1846. Colonel, Ira W. Moore, Manchester. Lieutenant-Colonel, Thomas R. Worthley, Goffstown. Major, Albe Morrill, Weare. Adjutant, George P. Mixer, Manchester. Quartermaster, John M. Parker, Goffstown. 1847. Colonel, Ira W. Moore, Manchester. Lieutenant-Colonel, Thomas R. Worthley, Goffstown. Major, Albe Morrill, Weare. Adjutant, George P. Mixer, Manchester. Quartermaster, John M. Parker, Goffstown. 1848. Colonel, Thomas R. Worthley, Goffstown. Adjutant, Walter M. Cochran, Manchester. 1849. Colonel, Thomas R. Worthley, Goffstown. Adjutant, Walter M. Cochran, Manchester. 1850. Colonel, Albe Morrill, Weare. Lieutenant-Colonel, Stephen C. Hall, Manchester. Adjutant, Elbridge C. Gilford, Manchester. Quartermaster, George W. Riddle, Manchester. GEN. JOHN STARK'S HOME FARM. A PAPER READ BEFORE THE MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION OCTOBER 7, 1903, BY ROLAND ROWELL. Nearly two hundred years ago, when one of the principal occupations of the men in this part of the country was that of dividing among themselves the land that of right belonged to others, the government of Massachusetts granted eight hundred acres to Samuel Thaxter in what is now our city of Manchester. The exact boundaries of this grant were indefinite, as it was the custom in those days of not counting swamp, sandy or other worthless land as a part of the grant. If a man's lot was one hundred acres it might cover five hundred or more acres, for they intended to have one hundred acres of tillable land, and, as the land was not theirs, they usually took pretty good measure. In the Thaxter grant the surveyor adds "thirty acres for sagg of Chane and fifty acres for a pond." As this grant originally ran three miles east from the river, the pond mentioned was without doubt Stevens's pond on the Bridge-street extension, a very liberal allowance for this small sheet of water. Human nature was much the same then as now. A part of the Thaxter grant afterwards became the home farm of Gen. John Stark, and was by him divided among his descendants, and the purpose of this paper is to trace as far as practicable the boundary lines of the different farms as he laid them out, and the various owners thereof to the present time. In the southern portion of his farm the land has been so subdivided that this is impossible, but some of the northerly sections can be traced from the General down to the present owners. ARCHIBALD STARK. Archibald Stark, the father of Gen. John Stark, and the ancestor of the Stark family in New Hampshire, was born at Glasgow, Scotland, in 1697, and received his education in the university of that city. In all probability he was a descendant of one of the German soldiers of that name, sent over to England by the Duchess of Burgundy about four hundred years ago to support a pretender to the English throne then occupied by King Henry VII. The invading army was defeated and the survivors fled to Scotland, where many of them settled permanently. When quite young, Archibald Stark went with his father to Londonderry, in the north part of Ireland, where he married Eleanor Nichols, the daughter of a fellow immigrant from Scotland. In 1720 he embarked for America in company with many of his countrymen, and after a tedious voyage, arrived in Boston late in autumn. Many of them were ill with smallpox, and they were not permitted to land, but went to the present town of Wiscasset, on the Maine coast, where they spent the winter. The following year he joined the Scotch-Irish settlers in our neighboring town of Londonderry, where he lived until 1736, and where his famous son was born. During the latter year he had the misfortune to have his buildings destroyed by fire, and instead of rebuilding there he came to Manchester that fall with his family and settled on the Thaxter grant at Amoskeag falls. He built the house now standing at the east end of the Amoskeag bridge, which was occupied for many years by the widow of Jonas Page and until her decease during the past summer and where her daughter still resides. As the means for transporting lumber on land was then very limited, they cut the trees for the frame on the bluff just east of where the house stands, hewed them to the proper size and shape, and rolled them down the hill to the place where they were to be used. General Stark was then but eight years old, but for eighty-six years thereafter Manchester was his home. Archibald Stark died in Manchester in 1758 and was buried in what was known as the Christian brook cemetery, which was situated about where the north end of the Manchester locomotive works now stands. The writer well remembers when the bodies in this cemetery were removed. The bluff on which it was situated was some thirty or more feet high and close to Canal street, and was leveled to make way for a street that was put through just north of the locomotive works as then built. This street was afterwards discontinued so that the locomotive works could enlarge their plant and still have the same under one roof. A low slate headstone in the southwesterly corner of the Valley cemetery marks the spot where the remains of Archibald Stark now repose, and bears this inscription: "HERE LYES THE BODY of Mr. ARCHIBALD STARK HE DEPARTED THIS LIFE JUNE 25TH 1758 AGED 61 YEARS." GEN. JOHN STARK. After the death of Archibald Stark his land was divided among his four sons: William, John, Samuel, and Archibald. The part allotted to his son John ran from about where Brook street now is on the south, to the river on the west, the north line of land now owned by Charles E. Rowell, George H. Brown, and Halbert N. Bond on the north, and the original Chester line on the east. This Chester line was very near the westerly line of Derryfield park. The present line between Hooksett (Hooksett being set off from Chester in 1822) and Manchester runs from a point on the east bank of the Merrimack river, near Martin's ferry, in a southerly direction un til it comes to the Hooksett road just above Campbell street and near the first group of houses on the Hooksett road north of Dorr's pond, when it turns sharply to the east and continues in that direction until it crosses the old Londonderry turnpike a short distance north of the railroad station at Lake Massabesic. Originally this line from Martin's ferry continued straight on south from the point where it was deflected at the Hooksett road, and passed through Manchester a little west of the height of land on Hanover street hill until it reached a point near the Elliott hospital, where it became very irregular. The life of General Stark is so well known that it would be needless to repeat it here. When not engaged in warfare with the French and Indians he lived the life of a prosperous farmer and business man, and was honored with many positions of trust by his friends and neighbors. He was a leading man in this section of the country, and had a part in nearly all the town's transactions prior to the Revolutionary war. After the stirring events of that war he was again actively engaged in peaceful pursuits. At one time he with two others owned the entire town of Dunbarton, then known as Starkstown, where he cut off and sawed into lumber much of the old growth then standing there. But it is not the purpose of this paper to do with aught but his homestead about Amoskeag falls. As he got along in years, and the cares and worries of his large estate became burdensome, he gave much of his land to his sons and grandsons. By far the larger part of his home farm he gave to his son John and the children of John. JOHN STARK, 2D. To his son John, 2d, the General gave the land bounded by Brook street on the south, Webster street on the north, and running from the old Chester line to the river. This lot con |