History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire

Preface

Lv presenting this work to the public, tlie [)ul)lisliers claim tliat tlu'V have at least endeavored to laithfuUy {"ulfill their j)romise.s. The most competent persons have been employed in the preparation ol' the woi'k, and it is sincerely hoped that readers in the various towns of the counties will lind the narratives [)f their special localities interesting and instructive. The work has been compiled from anthenticated and original sources.

The preparation of the " History of (Jheshire and Sullivan Counties" upon tiie within elaborate plan imposed u[)on both editors and publishers a task of no small magnitude, and one wdiich they have keenly felt. They submit the work to the [lublic ti'usting that their just expectations may be lully rt'alized.

The PiBLLsnERS.

Contents

CHESHIRE OOUKTY.

OHAPTEIl

I. GENERAL HISTOllV

CHAPTER I. (lENERAL HISTORY

BY WIIXARD BILL.

Geographical — Topographical — Geological — Botanical — V Manufactures— Courts and County Buildings — County

' Officers— Aboriginal Occupancy— Population from 1867 to 1880.

Geogr.vphicai.. — The proviuce of New Hanipshire was divided into five counties in 1771. One of tiiese was named Cheshire, deriving its name from a county in the west of England, celebrated for its manufacture of cheese; hence, the name originally. Kcene and Charlestown were made the shire-towns. July 5, 1827, the county was divided, the northern portion taking the name of Sidlivan County. This division left Cheshire County with its present limits, situate in the southwestern part of the State, bounded on the north by Sullivan County, east l)y ITillsl)orougli County, south by the Sttite of Massachusetts, and west by the west bank of the Connecticut River. It extends, lis greatest length thirty-one miles north and south, and twenty-six miles in extreme width east and west. It contains twenty-three towns, eight of which were incorporated in the reign of George II., — namely, Chesterfield, Hinsdale, Keene, Richmond, Swanzey, Walpole, Westmoreland and Winchester, — ten in the reign of George III., — namely, Alstcad, Dublin, Fitzwilliam, 1

Gilsum, Jafifrey, Marlow, Nelson, Rindge, Surry, Stoddard, — and five under the government of New Hampshire, — namely, Harrisvillc, Marlborough, Roxbury, Sullivan and Troy.

TOPOGEAPHICAI.. — The surface of Cheshire County is greatly diversified. From the valley of the Connecticut on its west to the towering height of Grand iSIonadnock on the east, rising to an altitude of three thousand one hundred and eighty-six feet, is a succession of hill and valley and plain, in various places of great natural beauty.

Numerous lakes and ponds feed a network of streams of greater or lesser extent. The Connecticut River is the largest stream in botii State and county. Rising among the mountains of the extreme north of the State, it flows in a southerly direction, forming the boundary line on its west low- water bank between the States of New Hampshire and Vermont ; thence, passinsr throuffh the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut, it empties into Long Island Sound.

Its valley is noted for its productiveness. Excluding the falls, the average fall of the river is about one and one-half feet to the mile. At Bellows Falls its descent is forty-nine feet, furnishing ample power for manufac'turing uses.

Other streams lend beauty and utility to the surface of the county, the principal of which are the Ashuelot, Cold and branches of the

HISTORY OP CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Contoocook. The Asliuelot River, rising in numerous ponds in Washington, Sullivan County, flowing in a southwesterly direction througli the towns of Marlow, Gilsuni, Surry, Keene, Swanzey, Winchester and Hinsdale, where it empties into the Connecticut, is one of the most important manufacturing streams in the State. All along its course are many improved water-powers. It is fed by branches from ponds that have been converted by dams into reservoirs, and thercl:)y affording many water-jiowcrs of thcniselves. One of these rises in Stoddard and flows throuirh the northwest corner of Nelson, southeast corner of Sullivan and northwest corner of Roxbury to Keene, and one from Dublin through Marlborough to South Keene, where it joins the branch from Stoddard. Another stream comes from Troy, flowing through the southwest corner of Marlborough and joins the Asliuelot in Swanzey. The Asliuelot is about forty miles in length,

Area. Altitude.

