In April 1737, the several grantees met. The township was rechristened "New
Amesbury," in honor of the home of the larger number of the proprietors, and by June
of the following year the allotments had been made and sixty-three house-lots, containing
about five acres each, had been laid out. These lots were near the extreme southeast part
of the town, at what is now called Davisville, where are located several excellent mill
privileges. On March 21, 1739, the proprietors "Voted to pay Orlando Colby,
Joseph Jewell and John Challis, Jr., 120 pounds in Province bills of the old tenor to
build a good saw-mill." The mill was erected in 1740. It was at
Davisville. The men
who built it camped near the stone watering-tough below that village. In the hut which
they used as a camp the proprietors held their first meeting in town, May 28, 1740. At
this meeting Joseph Jewell was chosen moderator and Ezekiel Morrill clerk. These were the
first men elected to office in Warner.
Strong inducements were held forth to colonists, twenty pounds being offered by the
proprietors to each man who would settle upon the conditions of the grant. As late as
1749, however, only four house had been built on the five-acre building lots in
Davisville. These houses stood some distance west of the store at the corner, stretching
along on the five-acre lots. The persons who built them were Thomas Colby, Moses Morrill,
Jarvis Ring and Gideon Straw. The beginning of the French and Indian War put an end for
the time to all projects for settlement. The sawmill and the cabins were destroyed by the
Indians and the progress of civilization was stayed for a dozen years.
During the time that this first settlement was going out in smoke and ashes the
Masonian proprietors granted the territory to seventy-six men, mostly residents of Rye and
Newcastle. Many of these grantees bore the name of Jenness, and the town was accordingly
sometimes called Jennesstown. A sharp controversy now arose between. the Amesbury
proprietors and the inhabitants of Rye, which assumed at one time a serious aspect. The
question was finally settled by arbitration in 1769, the Amesbury proprietors agreeing to
pay a certain sum for a quitclaim. Controversy still continued as to the sum to be paid,
but it was ended in 1773 by the decision of the arbitrators, who awarded one hundred and
forty pounds. The General Court of Massachusetts, to remunerate the Amesbury proprietors
for their loss, gave them one-half of the townships of Solon and Poland, in Maine.
The terms of this grant from the Rye proprietors to the Amesbury proprietors indicate
the same care for religion. and education which was noticed in the charter granted by
Massachusetts. Some of these terms were that the grantees lay out three rights or shares
of land-one for the use of the first minister of the gospel who should be ordained or
settle there; one for the use of the ministry in the town forever; and one for the use of
a school, for and towards the support thereof forever; each of said rights to be laid out
in lots as the grantees manage the other rights, and to be free from the charge of
settlement or any public taxes to that end." Also, "that they build a
meeting-house and maintain constant preaching there from and after the term of three years
from the date thereof."
The first permanent settlement was made in 1762 by Daniel Annis and his sons-in-law,
Reuben Kimball and Daniel Floyd. Mr Annis' house was in Dimond's Corner District, on the
north side of the highway, a little west of the Paine Davis buildings. Reuben Kimball at
first lived near by, on the south side of the highway, some twenty rods from where it now
runs. Daniel Floyd (or Flood), afterwards known as Captain Floyd, lived on what is now
Denny Hill. Annis, Kimball and Floyd all came in under the Rye proprietors and had
probably lived in the neighborhood of Rye. Hannah, daughter of Daniel Annis and wife of
Reuben Kimball, came into Warner in 1762. She was the first English female who ever lived
here, and her son Daniel, born October, 1762, was the first English child born in town.
Mrs. Kimball died in Warner February 23, 1823, aged eighty three. Daniel Kimball died in
Enfield July 29,1843, aged eighty years.
In 1763 the proprietors voted to give each of the first ten settlers a forty-acre lot
of upland and five acres of intervals. Some engaged to settle on these on similar
conditions. Isaac Waldron, his two sons, Isaac, Jr., and Theodore, and Paskey
Pressey,
came in early in 1763. We cannot name the exact order in which the settlers came
afterwards. At the end of 1763 those named above and the following persons, with their
families, constituted the population: Thomas Annis (from whom Lake Tom took its name),
Moses Annis, Solomon Annis, David Bagley (who was town clerk thirty-nine years, holding
office for a longer period than any other man in town), Enoch Blaisdell, Elijah
Blaisdell,
Isaac Chase, Daniel Chase, Abner Chase, Joseph Currier, Daniel Currier, Theophilus
Currier, Moses Clark, Hubbard Carter, Moses Colby, Francis Davis, Daniel Flanders,
Ebenezer Eastman, Stephen Edmunds, Eliphalet Danforth, James, Christopher and Philip
Flanders, Jeremy Fowler, Joseph Foster, Jonathan Fifield, Seth, Richard and Ezekiel
Goodwin, Robert Gould, Nehemiah Heath, Barnard Hoyt, David Gilmore, Samuel Roby, Theodore
Stevens; Thomas Rowell, Jos. Sawyer, Jonathan Smith, Jacob Tucker, Nathaniel
Trumball,
Parmenas Watson, Daniel Young and Abner Watkins.
These settlers, so far as we are able to ascertain, resided as follows: Davis and
Gilmore lived at Davisville; Thomas Annis, Moses Annis, Solomon Annis and
Fifield,
at Dimond's Corner; Smith and Bagley, at Bagley's Bridge; Heath, Hoyt, Joseph Currier
Daniel and Christopher Flanders, at the Lower village; Watson Fowler, Moses Clark, and
Daniel Currier, at Joppa; Roby, Trumball, Philip Flanders and Seth Goodwin, at
Schoodach;
Joseph Sawyer, Abner Chase and Richard Goodwin, on Kelly Hill; Joseph Foster, in the
Kimball District; Gould, Stevens, Rowell, Theodore Currier and Ezekiel Goodwin, on
Waldron's Hill; Moses Colby and James Flanders, on Burnt Hill; Isaac Chase, on Pumpkin
Hill; Edmunds and Carter, on Tory Hill; Abner Watkins, in the Gore; Daniel Young, at the
Levi Bartlett place, on the Joppa road; and Jacob Tucker, near the site of tile Kearsarge
Hotel, at the Center village. By 1770 about fifty-five families were settled in Warner, or
New Amesbury, as it was then called.
