EXPENSES OF THE
COMMISSIONERS.—AGREEMENT BETWEEN CHURCH AND THE COMMISSIONERS.—DR.
WITHERSPOON —JOHN WIPHERSPOON.—NEWBURY.—-SURVEY OF RYEGATE.—DAVID
ALLAN.—FIRST DEATH.—DEED OF RYEGATE.
NOTE. When the present
editor took charge of this work, he supposed that nothing could be said
regarding the early history of the town, beyond the data collected by Mr.
Mason and Mr. Miller. But the unexpected discovery among the Whitelaw
papers of much of the original correspondence, records, etc., not known by
Mr. Miller to be in existence, rendered an entirely different treatment
necessary. The editor has endeavored to prepare the work as nearly as
possible as he believes Mr. Miller would have done, had he lived to
complete his task, and had access to the same sources of information.
WHILE
waiting at Newbury for Mr. Church to come up,
Mr. Whitelaw [Whitelaw's letter to the
Company, Nov. 17th, 1763.—Whitelaw papers.] made a report of the expenses
of the commissioners to that date, which he transmitted to Scotland.
He credited the Company with £100 sterling in cash and bills of exchange,
which they had expended as follows:
He concluded his report with some observations which
are of value:
"The ground here produces Indian Corn, and all kinds of
English grain to perfection, likewise all garden vegetables in great
plenty, and they have very promising orchards of excellent fruit. Many
things grow here in the open fields which the climate of Scotland will not
produce, such as melons, cucumbers, pumpkins and the like. Salmon and
trout and a great many other kinds of fish are caught in plenty in
Connecticut river. Sugar can be made here in abundance
in March and April from the maple tree which
grows in great plenty. In short, no place which we have seen is better
furnished with food and the necessaries of life, and even some of its
luxuries, or where the people live more comfortably than here. There is a
good market of all the produce of the ground at the following prices:
Wheat from 3/6 to 4/6 {Three
shillings, sixpence, to four shillings, sixpence.} the English bushel.
Oats and Indian corn from 1/6 to 2 shill. Butter 6 d. the English
pound. Cheese 4½ d. Beef 2d Pork 4½ d. all sterling money. The country
produceth excellent flax, which sells when swingled, from 4½ to 6d. the
pound. Considering the newness of the country the people here are very
prosperous, and we think that any who come here, and are steady and
industrious, may be in very comfortable circumstances within a few years.
Clearing land seems to be no great hardship as it is commonly done for
from 5 to 6 dollars per acre."
Mr. Whitelaw closes his
letter to the Company with some instructions to intending emigrants, as to
the best manner of reaching Ryegate, which are of interest in showing what
the roads were to this part of the country just before the revolutionary
war. He advises people to come to Newburyport, rather than to Portsmouth
or Boston, as he says there was a very good wagon road all the way, and
the country more settled. "When you come there you will enquire for Capt.
Moses Little, Merchant, and he will give you directions for conveying
yourselves and your chests hither." Mr. Little, for whom the town of
Littleton is named, was a brother-in-law of Gen. Jacob Bayley of Newbury,
and had large interests in this part of New England. On the arrival of Mr.
Church at Gen. Jacob Bayley’s in Newbury, the following agreement was
drawn up to secure the purchase till a proper title-deed could be given,
which, for reasons yet to appear, was delayed for a time.
NEWBURY, Nov. 19th, 1773.
