Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/146

 124 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

��EARLY PIONEERS OF BARTLETT.

��BY E. A. PHILBRICK.

THE early history of the pioneer settlements in New Hampshire, especially those in the vicinity of the "White Hills," are filled with struggles and hardships of which the residents and pleasure seekers of to-day know little, Dover was the nearest market at this time, and thither the settlers were obliged to go for all their provisions and other necessities not raised on their farms. In winter the journey was more easily accomplished than in summer. With a sled and snow-shoes, the journey was not considered a very hard task. In summer, however, it was exceedingly difficult and tiresome. The many falls and rapids of the Saco made this anything but easy, as the heavy boats, heavily laded, had to be carried around each rapid and fall ; and, in the calmest wa- ter, managed with great skill, to keep from the many rocks and snags. Often during their absence the river would rise to such a height as to be impassable for many days. Once the poor wives and children were forced to live upon seven potatoes a day for a long time, until the river fell so that their husbands could cross.

The land which now comprises the town of Bartlett was granted by Gov. Wentworth to several persons, among whom were William Stark and Vera Royce, for services rendered in Canada during the French and Indian War. Capt. Stark divided his share into lots, giving large tracts to persons who would settle them. Two brothers by the name of Emery, and a Harriman, were the first permanent settlers. Settlements had been begun during this time, in most of the locations in the vicinity of the mountains. In 1777, but a few years suc- ceeding the Emerys, Daniel Fox, Paul Jilly and Samuel Willey, from Lee, made a settlement in what is known as Upper Bartlett, north of those already located. They commenced their settlement with misfortune as well as hardship. Their horses, dissatisfied with the grazing along the Saco, started for their former home in Lee. As was afterward found, instead of following the Saco, as the settlers did, they separated and struck across the mountain, some going to the east, and others to the west. In the following spring portions of one was found which had evidently been dead but a few weeks. He had sustained himself during the winter upon browse, being sheltered from cold in one of those immense snow caverns which are often formed upon the mountains. The snow forms an entire roof over the tops of the trees, leaving the space beneath entirely free and hollow. Flocks of sheep have been known to be sheltered so from the cold, coming out healthy and in good condition in the spring. Of the re- maining horses, no trace was ever found.

Hon. John Pendexter removed to this town, from Portsmouth, at an early period of its history, settling in the southern part, near the Conway line. Here he resided the remainder of his hfe, dying at the advanced age of eighty-three years. He and his wife came a distance of eighty miles in mid-winter, she riding upon an old, feeble horse, with a feather-bed under her, and an infant child in her arms, he by her side, hauling their household furniture upon a hand-sled. Nor was it a well prepared home to which they came, — a warm house and well cultivated lands, — but a forest and a rude log cabin. The child was cradled in a sap-trough, and ultimately became the mother of a class of

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