Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/18

 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

��married, January i, 1746, Lydia East- n''an, who was born in Kensington, N. H., in 1726.- He was a blacksmith, and settled in Kpping, N. H. They lived a few years on the northern side of Red Oak hill. He purchased later a small farm on the southern side of the hill, about a mile north of the center of the town, near Gov. Plum- er's estate. The house now occu- pied by Mrs. Annie, widow of Martin V. Fo^g, stands on the site of the one occupied by Capt. Chandler. He served in the French war, was highway surveyor in Epping in 1763, and at the annual parish meeting, held March 14, 1774, he was chosen "-parish clerk." On January 2, 1775, Capt. Joseph Chandler was chosen one of the com- mittee of "Inspection and Correspond- ence for the Parish of Epping." He was a captain in the Revolutionary war; and at a meeting July 22, 1776, of the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, they '"gave South Flampton soldiers leave to go and join Capt. Chandler's company." He died in the service of his country September 17, 1776, at Mount Independence, near Fort George, in Rutland county, Vermont, leaving a widow and ten children in straitened circumstances, of whom the subject of this sketch was the seventh.

Hon. John Chandler was born on Red Oak hill, in Epping, February i, 1762, and was nearly fifteen years old at the time of his father's death. He received such education as the district school afforded him. He learned the trade of his father, and assisted his mother to keep the wolf of poverty from the door. In the year 1777, being fifteen years old, he enlisted for three months, served out his time, and was honorably discharged. He was in Stark's famous brigade, which was under Gates at the last action before Burgoyne surrendered, October 17, 1777. On his return to Red Oak hill he worked for his mother, pro- bably on the farm and at the forge, until January, 1779, when he secretly left home, walked to Newburyport, and

��shipped on board a privateer, the " Arnold," commanded by Capt.. Moses Brown, who afterward com- manded the frigate Essex.

Being captured by the British he suffered terribly in one of their prison ships. He, with a few others, planned and carried into execution an escape. Twenty-four in all, they reached the land near Savannah, Georgia. Chand- ler and two others, at his instigation, started to walk to New Hampshire. His companions died on the way; but Chandler walked to his home in Epping, reaching there in February, 1780. There was joy at that humble hearth, for his mother had mourned him as dead.

The following June he enlisted again> for the period of six months. At the expiration of that term he returned home and worked at his father's forge for two years.

He had now attained his majority and cast his eyes eastward for a new home. One hundred years ago this blacksmith came to the district of Maine. He came by public convey- ance to New Gloucester, thence by spotted trees to Winthrop, from which place he proceeded to that part of Wales plantation that was incorporated as the town of Monmouth, January 20. 1792. Here he took up two. hundred acres of land, for which he paid four hundred dollars. He re- turned to New Hampshire and mar- ried Mary Whittier of Nottingham.. She was the daughter of Benjamin Whittier, who lived on what was known. as "The Ledge Farm." With his young bride Chandler came to his new home and began carrying on his farm. and keeping a country tavern. A few years after he took his aged mother- and his sister Hannah to his home in Monmouth. His mother had mar- ried for a second husband John Bart- lett, of Epping, who died a short time previous to her removal. She resided with her son from this time until hei death, March 9, 1820, when she was- ninety-four years old. To show the hardships endured by our early settlers,.

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