ALONG THE SOUHEGAN. 169
town by all who have visited within its borders. Who, standing upon the hill east of the town and looking down upon the scene of peaceful thrift and hap- piness at his feet, could fail to say in his heart, how wonderous are the works of God, for by His hand has this lovely spot been redeemed from the wilder- ness? He alone could have inspired the eariy settlers with that courage and fortitude of which we, a hundred and fifty years later, enjoy the fruit. He alone could have sustained the widow of the first man who died within these precincts, in her terrible midnight journey through the solitary woods of winter, in quest of assistance. Sitting by our fire-sides surrounded by all the comforts of life, and in the enjoyment of countless luxuries, the heroic deeds of our ancestors seem more like the fancied ideas of a romancer, than acts of real life, and were not the proof of their authenticity before us, we should be in- clined to doubt the possibility of their occurance. Gallant deeds of brave soldiers ; the heroic conduct of naval commanders ; and brilliant achievements of eminent statesmen, history has recorded ; but in that dark period preceed- ing the Revolution, many an obscure and unnoticed individual showed greater heroism than was ever displayed upon the field of battle, in the naval combat, or in the Senate chamber. If the men of that age were brave, certainly they were very ably seconded by the women, and no more striking instance of their stoicism could be exampled than the conduct of Mrs. Badger at the death of her husband, to which we have already referred.
In June, 1735, the Massachusetts General Court, granted to Samuel King and others, in consideration "of their sufferings" in the expedition to Canada in the year 1690, the township of Lyndeborough, and about one third of Wilton on the north side, under the name of Salem Canada. In this part of Wilton, in June, 1 739, was the first settlement made. The first settlers were Ephraim and Jacob Putnam, and John Dale, who removed to this place from Danvers, Mass. In 1 749, the Masonion proprietors made a grant ot the rest of the town under certain conditions, to forty-six persons. The grantees had it laid out, and annexed to a part of Salem Canada, and called No. 2. It was incor- porated June 25, 1762, under the name of Wilton, a name probably derived from an ancient borough in Wiltshire, England ; and the first town-meeting was held July 27, 1762, twenty-three years after the first settlement. Before the Revolution, a range of lots, half a mile wide was set off to Temple, and thus the town finally assumed its present size and shape. Improvements of all kinds were slow and gradual. The first settlers went to Dunstable to mill ; and when Sheppard's mills in Milford, seven miles distant, were built, it was so great a convenience that it was hardly thought less of than a modern railroad. The first grist-mill in Wilton, was built by Deacon Samuel Greele, of Notting- ham West. The first saw-mill was near Philip Putnam's, on the North Stream (Stony Brook). The second grist and saw-mill was Hutchinson's, at the east village. These were all the grist-mills erected before the Revolution. The roads were at first little more than foot-paths marked by spotted trees. For a long time there were apprehensions of danger from the Indians ; Wilton seems never to have been a fixed residence for them, but merely a hunting-ground. They, however, lived along the Merrimack, and in time of hostility, or when hostility was feared, the first settlers went into garrison. This continued about ten years. One garrison was in Milford, the other in Lyndeborough, near where Ephraim Putnam setded. The Ecclesiastical History of our New England towns, has always been of great interest and importance, and it must be grati- fying to all whose native .place is Wilton, that the means for religious improve- ment have ever been carefully provided by its inhabitants.
When the town was first laid out, one share of two hundred acres was set apart for the first minister, and another for the support of the ministry. There
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