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- Why would
people decide to leave a settled town in
Massachusetts or the coast of New Hampshire
and bring their families to a wilderness, a
frontier, which is what Hancock was in the
1770s? There certainly was not a big money
incentive, only the American promise of
independence and a livelihood through cheap
land and very hard work.
-
- Jeremy
Belknap, in his "History of New Hampshire"
wrote, "several ways of raising a crop on new
land have been practiced and the easiest and
cheapest method was learned of the Indians.
The method is of girding the trees, which is
done by making a circular incision through
the bark and leaving them to die standing.
This operation is performed in summer and the
ground is sown in August with winter rye
intermixed with grass. The next year the
trees do not put forth leaves and the land
yields a crop for pasture."
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- Belknap also
explains, "farmers have to eventually cut and
clear the trees. The more able sort of
husbandman therefore chose the method of
clearing the land first, by cutting down all
the trees without exception. The most
eligible time for this operation is the month
of June when the sap is flowing and the
leaves are on the trees. The leaves will not
drop but remain till the next year when being
dry and after being felled will help spread
the fire which is then set to a large pile of
trees. This is done in the first dry weather
generally about May. If the land is to be
used for pasture the trees are cut down,
grass is sown and the stumps are left to rot.
No plough is used to plant, it would be
impossible to pass among the roots and
stumps, but holes are made with a hoe in
which the seed is dropped and covered."
-
- Charles
Watson Washburn's essay about his
grandparents settling on Half Moon Pond in
1786 in "A Prelude to Hancock's Second
Hundred Years" confirms that these techniques
were used here. The land when cleared proved
to be very rocky. The rocks were disposed of
practicably by placing them in walls to
delineate pasture and property lines. Much
could be accomplished by joining forces with
other residents, besides getting the work
done it provided a time to socialize.
-
- To compound
hardships, weather aberrations could be cruel
at times. One of the worst was in 1816 known
as "the poverty year, the mackerel year or
the year there was no summer." There was
frost every month of the year, corn and
grains would not ripen and it was so cold on
July 4th, mittens were worn. It is now
thought it was caused by the eruption of Mt.
Tamboro in Indonesia in 1815.
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- A Survivor
of note is William Williams, Jr. He was here
in 1779 and remained for about three years.
He spent part of that time living in the
extant cave on Dublin Road. The early rude
dwellings had no windows or floors and some
were without chimneys, so perhaps he didn't
do so badly.
-
- Gloria
Neary
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