Marlow, N.H. - Lyme, Connecticut History

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Marlow, N.H., A Unique History

Marlow, N.H., chartered in 1761, is not unique because its early settlers came from Connecticut. That is true of many New Hampshire towns. Marlow is unique because its first seventeen families, and twenty-eight all together, came from one Connecticut town, Lyme, a town unique in itself. Among colonial towns, Lyme, located at the mouth of the Connecticut River, had the highest per capita income. It was a great ship building and shipping center, much involved in the West Indies trade. It was strongly influenced by the "New Light" preaching of George Whitefield, and those first Marlow families to venture into this wilderness held unorthodox religious views. Much of what happened in Marlow in its first century and a half reflects its Lyme roots. This lens focuses on the Lyme, Connecticut/Marlow, New Hampshire connection and its long-term results.

 

Old New Hampshire Ledger

Nicodemus Miller's Accounts 

Rum and More Rum

Nicodemus Miller: Account Book, 1762 - 1765, Marlow, N. H.

Nicodemus Miller, one of Marlow's earliest settlers, chaired the first town meetings held in Marlow. (Previous Marlow meetings had been held in Lyme, CT.) He was Marlow's first storekeeper, and our records at the Town Offices show his accounts. They give a (rum-flavored) taste of what Marlow must have been like in the 1760's. One can only imagine the difficulty with which molasses, sugar, salt and rum were transported to Marlow. There were no roads, only bridle paths widened to allow the passage of ox carts. There were no bridges at this time. Not only are these accounts useful in determining who was in Marlow in those early days, but also show that tiny Marlow, remote from the sea, had connections to the trade routes of seafarers. (These records dispel the notion that in the old days everyone knew how to spell correctly. We will retain the original spellings). We hope that you will enjoy reading these early settler grocery lists because they tell a story.

 

Liquid Goods in a Colonial Store

Links to Marlow's Past 

Little Marlow in the Big World

Although about ninety miles inland with no obvious links to the outside world, little Marlow had strong connections to coastal areas.
Nichodemus Miller's Accounts, 1762...
Marlow's first storekeeper, Nichodemus Miller, kept accounts from 1762. These tallies show that Marlow, which at the time could be reached only by bridle paths sometimes widened for ox carts, had access to plenty of rum, a product from the West Indies trade, and other amenities which must have been brought to these shores by ship.
Seaman's Protection and Privateers
Not only was Marlow linked to the sea as a customer for prodigious amounts of rum, molasses, and such niceties as indigo. Some of its men also went to sea. Here are two who registered for protection against impressment.

Marlow Seamen's Protection 

Protection against Impressment by the British Navy

Registered Cerificates of Protection

Recently we found that at least two Marlow men had protection certificates as recorded and certified by the U. S. government: Edward Gee and Nelson Huntley. (See above.) Their certificates of Seamen's Protection were the kind which sheltered them from being impressed into the British Navy. The applications were 1800 and 1827, respectively. Both applied at New London not far from Lyme, CT, the town from which their elders came.

Lyme, Connecticut on Amazon 

Lyme as a Seaport

This book, well-illustrated with drawings and old photographs, shows Lyme's principle river, section by section from its beginning to where it joins the Connecticut. We learn of the trades built near its mouth, especially the shipping.
The Lieutenant River (Lymes' heritage series)

The Lieutenant River (Lymes' heritage series)

by: Susan Hollingsworth Ely

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The Lieutenant River: Cover

Lyme and Marlow Seafaring Families 

Many Marlow families have their roots in the seafaring ways of coastal Connecticut.
Seamen's Protection Records
A huge portion of our nation's sailors were from coastal Connecticut. Many of those came from Lyme and nearby Saybrook, Haddam, and New London. Watch for early Marlow names such as Huntley, Tinker, Miller, Tubbs, Miner, Phelps, Dewolf, Comstock, Church, Canfield, Munsell (Munsil), Mather, Way, and Beckwith. Many you will find are close relatives of Marlow's early settlers. We are researching to discover which of these sailors were among our founding fathers. James Munsil, issued a protection certificate on 2/08/1797, is an almost sure bet as a gentlemen of that name was an early settler here. Even more seamen are among those families who were first Proprietors granted Marlow, but who never came here to live: Bull, Lord, Kirkland, Ely and Marvin.

 

Duck River at Lyme, Connecticut

The banks of reedy Duck River served ship building interests and East Indies commerce until its mouth where it joins the Connecticut silted in preventing the passage of large ships. Lyme farmers used boats to harvest marsh grasses here.

Is Duck Hole in Marlow near Gustin Pond an echo of the memory of this place? Is Marlow's Grassy Brook and echo of Lyme's Grassy Hill?

Privateers, Traders, and Soldiers of Fortune 

Yo-ho-ho and a Bottle of Rum

Privateers were a special brand of pirate supported by the government who had permission to "pirate" ships. They were given papers to verify their identity as official privateers. These letters protected them from punishment in the event of capture by their own government, but they were walking on the wild side. (It seems that Captain Kidd, a British privateer, learned that the hard way.)

