A BRIEF HISTORY OF PELHAM, N. H.

 

     Although it is a small and relatively insignificant town, Pelham has a long and interesting history. Despite the fact that Pelham was not incorporated as a town until 1746, its history begins long before that date.

 

     The earliest evidence of white men in Pelham can be found in old documents belonging to descendants of the first settlers of Derry, N. H. In April, 1719, a group of these settlers were passing through Pelham on their way to Derry. As darkness overtook them on Saturday evening, they found a clearing in which to spend the night. In observance of the Sabbath, the group's minister, the Reverend James McGregor, preached a sermon under an outcropping of granite. This ledge, located about one and one-half miles south of the center, has since been known as Pulpit Rock and ranks high on the list of Pelham's landmarks.

 

     Long before the first actual settlers had arrived, parts of Pelham were granted to several men from Boston. A Mr. Coburn received a large tract of land near Gumpas Pond and a man named Endicott was given an equally large grant north of Long Pond. About 1720, the settlers of Londonderry, fearful for their safety, erected a blockhouse in Pelham. In addition to providing protection, this garrison served as a halfway house on Mammoth Road, then the main link between Derry and Boston. The first actual settlement took place two years after the founding of this fort. In late 1721, John Butler and David Hamblett cleared land and built a cabin about two miles west of the present center. They returned home to Woburn, Massachusetts, for the winter but came back the following spring to clear land and sow grain. After improving their crude cabin, the two pioneers transported their families to the settlement in the spring of 1723. One man named Richardson soon settled slightly south of the blockhouse and another named Jaques (or Jacques) built a cabin a little east of where the center is today. The families of Baldwin and Barker settled together on a hill north of Butler's cabin. The largest early settlement was made by the Gage clan from Bradford. Between 1735 and 1740, three brothers and a cousin brought their families to live around Gage Hill. Although a second garrison was built for the protection of these founders of the town, they were exceedingly fortunate in having little trouble with the Indians. Except for a few raids by packs of hunger-crazed wolves, it seems the pioneers had more trouble with each other than with nature. After the first winter together, Butler and Hamblett became dissatisfied, each believing he did more than his share of the household chores. They finally found a solution by building a stone wall through the middle of their rude house with the result that each had to do his own work and gather his own firewood.

 

     Unfortunately, this early settlement did not have a clear title to the land because of earlier grants. Finally, despite this disputed title, the settlers petitioned for incorporation in 1746. On July 5, of that year, Benning Wentworth, governor of the province of New Hampshire, acting for George II, signed the charter for the town of Pelham. Wentworth chose the name Pelham in honor of Thomas Pelham Holles, the Duke of Newcastle to whom he owed his appointment. The southeastern two-thirds of the town came from Dracut while the remainder came mostly from Old Dunstable and a small piece from Londonderry. Along with granting a charter, the governor ordered Zacheus Lovewell of Nottingham West (now Hudson) to organize a town meeting to begin Pelham's official business. On July 21, all town officers were elected at a town meeting held at the home of Captain Henry Baldwin. Surprisingly enough, the act of incorporation did not provoke hostile action from the disputed Masonian proprietors of the land, and in 1774, they settled the claim.

 

     That the early settlers were religiously minded is shown by the fact that in October, 1746, a second town meeting was held to begin a church. It was decided to buy as much preaching for the winter as 60 pounds would buy. Not until 1751, however, did the townspeople hire a permanent parson. In May of that year, they called James Hobbs, a 25-year-old, newly ordained minister to reside in the town. His salary was determined at 25 cords of firewood and 400 pounds yearly. When Hobbs first came, the church had only ten members; two years later, this number had increased to thirty-seven, including one negro slave. Hobbs soon married and the town voted to build him a parsonage. Though Hobbs was a huge and powerful man, his life was very short. In 1765, he died of unknown causes and was buried at town expense. Amos Moody of Newbury was chosen as the second minister, and soon after his arrival in the town, he married Hobbs' widow. Dissatisfaction with Mr. Moody caused the town to split into two parishes in 1786. Upon Moody's dismissal in 1792, the town was reunited. The townspeople as a whole supported the church until 1832 when the Congregational Society was organized to perform this task. The fact that Pelham was one of the last towns to take this step shows the stability of the people. Only once were there dissenters in the congregation who sought other faiths. In 1820, some parishioners drifted from the flock and founded a Methodist church near the Salem line, but it was soon sold and remodeled as a house. In 1862, the much-too ancient parsonage was replaced by a new one erected on the lot of Tyler's Store.

