Samuel Merrill, 1928, reprint 1983

Some Eighteenth Century Migrations - Chapter XI, pp125-152

Warren, NH

    Warren, N.H., is a mountainous little town in Grafton County, its northern boundary crossing the foothills of mighty Moosilauke. The first permanent white settler of the town was Joseph Patch, who, in 1767, as a youth of less than twenty-one years, gratified his love for the woods by building a hunting camp beside Hurricane Brook and settling down to an easy life of hunting, trapping and fishing. Moose, deer, bear and wolves abounded, while beaver, otter, sable, mink and other fur-bearing animals fell easy victims to his skill as a trapper.

   A hundred and forty years before the word "pacifist" found a place in a dictionary of the English language, Stevens³ Merrill was an outspoken opponent of war. He did not lack personal courage, but he was out of accord with the trend of political events, and in 1775 was violently opposed to the war in which the colonists engaged. He was a native of Newbury, Mass., a son of Abel⁴ Merrill (Abel^3,2). (See page 375.)

   As a young man Stevens Merrill moved to what is now Atkinson, N.H., and he was living there when young Joseph Patch came that way on one of his trips down-country to barter furs for supplies which the forest could not furnish. Stevens Merrill's daughter Anna, a spirited blackeyed girl with rosy cheeks, attracted the young woodsman, and she was still a girl in her 'teens when he won her promise to share his simple home in the far northern wilderness.

   With the departure of the youthful brids the country of the White Hills did not seem so remote or forbidding to those who dwelt in the more populous surroundings of Atkinson. Soon Stevens Merrill, with his numerous family, made the long journey toward the north, and in 1775 bought land and built a log cabin beside the Asquamchumauke (or Baker) River, not far from the farm of his son-in-law.

   Stevens⁵ Merrill is described by his great-grandson, William Little, author of the "History of Warren," as "a straight, medium-sized man, with a lean face, a thin straight nose and blue eyes. . . . He was stern of aspect and slow in speech, and the children were afraid of him. He was inflexible, had a mind and will of his own, and could not be bent from his purpose," Warren was incorporated in 1779. In 1780 there were twenty-five taxpayers in the town, and Stevens Merrill paid much the largest amount of all.

   'Squire Jonathan⁶ Merrill, son of Stevens⁵, "was six feet tall, of a lordly mien, straight as an arrow, and had an eye like a hawk. . . . Like his father, he was a Quaker of the strictest sect; wore a broad-brimmed hat, and a long drab coat ornamented with great wooden buttons." He was a man of ability, and had considerable influence in the growing community. He had married before leaving the Atkinson home, and after reaching Warren made his home for a time in the cabin of his brother-in-law, where Stevens⁷ Merrill, later the richest man in the town, was born in 1776.

   A younger brother of Stevens⁵ Merrill, Joshua⁵ of Hampstead and Sandown, N.H., followed shortly (see page 377.) after to Warren, and built his habitation of logs in the southwest part of the town. He was a farmer and a tailor as well. "He was small-sized, straight, lithe and agile, and withal was an excellent horseman. 'As straight as Uncle Joshua,' was a speech common among the settlers."

   When dressed to make calls on his neighbors Joshua⁵ Merrill "wore a very short-waisted coat of dark color, with short tail-flaps, a wide-rimmed hat - - - rim full ten inches wide - - - hip breeches fastened at the knee with buckles, color dark; long stockings, blue and white, and fastened by a loop to one of the breeches buttons, and buskins of wool or leather, tied with sheep-skin strings over his thick, double-soled ox-hide shoes. His jacket was of the same material as his coat and breeches, with large flaps over the pockets, and for cold weather he had a great coat with very long cape and no waist, buttoned with four or five 'matheman buttons.' The sleeves had very wide cuffs, eight or ten inches at least, and two great buttons on each. When he had this suit on, and was mounted on his great black stallion which he used to ride, he would dash through the woods along the stony bridle-path like a wild Arab. He was known all over the country round, and everybody would say, 'There goes Farmer Joshua, the politest and best-dressed man in the State.'" (*)

   It is related that on the 17th of June, 1775, Stevens Merrill, Joseph Patch and others in Warren heard the sound of cannonading far away in the south. A week later the few settlers in the town were electrified at hearing from a traveler the story of the Battle of Bunker Hill, fought on that fateful 17th of June 120 miles away.