The agreement between John Church,
Esq., of Charlestown in Newhampshire, and taking burden upon him for John
Witherspoon, President of the College of New Jersey, and John Pagan,
Merchant in Glasgow, and William Pagan, Merchant in New York, on the one
part, and David Allan and James Whitelaw, Commissioners for the Scotch
American Company of Farmers, is as follows:
After surveying the township of
Ryegate, and making out a plan thereof we found the Contents to he
twenty-one thousand one hundred and sixty-four acres, including the public
lots, viz.: Five hundred acres for the Governor, eight hundred and
forty-two acres for the Glebe, first settled minister, school, and for the
Society for the Propogation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and after
running a Centrical line, to divide the Township into two equal parts in
quantity, it was mutually agreed between the above-mentioned parties that
the aforesaid David Allan and James Whitelaw in consequence of their
agreement with John Wither-Spoon, President of the College, is to have the
half south of the Centrical line, Which line begins at Connecticut river
near the falls and runs north sixty-five degrees west till it strikes the
west line of the the town, which half is bordered with the Governor’s five
hundred acres lying as it is planned on the Patent, and one share and
one-half of the public right which by computation amounts to about three
hundred and fifteen acres, and a hundred acres to Aaron Hosmer covering
his improvements and extending not above one hundred rods on the river and
half a mile back, and likewise one hundred acres to John Hyndman lined off
in regular form to which agreement we have interchangeably set our hand
and seal in the presence of
JACOB BAYLEY, JOHN CHURCH [Seal]
SAM'L STEVENS, DAVID ALLAN [Seal]
JAMES WHITELAW [Seal]
The actual deed for the south half
of Ryegate was not given for nearly a year from the above date, but this
agreement was sufficient to secure the possession of the land. This delay
is explained by the following letter:
New YORK, 23d. Feb. 1774.
GENTLEMEN:
Herewith you have five letters which came to my hand,
and which I have not before had an opportunity of conveying to you.
Mr. Church on his coming to town informed me that he
had come into a division of Ryegate with you, which I have seen and agreed
to; he likewise mentioned that you was anxious to have the deeds
completed, which both doctor Witherspoon and myself would with pleasure
do, but find that we cannot give a more firm title than you already have,
till such time as it is Decided what Province Ryegate falls under, as a
deed in the present situation would answer no better purpose than the
Instrument you have, under the doctor’s hand, which, I am willing in every
respect to confirm, and will join in a Warrantee deed as soon as the
controversary is determined between the two provinces which must soon now
be determined, as both our Governor and that of New Hampshire goes home
this spring in order to have the Controversary finally settled before His
Majesty in Council. Whatever Province Ryegate falls under, we are entirely
safe, having a Patent under the one and an Order in Council under the
other. You need not be in the least uneasy, but go on with your settlement
as if you had the most firm deed now in your possession.
I am, Gentlemen,
Your very humble servant
Wm. PAGAN.
MESSRS. DAVID ALLAN
AND
Ryegate.
JAMES WHITELAW.
The settlement of Ryegate may be dated from the month
of November, 1773, when James Whitelaw and David Allan came into
possession of the south half of the town, in behalf of the Scotch American
Company. It will be remembered that Aaron Hosmer and Daniel Hunt were
living there, and had lived there for some time, but they were merely
squatters, and had no title to any of the land on which they lived.
John Hyndman had also been settled there, through the
agency of Dr. Witherspoon, and had "pitched" upon land which afterward
became the farm of William Nelson. Both Hosmer and Hyndman were given
grants of land.
It is now a suitable place to speak
of the distinguished man to whom the choice of Ryegate, as a place of
settlement, was mainly due. Rev. Dr. WithersPoon was born at Gifford,
Haddingtonshire, Scotland, Feb. 5, 1722, the son of a minister of the
church of Scotland, and, through his mother, a descendant of John Knox. He
entered the University of Edinburgh at the age of 14, and at 22, was
ordained over the Congregation of Beith, in the west of Scotland, and
married Elizabeth Montgomery. He was a spectator of the battle of Falkirk,
Jan. 17, 1746, was taken prisoner by the rebels, and confined in Doune
Castle till after the battle of Culloden. His health never fully recovered
from the confinement. He was called to become pastor of the church at
Paisley, and installed there, Jan. 16, 1757. Some theological and
metaphysical works of his attracted great attention, and he received the
degree of D. D., in 1764, from the University of Aberdeen. In 1766 he
declined the call to become president of Princeton College, in New Jersey,
but on its renewal in 1768, he accepted it, and removed to America. Under
his administration the college prospered greatly, until the revolutionary
war. He was an early advocate of the freedom of the colonies, and was a
member of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey. In June, 1776, he took
his seat in the Continental Congress, was one of the most prominent
advocates of independence, and a signer of the Declaration. [A statue of
John Witherspoon, now unveiled in Washington, represents the Revolutionary
sire of Princeton University, whose president he was during the Period of
the American Revolution. Witherspoon was Scotch and Presbyterian. In the
debate over the Declaration of Independence, which he signed, the college
President said: "For my own part, of property I have some, of reputation I
have more: that reputation is staked, that property is pledged, on the
issue of this contest. And although these gray hairs must soon descend
into the sepulcher, I would infinitely rather that they descend thither by
the hand of the executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of
my country." That was the serious Scotch way of stating the case. Benjamin
Franklin, with immortal Wit, on the same occasion, remarked: "If we don’t
hang together we’ll hang separately." - (Springfield Republican, May,
1909.)] He
died Nov. 15, 1794. Dr. Witherspoon invested quite extensively in lands in
Vermont, especially in Ryegate and Newbury, which, ultimately, owing
partly to the war, proved a financial loss to him.