 

     At one of the town meetings in 1746, it was voted to build a meetinghouse, and a very crude structure was erected in Pelham center. In 1748, the townspeople voted to purchase the old Nottingham West meetinghouse, which was for sale. A work committee was chosen and in 1749, the building was dissembled and transported to the center. It was re-erected and ready for use by the time the first permanent minister, the Reverend Hobbs, arrived in 1751. As was often done at that time, the building was finished and furniture bought by offering choice pews to those who contributed the most. Although very old at the time of its purchase, the meetinghouse served the town as a place of worship for over thirty years. Finally, in 1785, the town built a new meetinghouse very near the old one. This new structure, however, was not finished inside until 1795. In 1803, it was proposed that the town build a steeple and buy a bell, but the townspeople rejected the proposal as too great an expense. Neither this structure nor the previous one had any heat and the people worshipped for seventy-five winters before stoves were installed in 1820. In 1842, the newly-formed Congregational Society petitioned the town to buy the meetinghouse, but was refused. As an alternative, General Samuel Richardson donated a plot of land on which a church was built. This construction ended the use of the town meetinghouse for worship purposes.

 

     In 1761, the first recorded action on education was taken. In that year, the town voted that although it did not wish to build any schoolhouses, they would hire a teacher during the winter. For four months, starting in September, the teacher would hold classes in various homes. Pelham, in contrast to other neighboring towns, kept this up every year except for one during the revolution. In 1793, money was raised to build the first schoolhouses. The town was divided into five districts of about thirty families, and the town erected one schoolhouse per district. In 1799, the townspeople voted to appropriate more than the state-required sum for education and so began a great tradition that has never been broken. The following year, a Dartmouth graduate, Daniel Hardy, started a normal school in Pelham Center. The Academy, as it soon became known, furthered the education provided by the town and produced many fine schoolteachers. The public education however, must have been relatively good, as the record of higher education indicates. Between the Revolution and the Civil War, Pelham had four graduates from Harvard and fourteen from Dartmouth. These men included four clergymen, seven lawyers, and two United States Congressmen, one of whom was William Richardson, one-time Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Also included was Dr. Reuben D. Mussey, a physician who gained an international reputation.

 

     Pelham's military record is as impressive as many of the town's other features. In regards to the French and Indian War, the following history was written in the town records. Today, this chronicle is inscribed on a marble plaque hanging on display in the public library.

 

 

"In the year 1755 Begune the Bloody war

Btween England and france, and the whole

Country of Canada was surrendered to his

Majesty, George, in the year 1760.

 

     The account of the number of men that

was lost belonging to Pelham that died

a Broad:

 

     Jonathan Wright, Edward Wyman,

Ezra Littlehail, Simon Beard, Lut. Thomas

Gage, Joseph Gage, Simon Wyman, Daniel

Gage, John Weber."

 

Pelham was no less distinguished in the Revolutionary War. In 1775, when the states were called upon to send representatives to the Continental Congress, Pelham sent Aaron Wyman to Exeter to help choose New Hampshire's delegates. In 1777, the town voted to give twenty pounds to each man who enlisted in the Continental Army for three years. This was later raised to thirty pounds, and because of the money shortage, was usually paid in corn and beef. An additional sixteen shillings eight pence was paid to every man for each month he served in the defense of his country. Later, in 1781, it was voted to give each soldier certain amounts of produce, according to the battles in which he took part. These bonuses evidently were effective because eighty men from Pelham fought in the Revolution. When time came to ratify the Articles of Confederation, Pelham chose a committee to examine these articles and advise the town. Because of the advice of this committee, the townspeople urged that an amendment be made to allow free representation. Another amendment was requested, this one asking that Negroes be counted equally with whites, instead of on the three-fifths of a person basis originally suggested. As part of the Thirteenth New Hampshire Volunteers in the Civil War, twenty-seven Pelham men had the great honor of being the first regiment to carry its colors into the city of Richmond. Another fifty-four men from Pelham enlisted and fought in the Tenth and Twelfth New Hampshire Volunteers.