Spoonwood Pond, Nelson 0.25

Long Pond, Nelson and Hancock 1.2 1338

North Pond, Harrisville 0.2 1218

Geological. — When, in the beginning, this planet, earth, was hurled, revolving, into space by the power of an Almighty hand, a.seething, fiery, gaseous mass of molten elements, it gradually took form from its revolutions, and thereby consistence and compactness. In the progress of centuries the surface became crusted over, holding within its l)osoni a mighty mass of molten matter, freijucntly convulsed by throes of sufficient pow(n' to elevate mountain heights and depress to ocean beds, separating, disintegrating and mi.xing the earth's crust in a manner to print in ineffaceable characters the great story of the Creation, — a creation not yet completed. In C'heshire County we find those characters frequent and prominent. Briefly — \ery briefly, for sjiace forbids otherwise — we will endeavor from its source to the Connecticut ; falls about to sketch a few of the more prominent " Footone thousand feet, and drains a basin of three hundred and seventy-five S(piare miles, or two hundred and forty thousand acres.

The Cold River, rising in Sullivan County, flows, in a southwesterly direction, seventeen miles through Alstead and Walpole, and furnishes water-power to a limited extent. It drains a basin of sixty thousand acres nearly.

The branches of the Contoocook River, in the eastern 23ortion of the county, furnish some good water-powers. The Partridge Brook, rising in Lake Spoffbrd, flows through Chesterfield and Westmoreland, where it empties into the Connecticut, is a rapid stream, falling five hundred feet in its course of nearly six miles, and affording constant water-power, but only partially utilized. In a tabulated form we give the principal bodies of water in the county, with area of each ih square miles and decimals thereof, with altitude in feet above the sea, and towns where located, —

Area.

Warren Pond, Alstead 0.5

Spoflbrd Lake, Chesterfield 1.0

Breed Pond, Nelson 0.7

Woodward Pond, Roxbury 0.3

Swanzey Pond, Swanzey 0.2

Stacy Pond, Stoddard 0.7

Altitude.

738 1250 1150 prints of the Creator." From the elementary or molten period the earth ]iassed into the igneous period. We now see the unstratified rocks, of which the enduring granite is the lowest of the series and the great frame- work of the earth's crust, and by for the most abundant, rising to the greatest heights, thrown uj) by the subterranean forces. From an endless monotonous plain these forces are now operating with a power beyond all human conception to transform this plain into a broken surface, from mountain peak to ocean bed. Of granite, Cheshire County contributes her full share of earning the sobriquet of the "Granite State." Her quarries of granite are unsurpassed. The coarser granites are of the oldest formation. Cotemporary with the beginning of the igneous period, the atmosphere, heavily charged with minerals in a gaseous form, condensing from the effect of the cooling cartji, was deposited, forming another coating of rock material. This was the vaporous period. So far the earth had been surrounded by an atmosphere so dense an<l dark that the lia-ht of star nor moon nor sun could })enetrate. Now the progress of creation was ripe for the settling of the atmospheric moisture into the hollows of

GENERAL HISTORY.

tlie earth. It became nearly covered with water. This is the aqueous period. Then ('ame the long, col<l night, when the summer sun failed to thaw the suow and ice that gathered ill mighty masses, covering mountains in height, forming glaciers of continental extent, that planed and trausformed the rugge<l volcanic surfaces into new vestments, and printing its history in charat^ters the plainest of all. An enormous mass of ice, thousands of feet in depth, moved down the valley of the Connecticut, grinding, crushing, planing its way. A tributary glacier flowed down the Ashuelot Valley. This mass of ice pressed so heavily downward as to compact the earth into the lower hill, or, what is generally known, and appropriately so, as hard pan.

This ice-sheet carried along in its track huge fragments of detached rock, which, grinding and rounding, it deposited in the form of boulders, generally upon the higher lands. In various places they .are [)lentiful. The glaciers moved in a southeasterly direction, and this movement must have resulted from a different chorography of country than exists at the present time. The interior of the continent must have been elevated many feet. This elevation and after-depression must have been of slow progress. This movement is still ojierating in various places. As the glacier moved down the valley, hard-rock fragments were frozen into the Iwttoni of the ice-sheet; these, driven along by fearful jiower, acted as chisels or gouges, deeply scratching the ledges along the course of its progress. These strise are everywhere found. Mount Monadnock is striated from base to brow. Mr. G. A. Wheelock, a local geologist of repute, entertains the belief that this niouutain was an island in a sea of icebergs, which struck equally strong upon the northwest and southeast sides.