He visited Ryegate and Barnet
several times where he preached and baptized children. His oldest son,
John, came to Ryegate about 1775, and settled on what is still called the
"Witherspoon tract" of 600 acres, in the northwest corner of the town,
where he began to clear land, and erected some kind of habitation. He
entered the Continental Army, became an aid to General Washington, and
fell at the battle of Germantown. This tract, about 1800, was bought by
James and Abraham Whitehill, at which time the land cleared by Major
Witherspoon was covered by a second growth of trees. The spot where this
unfortunate gentleman lived is still pointed out. [In the historical
sketch of Caledonia Co., written by Rev. Thomas Goodwillie, he says. "On
one of his visits to Ryegate Dr. Witherspoon rode the saddle on which his
son sat at the battle of Germantown, and which bore the mark of the ball
which killed him.]
It seems strange that Ryegate
possesses no memorial of Dr. Witherspoon, who was thus connected with its
early history, and who had so much to do with shaping the religious course
of the town. To the end of his life he manifested an interest in the
affairs of the colony, and was a correspondent of Rev. David Good willie
in the early days of the Associate Presbyterian church. It has been
proposed to give his eminent name to that beautiful sheet of water, which,
embosomed among the hills of Ryegate, has always borne an undignified
appellation, in no way associated with Indian traditions or local history.
Of John Church very little can be
ascertained. He lived in Charles-town, and the history of that town
says that he died in 1785, leaving several children.
One of the chief reasons for the
selection of Ryegate as a place of settlement was undoubtedly the fact
that the commissioners liked the people of Newbury better than those they
had met anywhere in the south. In his letters to Scotland, Mr. Whitelaw
speaks of them and of their cordial reception of them in the highest
terms. "They are," he wrote, "very strict about keeping the Sabbath." The
first settlers also were congenial in their religious views, Rev. Peter
Powers their minister being a Presbyterian, and the church at Newbury was
organized upon a Presbyterian platform. Mr. Whitelaw himself found at
Newbury, a personal attraction, which later, he transferred to the new
township.
Newbury, at that time, contained
about 400 white inhabitants, most of whom dwelt along the river road from
the Ox-bow to Bradford line, (although there were settlements at West
Newbury and at Wells River), the most thickly settled portion being near
the Great Ox-bow. The meeting house of that day, which was also used for a
court house, stood across the road from the cemetery. Haverhill had about
as many people, and its center of population was at what we now call North
Haverhill. Among the settlers in both towns, according to the statement of
Timothy Clark in 1850, [Arthur Livermore’s diary.] were about twenty
Indian families, who lived by hunting and fishing, the remnants of several
tribes. These settlements were known as the Coos Country, and together,
formed the strongest community in this part of New England. There were
several men in Newbury at that early day who were widely known, and who
left their mark upon the community. One of them was Col. William Wallace,
who came from Scotland before 1774, and opened a store. He had great
influence in Ryegate. To mention no others Col. (afterwards Gen.) Jacob
Bayley, was a tower of strength to the whole region in the trying times of
the revolutionary war.
Of the first days in Ryegate we will
let Mr. Whitelaw tell the tale, supplementing the narrative with such
other information as has come down to us.
"When we came here John Hyndman was
building his house so we helped him up with it both for the conveniency of
lodging with him till we built one of our own2 and had it
finished about the beginning of January, 1774. Nothing worth noticing
happened till the spring, only we cut down as much wood as we could, and
James Henderson made what wooden utensils we had occasion for, and James
White-law went down to Newburyport and Portsmouth and brought a sled load
of such necesarys as we wanted. In the month of April we made about 60
lbs. of sugar, after which we began the surveying of the town, and first
ran lines from north to south (and vice versa) at every forty rods
distance, which lines are above three miles long, and upwards of 40 in
number, one half of which we marked for the ends of the lots and the other
half we did not mark but only run them to know the quality of the ground."
