt Except
that one which was Excepted and that was the Columbian orator Price
fo=75 John Dwinell Clark
November Monday 2th 1818
the members of the Manchester Sochal Library met and
1 Chose James Griffen Modorator
2 Chose John Dwinell Clark and Libaran
3 Chose James Nut
Capt Ephraim Stevens Jun Derectors
John Proctor
4 Chose Israel Webster 3 (?) treasury
5 Chose James Nut Collecttor
6 Voted to adjorn this meeting till the first Mondy in febury Nex at 4
oclock at the hous of said Dwinells
Monday Febary 1st 1819 Som of the Propritors Met according to agorn-
ment and Chose John Dicken Moderator Protem and Did adjorn said meet-
ing till the first Monday in march next at 4 oclock
Novembr Monday the rth 1819
At a meeting of the Proprietors of the Manchester Library Holden at the
House of John Dwinell and Quimby and Chose Isaac Huse Esq Moderator
and Chose John Dwinell Clark and librarien and Voted that the Clark Be
autherized to Examon all the Books that are taken out of the Librey from
time to time and to Examon them when taken in and to see if any Damiges
are Don to any Book and to Prise the Damige Done and to keep a truea
Count of Said Damage and make a Return of the same to the Directors at
Each of their meetings and the Directors are to Exhibit the same at the
aneuel Meeting and Chose Isaac Huse
and Jobe Rowell < Directors
and John Dickey
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 123
Novembr Mondy the Sixth Day 1820
This Day a full Number met at the house of John Dwinells and Elijah
Quimby of the members of the Sochal lybry in Manchester and Voted John
Dwinell Moderator of said meeting
Voted John Dwinell Clark and lybarin and Voted Elisha Quimby for
Clark Protem
Chose Jams Grifin
Samuel P Kidder Esq
Capt Joseph Moor
Voted adjourn this Meeting until the 1th Monday of Feb Next 1821 5 Day
at 4 oclock
( Directors
( the Prest year
John Dwinel Clerk
Met agreeably to the adjournment and Read the Constitution and Voted
as Follows
tly to excuse Saml P Kidder from the office of Director
Chose Robt Adams in his stead
Voted to excuse said Adams
Chose Capt Ephraim Stevens 2nd Director
Voted to dismiss this Meeting
John Dwinell >Clerk
Manchester Nov 5 1821
Met at the Annual Meeting a Few of the Members and Voted to adjourn
this meeting until Saturday the first day December Next at 4 Oclock P M
Saturday December 1. 1821 met according to adjournment
1st voted Capt Dwinell Moderator
2d voted Samuel Jackson Librarian
3d voted John Dickey
John Gamble >; Directors
John Proctor
4th voted to adjourn the meeting until the 4th Instant at three OClock P.
M. to be holden at Dwinell & Quimbys tavern
Tuesday December 4th met agreeably to adjourament and voted to make
a further adjournment until Tuesday the 18th of December instant at 4
O.Clock P. M. to be holden at Dwinell & Quimbys tavern
December 8th 1821
We the directors met and examined the Library and found in said Library
Seventy four Books besides those that are taken out —
John Gamble
John Dickey
Manchester, December 18th 1821
Directors
Met agreeable to adjournment
Voted Coll Nathl Moor Moderator
Voted S P Kidder Clerk and Librarian
124 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
Voted J. G. Moor Assistant Clerk
Voted John Dickey
Robert Hall Directors
Robert Adams
Voted Capt John Dwinell Collector
Voted Samuel Jackson Treasurer
Voted That an Inventory of all the Books be taken by the Directors pre-
vious to the Removal of the Library
S. P. Kidder, Clerk
Manchester December 2th 1822
this Day the Members of the Sochal Librey a Greeable to agornment
1 and Chose John Stark Moderator
2 and Chose John Dwinell Clark and Librarian
the moderator has withdrawn
3 Chose Jese Bakar moderator in the Room of said Stark
4 Chose Ruben Sawyer
Nathan Johnson ( Directors
Job Rowell
5 Voted that the Director shall Be Colectors of all moneys Bac
6 Votted to Give mis Elize Stark hir fine
Voted to Desolve said meeting
Manchester November 3th 1823
this Day a Number of the membrs of the Sochal Librey met but not a Nuf
to act Business only to open the meeten, and Chose John Proctoter modera-
tor and adjorned said meeting untill the 17 Day of this Present month at 5
oclock afternoon
Manchester November 17th 1823
this Day a nomber of the Proprietor met But not a Nuff to act Busies But
have a Gorned said meeteen untill the first monday in November Next
John Dwinell Clark
Manchester November 1 Day 1824