When a sailor was to go to sea on a privateering vessel, he could apply to the government for a "Letter of Marque," a document which served as a protection against being prosecuted by his own government as a pirate, should his ship be captured in questionable circumstances. A lot could change politically between launch and return to home port. Also, many privateers and West Indies traders flew false flags and carried sets of false papers, so it was easy to make a serious mistake. A Letter of Marque was, in fact, a kind of hunting license since traditionally all aboard a privateering vessel would receive some predetermined portion of the booty of any enemy or pirate vessel captured and brought in.

We know from his own narrative that Solomon Mack (See below.) our first Marlow citizen, and two of his sons served aboard a privateering vessel. Solomon Mack describes himself at one point in his narrative as a "privateer," and other Marlow men may have been engaged in that dangerous game. Privateers operated during the French and Indian Wars, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812 against enemy ships and in-between against "real" pirates who preyed largely on West Indies traders. It seems to be a distinction without a difference.

No wonder molasses is such a common ingredient in New England recipes and soldiers during the French and Indian Wars and Revolutionary War were regularly issued rum! Plenty of rum was available for trade with the Indians, leading to problems which still haunt us today. And somehow, even in the eighteenth century frontier outpost of Marlow, on a special occasion such as the killing of a bear, "spirits" were produced as if by magic, and it wasn't always hemlock bark beer. The accounts of Marlow's first storekeeper, Nichodemus Miller (See above.) show a prodigious amount of rum sold in the 1760's and 1770's. Consider what it means that common ingredients in New England baking are cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and molasses! Let's explore this connection between Marlow and the coastal trade.

Evidence of Lyme's Seaport Past 

Tall Ships on the Connecticut

Since the latter part of the nineteenth century when the mouth of the Lieutenant River silted in, preventing passage of the great trading ships to the town's wharves, Lyme has not been a major seaport, but it was.
Shipwreck Off Griswold Point
The recent discovery of a shipwreck off Lyme, a thorough analysis of its character, and speculation as to which of a long list of sunken ships it might have been provide insight into Lyme's seafaring past. Shipping trade helped make Lyme the wealthiest colonial town, and from seeds of that wealth sprang Marlow.

Lyme Ships 

Captain Ezekiel Huntley's Ship

Here is just one of the many traders out of Lyme, Connecticut. This ship was owned by Captain Ezekiel Huntley, a nephew of Aaron Huntley, Jr. who moved to Marlow, N.H. Ezekiel was the son of David and Mary (Munsell) Huntley. He was born around April 1731 in Lyme Connecticut, and died there 25 July 1783. 

In 1775, Ezekiel was enlisted in Capt. David F. Sill's Company in Col. Samuel H. Parson's 6th Connecticut Regiment.  He had married his first wife about 1756 in Lyme, Mary Avery, daughter of Nathaniel and Rachel Avery.  Ezekiel and Mary were the parents of Abigail Huntley and Hannah Huntley.  Ezekiel and his family lived in Lyme on property given to him by his grandfather, Aaron Huntley, Sr.  Ezekiel served with his son Asher on the brigantine General Green under Capt. Gideon Olmsted.  East of the Nantucket Shoals the General Green was captured by the British privateer ship Virginia. The men were sent to prison ships in New York Harbor. Ezekiel returned home, but died in Lyme a few days later. Ezekiel and his second wife, Naomi Tiffany, (born in 1737 in Lyme, and died 25 July 1821, daughter of Consider and Naomi (Comstock) Tiffany.) were the parents of eight children. One of them, Rufus Huntley, appears to have passed time in Marlow, but died in Ohio. He was not alone among Marlow citizens to go west.

The Sea and the American Revolution 

This book discusses how the odd juxtaposition of freedom and a sort of slavery in a sailor's life spawned the ideas of liberty ashore that fed into the American Revolution and beyond. The author's points are substantiated by numerous journals and letters written by the sailors themselves. One section emphasizes maritime life in Connecticut. All in all, the reader comes away with a greater understanding of the daily life of a sailor in that era as well as how our thought and culture are affected by that experience. The extreme independence of Marlow's settlers could well have roots in this maritime culture.
Liberty on the Waterfront: American Maritime Culture in the Age of Revolution (Early American Studies)

Liberty on the Waterfront: American Maritime Culture in the Age of Revolution (Early American Studies)

by: Paul A. Gilje

America is touched by the freedom of the sea, not to mention the desire to control her own trade and keep the profits.

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Ox-Cart Transportation 

Marlow's Ashuelot River is not exactly navigable.

