Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/405

 IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PIONEERS.

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��IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PIONEERS.

��BY LEVI \V. DODGE.

(Concluded.)

��It is probable that the "Colonel" bought the lot of Capt. Benja. French, who was the purchaser of the original right, in 1 793, and still retained it as late as 1802. In' 18 — Thomas Mont- gomery secured the title, which he held until 1831, passing it over in that year, with a partial reserve, to his broth- er-in-law, J. M. Gove. This Thomas Montgomery came to \\ nitefield as a settler in February of 18 12. He had paid taxes, however, for some years previous. Selecting for a home a romantic spot on the borders of the pond which still bears the name of its early proprietor, and near where the first settlers of the town had already " set up their household gods." He came hither from Francestown, where he was born in 1782. His father was Hugh Montgomery, of that celebrated Scotch Irish stock who settled the "chestnut country" (Londonderry) about 1720. These hardy immigrants into New Hampshire were from the north of Ireland, staunch Presbyterians, who came to America " to escape the illiberal exactions and persecutions of the English church." They were seeking here greater freedom of person and conscience than was vouchsafed them in their native land. It is said they brought with them the seed of the first potatoes ever raised in Amer- ica. Also the knowledge of flax-cul- ture, and the art of spinning and weaving it. And with them came the first spinning-wheels, exact patterns of which are found in many an old spider-haunted garret, even to this day ; but the good old mothers and grand- mothers, whose feet pressed their treadles to the music of their spindles, have long since passed from earthly firesides.

Industry among these Scottish set- tlers was a prominent trait, and it is

��written of them " they were a well- principled people — frugal, hardy, and industrious."

Of such was the ancestry of Thomas Montgomery, on the paternal side, and the mother was a Campbell — a name illustrious in Scottish annals. Hither, also, brought Thomas his wife, who was Martha Woodbury, fit companion for a Montgomery, of distinguished old New England stock. The ancient homestead is now occupied by O. M. James, the original occupants having long since removed — the first genera- tion to that " country from whose bourne no traveler has ever returned," and the second " toward the land of the setting sun." Thomas Montgom- ery was the second justice of the peace in town, John McMaster being the first, and it was said of him that he had married more couples than any other person in town. He served more than twenty years as selectman, and filled every other town office,, serving his townsmen with dignity and honor. In politics he was an " old line whig," and was generally with the minority on questions of state and national importance. Yet he repre- sented the town at general court in some of those early years. He pre- sided in his day at more justice trials than any other man in the vicinity, and the writer has been informed that there never was but one of his decis- ions reversed on an appeal. In small matters of dispute between townsmen and neighbors he was often called upon to arbitrate, and his opinion was gener- ally respected.

He died in 1854, and his resting- place is in the original burying-ground, near his old home, and the marble re- cites that he was seventy-two. His wife survived him a few years, and now their ashes commingle beneath the

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