Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

P. S.

You are desired to make a return of the men raised as soon as may be, to the Committee of Safety, to Col. John Webster.

A true copy by me,

JOHN WEBSTER, Col.

Lieut. Col. Emerson having been dispatched for the protection of some stores belonging to the army of Stark, was not at Bennington, until the second day of the engagement. There are those who remember to have heard him tell, how, on crossing the field of action with some message, the blood spattered on his boots and upon his horse's sides. We give the follow ing notes from Gen. Stark, as of some interest.

TO LIEUT. COL. EMERSON, IN CAMP.

Gen. Stark's compli

ments to Col. Emerson; would be very glad he would inform him by the bearer whether or no he found any coffee when gone to Otter Creek, if so what he did with it, or unto whom he delivered it.

By Gen. Stark's order,

Aug. 31, 1777.

JOHN CASEY, A. D. C.

TO THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE GUARD.

You are hereby

ordered to send the prisoners under your care in the guard house upon Maj. Rensselaer's request, without any further order, as fast as he wants them for examination, under standing them to be reputed tories.

By order of Gen. Stark,

JOHN CASEY, A. D. C.

Exeter, June 16th, 1780. Sir,There is orders for raising of six hundred men in this State for about six months, to join the army; our proportion of which is 22. I should be glad that you would meet with the rest of the field officers at my house in Chester, upon Monday next at one of the clock in the afternoon, in order to devise means to raise and proportion them, as they must be got ready without loss of time. If the Captain in Candia will come with you, I shall be glad to see him. I am, sir, yours to serve,

To Lieut. Col. Emerson.

JOHN WEBSTER, Col.

Exeter, June 24, 1780.

Sir, — We are to be called upon to raise more men. Ì have not got my orders yet, but expect them the beginning of next week. Our proportion will be 43, and as the men must be got without delay, it will be necessary that the field officers meet next Friday at my house in Chester, at one of the clock in the afternoon, in order to proportion the men, and as there must go one captain and one ensign out of the Regiment, I should be glad that the captains should also meet at the same time and place, and I should be glad that you would see your ensign and know if he incline to go, and let me know at the time appointed for to meet. By order of me.

To Lieut. Col. Emerson.

JOHN WEBSTER.

From all that can be gathered concerning the his tory of Col. Emerson, the praise bestowed on him was not unmerited. He even went to the extent of

paying money out of his own pocket for the enlistment of men, for which he never asked or received any re

muneration.

He was for many years a surveyor of land, and his father, Samuel Emerson, Esq., was the original surveyor of the town of Candia into divisions and lots.

FITTS, ABRAHAM

Came to Candia about 1763; he was born in Salisbu ry in 1736. He married Dorothy Hall, of Chester,— they had ten children: Lydia, Dorothy, Daniel, Moses, Reuben, Sarah, Samuel, Elisabeth, Abraham, Nathan. He was a blacksmith by trade, and there being none in Candia at that time, he was induced to come here by the offer of thirty acres of land made by some of the settlers. He brought with him his stock of tools, consisting of a bellows, anvil, vice, two sledges and a hand hammer. He settled where Dr. R. H. Page now lives, and had his land from the lot of Mr. Enoch Colby. He used to take his pay for work in labor on his land, at the rate of two days' work for a hoe, &c. It is said that a neighboring shoemaker, being rather unskilled in farming, and the ground somewhat rocky withal, used his hoe nearly up in the two days' labor required as pay. Mr. Fitts, by his industry, acquired a respectable competence and settled his sons on farms in vari ous parts of the town. Moses, in early life disabled by rheumatic complaints from active labor, commenced

trading just the other side of the road from his fath cr's. The Lieutenant, it is said, brought up from New buryport, where his sons used to team, four dollars' worth of pins, needles, tape, &c., as a first investment. At that time a Mr. Holyoke and Major Moore had been the only traders. This proving successful, succeeding years saw a gradual increase in the business, until it reached a very respectable extent.

Master Fitts, as he was called, is said to have own ed the first chaise in town. None of the children of Abraham Fitts are now living, except Abraham, in Candia, and Nathan, in Manchester, N. H. We here give a genealogy of the Fitts family, said to have been proeured by the Hon. Daniel Webster.

Sir John Fitts, of Fitzford, in Devonshire, England, an eminent barrister at law, at Lincoln's Inn, London, had two sons, Walter and Robert. Walter dying without male issue, the estate and titles went to Robert, who had two sons, Walter and Robert. Walter took the es tate and titles, which became extinct at the death of Sir John. Walter dying without male issue, his daugh ter, who married into a noble family, undertook to convey the estate to her husband's heirs. Robert came to Ipswich, Mass., in 1635. His wife was named Grace. They had one son, Abraham, who had three sons, Abraham, Isaac and Richard. Richard moved to Salisbury, Mass., and married Sarah Ordway. They had four children: Nathaniel, Daniel, Richard and Jerusha. Je rusha married Roger Eastman, and had one daughter;

named Nabby, who married Col. Ebenezer Webster, and was the mother of Daniel Webster. Daniel Fitts was father of Abraham Fitts, who came to Chester and to Candia.

The following is an account of the town of Candia, found among the papers of Lieut. Abraham Fitts, sup posed to have been written by him.

"It was settled at first by a number of men from Lon donderry, Chester and Brentwood, by the name of McCluer, Turner, Ramsey, Bean, Clay, Rowell, &c., and Eastman, from Kingston, built a saw mill, which went by the name of Eastman's for thirty or forty years after, They were hard laboring men, the land being new they fared pretty hard for some years. They paid their taxes to Chester till they were incorporated into a Parish by the name of the Parish of Candia.

In the year, the inhabitants, tho' few in number, being weary of paying taxes at Chester, and eight or nine miles to go to meeting to Chester, where they paid taxes to Mr. Flagg and Mr. Wilson, they met together and chose a committee to petition to Chester, and from thence to the General Court, to be incorporated into a Parish by themselves. Accordingly they had their request granted both by Chester and the General Court, and the bounds fixed as above, and Samuel Emerson, Esq., of Chester, was appointed to call the first meeting, which was held in the house Mr. Joseph Palmer now lives in, it then stood not far from where the meeting house now stands. Dr. Samuel Moores was chosen moderator, then Esq. Emerson quit his seat. Dr. Moores was chosen Parish Clerk, Jer

« ZurückWeiter »