The habits of the early settlers, their privations, sufferings and endurance, possess a
fascinating interest. Their first dwellings were rude and simple. As late as 1773 there
were none but log houses. David Bagley built the first frame house at Bagley's Bridge, a
little after this date. Francis Davis and Ruben Kimball built the next earliest; Mr.
Kimball also built the first frame barn. Rev. William Kelley, the first settled minister,
erected the first two-story frame house in 1774. Money was scarce; watches and clocks were
few. When houses were built, compasses were set to square them by, so that the sun might
shine in at the front doors when it was noon. They had also nine o'clock marks, one
o'clock marks and others. These rude timepieces, of course, were available only on sunny
days.
The fare of the first inhabitants was plain and simple. Bean porridge, Indian corn,
rye, pumpkins, turnips, fish and game were the most common articles of food. One barrel of
potatoes was considered a large quantity for one family to store for winter use.
Sometimes, when provisions were scarce in the summer-time, boiled beech leaves were
substituted. For a number of years after the place was settled the people went to Concord
to grind their corn, drawing it upon hand-sleds or carrying it upon their shoulders.
Captain Daniel Floyd used to carry two bushels at a time on his shoulders to that place,
and bring it back in the same way. Another settler, Jacob Collins, carried the board; of
which to build his rye-bins on bis shoulders from Waterloo, through the woods and over the
hills, the edge of Bradford, because no team could go by tile wood-path. The first grist
and saw-mills were erected in 1765, and they stood at Davisville.
Some of the first roads laid out in town were the main road to Perrytown (now Sutton),
which ran over Denny Hill and south of Frank Bartlett's, crossing the Tory Hill road about
a third of a mile up; the road to the North village, by the first meeting house and Levi
Bartlett's; the one from the first meeting house, by Kimball's-Corner and the Major Hoyt
Place to Henniker; the one through Joppa; the one through Schoodach, which crossed the
river at Bagley's Bridge; and the Pumpkin and Burnt Hill roads. The first bridge
built in town was across the river at the Lower village. It was built in the autumn of
1774, and a part of its cost-forty dollars was contributed by Councilors Daniel and
Jonathan Warner, of Portsmouth.
The first public meeting of the inhabitants of the town was held December 27, 1770. At
another meeting held July 14, 1774, among other actions it was "Voted that
Captain Francis Davis shall go and get the town incorporated, if the Proprietors will find
the money to do it with." The proprietors were accordingly consulted, who found the
necessary funds, and a petition was drawn up asking for a charter and praying that the
town be named Amesbury. Ezekiel Evans, of Salisbury, Mass., agent for the proprietors, and
Captain Davis, who was also a proprietor, together journeyed to Portsmouth and presented
their petition to Governor Wentworth and his Council. They secured a charter, but the
Governor and Council named the new borough Warner. This was by no means an exceptional
case, as Governor Wentworth named several other towns to please himself and honor his
friends, regardless of the wishes of the inhabitants or proprietors. The town was
incorporated September 3, 1774, receiving its name in honor of Hon. Jonathan Warner, of
Portsmouth, the Governor's most intimate friend, his cousin by marriage and a member of
the Royal Council.
The Corporate Town. -
The first
town-meeting of the legal town of Warner was called a month later, October 4, 1774. The
first civil officers of the town as elected that day were as follows, viz.: Moderator,
Isaac Chase; town clerk, Daniel Flanders; selectmen, Daniel Floyd, Jacob Waldron and Isaac
Chase. The number of voters at that time was forty-eight; the population was probably in
the vicinity of two hundred and thirty souls. The records of the Committee of Safety,
published December, 1775, furnish some interesting facts as to the population at the
breaking out of the Revolution. By the census ordered to be taken by the Provincial
Convention held at Exeter, August 25th of that year, Warner had, of white
males, 78 under sixteen years of age, 45 between the ages of sixteen and fifty not in the
army, and 6 above fifty, 126 females and one Negro, -- total, 262. Ten men from Warner had
joined the patriot army before Boston. The town reported twenty-one fire-arms fit for
service, and twenty-six instances in which fire-arms were wanting. At a town meeting held
that summer the inhabitants had "Voted that the selectmen should provide
powder, lead and flints for a town stock, and as many fire-arms as should be found wanting
in town." At another meeting held at the meetinghouse on the old parade, August 3,
1775, Captain Francis Davis, Captain Daniel Floyd and Daniel Annis, Sr., were chosen a
Committee of Safety.
Warner sent no representatives to the General Assembly of the province or the State
until 1776, the first election for that purpose being held November 19th of
that year. Captain Francis Davis was their chosen; in 1777, Daniel Morrill; and in 1778,
Captain Daniel Floyd. The General Assembly met in those days at Exeter. Representatives to
that body were required by law to possess real estate to the value of two hundred pounds,
lawful money. The following is a list of those who have served as representatives of the
town from 1779 to 1885:
Thomas Rowell, 1779; Isaac Chase, 1780; Captain Tappan Evans, 1781; Nathaniel Bean,
1782-83; Captain Francis Davis, 1784; Warner, Sutton and Fishersfield elected Mathew
Harvey, of Sutton, representative in 1785; the same towns elected Zephaniah Clark, of
Fishersfield, in 1786; the three towns elected James Flanders, of Warner, in 1787-89 (this
was the end of the class representative business; hereafter Warner elected and sent her
own representative, as before); James Flanders, 1790-94; Aquilla Davis, 1795-98; Joseph
Bartlett, 1799-1801; Aquilla Davis, 1802-5; James Flanders, 1806-7 ; Richard Bartlett,
1808-11; Benjamin Evans, 1812 ; Richard Bartlett, 1813 ; Benjamin Evans, 1814; Philip
Flanders, 1815 ; Henry B. Chase, 1816-17 ; Benjamin Evans, 1818 -19; Richard Bartlett,
1820 ; James Bean, 1821 ; Benjamin Evans, James Bean, 1822; Benjamin Evans, Henry D.