and a fool meeting of the Propriertors and held thir meeting and Voted as
follows
first Chose Israel webster moderator
secontly Chose John Dwinell Librain and Clark
thirdley Chose Capt Ephraim Stevens John Gambel and Isaac huse Di-
rectors
forthly Chose John Gambel Corlector
fifthly Chose John Dwinell tresurer John Dwinell Clark
1824 at a meeting of the Directors of the Derryfield Social Library Decem-
ber 11, 1824
Examined the Records and found due to the said Library from sundrys
persons—fines—$2,62
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 125
Manchester December 25 1824
This day settled with Lieut Job Rowell and found due to the Social Lybra
seventy eight cents John Gamble
Isaac Huse
Manchester January 14th 1823 this Day Receved of Lieut Job Rowell the
Sum of Seventy Eight Cents Receved by me John Dwinell
t Directors
November 7th 1825
this Day a number of the Proprietors of the Social Library in Manches-
ter met but not a nuf to hold a meeting But Called the meeting and Chose
Isaac huse moderator and aJorned said meeting untill the 28 Day of Novem-
ber instant John Dwinell Clark
November 28th 1825 this Day the Proprietors of the Sochall Libre met ac-
cording to ajornment tho not a Nuf to transact Busines and Voted to aGorn
said meeting untill the first monday of November in the year 1826 at four
oclock after Noon at the place whear the Libra is kept
Manchester December r1th 1826 this Day I the Subscriber have taken the
Sochall Librey and 92 Books from John Dwinell which I am a Countabel
for as witness my hand Daniel Hall
Received December 8th 1827 the Social Library consisting of 81 volumes
and it appears by Lieut Daniel Hall’s account there are eleven Books out
Samuel Jackson, Librarian
Attest Ephraim Stevens Jr ‘
Job Rowell t Committee
[ The foregoing include all the meetings of the proprietors. Meetings of
the directors were held during this time in November, 1817, December, 1819,
January, 1823, November, 1823, February, 1824, September, 1825, and Novem-
ber and December, 1826. Subsequently to the last meeting of the proprie-
tors the directors held two meetings in 1828, and one each in 1829, 1830, 1831
and 1832. The following books were bought in 1823: ‘‘ The holy War Price
$o-80, Gaseteer Price 1-67, the life of Eaton 1-75 and one Vollom on the
World to Come which we have receved of Mr finis Baley for a shear in the
librey $2-00.” In addition to the list of fifty-four subscribers before given
on pages 116 and 117, we give the following additional names: John Goffe,
Daniel Davis, David Young, John Tufts, Samuel Hall, Nathaniel Moor,
John Adams, Isaac Huse, Robert Adams, Elizabeth Stark, Mrs. Farmer,
Israel Webster, Thomas Stickney and Elisha Quimby. The whole number
of names of proprietors as shown by these records appears to have been sixty-
eight. Of these but four have middle names; nine have military titles; two
have the title of “‘ Mr.” and two—John Stark and Isaac Huse—are honored
with the title of “ Esq.”” The whole number of books on hand in 1826 was
eighty-seven, with ‘‘one Book misen.”’]
126 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
Eight additional names are given by Mr. William H. Huse,
from records in his possession, which names appear in the paper
before referred to. He gives also a list of books which exhibits
some inaccuracies. In the copy of the charter which he repro-
duces the attesting signature is given as “ Philip Carrigian,” but
in the copy engrossed in our record-book it is given as ‘“ Nathl
Parker, Depy Secy.” The appended lists give the titles of all
the books bought, with the cost of each in pounds, shillings
and pence up to the close of 1798, after which the accounts were
kept in federal currency :
The Proprietors of Derryfield Library Bot of E Larkin Boston 4th Jany
1796 1 Spectator 8 Vol £1.16.0 1 Fool Quality 3 V 15.0 1 Newton on Proph-
ecies 2 V 136 1 Christian & Farmers Mag 2 V 18.0 1 Cooks Voige 2 V
15.0 1 View of Religion 10.0 1 Watts on the Mind 6.00 1 Pleasing Instruc-
tor 5.3. 1 Franklins Works 6.0 1 Valuable Secrets 6.0 1 Burtons Lectures
5.3 1 Farmers Letters 4.6 1 Carvers Travels 50 1 Female Jockey Club
4.6 1 Looking Glass for the Mind 4.6 1 Forresters6.0 1 Pomfrets Poems
4.0 1 Medical Pocket Book 4.6 1 Ovids Art of Love 3.9 1 History of Amer-
ica 2.3. 1 Bold Stroke for a Wife 1.6 1 Provoked Wife 1.6 1 Agreeable
Surprise 0.9 I Arabian Nights Entertainments 2 V 10.6 1 Winchester’s
