HISTORY OF WILMOT, MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE ---------------------------------- Information located at http://www.nh.searchroots.com On a web site about GENEALOGY AND HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE and its counties TRANSCRIBED BY JANICE BROWN Please see the web site for my email contact. ---------------------------------- The original source of this information is in the public domain, however use of this text file, other than for personal use, is restricted without written permission from the transcriber (who has edited, compiled and added new copyrighted text to same). ======================================================== SOURCE: History of Merrimack and Belknap Counties, New Hampshire Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1885, 1108 pgs. Page 695 Chapter I At the commencement of the present century the territory which now constitutes the town of Wilmot belonged to and was part of New London, Kearsarge and New Chester. New London bordered on Springfield, Danbury, New Chester, Kearsarge, Sutton, Fishersfield and Wendell. The most thickly-settled parts of New London at that time were in the extreme southerly part of said town, on Colby Hill, Burpee Hill, Morgan Hill and Leper Hill. Their town-meetings were held and town affairs were managed. In the northerly part, near the Danbury line, in the vicinity of what is now known as Hobbs neighborhood, was the most considerable settlement of that part of the town--a region, also, of hills and elevated land. There were settlements on Prescott Hill, and along down the slopes toward the swamps, valleys and water-courses. Between these settlements in the north and in the south there was an extensive forest-land situated in the valley of the outlet of Pleasant Pond, and its water-shed on either side, tenanted by a few in log cabins and humble residences, scattered and isolated in small openings, many of them spending much of their time fishing and hunting. The most direct and shortest way of communicating between these settlements at the north and south ends was over foot-paths, private cart-ways and other private ways, meandering from settlement ot settlement, a distance of about twelve miles. But to reach one of these settlements from the other by a continuous open public highway, the travel must have been north through Springfield to Colby Hill, or south through Andover, Kearsarge and Sutton to Colby Hill and a distance of about twenty miles. The two ends had no occasion to meet except for town purposes, and to vote for State and county officers. In politics, Federalism prevailed at the south, and ever controlled the town by a large and reliable majority, while Republicanism was the prevailing and almost unanimous political sentiment at the north. Were it not for voting the State and county ticket, and for electors, a general meeting of the citizens would never have occurred, or of any considerable portion of those in the north with those in the south, except casually and by accident. Between these sections there was no business connection to call them together. Agriculture was then the vocation of all. Whatever was done by way of manufacturing lumber was for local use in building residences and stables; none for transportation or foreign market. The mercantile business consisted wholly in exchanging farm products for groceries and other necessities. This was accomplished by the farmer himself, who, in early winter, transported with their own teams, usually horses, but sometimes oxen, "below," as it was generally termed, their products, and brought back in exchange a yearly stock of goods for family use and a little cash. From a common knowledge of the varying energy and enterprise of individuals in all communities, it is easy to perceive how readily the business of teaming and of a country merchant spring into a regular and constant business. Whatever process may have been made in producting the teamster and merchant at this time, one thing is certain: the surplus products of the north went down through Andover to Salisbury, from whence came their groceries in return, while those of the south went down through Warner to Hopkinton, and onward. Thus the business relations of our section extended down the east side of Kearsarge Mountain, and that of the other down the east side, making the two sections isolated and independent, in respect to each other, so far as the business of gaining a livelihood was concerned. [several paragraphs unrelated to the town's history is omitted] The prevailing religion and only organized church at the south was that of the Calvinistic Baptists, who were close communionists, and believed in the doctrine of election and fore-ordination. In the north were the Free-Will Baptists, with some Congregationalists. Kearsarge Gore at this time embraced a large tract of land lying on the north and south sides of Kearsarge Mountain. It was an unincorporated place, paid a public tax and had town privileges. Its population was one hundred and seventy-nine. In politics and religion they agreed. Their town-meetings were held on the north and south sides of said mountain alternately. Nothing existed among them in the way of contention, except it might be in the selection of local officers and matters of highways. Whichever side of the mountain election was held, they were sure