Chase, 1823; Henry B. Chase, Abner B. Kelley, 1824; Timothy Flanders, Caleb
Buswell, 1825;
Benjamin Evans, Daniel George, 1826 ; Benjamin Evans, Abner B. Kelley, 1827-28 ; Abner B.
Kelley, Nathan S. Colby, 1829 ; Nathan S. Colby, Zebulon Davis, 1830; Zebulon Davis,
Benjamin E. Harriman 1831; Benjamin E. Harriman, Daniel Jones, 1832; Daniel Jones, Nathan
S. Colby, 1833; Nathan S. Colby, Timothy Davis, 1834; Timothy Davis, Philip Colby, Jr.,
1835; Philip Colby, Jr., Mitcbell Gilmore, Jr.,1836; Mitcbell Gilmore, Jr., Nathan Davis,
1837; Nathan Davis, Abner Woodman, 1838; Abner Woodman, Abner Watkins, 1839; Abner
Watkins, Asa Pattee, 1840; Asa Pattee, Robert Thompson, 1841; Robert Thompson, John
Stewart, 1842; H. D. Robertson, Robert Thompson, 1843; H. D. Robertson, Enos Collins,
1844; Enos Collins, Daniel Bean, Jr., 1845; none elected, 1846; James M. Harriman, Daniel
Bean, Jr., 1847; J. M Harriman, Franklin Simonds, 1848; Franklin Simonds, Walter Harriman,
1849; Walter Harriman, George A. Pillsbury, 1850; George A. Pillsbury, Leonard Eaton,
1851; Leonard Eaton, H. H. Harriman, 1852 ;H. D. Robertson, Ira Harvey, 1853; H. D.
Robertson, Levi Collins, 1854; Levi Collins, Benjamin C. Davis, 1855; Benjamin C. Davis,
Lewis Holmes, 1856; Lewis Holmes, Samuel W. Colby, I857; Samuel W. Colby, Walter Harriman,
1858, Cummings Marshall, Ephraim M. Dunbar, 1859; C. Marshall, E. M. Dunbar, 1860;
Augustine N. Harriman, Stephen C. Pattee, 1861-62; John P. Colby, Hezekiah B. Harriman,
1863-64; Elijah R. Gilmore, John Rogers. 1865; Samuel Davis, Moses J. Collins, 1867-68;
Christopher G. McAlpine, Lemuel W. Collins, 1869-70; Charles Currier, Moses D. Wheeler,
1871-72; John E. Robertson, John W. Clement, 1873; John H. Dowlin, Nehemiah G. Ordway,
1875-76; N. G. Ordway, Henry C. Davis, 1877; Henry 0. Davis, 1878; Augustus R. Putnam,
1880; Harlan S. Willis, 1882; none elected, 1884.
Of the value of money, land and labor during the early history of the town, a few facts
gleaned from the town records and other sources will give one a good understanding. It
should be premised that the "pounds" spoken of in the early records was in the
"new tenor" currency, which was six shillings to a dollar. A pound, therefore,
was equal to $3.33, and a shilling to sixteen and two-thirds cents. One stipulation made
in regard to Rev. Mr. Kelley's salary in 1771 was to give him one hundred dollars in
labor, at two shillings and six-pence (forty-one and two-thirds cents) per day, or, if
dinners were found, then two shillings (thirty-three and one-third cents) per day. Work on
the highways was reckoned at three shillings (fifty cents) per day in 1785. March 22,
1791, the town voted to reckon work on the highways as follows:
December 28, 1797, the town voted to allow men for work in building bridges two
shillings per day till April 1st and after that three shillings per day until
the bridges were finished. February 8, 1798, it was voted to pay minute-men enlisted by
the town enough to make up to them ten dollars per month while they did duty, including
what they were allowed by Congress.
Several lots of land, varying from forty to eighty acres, were sold at public auction
for non-payment of taxes in 1784, for which prices were paid varying from six-pence to one
shilling- per acre, with taxes and costs.
At a similar sale, in 1797, different lots were sold at five cents, seventeen cents,
thirty-one, forty-one, sixty and a dollar and fifty-four cents per acre. Twenty lots were
sold in the same way in January and February, 1812, the average price being twenty cents.
In 1782 the furnishing of the twenty cords of wood, which were a part of Rev. William
Kelley's salary, was struck off to the lowest bidder, as follows: Ten cords to Esq. Joseph
Sawyer, at forty shillings and six-pence (seventy-five cents) per cord; five to Francis
Ferrin at four shillings and five-pence; and five to the same at five shillings (or
eighty-three and a half cents).
When the first pound was built, in 1798, which, by popular vote, was to be thirty feet
square and seven feet high, of green white-pine logs, with the bark taken off, with a
white-oak door and a heavy lock, its building, and providing all the materials was struck
off to Tappan Evans for ten dollars and a half, all of a quarter less for what it could be
built for now. At the close of the last century a girl's wages were two shillings a week
and board. The commonest quality of calico was four shillings a yard, so that a woman
could no more than pay for a dress by three months of hard labor. In the year 1788 wheat
was rated in Concord at seven shillings per bushel, Indian corn at four shillings,
potatoes at one shilling, cheese at six-pence per pound and stall-fed beef at four-pence.
