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From: "D Lefevre" <>
Subject: Re: History of Charlestown
Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 20:58:38 -0400
References: <5.1.0.14.2.20010616110113.04cc2d00@mail.earthlink.net>


Hello SLWillig and all the Listers,

Glad you mentioned Charlestown, NH. and it was slow..
Need some info from the townbooks.or somewhere in theTown

I have a Lavallee family that lived in the town in 1910 or
1911 according to the Family.. They had a child born
1-1-1911 by the name of Lillian-Marion, named after her
mother .During the 10 years from 1910 to 1920 the family
moved from Massachusetts to NH. The father Samuel Lavallee
and the wife Lillian M. (Barnaby) Lavallee say their parents
were born in Canada..Need the places of birth or town of
marriage.. The census info from Mass for 1910 says: Sam was
42 and Lillian was 33, m.18 yrs, they had two sons then,
Lewis age 12, Charles age 3 both born Mass..

Can anybody help??
Donald

----- Original Message -----
From: "SLWillig" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2001 2:06 PM
Subject: History of Charlestown


Hi, Everybody...

The list has been mighty quiet! <g> Here's a bit of
Sullivan County
history that might be of interest to some of you. This is a
piece re. the
history of Charlestown, and the source is, *History of
Sullivan County, New
Hampshire*, Edited by D. Hamilton Hurd. J. Lewis & Co.,
Philadelphia,
1886. pp. 23-26

This will be presented in two segments. Below please find
the first of the
two parts. In both segments you'll see several names of the
first settlers.
Among those is the name of FARNSWORTH. The individuals
mentioned herein are
the forebears of Janice Farnsworth, a wonderful subscriber
to this and many
other lists. Janice generously transcribes data and shares
it with all of
us. Thanks, Janice!

Happy Father's Day!

Susan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
History of Charlestown

The town of Charlestown lies in the western part of the
county, on the
Connecticut River, and is bounded as follows:

On the North by Claremont; East, by Unity and Acworth;
South, by Langdon;
West, by Connecticut River, which separates it from Vermont.

The first grant of the town was made by Massachusetts
December 31, 1735.
The first settlement was made in 1740 by David, Samuel and
Stephen
FARNSWORTH. They were, however, soon after followed by Isaac
PARKER and
sons, Obadiah SARTWELL, John HASTINGS, Moses WILLARD and
Phineas STEVENS,
all of Massachusetts. Only three of the original proprietors
became
settlers, Captain Phineas STEVENS, Lieutenant Ephraim
WETHERBE and Stephen
FARNSWORTH. In consequence of it location on the frontier,
and liable to
Indian incursions, the settlement of the town was very slow.
In 1774 there
were not more than ten families.

The town had been settled only about three years when it
became apparent
that a war was imminent, and the settlers began to adopt
measures for their
defense.

A meeting was therefore notified on the petition of the
following
proprietors, viz.: David FARNSWORTH, Moses WILLARD, Phineas
STEVENS, Isaac
PARKER, Jr., Obadiah SARTWELL, John AVERY And Charles
HOLDEN, for the
purpose of 'considering the present circumstances of affairs
and the danger
we are in of being assaulted by an enemy, in case a war
should happen
between the kingdoms of England and France; and to consider
and transact
what is proper to be done in respect of building and
furnishing a
fortification or fortifications in said township, for the
defense and
better security thereof'. This meeting was notified by Dr.
John HASTINGS,
proprietors' clerk, and was held at the house of John
SPAFFORD, Jr.,
November 24, 1743.

At this meeting the erection of a fort having been decided
upon, the
following votes relating to the election of committees and
other matters
essential to the carrying out of their design were passed"

"1st . Voted - That John HASTINGS, Lieut. John SPAFFORD, and
John AVERY be
a Committee to take accompts of men's labor at the Fort and
to see the Fort
completed. (To this committee John SPAFFORD, Jr. and Samuel
FARNSWORTH were
subsequently added.)

"2nd.. . Voted - That a Carpenter be allowed 9s., Old Tenor,
per day; each
laborer 7s., per day, and a pair of oxen 3s. 6d., per day;
Old Tenor.