Could our rocks be uncovered from the overlying earth, they would generally sluiw the result of their mighty planing and rounding in their strife. Now the continent slowly depresses, a geological spring-time dawns, a warmer climate prevails, the vast fields of ice and snow melt rajiidly, mighty floods pour down the valleys with resistless fury. Changes impossible to be wrought by a moving river of ice, mountainhigh, are easily effective before a rushing torrent of water. Now comes the era of modified drift, with its dejjosits of stratified, water-worn gravel, sand, clay or silt, an era extending from the departure of the great northern ice-sheet down to the ]n-esent time. The glacial or drift period embraces two eras, — the drift and the alluvium. The former is characterized by repeated elcviitions and depressions. It was then a " foundering land, under a severe sky, beaten by tempests and lashed by tides, with glaciers choking its cheerless valleys, and with countless icebergs brushing its coasts and grating over its shallows." The alluvium era witnesses the perfection of the earth to an extent that fits it as the proper al)ode of man.

" From harmony — from heavenly harmony — This universal frame began ; From luirmony to harmony, Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in man."

The eastern portion of the county is a [)rimeval ridge, though it was snl>nierged at times, and is underlaid by the oldest rock formations. This ridge belongs to a chain of ridges that was the first to appear above the ocean. The dcjnTssiou of the Connecticut Valley, that embi-aces a large portion of the county, carries with it the later rocks, and has been, and is, the source of drainage of the highlands to the northward.

The eastern part of the county, comprising portions of Jaffrey, Dublin, Harrisville, Nelson and Stoddard, rests upon the edge of a large area of porphyritic gneiss. Another area of it forms the elevated and rugged portions of the towns of C'hesterfield, Swanzey, Winchester and Hinsdale, while it appears in Fitzwilliam, Jaffrey and Marlow. A variety of gneiss known as the protogene gneiss extends from the State line, through Winchester, Richmond, Swanzey and Keene, to Surry, where it changes its form and extends to and into Sullivan County, lu Surry and Keeue the jirotogene is often found of a dee]) red color. Encircling this protogene we find hornblende, schist, and, girting this, (juartzite. A large surface area of the Jfoiitalban schist in one tract extends from Stoddard to the State line through the towns of Rindge, Fitzwilliam, Richmond, Troy, Jaffrey, Marlbor-

HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

ough, Roxbury, Sullivau, Nelsou and Stoddard. These I'ocks are feldspathic and ordinary mica schist. Tlic mica is seen in large spangles, cither black or white. In Rindge a variety is found in which quartz predominates, heavily charged with iron pyrites, that decomposes when brought in contact witii the atmosphere ; tlie rock crumbles and the soil is colored reddishyellow from tlio presence of the iron peroxide.

The ]\[ontall)an rocks in Clieshire County are supposed to be of the same age with that which composes the summits of the higher "White Mountains. A band of micaceous <(uartzite, full of fibrolite, two miles wide, crosses the towns of Marlow, Alstead, Gilsum and Surry, carrying gigantic veins of granite, in whicli the mica plates are large and of commercial value. For many years they have been mined in Alstead for glass. The latest group of rocks so far found in the county are known as the Coos group. Its constituents are (piartzite, argillite and calcareous schist. A large area of Walpoie is covered by the former, and it is found in all the towns adjoining the Connecticut River. Mount ^yantastiquet, in Hinsdale and Ciiesterfield, is composed of argillaceous and mica schist. The eruptive rocks are very sparingly represented in this county. The only eruptive rock of any extent in the valley of the Connecticut in this county is found in Westmoreland and forms most of the hill southeast of the west depot. Inclosed in the Montalban schists of Fitzwilliam, Troy, Marlborough and Roxbury we find oval deposits of eruptive granite. These arc extensively quarried, and are held in high repute for building and monumental purposes. I'crnieating Surry Mountain are veins of quartz, bearing metalliferous deposits. A large outlay has been exjjended in eiforts to mine it, but not, so far, with success. Deposits of infusorial silica, formed of decayed organisms, arc f()un(l of excellent quality in various places and especially so in Fitzwilliam. liog ii-on-ores of the nature of ochre occur at Chesterfield, Walpoie, .laffrcy and Surry.