The census statistics of Warner from the close of the Revolution to the census of 1880
will show the period of its greatest growth and likewise of its decline. The increase for
the first decade was remarkable, and that of the second as much so, the population nearly
doubling in each instance. The large increase between 1810 and 1820 must, in part,
be attributed to the annexation of the Gore in 1818, the population of that territory
being one hundred and twenty-five persons by the census of 1810. The population of the
town has been constantly decreasing since 1825, though at the present time there are more
voters than at any previous period. Population in 1783 was 458; 1790, 863; 1800, 1,569;
1810, 1838; 1820, 2446; 1830, 2221; 1840, 2139; 1850, 2038; 1860, 1970; 1870, 1667; 1880,
1537.
Upon looking at the map Of Warner one will see a narrow neck of land stretching
northward, like a mason's apron, between Sutton and Salisbury, till it reaches the Wilmot
and Andover lines. This territory constitutes the famous Kearsarge Gore. It originally
stretched over the mountain northward to the present site of Wilmot Center. Up to the year
1807 this Gore was a sort of a town by itself, the inhabitants holding their own
town-meetings and electing officers like any corporate organization. When Wilmot was
incorporated, in June, 1807, the new township took a third of its territory from the Gore.
The description of its boundaries on this side reads as follows in the charter of
incorporation: "Also all the lands and inhabitants within said Kearsarge Gore, north
of a straight line beginning it the southwest corner of Andover; thence running westerly
to the highest part of said mountain; thence westerly to Sutton line." The territory
on the south side of the mountain continued separate until 1818, when, by an act of the
State Legislature, approved June 13th, the Gore, with the inhabitants thereof,
was annexed to Warner. By this the fine mountain of Kearsarge, its glorious bold summit,
overlooking the whole central and southern part of the State, became, to all intents and
purposes, our mountain.
The first post-office was established in Warner in 1810, at the Lower village, then the
chief business centre of the town. Henry B. Chase, who was appointed postmaster at that
time, held the office till 1817, when he was succeeded by Dr. Henry Lyman. Levi Bartlett
was appointed to succeed Dr. Lyman in 1825 and held the office until 1830, when it was
discontinued. An office meanwhile had been instituted at Waterloo, with Philip Colby Jr.,
as postmaster. In 1830 this office and the one at the Lower village were consolidated and
established at the Center village, when Harrison D. Robertson was made postmaster. Mr.
Robertson was succeeded as follows: George A. Pillsbury, 1844; William Carter, Jr., 1849;
Gilman 0. Sanborn, 1851; Abner B. Kelley, 1855; Hiram Buswell, 1861; E. H. Carroll, 1877;
E. C. Cole, 1884; Lloyd H. Adams, 1885. In 1865 a post-office was reestablished at
Waterloo, which was discontinued after two years. Walter H. Bean and T. Leavitt Dowlin
served successively as postmasters. In 1885 another office was established at the same
place, with Roger Gage as postmaster. In 1871 an office was established at Roby's Corner
and Moses H. Roby was appointed postmaster. In 1884 offices were established at Melvin's
Mills, W. Tappan Melvin as postmaster, and at Bagley's Bridge, Fred. H. Savory as
postmaster. 1885 an office was also established at Davisville, with Moses Twitchell as
postmaster, making six post-offices in town.
The Simonds Free High School
was established in 1871. It received its name from Hon. Franklin Simonds left the bulk of
his property for this purpose. Mr Simonds died in 1869 and Mrs. Simonds the following
year.
At a legal meeting of the inhabitants at the town hall, March 18, 1871, the following
resolution was adopted by unanimous vote:
"Resolved, That the Town of Warner, in view of the bequests of Franklin Simonds,
late of Warner, of twenty thousand dollars, and of Abigail Warner, of five thousand
dollars as a fund, the income for the purpose of a high school, establish a high school,
and that said town be and hereby is constituted a high school district, including the
whole territory of said town."
The following summer a brick school building was erected on a pleasant site, and in
December the school was opened. The building cost about ten thousand dollars. The
succession of principals have been as follows: E. C. Cole, 1871; N. N. Atkinson, 1874;
William Goldthwaite, 1876; E. H. Farnsworth, 1880; Charles A. Strout, 1881; H. S. Roberts,
1884.
A home fair was inaugurated in Warner, in 1871, by several of the leading farmers.
During two years the exhibitions were at the town hall and in the street. In 1873, Hon. N.
G. Ordway laid out twelve acres of land near the village for a fair-ground, erected
buildings and stalls and made a race-course. River Bow Park Association was incorporated
by the Legislature in 1875. The association, which embraces a dozen or fourteen towns
around Kearsarge Mountain, purchased the grounds and buildings in 1876 and have held
several successful fairs at the place. In the summer-time the park is open and is used as
a driving resort by the citizens.
The Kearsarge Mountain Road
Company was chartered in 1866. For several years the company endeavored to
secure the co-operation of the town in building a road to the summit of the mountain, but
unsuccessfully. At the Presidential election in November, 1872, a resolution was
introduced by S. C. Pattee, authorizing and instructing the selectmen to subscribe for and
hold, in the name of the town, twenty shares, of the value of one hundred dollars each, of
the stock of the Kearsarge Road Company, provided, however, that the foregoing resolution
shall not be binding on the town until said road is completed, or until responsible
parties shall furnish a bond to the satisfaction of the selectmen, to build said road,
without further assistance from the town. An amendment proposed by Major Samuel Davis,
providing " that the town have two-fifths of the five directors, and that the first
and second selectmen shall be ex-officio said directors," was adopted. The
resolution, thus amended, passed. Subsequently N.G. Ordway and William E. Chandler
furnished a bond in the sum of four thousand dollars to complete the mountain road,
without expense to the town beyond the appropriation of two thousand dollars, and binding
themselves to finish the road on or before the 1st day of June, 1874, a point some eight
rods below the summit of Mount Kearsarge, the selectmen for the town coming under
obligation to pay over the two thousand dollars on these conditions.
Work was begun on the new road in the fall of 1873, and by June, 1874, the five miles
were completed, a wide roadway being made from Hurricane Gate to the top of the mountain.
July 4th of the same year the road was formally opened, a large crowd being
present, and addresses being made by Hon. N. G. Ordway, Hon. W. E. Chandler, Hon. M. W.