Writing home to Scotland on the 7th
of Feb., 1774, Mr. Whitelaw says:
"We have now built a house and live
very comfortably, though we are not troubled much with our neighbors,
having one family about half a mile from us, another a mile and a half,
and two about two miles and a half—one above and the other below us. In
the township above us (Barnet) there are about fifteen families, and there
are a few settlers sixty miles above us on the river.
There is a road now begun to be cut
from Connecticut River to Lake Champlain, which goes through the middle of
our purchase, and is reasoned to be considerable advantage to us, as it
will be the chief post road to Canada. [It stood a few rods southeast of
A. M. Whitelaw’s.]
Gen. Whitelaw’s map of Ryegate shows
there were 400 lots, equal to the number of shares in the Company’s stock,
varying in size, according to their estimated value, from ten to fifty
acres, a few lots exceeding the latter quantity. Reference to the map will
show the size of the lots, and the manner of numbering them. This did not
include the Governor’s lot, or the common land. A map of the projected
"town," with streets and house-lots, sites for churches, schools, markets
and other features of a Scotch town in the 18th century, which was
expected to occupy the long slope of the hill from "Fair-View" to the
pond, in existence a few years ago, cannot now be found. [Since this was
written a part of this map has come to light.]
Mr. Whitelaw and Mr. Allan appear to have spent the
winter with John Hyndman and his family, and cleared about four acres of
land, probably on the farm now owned by W. T. McLam. They probably had
some hired help, as there are bills for clearing land still possessed.
They seem to have varied the monotony by frequent visits to Newbury, and
waited for spring, and the coming of their friends from Scotland. In April
they sowed some wheat, and raised from it the first grain grown in
Ryegate.
"On Monday, the 23d of May, arrived
here from Scotland, David Ferry, Alexander Sym (Symes) and family, Andrew
and Robert Brock, John and Robert Orr, John Wilson, John Gray, John Shaw
and Hugh Semple, and as we had not finished the surveying, Alexander Sym
went to work with Col Bayley, and all the rest with the managers for the
company where they continued till the 1st of July, when we got their lots
laid off for them, and David Ferry took possession of Lot No. 1; Hugh
Semple of Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5; John Orr and his brother of Nos. 6 and 7 for
themselves and Nos. 8 and 9 for William Black wood; John Gray of No. 10
for himself, and No. 11 for John Barr; John Wilson of Nos. 12, 13, 14,
15, 16 and 17; Andrew and Robert Brock of Nos. 21st-28th, Alexander
Sym of Nos. 29 and 30, and John Shaw of Nos. 31 and 32 for himself, and of
33, 34, 35 and 36, for William Warden, and of Nos. 37, 38, 39 and 40 for
James Laird."
Reference to the map will show that
the first corners selected lots as near each other as possible, with the
expectation that as new settlers came, the settlement would broaden out
into the wilderness.
"July the 5th, we agreed with
Archibald Harvie and Robert Orr for one year’s work for the company, and
on the 11th we agreed with John Shaw, and on July 30 with David Ferry, all
for one year’s work."
These last were not members of the
Scotch American company, but young men who had come over to work till they
could buy land of their own. Some of the early settlers of Ryegate had
been employed in the fishing trade in Scotland, and worked their passage
to America as sailors. The passage of some others was paid by the company,
and was repaid in work on the company’s land.
"On Monday, the 1st of August, after
having determined the quality of the several lots and drawn a map of them,
and likewise of the town spot, David Allan set out from this place on his
way home to Scotland, when the whole of the Ryegate Colonists attended him
to Colonel Bayley’s in Newbury, and James Henderson went along with him to
Newburyport, where he took his leave of him."
No finer tribute could have been
paid to David Allan than the above paragraph. His descendants may well be
proud of their ancestor. The company’s account book shows that James
Henderson made quite large purchases for the company. Robert Brock’s watch
needing attention, it was taken by him to Newburyport, and "mended" at a
cost of three shillings, sixpence.