to carry the day. This was accounted for by the inconvenience of getting over the mountain. At this time the construction of a road leading from Concord to Vermont, at the White River Junction, leading through what is now the town of Wilmot, and then the northern part of New London and Kearsarge, became an important, if not the leading enterprise with the people of New Hampshire along the line of the proposed route. The settlements in New Hampshire and Vermont had become numerous and extensive enough to require more direct and feasible roads to accomodate the increasing demands of an increasing interest in Northern New Hampshire and Vermont. The old rough and hill roads winding high up mountainsides and over hill-tops, in diverse ways, to accomodate hill settlements, could no longer serve the long travel and freight seeking the sea-board for the necessaries and luxuries desired for home comfort. Tramways had been made to accomodate through travel and freight, but only so far as they would accomodate the local settlements, which were universally upon the hills and elevated lands, as such were more easily reduced to cultivation, all such local improvements still left the ways for any and all travel unnecessarily steep, tedious and dangerous. At that time local means were too limited to open up and put in safe condition roads on the most feasible route for through travel by taxation. The business enterprise of traffic and travel sough accomodation and relief through its own resources, and in 1800 applied to the New Hampshire Legislature for an act of incorporation, authorizing certain persons to build the Fourth New Hampshire turnpike road, on the most feasible route, leading from Concord NH to Connecticut River, at White River Junction, in Lebabnon NH. This change induced the inhabitants in North New London and Kearsarge to apply to the Legislature for an act to incorporate the northerly plart of New London and that part of Kearsarge Gore north of Kearsarge Mountain into a town by the name of WILMOT. This act was obtained in 1807. This act authorized Samuel Messer Jr. and Benjamin Cass to call a meeting of the inhabirants for the purpose of choosing all necessary town officers. Agreeably to said act, Samuel Messer warned a town-meeting for the inhabitants to meet at the dwelling of James Philbrick on the second Tuesday in March 1808. At this meeting they elected Samuel Messer Jr., moderator; William Johnson, town clerk; Insley Greeley, Eliphalet Gay and Jabez Morrill, selectmen. In the vote for State and county officers at this meeting, it appears that John Langdon had twenty- nine votes for Governor and John T. Gilman two votes; Benjamin Pearce thirty votes for councilor; James Flanders twenty-two for Senator, Benjamin Philbrick had one vote for Senator, John Moody one vote, Samuel Prescott one vote; for register, Isaac Brooks, twenty-two; for treasurer, Joseph Town, twenty-one. There were votes taken also for other minor officers. At said town meeting they voted to raise two hundred dollars for schooling and voted the town be divided into three school districts--North, Centre and South Districts; also voted to raise twenty dollars for defraying town charges. In the year 1808 there were forty-six resident tax-payers; twenty-four of these resided in that part known as Kearsarge Gore, and twenty-two in the party formerly New London. The Kearasarge Gore and the northerly part of New London constituted the town of Wilmot till the year 1832, at which time, by an act of the Legislature, a certain tract of land then a part of New Chester, on the northerly side of Ragged Mountain (so called), and separated from the main part of New Chester by Ragged Mountain, was severed from New Chester and annexed to Wilmot, and at the present writing (1885) constitutes the town of Wilmot. (end) The history of Warner, New Hampshire : for one hundred and forty-four years, from 1735 to 1879 by Walter Harriman; Concord, N.H.: Printed by the Republican Press Association, 1879 page 37 About 1865 a large hotel was built on the Wilmot side of the mountain [Kearsarge] and named, in honor of the ship's captain, the "Winslow House." That hotel was destroyed by fire in 1867, and was rebuilt on a large scale. A reception was given to Admiral Winslow, in the first house, and he was present at the opening of the second, in 1868, when he gave the proprietor a stand of colors and a picture of the battle. Men of high station, both in the state and country, as well as others, were present on these occasions, participating in the festivities and congratulations of the hour. Nobody whispered that we were on the wrong mountain. Probably, into no one's mind, AT THAT TIME, had the idea entered that a rival mountain was entitled to these honors. In due time Admiral Winslow died, and a boulder was taken from the original Kearsarge to serve as a monument at his grave. And now the controversy as to the origin of the ship's name began; but the family of the Admiral stood by OUR Kearsarge, and the boulder is found in Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston Highlands, supporting a bronze tablet with the following inscription: "Rear Admiral John Ancrum Winslow, U.S. Navy, Born in Wilmington, N.C., Nov. 19, 1811, Died in Boston, Mass. Sept. 29, 1873. He conducted the memorable Sea-fight in command of U.S.S. Kearsarge, When she sank the