Tappan, Robert Thompson, Esq., and Hon. Walter Harriman.
In 1876 there was a decisive change of political opinion
in the town. Warner had always been a Democratic town, and in some years had been the
banner town of the Democracy in New Hampshire. In 1838 the town gave a majority of 311
votes for Isaac Hill, which was the largest given him by any town in the State. From the
beginning of the century the Democratic vote of the town had averaged 150 in excess of the
opposite party, sometimes no opposition being recorded. But after the formation of the
Republican party the Democratic majority was constantly reduced. In 1854, the vote for
Governor was as follows: For N. B. Baker, Democratic, 257; Jared Perkins, 75; James Bell,
24. In 1874 the vote stood as follows: James A. Weston, Democratic, 242; Luther
McCutchins, 172. In 1875, Hiram R. Roberts, Democratic, had 238 votes; Person C. Cheney,
202. In 1876, Person C. Cheney had 253 votes; Daniel Marcy, 222; giving the Republican
candidate a majority of 31. For the first time in the history of the town the Board of
Selectmen was Republican, and one, of the representatives to the General Court was also a
Republican. In 1878 the Democrats regained the board of Selectmen, and at the
gubernatorial election Frank McKean, Democrat, received 247 votes, while Natt Head
received 272 votes. Since then the Democrats have carried all the town elections, though
most of the biennial elections have gone Republican by a small majority.
Warner being such a Democratic strong-hold, it was perfectly natural that her leading
citizens should play prominent parts in the politics of the county and the State. We wish
to notice a few who in their day and generation " strutted upon the stage,"
acting part at home and abroad that recalls the Scriptural statement, " There were
giants in those days." One of the most prominent men of the last century was Hon.
James Flanders, who lived on Burnt Hill, between the Clough and Bartlett places, the
buildings having long since been taken down. He was a native of Danville, N.H., and came
to Warner about the close of the Revolutionary War. He was by occupation a farmer and
cordwainer, but was almost constantly in public life. He was repeatedly moderator of the
town meetings, was representative several years to the General Court, both of Warner alone
and of the three classified towns-Warner, Sutton and Fishersfield (now Newbury). Beginning
with 1794 and ending with 1803, he was State-Senator from his district every year
excepting 1799, when Colonel Henry Gerrish, of Boscawen, was elected, and during all this
time was a leading man in the councils of the State. His large natural abilities, his
sound judgment, his talent as a speaker, gave him an influence much greater than that
exercised by men of larger culture and education.
The man of the most commanding influence in town during the first of the present
century was Hon. Henry B. Chase, who came to Warner from Cornish, N. H., in 1805, and
practiced law at the Lower village. He represented Warner several years in the Legislature
of the State, and in 1817 was the Speaker of the House. He was the first postmaster of the
town, and in 1823 was elected the first resister of Probate for Merrimack, County, serving
in that office until 1840. His reputation as a sound lawyer was second to none in the
State. Mr. Chase died in 1854, aged seventy-seven years. Another of the "giants"
of that period was Hon. Benjamin Evans, son of Tappan Evans, one of the early proprietors
of the town. He was born in Newburyport, Mass., but was, during the greater part of his
life, a citizen of Warner. He was a man of the Benjamin Pierce stamp, and, like him, was a
power in his own town and in the State. He had great business capacity, and though his
education was limited, his energy, penetration and sound judgment were untiring and
unerring. The town elected him its representative several times; in 1830 he was elected
Senator in old District No. 8, and in 1836 and 1837 he was in the Council of Governor
Hill. In 1838 he was solicited to run as Democratic candidate for Governor of the State,
but because of his advanced age he refused the honor, at a time when a nomination was
practically an election. From l838 to 1843 he held the office of sheriff of Merrimack
County, resigning the same a few months before his death. Hon. Reuben Porter, the
son-in-law of "Squire Evans," was a man of influence in his day; served as
selectman in both Warner and Sutton he resided at the latter place a few years; was
representative from Sutton, and was elected Senator in District No. 8 in 1834 and 1835.
Robert Thompson, Esq., has been a prominent man in the county for many years, and Major
Samuel Davis is a marked man in his party in the State.
The era of greatest prosperity in Warner was undoubtedly from 1820 to 1850. The town
had reached the acme of its populousness at the beginning of this period, and that
enterprise and activity which make the prosperity of a municipality was just then
beginning, to operate in a large measure. There was more wealth then in the town, although
that fact is not shown by the amount of valuation as recorded in the town-books. We must
remember that one dollar in 1825 was certainly worth two at the present day. There were
not so many horses in town in 1820 as now, but there was a greater number of oxen, cows
and sheep. Farms were more productive. Every farmer raised his own corn, flour and hay.
There was a greater number of useful industries. Every brook turned one or more
water-wheels, and there were sixteen mills and factories on Warner River and its
tributaries. More money was brought into tile town thin was carried out; the stores and
taverns did a prosperous business, and everything was" rushing."
That was the age of style and aristocracy. The village squire, physician, lawyer and
minister lived in a more expensive way than their neighbors. Their houses were statelier,
they wore richer clothes, had the foremost seats in public places and were recognized as
beings of a superior order. These old patricians, like Dr. Lyman, Hon. Henry B. Chase,
Major George and "Squire Evans," constituted a class by themselves. Their
influence was great, and they practically ruled the town. They expended liberally of their
means for the good of the town, and they set the tide a-flowing toward a better and more
elegant way of living. The first piano in town was brought in by Mrs. Herman Foster in
1832. The first two stoves, of the James patent, were introduced and used by H. G. Harris,
Esq., and Elliot C. Badger, in 1825. The first brass door-knocker was put on the residence
of Rev. Jubilee Wellman, about the year 1830. A few of the "best families" used
carpets as early as 1816.
