A TALE OF THREE TOWNS

The little plantation by the Merrimack moves on it's quiet way

~ J.D. Kingsbury

Grandma Mehitable

Twenty miles separate the towns of Hampton, New Hampshire and Haverhill, Massachusetts. A river and less than a mile separate Haverhill and Bradford, MA. Our grandmother Mehitable Palmer (9GGM), at various times, lived in all three. She was born in England but came to Haverhill with her parents when she was twelve years old. And there she lived until she was twenty-two when her new husband, Samuel Dalton (9GGF), swept her away to Hampton.

Hampton was Mehitable's home for thirty years. When Samuel died in 1681, she moved back to her hometown of Haverhill. Happily for Grandma Mehitable, she met the Reverend Zechariah Symmes, minister of Bradford and they were wed in 1683. She moved across the river and spent the rest of her years in the little town on the Merrimack. She must have been quite the woman because both her husbands were men of some import in their respective towns.

Blue = Haverhill Red = Bradford Orange = Rowley

in Hampton

Our grandfather, Samuel Dalton (9GGF), was born about 1629 in England. He came to America with his father Philemon (10GGF) and his mother Anne (10GGM) when he was six years old. As an only child he, naturally, inherited his father's homestead and remained in Hampton for the rest of his life. For nineteen years, the Honorable Samuel Dalton, as he was called, held the highest offices of trust in the town, becoming thoroughly involved in the government of Norfolk County.

In 1650, Samuel married Mehitable Palmer (9GGM), daughter of Henry Palmer (10GGF) of Haverhill. He was twenty-one and she twenty-two. Over the next twenty-three years, Samuel and Mehitable had thirteen children. Family life, however, didn't keep Samuel from an active civil life.

In 1662 at age thirty-three, Samuel made his first appearance at the General Court and was honored with an appointment. On 7 May 1662, "Upon a motion made in behalfe of the toune of Hampton, Mr. Samuell Dalton is appointed to solemnize marriage there betweene persons published according to lawe." That very same day, however, Samuel was called away from Court for "having an aged father...daingerously, if not mortally wounded, by the fall of a tree..." Samuel's father, Philemon, died a month after the accident.

Note: In his capacity to perform marriages, Samuel officiated at the marriage of our cousin Stephen Greenleaf (2C9X) in Newbury.

Samuel's appointment to solemnize marriages was only the beginning of his illustrious civil career which lasted until his death. In 1665, he was named Commissioner of Norfolk County. "This Court, considering the state of the county of Norfolke as being exposed to great trouble & charge by reason of their remotenes from any magistrate, it is ordered that...Mr. Samuel Dalton...shall & hereby [be] empowred as com'issioner." His duties included acknowledging deeds, administering oaths in civil case, putting forth warrants, and ruling on petty crimes.

In 1671, Samuel was appointed treasurer of Norfolk County, an office he held until 1678. The records he kept in that office are found in his script in the old "Norfolk County Book," an historical book now in the possession of the State of New Hamphsire. The book, in Samuel's hand only, is the record of one man acting as magistrate, considering various petty cases and performing duties that would now come before a justice of the peace or police court. Included are twenty-six pages of records penned by Samuel for the Court of Justice along with entries signed by "Samuel Dalton, recorder...of ye Council." Forty-two pages of deeds are signed by him as well.

Perhaps worn out from his duties as a father and civic leader, Samuel died in 1681 at the age of 52. Mehitable was left with six children under eighteen, the youngest only four year old. It's probable that she took the children back to Haverhill, the town of her birth. In two years time, she would marry the Reverend Zechariah Symmes of Bradford, the town which lay directly across the Merrimack River from Haverhill.

the Merrimack lands

The town of Bradford had its beginnings when our grandfather Robert Haseltine (10GGF), along with his brother John (10U), was sent there by the town of Rowley to take care of the community herds in 1649. By 1675, when King Philip's War began, there were perhaps twenty families living in Bradford. Haverhill and Rowley, by contrast, were well established towns with more sizable populations.

J.D. Kingsbury in his Memorial History of Bradford paints a rather idyllic picture of Bradford during the turmoil of the last half of the century: "Meantime, the little plantation by the Merrimack moves on it's quiet way. No Quakers either then or afterward disturbed the easy current of social and religious life. The early days of peace, while the colonies were disturbed, were a sort of prophecy of that later life in which there should be perfect freedom from the wiles and woes of witchcraft and the delusions and animosities of controversies which have never been known among us."

Certainly there were a few exceptions but Bradford, for the most part, did managed to escape the kind of destruction happening in frontier towns across the colony during King Philip's War. The witch furor also bypassed Bradford but Haverhill, right across the river, had five of its women involved in the mayhem.

land grants

The population growth of the village was slow and Bradford lived in the shadow of her sister cities, Rowley and Haverhill. Even though our Grandma Mehitable Palmer's (9GGM) future husband, the Reverend Zechariah Symmes, had been hired as minister to the town in 1667, Bradford was without its own church, meeting house or burial ground. The faithful of the village made the ferry trip across the Merrimack every Sunday to worship in Haverhill. The ferry was made free to Mr. Symmes any day and free to all the townspeople on the Sabbath.

Uncle John Haseltine (10U) to the town's rescue! Though Uncle John had moved from Bradford to Haverhill in 1660, he still owned land that had been granted to him in Bradford. In 1665, he donated part of this land to the town for a meeting house and burial grounds. From the town records:

"Whereas, John Haseltine, senior, of Haverhill, having given to ye inhabitants of ye town of Bradford one acre of land to set their meeting-house on and for a burying-place and did engage them to fence it and maintain it; but now upon ye motion of of his son Ensign Samel Haseltine (1C10X) he seemeth to be willing to release ye town of that engagement provided they will set up a good suffieint five rail fence from Mr. Symmes fence to Goodman Hall's fence below the burying-place."