BoTAmcAL. — From papers prepared by ^Villiam F. Flint, B.S., of Winchester, we glean the following facts relating to the botany of Clicshii'c County. Altitude has nnich to do in the distribution of plants. A large part of the area of the county has an altitude of more than five hundred feet above the sea-level. Following the trend of the Montalban rocks, in the eastern part of the county we find vegetation of the Canadian type. In the valley of the Connecticut and of its tributaries we find a larger number of siiecies, some characteristic of Southern New England. The county was formerly covered by a dense forest, through which the sun scarcely penetrated at inid-day. .\.long the valleys of the Connecticut and Ashuelot Rivers were forests of the finest white l)ine, the most valued of our timbers, and reserved by King George in his grants of the several townships for His Majesty's navy. His officers provoked the displeasure of the early settlers by carving their "broad arrows" on the tallest mast-trees. The higher lands were covered with heavy growths of hemlock, maples, birches, beeches and red oak, while belts

>f spruce were common.

The original forest presented the same

haracteristics as at the present day, save the restrictions imf)0sed by the lumberman. The old pine forests are represented by thick, thrifty grou'ths of their sajilings. These are general all over the county. Their conversion into wooden-ware has been and is a source of a large industry and of much wealth. Next to the pine, the hemlock is the most frequently found of any conifer; oi'iginally they competed with the pine in diameter and height. In the cold swamps of the river towns and throughout the eastern towns we find the black spruce and the balsam fir, and u])on the dry drift knolls and sandy plains we find the pitch-pine. In the cold peat swanq« and springy lands of Fitzwilliam, Rindge and Jaffrey we find the tamarack in abiuidance. A variety of the yew, generally known as the "ground hendock," is common. Passing from the sombre evergreen, we turn to the deciduous trees, presenting every phase of change, from the leafless branches of winter-time to the delicate green of spring, the full foliage of summer and the gorgeous hues of autumn, when nature's artist paints with every conceivable shade of color in tints that art cannot produce, ami aivintr to the AnieiMean

GENEllAL HISTORY.

forests a hcauty nowhere else to he tbiind. Of the ilccidiious trees, the maple is the best represented. The white maple is mostly found in the valleys, upon the intervale lands. The red maple is common everywhei-e. The rock or sugar ma[)le is the largest of the genus, is found in all of the towns, and fills an important part in tiie economy of the county, furnishing both sugar and tindicr. The largest groves of the rock maple are found in the northern and eastern towns of the county. (Jilsum, particularly, is noted tor its manufacture of sugar. The birch is generally found, but attains its fullest development in the eastern towns. The gray and black birch are moi-e common in the southern and southwestern towus, while the yellow and white birch arc found everywhere. The bass is quite ct)mmou upon the bauks of the river terraces. The black cherry and the white ash are found sparingly in nearly all the deciduous forests. Confined to a strip of territory five to ten miles wide, bordering the Connecticut River, we fiud the elm, chestmit, white oak, black oak and three species of the hickory. The red oak is very generally distributed. Upon the alluvial soil of the Connecticut we fiud the Cottonwood, the butternut and the Ixilm of (7 dead, or balsam poplar. Two species of the poplar are found, — the one of small dimensions, often springing uj) in great abundance where woodlands are cut away ; the other, the black poplar, is of more pretentions proportions. In spring its young leaves are clothed with white down, that can be seen a long distance, and thereby readily distinguished. Of the shrubby plants, the heath family has about twenty species in the county. This is a family distinguished alike for beauty and abundance of bloom, and for economic purposes. Included in this family are two cranberries, three species oi Idackberry and the huckleberry. The rhododendrons are the finest of the heaths. The uuxximum sjjecies is found in Fitzwilliam and Ivichmoud. To this familv belongs the kalmias, including the mountain laurel, found in the southern portion of the county. The rose family is numerously represented. Of the herbaceous plants we have a large family.

W^ild flowers abound everywhere. The space of this article will not permit us to mention but few of the species of vegetation with which the Creator has made glad our fields and forests.