One of the causes which operated to develop Warner industries and stimulate activity
was the building of several new roads. Highways
may be considered as an excellent standard of civilization. In fact, there is no better
physical sign or symbol by which to understand an age or people than the road. The savage
has no roads. His trails through the forest, where men on foot can move only in single
file, are marked by the blazing of trees. In half-civilized lands, where law is weak and
society insecure, wheeled vehicles are seldom seen, and roads are obstructed, rather than
opened. The strength and enterprise of men are utilized in fortifying themselves against
the invasion of danger. Huge castles are built on inaccessible rocks, walled cities cover
the plain, and horses and mules offer the only means or transportation and communication,
by which, along rude bridle-paths, the traveler and the merchant are conveyed from one
country to another. It is only civilized art that constructs a royal highway or a
magnificent railroad, and by these means offers conveyance for men and goods over rugged
steeps along frightful precipices by routes once deemed superable. Roads are the ducts of
trade, and commerce is one of the pillars of a civilized State. No nation can become great
without intercourse with its surrounding States, and necessarily roads must be built.
Something can be learned of the status of society, of the culture of a people, of the
enlightenment of a government, by visiting university and libraries, churches, palaces and
the docks of trader but quite as much more by looking at the roads. For, if there is any
material or art enterprise in a nation, or any vitality to a government, it will always be
indicated by the highway, the type of civilized motion lid prosperity. All creative
action, whether in government, industry, thought or religion, constructs roads.
Prior to 1820 Warner had no highway leading directly
west; consequently no great degree of travel passed through the town. Reposing in the deep
valley, shut in almost on all sides by high hills, Warner seemed to be cut adrift from the
rest of the world. It was distant from all the great lines of travel, and, in fact, the
travel that might naturally have come to the town was diverted from it by those very
lines. The turnpikes had been the exciting topic for several years, the craze in this
State beginning in 1795 and culminating twenty years afterwards. Fifty-three turnpike
companies were incorporated in this State, and the enterprise wrought a revolution in
public travel, relatively, nearly as great as that brought about by the railroad system
between 1840 and 1850. The second New Hampshire turnpike road, which was incorporated
December 26, 1799, ran from Claremont through Unity, Lempster, Washington, Marlow,
Hillsborough, Antrim, Deering, Francestown, Lyndeborough, New Boston, Mont Vernon and to
Amherst. It was fifty miles in length, and took, of course, all the travel that passed
west and south of our town. The following year the fourth New Hampshire turnpike was
incorporated and laid out. (The third New Hampshire turnpike road, running from Bellows
Falls and Walpole, through Westmoreland Surry, Keene and Jaffrey, towards Boston, was
incorporated December 27, 1799.) This turnpike was at the north and east of Warner, and
extended from Lebanon, through Enfield, Andover, Salisbury and Boscawen, to the Merrimack
River, thus opening the means of communication between the two great river valleys.
It will be seen that these two routes combined to turn the public travel directly from
Warner. The condition of affairs aroused the attention of certain of the enterprising
business men of the town, and they devised a way to remedy it. The only road leading any
way west was the old Perrytown highway, laid out in the early period of the settlement,
which went over Kimball's Hill (now Eaton Grange) to South Sutton and Sunapee and
Claremont, and thence into Vermont. Just beyond Eaton Grange, at what was called the old
Potash, a road branched off from the Perrytown highway which led to North Sutton,
Springfield, Hanover and White River Junction. Both of these roads were indirect and
exceedingly hilly, and consequently not very inviting to the traveler. A committee of the
leading citizens of Warner, Bradford and Fishersfield (now Newbury) met in consultation,
and after a thorough examination of the ground, decided to lay out and construct a road
from the head of Sunapee Lake to Bradford, thus opening a convenient route from Windsor,
Vt., through the Sugar and Warner River valleys to Concord. There was one obstacle in the
way: the people of Fishersfield were so poor that they did not feel able to construct
their part of the road. What was to be done? Warner necessarily would be benefited more
than any other town by this new road. Our citizens saw this, and a number of them took
hold of the affair of their own freewill, and without any vote of the town or any help
from the municipality. Several of the most able and enterprising men, including Benjamin
Evans, Daniel Bean, Sr., and John E. Kelley, accordingly drove to Fisherfield, took their
families and plenty of provisions, and boarding in an old school-house, labored there for
weeks, giving their labor and "finding themselves." Before the autumn of 1821
the road was completed.
The result was all that its designers could wish. It turned a portion of the travel
which had formerly passed around Warner on either side along this new thoroughfare. It
became a stage-route, connecting Western New Hampshire with Concord and Boston by the
shortest and most easily accessible way. Travel poured in abundantly, and Warner became a
grand centre and halting-place for the caravans of people and merchandise. During nearly a
decade of years the travel was unchecked, and the individuals who had labored so hard and
expended so liberally of time, and money found themselves amply recompensed both in the
increased prosperity of the town and in their own natural share of the general prosperity.
In 1830 the adjacent town of Henniker on the south went to road-building, and
constructed a good highway from Bradford to Weare, thus devising a nearer cut from the
west to Nashua and Lowell on the south. This as effectively diverted the travel from
Warner as water would be turned from a barrel by knocking out its head. Warner people did
not, however, give up the battle, but went to work to tap the channel of travel from the
west, higher up on the Connecticut. To do this, it was necessary to construct a new
highway through Sutton, New London and Springfield, to intercept the stream of travel that
naturally poured along the fourth New Hampshire turnpike. The road was laid out in 1831, a
serpent's trail from Hanover, through Springfield, New London, Sutton, Warner and
Hopkinton, to Concord. The town of Hopkinton shortened the line by building the Bassett
Mill road. Springfield and New London did their part, but Pike's Ledge in Sutton was so
formidable that the people of that town refused to take hold of the enterprise. Again the
spirit and the enterprise of the citizens of Warner met and overcame the dilemma. These
citizens met the authorities of the town of Sutton, and gave a bond holding them to the
building of two hundred and nine rods of their part of the road, if the town would do the
rest. So the work went on. The first ten rods were built by Henry B. Chase, the second ten
rods by Harrison G. Harris. Benjamin Evans built forty rods and his son-in-law, Nathan S.
