Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/38

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THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

ern, in which Wesley Burpee, Daniel Pattee, William Campbell, with a few others, figured, and Elijah Blaisdell had been nominated for representative. It was intended for a surprise, and only such as were friendly to Elijah were present. Old Bill Wood and Levi Wilson had been there after their daily rum; going home, about sunset, the Judge hailed them for &ldquo;the news up to the street.&rdquo; &ldquo;0, nothin much,&rdquo; replies Uncle Bill, &ldquo;only we had a caukis, and sot up &rsquo;Lijah for representative.&rdquo; &ldquo;What!&rdquo; thundered the old Judge, &ldquo;&rsquo;Lige Blaisdell for rep! impossible ! But who&rsquo;s done it? He &rsquo;aint fit fer it, more&rsquo;n my old hoss, and I tell you he shan&rsquo;t have it.&rdquo; And he did n&rsquo;t get it. The Judge mounted his old horse, and rode up to Wallace&rsquo;s store, where a crowd had begun to gather. He dismounted, and, after saluting them, inquired if any thing of importance had transpired. They confirmed his first intelligence, with more particulars. Then he smoothed his brow and replied, &ldquo;men, this will never do; because I was fit to hold office, it don&rsquo;t follow that all the Blaisdells are fit for it, and I ought to be pretty well acquainted with them all. And then the way this nomination has been made is unfair. A man that plays tricks, even in politics, aint worthy of your votes. We must get together, Saturday night, at this store, and talk it all over, and depend upon it, we&rsquo;ll have a good man nominated.&rdquo; The other Blaisdell staid at home that year. That Saturday night was memorable in the annals of Canaan Street. There was a large gathering, and they drank rum freely, every body did, except this matter-of-fact old judge, Asahel Jones, who belonged to the other party, appeared among them. He was accused of being a spy, and he was ordered to prepare for instant death. They secured him, placed a rope about his neck and shoulders, and drew him up to a beam, in the store, several times, letting him down hard. Asahel was badly hurt, and worse frightened, and begged hard for a reprieve. Finally he was permitted to start for home. He went off over the hill, crying murder! help ! On the road, the cold air began to freeze the rum out of his skin, and he was sorely chilled. He grew mad as he thought how he had been assaulted and battered by those fellows on the street, no better than he. Next morning he presented himself before his friend, Elijah Blaisdell, and complained of his assailants, three of whom were arrested and made to pay $20 for the wicked sport they had enjoyed. After the election of General Jackson, in 1828, Elijah became a Democrat. The old judge was much annoyed at his son&rsquo;s apostacy from his own faith, but he pretended to be greatly pleased, &ldquo;because, said he, now we shall know where to find him all the time.&rdquo;

Mr. Blaisdell became one of the largest owners of lands in Canaan. When the proprietors dissolved their organization, he, with Joseph Dustin, purchased all the ungranted lands in the town. These included swamp lands, gores, and corners which the surveys had failed to connect. His children, as they grew up, married and settled in town, and the third generation numbered sixty-nine persons. It is interesting to look at some of these families, and compare their numbers with those of the present time. Of his eleven sons and daughters, Elijah, the lawyer, had twelve children; James, the sheriff, seven; Daniel, the musician, fifteen; William, the painter, seven; Joshua, the sheriff, five; Parrott, the farmer, nine; Jacob, the doctor, none; Jonathan, the trader, two; Sally, wife of Joseph Dustin, five; Rhoda, third wife to Eben Clark, two; Timothy, the broker, five. These families, for years, all resided in one neighborhood, and it was a common remark that the old folks could visit all their numerous offspring in one day. The name was once nearly as common as blackberries (Barney at E. C), but it has disappeared from our records, or is only found in the grave-yards. Our worthy