Soil and Staple Productions. — Naturally, in a county so greatly diversified in elevatitin by valleys, plains and hills, we should fiud the soil varying materially ; even the intervale lauds along the several streams bear very little similarity in fineness or ])roductiveness. Often we see the lesser streams dividing lands of striking dissinularity and of natural fcrtilitv.

The intervale lands along the Connecticut River are proverbial for grain-growing capacity. Some of the finest farms in the entire State are found in the four towns bordering upon this stream. .:Vlong the Ashuelot Valley are extensive plains, whose soils widely vary, and, lacking the dense fogs of the former stream, is subject to later frosts in the spring aud earlier in the autumn. INIany fine farms, however, are found along this stream. The uplands are of a granitic nature, and, as a general rule, far less productive than in fornicitimes ; much of it is too rough for cultivation, and is better adapted to the growing of timber than of grain. The plain lands are easier to cultivate, but require the best of husbandry to produce satisfactory results.

Judicious drainage has converted many unsightly, worthless swamps into the best of grass lands.

The census of 18,S0 conveys an iilca of the county staple productions. With "is.jlj farms, embracing an area of 23.3, <S4.") acres of improved land, there was grown 14,1 lio bushels of Iiarley, 2416 bushels of buckwheat, loO^T.SS bushels of Indian corn, 1)0,774 bushels of oats, .'litoS bushels of rye, 2ti(j(j bushels of whe;it, 55,(i()U tons of hay, 214,809 bushels of potatoes, 141,218 pounds of tobacco, aud orchard products to the value of $57,877. These farms supported 4109 horses, 7 mules, 2222 working oxeu, 7792 milch cows, 1 ■1,147 neat-stock, 24,296 sheep and 4788 swine.

The stock products fin- the year were 128,()70 pounds of wool, 181,281 gallons of milk, 732,610 pounds of Initter aud 6-'),376 pounds of cheese.

HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Notwithstanding the large amount of grain grown within the county, tlie consumption of Western grain has yearly been steadily and heavily increasing.

Manufactures. — Cheshire County is, to a considerable extent, engaged in manufactures ; the southern portion of the county especially so. Here the wooden-\vare business found its early home and abiding-place, contributing largely to the prosperity of several towns. The waters of the Ashuelot and of its tributary streams move a large amount of cotton and woolen machinery, while the manufacture of j)ottery, shoes, leather, jiajier, lumber and machinery receives considerable attention, considei'able investment and the employment of many people. At ^Valpolc is located an extensive brewery. The census of 1880 enumerated 317 manufacturing establishments in this county, with an invested capital of $3,758,815, giving employment to 4523 hands, whose wages amounted to $1,299,427. The total value of raw material used was §4,502,889, and the total product was $7,768,943.

Courts and County Buildincjs. — From the division of the county, in 1827, Keene has been the shire-town of Cheshire County. Here the Inferior Court held its first session in October, 1771, and the Superior Court in September, 1772. These first sessions were, undoubtedly, held in the old meeting-house that stood in the northeast corner of Central Square and opposite Gerould's block. For ten years following the erection of the present (/ongregational Church, in 1786, the courts were held therein. The centre pews and seats were removed temporarily during the session, and a bench and a table, called a bar, substituted for the use of the judges and lawyers.

Tile first building especially erected for the purpose of a court-house stood near the old meeting-hfinsc, and was built in 1796. It W'as built mainly through individual enterprise. It rendered service for twenty-eight years, when it was sold, moved and converted into d well intrs. The next court-house was erected in 1824-25. Its site is now occupied by the north end of Gerould's block and the block of F. F. Lane, Esq., upon the corner of Central Square and

Winter Street. The county, for the consideration of five dollars, secured a deed of this site, of Joseph Dorr, ]\Iarch 20, 1824, with a stipulated condition that the lot should be used for county purposes only. The condition having been broken, a suit was brought against the county for the recovery of the lot and building thereon by the owner of tlie reversionary right, Samuel Wood. This suit was protracted for six years. Finally, at the March term, 1856, Wood's executors secured judgment, and the lot passed from the possession of the county.