"On the 1st of October John Waddell,
James Neilson, and Thomas McKeach (McKeith) arrived here, and Patrick Lang
and family, William Neilson and family, and David Reid and wife. On the
8th, arrived Robert Gemmel and son, Robert Tweedale and wife, and Andrew
and James Smith."
Writing home to Scotland, under date
of October 14th, Mr. White-law says:
"Robert Gemmel and son, Robert
Tweedale and his wife, and Andrew Smith and his brother, all from
Douglass, arrived here the 8th inst., all in good health, and are
extraordinarily well pleased with the place. They left their homes about
the 8th of May, and came to Belfast in Ireland, where they stayed five
weeks before they got a ship, when they sailed for New York, where they
arrived after a passage of eight weeks and five days of very pleasant
weather, and, like the rest of our Colonists, they commended their captain
to the utmost. Their freight from Ireland was only fifty shillings, Irish
money, and as soon as they agreed with the vessel, which was two weeks
before they sailed, they went aboard, and had their provision.
"We shall have a flourishing colony
here in a short time, but we are at a loss for young women, as we have
here about a dozen young fellows and only one girl, and we shall never
multiply and replenish this western world as we ought without help-meets
for us, and as this is an excellent flax country, a parcel of your
spinners would be the very making of the place. If we had here a good
shoemaker that was capable of tanning and currying leather, he might be of
good advantage to us, and likewise reap considerable advantage to
himself." [Whitelaw Papers.]
A few days later Mr. Whitelaw made
an entry of a very different event in his journal:
"On the 22d of Oct., Andrew Smith
departed this life. He was the first Scotchman that died in this place. He
was in good health on the morning of the 21st, but about 11 o’clock,
forenoon, he was seized with a cholic (to which he had formerly been
subject) of which he died at 3 o’clock next morning. James Whitelaw with
the rest of the new Colonists made choice of a spot near the east side of
the common for a burying place where he was decently interred same
evening."
There is no record of any religious
service at this lonely burial. Indeed, at that time in Scotland, according
to Sir Walter Scott, [The Antiquary, Chapt. XXXI.] there was not, usually,
any religious service at a funeral. But in the New England colonies, so
far as we know, the burial of the dead was always hallowed by prayer, by
reading of the Scriptures, and by remarks from some clergyman. The
settlers of Ryegate soon adopted this more sacred and impressive
observance, as Rev. Peter Powers of Newbury preached a funeral sermon here
a few years later.
But these exiles in a strange land
must have felt keenly the shock which the sudden death of their associate
had caused, and we may be sure that their thoughts often recurred in the
coming winter to that lonely grave.
Mr. Miller, following Mr. Whitelaw’s
journal, supposes that about forty emigrants from Scotland had reached
Ryegate by the beginning of 1775, but it appears from Whitelaw’s letter to
the company that a number of persons from Scotland had arrived at
Portsmouth in the autumn, and were on their way up the country. At that
time Alexander Harvey was bringing settlers from Scotland to his purchase
in Barnet, and as some of those whom Mr. Whitelaw mentions soon settled
there it is likely that they belonged to the Harvey company.
Some months after this chapter was
written the original deed of the south half of Ryegate was discovered, and
is given here. The reader will not fail to be struck by the difference
between its cumbersome verbiage, and the simpler terms by which real
estate is now conveyed. In this instrument the legal phraseology is
printed, while the particular description of the town is written.
THIS INDENTURE,
Made the thirty-first day of
October, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and
Seventy-five, BETWEEN John Church of Charlestown, in the Province of New
Hampshire, of the first Part, and James Whitelaw of Ryegate, in the County
of Gloucester, and Province of New York, of the second Part—Witness, &c.:
That the said Party of the first Part, for the Consideration of One
thousand one hundred and eighty-six Pounds, Lawful Money of
New York,
already by him received, and from which he doth release and discharge the
said Party of the second Part and his Heirs and Assigns; HATH granted,
bargained, aliened, released and confirmed; and hereby DOTH grant, bargain
and sell, aliene, release and confirm unto the said Party of the second
Part (in his actual Possession now, being by Virtue of an Indenture of
Bargain and Sale for a year, dated yesterday, and of the Statute for
transferring Uses into Possession) and to His Heirs and Assigns forever:
ALL that Tract or Parcel of land lying in the south part of the township
of Ryegate in the County of Gloucester and Province of New York,
containing Ten thousand acres, by
estimation, bounded as follows: Beginning at
the N. E. corner of Newbury, thence N. 60° West about six miles and a
quarter to a lever wood tree marked with the letters I. W., I. W., T. O.