"4th. Voted. - that the above Committee be Impowered to
finish or complete
the Fort so far as they shall judge necessary and
convenient.

"5th. Voted - That the charge of building the Fort shall be
assessed upon
and paid by the proprietors.

"6th. Voted - That the Committee be allowed 5, 10s 0d., for
setting up the
house at the North-West corner of the Fort and Completing
the same.

"7th. Voted - That the sum of 12 be allowed the Committee
to be laid out
to such workmen as they shall agree with to fit up the house
that was
Lieut. WITHERBY's, so that it may be suitable to meet in, in
such manner as
the Committee shall think convenient.

"8th. Voted - That the sum of 300, Old Tenor, be assessed
on the
proprietors of the Township, for the charge that has arisen
in building a
Fort, and for paying the charge that shall arise in
completing the Fort so
far that it may be convenient and defensible, and if all the
300 be not
needful to be expended for finishing the Fort, the overplus
to be laid out
for other necessary uses for the good of the proprietors.

"9th. Voted - That Capt. John SPAFFORD, Lieut. Phineas
STEVENS and John
HASTINGS be assessors to proportion the aforesaid sum of
300 on the
proprietors of the Township.

"10th. Voted - That Samuel FARNSWORTH be a Collector to
collect the
aforesaid sum of 300, and deliver it into the hands of the
proprietors'
treasurer.

"11th. Voted - That John HASTINGS be allowed 12 pounds for
the benefit of
his house, and the damage of his land, and the use of one of
the rooms in
the house now building on the east of the Fort, so long as
it holds peace.
He not to take his house from the Fort.

"12th. Voted - That Capt. John SPAFFORD, Lieut. STEVENS, and
John HASTINGS
be appointed a Committee to keep the Fort in repair, and
take care that no
person come to dwell in any of the houses within the Fort, b
ut such as
they, the said Committee, shall approve.

"13th. Voted - That Ensign Obediah SARTWELL, Moses WILLARD
and Lieut.
STEVENS be a Committee to pass accompts and order money out
of the treasury
to such persons to whom it may become due."

Immediately subjoined to these votes there is found in the
proprietors'
records the following, but at what meeting passed is not
apparent:

"An acc't of what is allowed for houses and materials for
the Fort.
"Voted - Capt. SPAFFORD for his house and timber, 23 -0-0.
"Voted - To Lieut. STEVENS for his house, 35-0-0.
"Voted - To Isaac PARKER For stone, 46s.; Mantletrees, 6s.;
Clay, 8s.=3-0-0.
"Voted - To Moses WILLARD for his house, 8-0-0; Stone,
1-6-0 = 9-6-0.
"Voted - To Lieut. WITHERBY for his house, 35-0-0."

The fort is said to have been built under the direction of
Colonel John
STODDARD of Northampton, Mass., who was for many years the
principal
military engineer on the Connecticut River frontier, and had
twenty years
before superintended the building of the block-house at Fort
Dummer. That
Colonel STODDARD was consulted and his counsel obtained is
probably, though
the fact does not appear in the proprietors' records. The
fort was
constructed in the manner of other fortifications of the
time, which were
only intended to afford a defense against musketry. It
covered, says Rev.
Dr. CROSBY, in his "Annals of Charlestown", about
three-quarters of an
acre, which dimensions, in the absence of any more definite
measurement, we
are under the necessity of receiving. This would make it
about the size of
Fort Dummer, which was one hundred and eighty feet on a
side, it being
built in the form of a square. The walls were made of large
squared
timbers, laid horizontally, one above the other, and locked
together at he
angles in the manner of a log cabin. Within the inclosure
were buildings
called province houses. These, before being inclosed in the
fort, had been
the houses of Captain John SPAFFORD, Captain Phineas
STEVENS, Lieutenant
Moses WILLARD, Lieutenant Ephraim WETHERBE and John
HASTINGS. In the
inclosure was also a house, which was newly built, and which
was situated
in the northwest corner.

Such was the preparation for their defense which the
inhabitants of No. 4
took the precaution to have in readiness against the time of
war, which
they correctly anticipated would very soon come.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SL Willig

List Admin. for Sullivan Co., NH, Addison Co., VT,
IRL-Palatine,
Empey-l, Garfield-l







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