Alabama in the English Channel, June 19, 1864. This boulder from Kearsarge Mountain, Merrimack County, N.H. Is the gift Of the citizens of Warner, N.H. and is erected to his memory by his wife and surviving children. A correspondent of the Boston "Journal," writing from Petersburg, Virginia, July 16, 1864, says,--"The sinking of the Alabama by the KEarsarge gives great joy to the soldiers. They are as much gratified as if THEY had won a victory. The men of the Kearsarge were mainly from New Hampshire. Their ship was built there, and it bears the name of the grand old mountain beneath the shadow of which Daniel Webster passed his childhood. The name was selected for the ship by one of the publishers of the "New Hampshire Statesman." The tourist, passing through the Granite State, will look with increased pleasure upon the mountain whose name, bestowed upon a national vessel, will be prominent in the history of the republic." Warner, Wilmot, Andover, Sutton and Salisbury all claim ownership in this mountain. Warner and Wilmot meet on the very summit; Andover comes near the top; Salisbury and Sutton not quite as near. The summit of Kearsarge is a bald rock. It was once mostly covered with wood; but about seventy five years ago the fire ran over the top of the mountain, increasing in intensity for several days and consuming not only the dead and living trees, but burning up the greater portion of the soil itself...." page 433 Kearsarge Gore, at the time mentioned, stretched over the mountain northward, nearly to the present village of Wilmot Centre. Till the year 1807, this Gore constituted a sort of town by itself. In the Gore records it is often called a TOWN. The inhabitants met annually, chose their town officers, and conducted, in many respects, like organized towns. In June 1807, Wilmot was incorporated, taking two thirds of its territory from New London, and the other third from the Gore. A part of the language of the act of incorporation is as follows: "And also, all the lands and inhabitants within said Kearsarge Gore, north of a straight line begining at the south-west corner of Andover, thence running westerly to the highest part of said Mountain, thence westerly," &c., to Sutton line. That boundary on the mountain has never been changed. On September 9, 1821, a severe tornado swept over Wendell (now Sunapee), New London, Sutton, Wilmot, Kearsarge Mountain and the southwest corner of Andover. Much damage to property was done along its track and great quantities of debris from shattered houses and other buildings was carried over the northern shoulder of Kearsarge and scattered over the southwest corner of Andover. A feather bed fell near the house of Gershom Durgin in Andover and a lady's muff, blown from a house in Sutton, was found in a tree on the land of Ephraim Eastman on Beech Hill. ---------------- 1810 United States Census KEARSARGE GORE Abner Watkins Jason Watkins Izek Trumbale Benj. Collins Nathan Hunt Samuel Savory Thom. Annis John Savery Foster Goodwin John Palmer Joseph Welles Saml Palmer Jr. Ezra Waldron John W. Moore Jona Palmer Jona Watkins Isaac Hardy Willm Harwood Total # 31 --------------- NEW LONDON NH Daniel Woodbury Jonathan Greeley Benjamin Adams John Adams Moses Adams Solomon Adams Theoph(ilus) Adams Nathl Banker/Barker Jas [James] Bincklebank Josiah Brown Saml Bunklebank Benja Bunter Asa Burpee Calvin Burpee Jerimiah [Jeremiah] Burpee Thomas Burpee Thomas Burpee Wm Clank [Clark] Spencer Clark Theop[hilus] Clark Moody Clement Jonathan Clink [Clark] Obadiah Clough Joseph Colby Stephen Currao Thomas Currao Ed Davis Edmund Davis Enoch Davis Josiah Davis John Dole Jesse Dow Saml [Samuel] Dusser [Dresser] David Everett Jona Everett Levi Everett Pawel Everett Andrew Fales Eprhaim Gaile Phebe Gaile Eliphalet Gay William Gay Jonathan Greeley Nathl Hales Samuel Hanton Zebedee Harris Betsey Harvey Joseph Harvey Levi Harvey Jona Herrick Nathan Herrick Ebenezer Heseltine [Hazeltine] Eben Hunting Israel Hunting William Hutchins Jed Jewett Jerimiah [Jeremiah] Jewett Eyck Knowlton Jemima Knowlton Makit Knowlton Daniel Marsh Isaac Messer James H. Messer Joseph Messer N.L. Messer Saml Messer Zach Messer Henry Morgan John Morgan Nathl Pales Thos Pike Jos Pilsbury [Pillsbury] Jerimiah [Jeremiah] Pingree Joseph Putney William Ray Danl Robinson Aaron Rowell Amasa Sarjeant [Sargent] Eben Sarjeant [Sargent] Ezekiel Sarjeant [Sargent] John Sargeant [Sargent] Peter Sarjeant Peter Sargeant Stephen Sarjeant [Sargent] Wm Sarjeant Eben Shepard Eben Shepard Jesse Shepard Jonas Shepard David Smith John Stack Benja Stears John Stinson Job Symond Job Symonds Man Symonds Greene Trench Joseph Trussell Moses Trussell Abner Witcher Joseph Wood Daniel Woodbury Man G. Woodbury John Woodman Eliph [Eliphalet] Woodward (end) SOME WILMOT RESIDENTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE CIVIL WAR Cheney, Alonzo J. Co D.; b. Wilmot; age 21; res. Sutton; enlisted April 27, 1861; mustered in May 2, 1861 as Private; mustered out August 9, 1861. See 1 N.H.L. Battery. Green, Gilman, Co. D; b. Hillsborough; age 28; resided Wilmot; enlisted April 22, 1861; mustered in May 2, 1861 as PRivate; mustered out Aug 9, 1861. See 5 and 10 N.H.V. Rowe, Wingate B., Co. D.; b. New Hampshire; age 22; res Wilmot; enlisted April 20, 1861; mustered in May 2, 1861 as Sergt, mustered out Aug 9, 1861. Died Jan 27, 1862 Wilmot NH.