Dialogues 4.6 [This amounted to £9.13.9.] Deduct 10 pr Ct 19.4—leaving
4£8.14.5 1 Blank Book 3.0 Equal to $2957 Seven Wise Masters Rome 06
Howards Life 72 Priest Craft 3 Vol 2.09 Infant Baptism 50. Total $32.94
The Proprietors of Derryfield Library Bot of E Larkin
1 Morses Geography 16.6 1 Don Quixote 12.0 1 Dyers Titles 6.0 1 Ers-
kines Sermons 6.0 1 Doddridge Rise & Progress 53 1 Ditto Sermons 3.3
1 Ditto Ditto 3.0 1 Ditto on Regeneration 5.3 1 Boyles Voyage 4.6 1 Re-
ligious Courtship 4.6 1 Saunders Journal 3.0 1 Ladys Miscellany 4.6 1
Gentlemans Ditto 4.6 1 Hive 4.6 1 Rassalas & Dirabus 5.3 1 Browns Ora-
cles 3.9 1 Christian Life 4.0 £4.17.9 Discount 10 pr Ct9.9 £4.8.0 Equal
to $14.67 Decr 1797
The Proprietors of Derryfield Library Bot of E. Larkin Decr 26 1798
1 Josephar 6 Vol £1.10.0 1 Mores Journal 10.6 1 Robinsons Proofs 10.6
£2.11.0 Discount 1o pr Ct 5.2 £2.5.10 Equal to $7.65
The Proprietors of Derryfield Library Bot of E. Larkin 26th Decr 1799
1 Goldsmith’s Animated Nature 4 Vol 9.00 1 Morses Gazetteer 2.50 I
Pilgrims Progress 75 1 Herveys Meditations 87 1-2 1 Maria Cecilia 87 1-2
14.00 Disct1opr Ct 1.40 $12.60
HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD. 127
Derryfield Social Library Salem Feb 12th 1802 Bot of Cushing & Appleton
Adams History of England 225 Davis Sermons 2 Vol 4.00 Hunters Sa-
cred Biography 3 V6.00 Adams Flowers of Travels 2 V 2.00 Lendronis (?)
American Revolution 2 V 2.00 Ortans Discourses to the Aged t1.oo Life
Joseph 62 1-2. Petitpierre on Divine Goodness 87 1-2 Phillip Quarll 75 Re-
pository 75 Dickinsons Five Points 75 Female American 75 1 Blk Book
2.00 1 ditto 100 24.75 Disct 10 pr Ct2.47 1-2 $22.27 1-2. the Washing-
tonia 1 ct (?)
Manchester January 1st 1813
Mr Thomas Stickney Brot forward 1 Book Exercises of Piety 1 An Expli-
catory Catechism 1a Short.and Easy Method with Deists
In addition to the foregoing five volumes were subsequently
bought of Capt. John Dwinell; three of Job Rowell, one of Mr.
Phineas Bailey and five volumes of Washington’s Life, bought of
Job Rowell; two books were added in 1800 and one in 1817. It
appears from these records that the whole number of titles was
eighty-two and the number of separate volumes not less than
one hundred and twelve. In 1825 Betsey Kidder executed a
deed to the Library, conveying her right and title to Jonathan
Young. These names should be added to the list of proprietors
previously given. It is probable that all the books were finally
sold at public vendue. As each volume, by vote of 1798, was
inscribed “ Derryfield Social Library,” etc., it is probable that
some of these books are still in possession of the descendants of
original proprietors or purchasers and may thus be identified.
The suggestion is made that should any volumes of this curious
collection be brought to light that they be deposited with the
Manchester Historic Association for safe keeping.
CONCLUSION.
With this number we conclude the series of contributions to
the early history of Manchester, throughout which we have kept
up the pleasant fiction of Derryfield. The work has already
outgrown our first design, but the field of inquiry is still inviting
additional research. We have scarcely more than covered the
128 HISTORY OF DERRYFIELD.
period antedating the first actual settlements in Derryfield, and
in the events occurring from 1750 to the date of the city charter
much matter of interest remains to be made of record.
We may attempt the task of gleaning the field already reaped,
gathering perchance here and there a straw which has been jolt-
ed from the historical wain, and prolonging a little further the
search amid fast disappearing annals. For the period following
1841 the writer will have the advantage of personal recollection,
and he has already reached that over-ripe stage of life in which
the pictures of past events are more vivid than those of recent
occurrence. We should be permitted to add that the work is a
labor of love, undertaken and published wholly at the expense
of the writer, with little prospect of reward, but he is abundantly
satisfied if he has succeeded in casting an added light upon the
fading pages of the past.
Fas.) ae ‘i ap hs oe Nate theta
1 ee oe : ! r we it) '
7 i rai i iF ie i “iS es
, * ny ‘ My ? mo i a. wh ;
an in ins re,
i
ht
{
be,
Ay Bid)
ee
rie:
Ree
i ; y
Hy My \
Nu Dh
t Ane i
maces |;
* if
tu
7s
.
sa
= a pan.-" ——" a = ae
= =
-,
a
_
Ie ma , = a
RY CIN
MIL
14 884 2
|
UI