The present court-house lot was secured in five different purchases, — namely, from Henry Coolidge, April 13, 1840, two thousand six hundred S(juare feet for nine hundred dollars ; from Abijah Wilder a lot north and west of above-named lot, July, 1 848, for one thousand dollars; again of the same i)art3', in 1857, an additional tract for t\\o thousand dollars ; and, in 1858, another tract. Having secured a lot, the county proceeded to erect the present house. Commenced in 1858, it was completed in February, 1859, at a cost of nearly twenty-eight thousand dollars. Thomas M. Edwards, of Keene, Nelson Converse, of Marlborough, Samuel Ishanijof (iilsum, were the committee having the supei'vision of its erection. Gridley J. F. Bryant was the architect and Joel Ballard the contractor. This building, although considered at the time amply suiScient for all coming wants of a court-house, still already it is apparent that more room will be required in the not distant future. In 1884 the county erected a spacious, costly, and elegant jail u])on lots purchased of J. H. Elliot, long known as " the old glass-factory lot." When this lot is completed and adorned as contemplated, together with all the conveniences and extras that a lil)- eral outlay of money could procure in the plans of the buildings, then the convict class wall indeed have a most elegant residence. Upon the opening of the new jail the House of Correction was removed from Westmoreland and located therein. Without enumerating the names of the several justices of the several courts, we will give a list of the several clerks of courts as being more particularly identified with the countv, —

GENERAL HISTORY.

Clerks of Courts.

Cmnmon Pleas.

Simeon Jones, October, 1771, to Ajiril, 177.'5. Thomas Sparhawk, April, 1779, to Se]itember, 1812. Salma Hale, September, 1812, to April, 18:U.

Superior Court of Judi.catnre.

George King, 1772 to 1778.

George Atkinson, 1778 to 1780.

Samuel Shurburne, 1780 to October, 1781. Nathaniel Adams, October, 1781, to October, ISIU.

For Both Courts.

Salma Hale, May, 1817, to April, 1834. Henry Coolidge, April, 1834, to April, 1843. Leonard Biscoe, April, 1843, to December, 18.')7. Edward Farrar, December, 1857, to the presenl date.

Judges of Probate.

Simeon Olcott, from 1771 to 1775.

Thomas Sparhawk, from 177.'i to 1789.

John Hubbard, from 17S9 to 1802.

Abel Parker, from 1802 to 1823.

Samuel Dinsmore, from 1823 to 1831.

Aaron Matson, from 1831 to 1835.

Frederick Vose, from 1835 to 1841.

Larkin Baker, from 1841 to 18G4.

Silas Hardy, from 1864 to 1874.

Harvey Carlton, from 1874 to 187(;.

Josiah G. Bellows, from 1870 to the present date.

Rf.gisters of Prokate.

Thomas Sjjarhawk, 1771.

Ichabod Fisher, 1775.

Micah Lawrence, 1785.

Samuel Stevens, from 1793 to 1823. Frederic A. Sumner, from 1823 to 1827. Asa Parker, from 1827 to 1833.

Elijah Sawyer, from 1833 to 1847. George F. Starkweather, from 1847 to 1851. ( Jeorge W. Sturtevant, from 1851 to 1857. Calvin May, Jr., from 1857 to 1859. Silas Hardy, from 1859 to 1863. George Ticknor, from 1863 to 1866. Allen Giffln, from 186(; to 1871. Frank H. Hies, from 1871 to 1873. Dauphin W. Buokrainster, from 1873 to 1880. Henry O. Coolidge, from January, 1880, to the

present date.

Registers of Deeds.

Josiah Willard, from 1771 to .

James Campbell, from to 1824.

Lewis Campbell, from 1824 to 1837. John Foster,' from 1837 to 1838. Charles Sturtevant, from 1838 to 1845. Isaac Sturtevant, from 1845 to 1846.

'Appointed to fill vacancy caused by the resignation of Lewis Campbell.

Barton Skinner, from 1846 to 1852. Charles Sturtevant, from 1852 to 1853. Harvey A. Bill, from 1853 to 1855. Charles Sturtevant, from 1855 to 1859. Calvin May, from 1859 to 1862.

Isaac W. Derby,' from 1862 to 1864. John J. Allen, from 1863 to 1883. Charles C. Bulfum, from 1883 to present date.