Note: Goodman Hall mentioned in the record is our grandfather Richard Hall (9GGF).

Bradford Burying Ground today

Generous Uncle John also donated land for the personal use of Reverend Symmes: "I John Hesseltine...for the better encoragment of the sd. mr. Sims...confirme...of my owne accord and freewill...a certaine tract of land..."

Five years later, in 1670, Bradford's first meeting house was built. Our grandfather Robert Haseltine (10GGF) was put in charge of that project. And, for many years to come, his son, our grandfather Samuel Haseltine (9GGF), got "one peck of corn from every voter for sweeping the meeting house" every week.

Mehitable Palmer Dalton's husband, the Reverend Symmes

Zecheriah Symmes followed in the footsteps of his father, a well-respected pastor of the First Church in Cambridge. Zechariah graduated from Harvard College in 1657 and, according to The Symmes Memorial, "He is the first named of his class in the catalogue, which indicates that he was the first scholar in rank." In 1667, he was recommended by Reverend Rogers of Rowley for the vacant ministry position in Bradford. Part of the committee to "treat with Mr. Symmes about his calling to office" were Robert Haseltine Jr. (9U), Richard Hall (9GGF) and Samuel Stickney (9GGF).

Even though Reverend Symmes had no church in Bradford proper, he was still doing the full work of a pastor. His salary was £40 per year, half paid in wheat, pork, butter and cheese and the other half in corn and cattle. He was given forty acres of land that the town purchased from our aunt Mercy Haseltine Kimball (9A) and her husband Benjamin Kimball.

Then, in 1682, a dream finally came true for the town of Bradford and its Reverend Symmes when Bradford celebrated the dedication of the new Bradford Church. A year later, Reverend Symmes celebrated another happy event with his marriage to Mehitable Palmer Dalton (9GGM). The good reverend might have been quite a catch for Grandma Meheitable as he was ten years her junior.

the Bradford Church

In 1682, the Bradford Church Covenant was signed by a number of our relatives. First to sign was the Reverend Zacheriah Symmes followed by Samuel Stickney (9GGF), David Haseltine (9U), Richard Hall (9GGF), Samuel Haseltine (1C11X), Abraham Haseltine (9GGF) and Robert Haseltine (10GGF)) among others. Samuel Stickney signed with a mark instead of a signature.

Note: For the most part, our ancestors were educated and able to sign documents with a signature. Two notable relatives who signed with only a mark were Grandpa Samuel Stickney and Uncle John Haseltine.

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST - BRADFORD

~ GATHERED 1682 ~

The parishioners of Bradford "assembled on the Sabbath at the beat of the drum, and sometimes at the sounding of a horn." The magistrate of the town then escorted the minister from his house to the church.

As in most colonial towns, seating in the Bradford church was assigned by a committee and definitely class oriented. Those paying the highest tax got the seats up front closest to the minister. Being in tight with someone on the seating committee was also a boon. Men sat on one side, women on the other. Children were seated by themselves within reach of tithingmen with a rod handy to deal with irreverent toddlers. Tardy members were always fined.

As relations with Native Americans deteriorated, all men owning arms were required to bring them to the church. Additionally, the church at Haverhill had a stockade built around it. Most probably Bradford's church had a guard. For the most part, during the war, people were safe in church. But Sunday became a popular day for Native American raids on colonial towns when the townspeople were otherwise engaged.

trouble in Paradise for Reverend Symmes

Grandma Mehitable died in 1695 at age 67 and Reverend Symmes soldiered on without her. Ten years after her death, the good reverend was 67 years old and in failing health. When the town voted to hire an assistant to help him with the work of the ministry, our uncle, Captain David Haseltine (9U), was assigned the task of finding suitable prospects. David found the perfect person in Joseph Stevens and the town was anxious to hire him. Reverend Symmes was less than pleased. To help matters along, a suggestion was made that another house be built on the parsonage land for Stevens. Symmes responded by asking for more money. Stevens, seeing the writing on the wall, declined the position as long as there were "unsettled difficulties with Symmes."

Alas, the problem was finally solved when poor Reverend Symme's health gave out on him. He died in 1708. J.D. Kingsbury, ever the optimist, wrote of the event: "...in the end an amicable settlement was made and a little while afterward they were called to give the last tokens of love to their patriarchal friend and Pastor, the troubled feeling had melted away, and old and young united in the common and heartfelt grief. Zechariah's son Thomas Symmes came from Boxford to take over his father's pastorate."

Cousin Samuel Ayer in Haverhill

Grandma Mehitable's sister, Elizabeth Palmer, (9A) married Robert Ayer in 1650. Their son Samuel Ayer (1C10X) was born in 1654. Samuel served in King Philip's War and was constable of Haverill in 1689. He must have been a man of some importance in the town because, when the General Court issued a citation for the town to answer to the charge of "withholding the one-half of their proportion of rates," it was Samuel who responded. A new war, King William's, had begun in 1688. Many towns, still reeling from the aftermath of King Philip's War were in severe financial straits. In a letter dated 11 Feb 1689, Samuel wrote, "I pray you consider our poor condition. There are many that have no corn to pay their rates, more which have not money...we are a great way from any market, to make money of anigh (any) thing we have: and now there is not anigh way to transport to other place: I pray you consider our poor condition."

The letter was exemplary of many letters the Court received. While Bradford weathered the new war with few casualties, these were still dark days for the Colony and would soon get darker.

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