   A backwoods cabin is a fitting retreat for the pacifist. But the mountain hamlet to which Stevens Merrill had gone was not far enough away to escape the sounds of military activity, for the patriots in town outnumbered the loyalists two to one. Excitement was at fever heat, and preparations for defence were hastened with zealous enthusiasm. Arnold's expedition to Canada failed, and there was general apprehension that the King's troops would attempt an invasion from the north. At this juncture muskets were purchased by the Committee of Safety for distribution among the settlers, but Stevens Merrill, Quaker, refused to accept one.

   Stevens Merrill, while a pacifist, was not altogether passive. Loyal to the flag under which he was born, and learning that a British detachment would be at a certain point beyond the Connecticut River seeking supplies, he and his son Jonathan bought all the cattle they could find in the community and drove the herd to the appointed place, traveling by night. Four days later the two Quakers were back in Warren counting the British gold which their adventure had earned. It was years before their neighbors learned what had become of the herd of cattle.

   An episode related by the historian of Warren gives a side-light on the conditions of life which surrounded the early settlers. Clearing land to make it suitable for farming purposes involved great labor, and the work of building fences added not a little to the task. As a result, cattle were allowed to seek pasturage in the woods. One day the cattle of Stevens⁵ Merrill were lost, but after a long search he found all except one ox and a heifer. Finally he heard the ox lowing at some distance in the woods, and he knew there was trouble.

   He hurried to Joseph Patch's and secured a pitchfork, and thus armed he went at top speed in the direction of the sound of distress. In the meadow near Patch Brook he found the ox, which was bravely seeking to protect the heifer from the attack of a bear, but the heifer was bleeding from severe wounds inflicted by the bear's teeth and claws. The doughty pacifist at once took part in the fray, and after a hard fight, in which, the historian assures us, the ox willingly assisted, the bear was driven from the field in defeat. Stevens Merrill said it was the largest bear he ever saw.

   Others of the family connection made homes for themselves in Warren before the first settlers had passed from the scene. Abel⁶ Merrill (John⁵) and Amos Little had married sisters in Plaistow, N.H., and jointly took up a tract of land on Beech Hill, in the southwestern part of Warren. Abel⁵ Merrill was a nephew of Stevens⁵. (See page 567)

   The road which the early settlers in the "Coos country" had cut from Boscawen to Haverhill, N.H., was still, in 1789, little better than a bridle path in many places. The trail became more faint as it approached Warren, and at last the traveler's only aids in finding the way were "spots" on the trees, made by earlier travelers with their axes to mark the road. The brothers-in-law made the long northward journey in that year. Their wives rode on horseback. Tamar Merrill carried her personal effects and two children, aged five and three years respectively, fastened behind her on the horse, and in her arms carried a child a year old.

   Arriving at their destination the two young men built a log cabin on the line which should mark the boundary between their farms. Stone chimneys at opposite ends of the house gave each sister her own fireplace. A large flat stone, over which they had built, served for a floor. Abel Merrill had taken with him two sides of leather, and his first use for these was to cover a portion of the roof of his part of the cabin. In due time he built a good frame house.

   Abel Merrill prospered, and was able to give his children a good education. Two of his sons were educated at Dartmouth. He gave to seven of his sons $500 apiece on attaining their majority, and to his four daughters who grew up he gave $250 each on coming of age, besides all the flax and wool which they wished to spin and weave for their wedding portions. (**) Eight of his thirteen children survived him, with more than fifty grandchildren.

   Other early settlers in Warren were Nathaniel⁶ and Samuel⁶ Merrill, sons of Rev. Nathaniel⁵, and nephews of Stevens⁵ and Joshua⁵. (See pages 570, 571) All left numerous descendants, and many times in later years a majority of the members of the board of selectmen bore the Merrill name. Patch Brook flows into Hurricane Brook near the site of Joseph Patch's first camp in Warren, while Patch Hill and Merrill Brook, in the northern part of the town, aid in perpetuating the memory of some of the early settlers.

* The quotations are from Little's very unconventional "History of Warren," (Manchester, 1870.)

** Authority: Letter from Rev. John-Leverett Merrill, 20 July, 1904.

Corinth, VT

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