THE OLD RED MILL. 121
Hopkinton, and, for nearly thirty years thereafter, not one was found in Henniker or Warner, — went forward, and, at large expense, erected a mill at the "great falls," whereon is now the site of St. Paul's School. This is the Old Red Mill whose memory we would perpetuate.
Lovejoy's stay here was short. He sold his interest to his partner, and removed to what is now West Concord, where he erected another mill, which stood (the writer is informed), on the ground now occupied by Holden's upper woollen factory, and Barachias Farnum was henceforth the sole proprietor of this far-famed mill on Turkey River. Here, for a quarter of a century and considerably more, he stood at his post, giving faithful service to all his patrons, whether from far or near.
But the times were perilous. From 1742 to 1754, Lidian atrocities, in and about Penacook, as well as in other parts of the province, were of frequent occurrence. These depredations were not committed by the Penacooks, but by Indians mostly from Canada, who were instigated by the French to their deeds of blood. So long as the Penacooks remained in this section of the country, they were, mainly through the kind consideration extended to them by the first minister of Concord, friendly to the inhabitants.
In 1739, there were apprehensions of danger from these foreign Indians, and the town of Penacook, by vote, ordered "that a garrison should be built round the house of Rev. Mr. Walker, and that five pounds should be granted to Barachias Farnum to enable him to build a flanker in order to defend his mills on Turkey River."
In 1742, on the Hopkinton road, about seventy rods from the Old Red Mill, the wife of Jonathan Eastman was captured by a party of Indians, and carried to Canada. She was soon thereafter redeemed, with a price, and restored to her family.
August 11, 1746, the great Rumford Massacre occurred. This, too, was on the Hopkinton road, and about three fourths of a mile to the eastward of our mill. Abner Clough, clerk of Captain Ladd's company of Indian scouts, gives a graphic description of this massacre, from whom we quote: —
Capt. Ladd came up to Rumford town, and that was on the tenth day, and on the eleventh day, Lieut. Jonathan Bradley took six of Capt. Ladd's men and was in company with one Obadiah Peters that belonged to Capt. Melvin's company of the Massachusetts, and was going about two miles and a half from Rumford town to a garrison, and when they had gone about a mile and a half, they were shot upon by thirty or forty Indians, if hot more, as it was supposed, and killed down dead Lieut. Jonathan Bradley and Samuel Bradley. John Lufkin and John Bean, and this Obadiah Peters. These live men were killed down dead on the spot, and the most of them were stripped, and Sergeant Alexander Roberts and William Stickney were taken captive. It is supposed there was an Indian killed where they had the fight.
Captain Ladd and his company were from Exeter, and that region, and the "garrison," mentioned above, to which this squad of men was marching, stood on a ledge, on the south side of the Hopkinton road, and about eighty rods from the Old Red Mill. Indications of the exact spot where this garrison stood are yet visible.
Clough continues: —
On the twelfth day. early in the morning, went up and took the blood of the Indian, and followed along by the drag and blood of the Indian, about a mile, very plain, till we came within about fifteen rods of a small river, and there we could see no more sign of the Indian; but we tracked the Indians along down the river, about twenty or thirty rods, and there were falls where they went over.