R. O thence N. 2° W. about three miles to a stake near a beech tree marked
with the aforesaid letters, and June, 1774, thence
S. 65° E.
about five miles and three quarters to a small white cedar tree at the
head of a fall of Connecticut River, thence down said river, as it winds
and turns, to the bounds first mentioned, Excluding within the said bounds
the following tracts—viz: three lots Bounded as follows: the first lot of
eight hundred and twenty acres begins at the first bounds at the N. E.
corner of Newbury, thence along the north line of Newbury, one hundred and
fifty chains to a pine marked Gov’r, thence N. 28° E. forty chains, thence
north till it meets John Hyndman’s bounds, thence E. about 30 chains to a
stake and stones, thence N. 120° W. twenty-five chains, thence N. 98° E.
to Connecticut river, then down the river, as it winds and turns to the
first bounds; the second lot begins at the
S. W. corner
of lot 80, and runs forty chains W. to a stake and stones, then W.
twenty-five chains to a beech tree marked R. H., T. H., I. W., then E.
forty chains to a small beech marked P. H., T. H., thence south to the
first bounds; the third lot begins at a cedar tree before mentioned,
thence down Connecticut river about twenty chains to a stake and stones,
thence N. 35° W. seventy-one chains and seventy-five links to a stake and
stones, thence N. 10° E. about forty chains to a line running S. 63° E.,
thence on said line to the Cedar before mentioned. And all the Edifices
thereon, and Advantages to the same now or heretofore belonging; And also
the Reversion and Reversions, Remainder and Remainders, Rents and Services
of the Premises and the Appurtenances; And also all the Estate, Right,
Title, Interest, Claim and Demand of the said Party,. of the first Part,
in Law and Equity, of, in and to the same Premises: To HAVE AND TO HOLD
all and singular the said Real Estate, Tenements and Premises unto the
Party of the second Part, his Heirs and Assigns forever: And the said
Party of the first Part, for himself, his Heirs and Assigns, doth covenant
and grant to and with the said Party of the second Part, his Heirs and
Assigns in Manner and form following: That he, the said Party, of the
first Part, stood lawfully seized and possessed of the above Grants, and
Estate of Inheritance in Fee Simple in the same Premises, without any
Condition, Mortgage, Limitation of, Use and Uses, or any other Matter or
Course to change, charge or determine the same, except the Quit Rent
Payable to the Crown, and that he has full power and Authority to grant
and convey the same in the Manner above mentioned. AND ALSO, That the said
Party of the second Part, his Heirs and Assigns, shall and may at all
Times forever hereafter, peaceably have, possess and enjoy the same
Premises, without the Interruption of any Person or Persons whomsoever,
freed from all former other Bargains, Charges, Estates, Rights, Titles,
Troubles and Incumbrances whatsoever than above mentioned. AND Also, That
the said Party of the first Part, and his Heirs, or any other Person or
Persons, and his and their Heirs, having or claiming anything in the
Premises, shall and will, upon the Request of the said Party of the second
Part, his Heirs and Assigns, do and execute or cause to be done and
executed, any Act or Devise in the Law for the better conveying the said
Premises, unto the said Party of the second Part, his Heirs and Assigns to
his and their own proper Use and Behoof as by him and them, or his and
their Counsel learned in the Law, shall be reasonably advised, devised or
required
IN WITNESS whereof the Parties to
these Presents have hereunto interchangeably set their Hands and Seals the
Day and Year above written.
JOHN CHURCH. (Seal)
Sealed and Delivered in the Presence of us,
PHINEAS LYMAN
BENJAMIN COLT.
Province of New York,
County of Gloucester
Newbury, Nov. 13th, 1775, then the within subscribed
John Church personally appeared and acknowledged the within instrument to
be his free Act and Deed, and having examined the same and finding no
material Erazures or Interlineations Do Allow the same to be recorded.
Jacob Bayley, one of the Judges of the Inferior
Court of Sc. County. |