370
��HILLSBOROUGH.
��set forth. It appears that the party made its way to Litchfield and there set- tled down.
ROMANTIC STORY.
A rather romantic event in the lives of thetwo children firstborn in Hillsborough is worthy of record. The close of the French war in 1760 caused the withdraw- al of the predatory savages from the bor- der towns and plantations, and in the in- terval between 1746 and that year, Col. Hill of Boston had become sole proprie- tor of Hillborongh. In 1762 the second settlement of the town was inaugurated — Daniel McMurphy being the first of the new colony. Pending arrangements for this second occupation of the territory, Col. Hill had frequent occasion to pass through Litchfield toward his posses- sions, where he became acquainted with John McColley and Elizabeth Gibson, and proposed to them, should they marry, he would give them one hundred acres of land. They were married, took pos- session of their gift in Hillborough, and lived in the enjoyment of domestic hap- piness for three-score years. Their pos- terity have to this day a most reputable existence in the town.
It was some two years after Daniel McMurphy built his log hut on Bible Hill, as the spot is now called, before he began to have neighbors. Among those who joined him, up to 1767, were Mc- Colley and two Gibson's from Litchfield, sons of the earlier settlers, several from Derryfield, (now Manchester), in all, six- teen heads of families. A store, grist- mill and tavern were soon built, and a militia company was organized. No church was built for fifteen years after the second settlement had been made ; but religious services were regularly held in barns in the summer, and in dwelling- houses in winter. After Col. Hill had given ten acres of land for a meeting- house, near the centre of the town, and three hundred pounds as a gift to the first settled minister, Rev. Jonathan Barnes settled in Hillsborough, as the planta- tion was now called. The year follow- ing a meeting-house was erected.
The town was also incorporated in 1772, there being at that time twenty-
��two men, who were freeholders. The charter, which bears date Nov. 14, was issued in the name of George the Third of England, " by advice of our trusty and well beloved John Wentworth, Gov- ernor and Commander-in-Chief of our province of New Hampshire."
REVOLUTIONARY EFFORTS.
The population of Hillsborough slow- ly increased until 1775, when the settle- ment contained forty families. At this time the war with England broke out, and elicited a common feeling of resist- ance against the wrongs sought to be in- flicted by the government of the mother country on her North American colo- nists. No locality manifested more pat- riotic ardor, or devotion to the interests of liberty than the people of this town. They armed and equipped themselves for local protection and national resistance. No patriotic sacrifice within their power was withheld — they offered their all that the rights of the people should be assert- ed. The town assessed itself in nine thousand seven hundred pounds to pur- chase provisions for the American Army, and more than thirty stalwart men from the forty families gave their personal ser- vice in the war that ensued, and fought in Stark's regiment at Bunker Hill, where their brave commander, Capt. Isaac Bald- win, fell mortally wounded. The record of bravery places the men of Hillsbor- ough in a high niche in the temple of valor, and their fame enriches the glory of many a well-fought field.
EARLY EDUCATIONAL PROVISION.
It is a matter of special credit to the people of Hillsborough, that amid the excitement and the numerous calls made on their substance during the war of the Revolution, they forgot not the vital in- terests of education. There was no or- ganized school system among them until the war had commenced, and the only male teacher in the town had joined the American Army, and was killed at the battle of White Plains in 1776. A lady had, however, given lessons in the ini- tiatory branches of learning to a few of the younger people ; but those of a more intricate character fell to the lot of the town minister. Before the war ended
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