Colby, built forty rods. Robert Thompson built five rods. Levi Bartlett four rods. Zebulon
Davis two rods. Daniel Runels two rods, and Daniel and Stephen George constructed the road
over the formidable Pike's Ledge. The road was finished that fall, and Robert Thompson,
Esq., of Warner, was the first person to drive over it in a carriage.
A route was now established as the shortest and most feasible from the north and
northwest to the growing cities of Massachusetts; but Warner was not yet satisfied. To
still further increase the tendency of travel in this direction, it was determined to put
on a flying stage-coach line which would carry passengers from Hanover to Lowell in one
day. Many said it could not be done; others thought differently. Nathan Walker, an
"old whip," subsequently the second landlord of the Warner and Kearsarge Hotel,
made one trip, going through in the time specified, but concluded he did not care for the
job. The next year the route was purchased by Major Daniel George, and his son Henry drove
the stage for a number of years. Afterwards Moses E. Gould, of Bradford, took the reins,
and continued the business until the opening of the Concord and Claremont Railroad in
1849.
This stage-route was one of the best and most successful lines in the country. It
became the main thoroughfare of travel from the Canadas to Boston, and the stream of
business that poured along the road was enormous. Every town along the route was benefited
by it. Stores sprung up and hotels were built, for where there is travel and motion there
must be life. In Warner alone there were eight licensed taverns doing business at one
time. Those were busy prosperous days.
Public-Houses in Warner. -
Washington
Irving, in his ever-delightful " Sketch-Book," tells the story of his quest for
the immortal Boar's Head Tavern, East Cheap, London, where Shakespeare made his
"roystering crew" to gather,--Falstaff, Prince Hal, Bardolph, Dame Quickly,
Ancient Pistol and their memorable confrères in the drunken bout and social
strife. The history of the first inn or hostelry in Warner would be nearly as interesting
as the story of the Boar's Head told by this inimitable sketch-writer. The town had been
settled four years when it was built. It was made of logs and combined the uses of a
tavern and dwelling-house. Jacob Hoyt was the pleasant Boniface of this early hostelry. In
1775 Landlord Hoyt erected a frame house in place of the, one of logs, and this, in turn,
was displaced in the beginning of this century by a large two-story house, which had all
the, appointments of a country hotel. The successors of Mr. Hoyt, as taverners at this
place, were Dr. John Currier, Richard Pattee and William Carter. The old stand was finally
sold to Samuel Brooks, who took down the sign and made it a private residence. It was
removed about 1862, and not even the cellar remains to show the spot where the first
travelers through Warner were hospitably entertained.
The first hotel was built at the Lower village; the second stood at the Centre. It was
built by Captain Asa Pattee, of Haverhill, Mass., who settled in Warner directly after the
close of the Revolution. It was the first frame house erected in that village. Captain
Pattee sold the stand to Daniel Whitman, who kept open house here until after 1812.
Captain Joseph Smith purchased it for a private residence, and it has been occupied since
his day successively by Dr. Caleb Buswell and Dr. Leonard Eaton. While the Lower village
was still the " Centre" of the town, another hotel was opened at the opposite
end from the old Hoyt tavern. It stood a little below the John Tewksbury place, on the
opposite side of the highway, and was kept by John E. Kelley, a nephew of the first
minister. A store occupied one end. The whole stand was burned January 16, 1828.
At Waterloo stood the fourth house used as a tavern in town. The leading family at this
flourishing borough were the Beans. They owned the mills there and carried on a large
farm. Daniel Bean, a son of Nathaniel Bean, who was prominent as an early settler, built a
commodious mansion about 1804, which was kept open for a tavern near a score and a half of
years. It is now occupied by a son of the founder, Dolphus S. Bean.
In the fall of 1828, Major Daniel George, who had purchased the timber procured to
rebuild the Kelly house, erected a building for a hotel at the lower end of the North
Lower village. This was kept by Major George for a number of years, and subsequently by
Ebenezer Watson. This hotel and two or three adjoining buildings were destroyed by fire
near the year 1846. Colonel Richard Straw, who lived in that section of the town called
Schoodach, was for many years one of the most prominent citizens of Warner, one of the
largest landholders, selectman for several years, colonel in the State militia, prosperous
yeoman and farmer, also kept a hotel, and was a "licensed taverner." His large
mansion-house and inn still stands and is owned and occupied by John Jones.
About 1833, General Aquilla Davis, who had been occupying the old family mansion at
Davisville, erected a stately brick residence on a fine site near his former home, where
he spent the remainder of his days. His son, Nathaniel A. Davis, then converted the old
family mansion into a hotel, which he kept open as long as the public travel required it.
At present it is a private residence, the home of Mrs. N. A. Davis. At Dimond's Corner,
Hiram Dimond, son of Israel, who was farmer, potter and store-keeper, also kept a
public-house. It is still standing a large, old fashioned, red-painted structure, but the
tavern sign has long since been taken in.
The ninth tavern came into existence owing to changes of travel and the building of the
road from Bradford to Henniker. On that road, one mile and, a half from Bradford Pond, and
in the limits of Warner, Joel Howe, somewhere about 1831 or 1832, built a tavern, which he
kept open until the opening of the railroad, in 1849. Most of these hotels did a lucrative
business until the introduction of railroads and the consequent change of travel in this
section.
The tenth hotel had a longer and more eventful history than any other in the town. It
stood in the Centre village, at the corner of Main Street and the road that leads to North
village and the south part of the town. The house was built by Nathan S. Colby, a
prominent citizen, in 1832. It was a large, two story building, with an ell and pleasant
piazzas and hall in the second story, which wall often used by the public. It was a
central stopping-place, and always, very popular with the traveling public. The following
is the list of gentlemen who have entertained the public at the Warner Kearsarge House
since Mr. Colby's régime: Nathan Walker, Messrs. Nevins & Barbour, Joseph
Ferrin, Dudley Bailey George & Charles Rowell, Thomas Tucker, Geo. D. Chadwick, P. B.