 

     Pelham's early development, though not as rapid as that of some towns, showed a fair amount of progress. Between 1764 and 1807, six conservation laws protecting fish, game, and timber were passed. In 1815, the town bought its first horse-drawn hearse. On Mammoth Road, in North Pelham, a thriving inn was kept by Jesse Gibson. During the time the Gibson inn was operated, it hosted many notables including Daniel Webster and President Andrew Jackson. Another two inns were established in the center. The town's industries were several and diversified. In addition to Stiles' hat making business, and a pearlash manufactory, there was a tannery employing more than a dozen people. In order to supplement the income from his inn, Jesse Gibson manufactured horse harnesses. A man named Butler built and operated two cotton mills, both of which later burned, as did a woolen mill constructed on Beaver Brook. One of the major town industries was the quarrying of rock. Two large Pelham stone quarries supplied all the granite used to build both the Lawrence dam and the Lowell reservoir. By 1824, Pelham had become developed enough for Hillsboro County to annex it and in 1830, the town itself annexed a small segment of land from neighboring Windham. In 1837, during the Jackson administration, there was a large federal treasury surplus. Returned to the states, the money was divided among the towns according to their population and Pelham received 3800 dollars. The inhabitants of the town voted to use part of this public money to build three bridges across Beaver Brook. A mason named Jonathan Atwood was commissioned to build these bridges, and constructed the first one in 1837. Two more similar arched stone bridges were completed in 1839 and 1840.

 

     From the time of its founding, Pelham has had its share of traditional stories handed down from father to son. One such an interesting story concerns the derivation of the name of the Gumpas district. Originally, the Indians had a path through a large pine forest, and the Indian name for this trail was Gum Path in English. Soon the name was corrupted to Gumpass and later, the last "s" was dropped. Jeremie's (now Jeremy) Hill and Golding's (now Golden) Brook were named for lone Indians residing near the respective landmarks. One almost legendary tale is about the town's first minister, James Hobbs. One day, while he was walking along one of the roads, Hobbs overtook a man coming home from the sawmill with a wagon-load of lumber. The wagon had lost one wheel and the owner was trying to no avail to replace it. The Reverend solved the problem by simply lifting one whole side of the wagon and holding it long enough for the wheel to be reaffixed. One of the most colorful characters in Pelham's history was the widow of Thomas Gage, who had been killed in the French and Indian War. Walking home from a friend's home, the widow was startled to hear footsteps behind her. Upon turning around, she discovered she was being followed by a huge bear, which she kept at bay until she arrived home. On another occasion, the Widow Gage rode on horseback all the way to Boston to exchange her home-made thread and yarn for nails to build a house. Another story which shows the great fearlessness of the bears in the area is about Major Daniel Atwood. Hearing a noise in his dooryard, Atwood investigated and discovered a bear. Not having any lead bullets, he removed the steel knob from the handle of his fire shovel and with that, shot and killed the bear. Once, as a young boy, Daniel Hardy, who later became the teacher answered the door to find a beggar who asked for a pair of pants. Hardy, who had no sense of values, complied with this request by giving away his father's best velvet trousers.

 

     As evidenced by this rather short history, searching old historical documents can supply some very interesting facts about even the most insignificant places.

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Atwood, Harry H., "Early Days of Pelham!"

200th Anniversary Historical Souvenir Booklet, 1946, pp. 5-80

​

Hobbs, Frances, "Many Involved In Early Wars",

​

Nashua Telegraph, November 2, 1962, p. 8.

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Hurd, D. Hamilton, History of Hillsboro County, New Hampshire,

J. W. LEWIS and Co., 1885, pp. 631-649

 

Pillsbury, Hobart, New Hampshire; A History,

Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1927, p. 222.

 

Smith, Dr. Henry O., Early Story of Hudson, New Hampshire

1927, p. 5

 

​

"Unique Federal Surplus Provided for Bridges Across Beaver Brook",

(Editorial), Nashua Telegraph, November 2, 1962, p. 9.

​

 

Webster, Kimbal, History of Hudson, New Hampshire,

Granite State Publishing Co., 1913, pp. 16-17