3 68
��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��light shadows out of which their lives shine from the twilight of the long- gone years.
Another historic name among the grantees of Whitefield is that of Clough — Capt. Jeremiah and his four sons, Jeremiah, jr., Thomas, Leavitt, and Henry. They were residents of Canterbury, of which town the father was one of the early settlers, in 1727, and built the old " garrison" there, which served so many years as protec- tion against the Indians, when that part of the province was the extreme northern border of civilization. He was commander of a company of vol- unteers who made this their headquar- ters while scouting and ranging during the hostile days of 1743-45. During his absence upon one of these scouts his home was ransacked by a party of red-skins, and his negro servant and a boy named Jackson were taken captive and carried to Canada.
Henry, the fourth son, joined the Shakers and became one of the found- ers of that society at Lebanon, N. Y.
They all became men of note and influence in their times, and the Cloughs of Canterbury and Loudon, descend- ants of Jeremiah, are to this day citi- zens of wealth and distinction.
Their early connection with this sec- tion was doubtless for services render- ed the state, as also was that of many others of the grantees of new towns in those days, and their granted posses- sions soon passed into speculative hands. The most prominent portions of the royal gift to these titles were the present Dr. Watterston place, the old Warner homestead, and the corner of the town in the vicinity of " Scott Mountain," and none were redeemed from the first land sale of 1793.
Capt. Stephen Gerrish, at the date of the grant of the township, was a resident of Canterbury ; he was the first settler in the town of Contoocook, and was celebrated for his courage and zeal during the French and Indian wars. He is said to have possessed some admirable characteristics of mind, although unpolished and unlettered,
��^nd his eulogist says, " The only words of his which have come down to us are a profane oath sworn on a public oc- casion." What the occasion was, or what was the peculiar nature of the pro- fane words, Mr. Price fails to tell us ; but being " a citizen of sterling worth," and a " supporter of civil and religious institutions, "and a man in other respects "worthy of honor," and a staunch pa- triot withal, it is hoped this slight de- fect in an otherwise commendable character was passed over by that re- corder of good men's deeds un- noticed.
Capt. Stephen's Will is recorded Oc- tober 13, 1774, and he gives: " First to my beloved wife, Joanna, out of my stock, one horse, saddle and bridle, & one cow, and five sheep, and also the one half of my household furniture to be hers forever." Capt. Gerrish died in 1788, aged 76 years.
In passing from Whitefield village, by the Carroll road, to the old Col. Colby farm, now occupied by Cha's E. King, the traveler passes through a part of the allotment to the title of Capt. Stephen Gerrish, number two in the twentieth range. It was formerly considered of little value except for its dense growth of timber ; but in these later years, by the thrift of Mr. James Colby, it is being transformed into fruitful fields and sunny pastures.
Among other titles secured by Fred- erick French, of Dunstable, at the first sale of Whitefield's lands, in 1793, was that of Benjamin Hurd, jr., of Charles- town, Mass., a part of whose granted right became number two in the sec- ond range, now known as the Joseph Taylor place, and this was one of the first selected locations by the early set- tlers, and John McMaster was its first occupant. He came hither with Major Burns in the summer of 1802. The families were connected by marriage, the mother of McMaster being the second wife of Major John Burns. McMaster originated in Francestown, but both families were representatives of that Londonderry stock who, in 1689, successfully resisted the power
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