Putney, Martin Bartlett, Fred Smith, A. C. Carroll, E. P. Hutchinson and T. B. Underhill.
In 1875, Hon. N. G. Ordway purchased the property and enlarged and remodeled it. Thursday
morning, January 26, 1885, the house and its contents were destroyed by fire. Today the
town is in the same condition that it was in 1765, in having no public-house. Plans are,
however, maturing for the erection of a first-class hotel on the site of the one recently
destroyed.
Warner Village in 1825. -
Future generations
may like to know how our main village looked and who were the dwellers therein sixty years
ago. In this year of grace 1885 there are one hundred and forty buildings in Warner main
village, exclusive of barns; in 1825 there were just forty. Of those who were inhabitants
at that time, only four are living today, namely, Abel Waldron, Mrs. Abner Woodman, Mrs.
Harrison Robertson and Mrs. Ira Harvey. There were no public buildings then on the street,
except the school-house; no bank, no church, no post-office, no hotel, no depot, and only
one store. The Lower Village was still the principal place of business, and there all
public interests centred.
Beginning at the lower end of the street, where School District No. 13 commences, and
where John Tewksbury now lives, resided Deacon David Heath, a prominent citizen and a
deacon of the Congregational Church, which edifice stood a few rods below, On the same
side of the road. The house this side, afterwards occupied by " Parson Wellman,"
and now by Moses Johnson, was owned by Daniel Young, son of a Revolutionary soldier. Mrs.
French's house, at the corner, was the home of Widow Judith Hoyt and her two daughters,
one of whom went as a missionary to Honolulu. After this there was no house westerly for a
quarter of a mile, until we arrive at what is now the McAlpine house. Here lived Thomas
Hackett. Almost opposite, on the site of Hiram Patten's house, stood a vine-covered
cottage, the home of Abraham Currier.
On the site of the John Savory stand was a low, unpainted dwelling, where a Mrs. Folsom
lived. Abel Waldron's house, on the opposite side of the way, remains unchanged, the home
sixty years ago of his. father. Where Mrs. H. H. Harriman now resides lived Captain
Safford Watson, who had a wheelwright-shop near by, which was afterwards moved on to
School Street, the residence of Zebulon Currier. Just beyond Captain Watson's, where the
Kearsarge Hotel stood, lived Dudley Bailey. Ira Harvey's, house was then the residence of
Isaac Annis, "the village blacksmith," whose shop stood under the., large
elm-tree in front of where Louis Chase now lives. Going back, on the opposite side of the
street, to the dwelling-house of Deacon J. W. Clement, we find Benjamin Evans living there
sixty years ago. The large mansion that is now the residence of Gilman C. George was then
occupied by Nathan S. Colby. Mr. Colby was a " store-keeper," and his
"shop" was just above his dwelling-house, the same building now used by B. F.
Heath. The Uptons lived where P. C. Wheeler resides, and Joseph True in the house Mrs. H.
D. Robertson occupies. The Dr. Eaton homestead was then owned and occupied by Dr. Caleb
Buswell, who was at that time surgeon of the Fortieth Regiment of New Hampshire militia.
Union Block occupies the site where stood a long low cottage, a part of which was
remodeled into the old post-office building, now the office of the Kearsarge
Independent. Here lived. Isaiah Flanders and his daughter, who was familiarly known as
"Aunt Y. Anna." In the broad hall which ran through the centre of the house the
songs of the " Osgoodites might have been heard every Sunday morning, for "Uncle
Isaiah" was a devoted disciple of that sect. Mr. Flanders' barn stood where Shepard
Dimond now lives. The Harris mansion, now owned by the Misses Harris, has remained in the
family all these long years. Harrison G. Harris was the owner sixty years ago, the lawyer
of the place, and who had been selectman the preceding year. In the George Upton house,
above, where Erastus Wilkins lived a number, of years, there lived Deacon Barrett, who
carried on a large scythe-snath manufactory. Where the Arthur Thompson house stands on the
hill was a small, unpainted house belonging to Nathaniel Treadwell The house now owned and
occupied by Joseph Rogers then stood on the site of the Baptist parsonage and was the home
of Josiah Colby.
Moses Colby lived at the place now owned by Hiram Buswell, and Ezekiel Flanders lived
where Jacob Rodney resides. Where Leonidas Harriman lives was the home of the Widow
Pattee, and on the opposite. side of the street, in W. C. Johnston's house, lived Paine
Badger. James Bean, the father of Mrs. Ira Harvey and Mrs. George Rowell, lived at the
Uriah Pearson place. In the A. P. Davis house, now occupied by Rev. Smith Norton, lived
Ezra Buswell, who had a tannery by the brook just beyond.
Ezekiel Evans owned the house now occupied by S. T. Stanley, and Daniel Morrill lived
somewhere near where his grandson, Samuel, now resides. George Savory's house, the
farthest on "the plain," was then owned by Jonathan Emerson.
Over the river, at the Robbins place, lived David Colby, the road to his place running
nearly where the present Fair-Ground road is. Where the sawmill now stands stood a
grist-mill, the owner, Stephen Badger, residing in the little red house nearby. The road
running to it was across the land owned by W. C. Johnson and through Pine Grove Cemetery,
terminating at the mill. The district schoolhouse, a wooden building stood where the brick
structure now is, and between it and A. D. Farnum's place there was but one
dwelling-house, occupied by Benjamin Waldron, where P.M. Wheeler resides. Richard Morrill,
who lived at the Farnum place, owned a saw and grist-mill on Willow Brook, somewhere near
where the Clark Brothers have their mill. On Denny Hill, at the old Floyd place, lived
Capt. Denny, and where Frank Bartlett lives resided Simeon Sargent.
Continued in Chapter II