High Sheriffs.

Previous to 1878 this office was appointive. Subseipient to this date Ralph Holt held the office from June, 1879, to January, 1880.

Horace A. Perry, from 1880 to the present date.

RoAn Commissioners.

1845. — Barton Skinner, Jonathan K. Smith, Asahel r. Humphrey.

1846._J(inathan K. Smith, Aaron P. Howland, Daniel W. Farrar.

1852.— Augustus Xoyes, Jonathan S. Adams, Jonathan Harvey, Jr.

1853. — Augustus Noyes, Lanson Robertson, Samuel Slade, Jr.

1854._Samuel Slade, Jr., Laban Rice, Ednuind .Jones.

1855.— Nelson Converse, Arvin Aldrich, John Sy-

monds.

County Commissioners.

John A. I'rescott, 1857; Lanson Robertson, 1858; Willard Adams, 1859; Samuel Atherton, 1800; Aaron P. Howland, 1861; Jonathan S. Adams, 1862; Sumner Knight, 1863; Zebulon Converse, 1864; David A. Felt, 1865; Sumner Knight, 1866; H. O. Coolidge, 1867; Franklin H. Cutter, 1868; Joshua B. Clark, 1869; Aaron Smith, 1870 ; John Humphrey,' 1871 ; Alonzo A.Ware, 1872; Willard Bill, Jr., 1873 ; Joseph

B. Abbott, 1874; Charles H. Whitney, 1875 ; George

C. Hubbard, 1876; Charles R. Sargeant, 1877; Gardner C. Hill,* 1878.

Subsequent to the change of the Constitution the following have been elected :

1878.— Charles R. Sargeant, Gardner C. Hill, Levi A. Fuller.

1880.— Levi A. Fuller, Joseph B. Abbott, George W. Stearns.

1882. — Tosepb B. Abbott, George W. Stearns, Alfred W. Burt.

2 Resigned in 1863 and John J. Allen was appointed in his place November 10th. He was elected in 18G1 and resigned in 1883.

'Resigned, and Aaron Smith was ap)ioiiited to the vacancy.

*Prior to the constitutional change of 1878 the county commis.sioners held their office for a term of three years, and one was elected annually to till the vacancy of a retiring member. At the present time three are chosen bienniiilly.

HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

1884.— Joseph B. Abbott, Alfred W. Burt, Elbridge Kingsbury.

Internal Impeovement.'^. — The early settlement of Cheshire County came from the southward. Tlic Connecticut River was its highway. It had been tlie favorite highway of tlic Indian. It was the first highway of the settlers of tlie valley and country adjacent thereto. At first the bark canoe plied upon its \vaters ; then came the rude flat-boat, followed by boats of more perfected proportions, spreading to the breezes winged sails, and, lastly, attempts, but not of practical success, of steampropellers. At one time boating and rafting assumed considerable ])roportious upon the river, but u])on the construction of the railroad lines it passed away. Undoubtedly the first experiments at .steamboating wei"e made wpon the Upper Connecticut as early as 1793 by Captain Samuel IMory, and some years prior to Fult^in's operations. In 1827 a steamer named the " Barnet" ascended the river from Hartford to Bellows Falls, creating no little curiosity as it came puffing up the river. In after-years other attempts at steamboating were made upon the Upper Connecticut, but were not of long duration.

Aboriginal Occupancy. — -That portion of the Connecticut River valley north of the Deerfield River in Miissachusetts was claimed and occupied by a tribe of Indians known as the Squaldieags. Their territory included Cheshire County as far as the INIonadnock Mountain to the east. So far as known, it was not a strone: tribe, and does not bear a conspicuous position in aboriginal histiiry. It probably was closely allied to some of the surrounding tribes, notably with the Nashaways, who lived upon the Nashua and Merrimack Rivers. The Squakheags continued to occupy this vicinity until 1720, when it appears that thej' disbanded, a large portion of whom must have passed to the northward and joined the St. Francis tribe in Canada. This tribe, in later years, in junction with the French, were especially active in spreading desolatit)n throughout this section, of wliich the sketches of the several towns relate. Tradition has handed down to us the inanv favorite resorts in the county which the