Away from the sea and navigable lakes and rivers, the ox-cart was the vehicle of choice. In the 1700's, families moving to Marlow's wilderness came by ox-cart, mostly in the winter when the rivers and streams were frozen. Bridges were yet to come. New Hampshire's Donald Hall in his children's book, "Ox-Cart Man," shows us how goods were regularly transported by ox cart throughout the state. While Hall has his principle character producing most of the life-sustaining goods he sold, surely goods were shipped up the Connecticut River (no further than the falls at Bellows Falls) and carted to area towns. That the earliest canal in America was built at Bellows Falls attests to the importance of shipping on the Connecticut River. Colonel Benjamin Bellows is said to have had an ox killed each week to feed those who worked for him. It might have been he who supervised off-loading the ships and transporting goods throughout the area. He died a wealthy man. The Connecticut River serves as a highway from Lyme, Connecticut to within a few rough miles of Marlow. We speculate that goods were shipped up the Connecticut River, perhaps as far as the Walpole, N.H./Bellows Falls, Vermont area and then brought to Marlow by ox-cart. Perhaps many of the families arrived the same way.

Ox-Cart Man on Amazon 

Donald Hall's Memorable Description of a Colonial "Trucker"

This children's book by the New Hampshire poet and author Donald Hall portrays authentic images of homely tasks through the turning of the seasons in this state's colonial times, portraying the patient toil of the ox-cart man. Hall does not exaggerate or romanticize the ox-cart man's work, nor does he moralize. He just relates the truths of the ox-cart man's time and place so that, when you finish reading, you would swear you had spent four seasons with him.
Ox-Cart Man -(Book & Audio CD)

Ox-Cart Man -(Book & Audio CD)

by: Donald Hall

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Marlow Is Born 

It's a wonder Marlow wasn't called "New Lyme." We can see how Lyme and Marlow are bound together.
Marlow's First Town Meetings
From a rare primary source, we have record of the first meeings held in Marlow followed by the preliminary meetings of the Proprieors - to whom Marlow was granted - in Lyme, Connecticut. See for yourself who was involved and speculate on their motivations. Find Marshfield Parsons, the man with the purse. (See above.)
Who Were Marlow's Original Proprietors?
These wealthy men from Lyme, Connecticut and nearby towns must have had a purpose in accepting a town charter for this rocky, swampy New Hampshire frontier area. It seems unlikely that they ever planned to leave their comfortable circumstances in Lyme and move their families so far north. Were they filled with zeal to extend religious freedom or was it primarily a profit motive? Did they intend Marlow to be a sort of colony of Lyme, providing raw materials to be shipped to them down the Connecticut River? Check out these fellows through the genealogy links below and be amazed! Men like this had to have had a plan! What was it?

 

Thomas Lee House, East Lyme, Connecticut, 1660

This is the oldest wood-framed house in Connecticut maintained in its primitive state. The Lee family was among the first to settle in Lyme, and Thomas' descendent, Giles Lee, was among Marlow's original proprietors. This large Colonial home with central chimney is like those early Marlow homes described by Elgin Jones in his "History of Marlow, New Hampshire."

Life Style in Lyme, Connecticut: 18th Century 

Prophet or Profit?

Lyme, Connecticut represented the cosmospolitan high life for most of its citizens.
Lyme, Connecticut and Slavery
Lyme, Connecticut's early role in the West Indies trade brought slavery to Lyme. We find, for instance, that as late as 1781, Samuel Ely, one of Marlow's original Proprietors, owned a slave, Peter, whom he freed at that time. Another, William Noyes, was still a slave owner in 1810. This is not to mention the probable roles of Lyme investors and captains in the triangle trade, a subject worth exploration.
Marsfield Parsons' Purse
This picture of Marshfield Parsons' purse is worth a thousand words. It tells volumes about the social position and life style of this wealthy man in whose home Marlow, N.H. was launched. This museum link does not tell us that Parsons is the son of a famous "New Light" preacher, Jonathan Parsons, but it does tell us that Marsfield Parsons owned a tavern, so the Marlow mystery remains. Did the last meeting of the Marlow Proprietors in Lyme adjourn to Parsons' home because of their affinity with the new religious views of his father or did they adjourn there to have a celebratory drink? (Scroll to the foot of the Florence Griswold Museum page to find Parsons' bargello purse.)
Huntley Life Style
Most of the numerous Huntleys of Marlow, N.H. descend from the Aaron Huntley family of Lyme, Connecticut. Here we have details of Huntley agreements and wills and the Huntley home which convey a sense of the Lyme culture from which Marlow came.

 

George Whitefield ~ "Enthusiasm!"

George Whitefield, who began as an Anglican minister, became instrumental in the "New Light" movement and, when he preached in Lyme, Connecticut, greatly influenced the Congregational preacher Jonathan Parsons (See below) and others. Whitefield was much criticized by the establishment for his "enthusiasm" and the "enthusiasm" he generated among those who heard him. "Enthusiasm" became a code word among the orthodox for over-the-top emotionalism masquerading as religion. Many of his followers who would not be stifled in their "enthusiasm" went their own ways. Either sadly or enthusiastically, they splintered. One splinter arrived in the 1760's in Marlow, N.H.

Religion in Marlow, N. H. 

Dissenters from the Original (Puritan) Dissenters

Marlow was one of the few New Hampshire towns to embrace unorthodox (not Puritan/Congregational) views at the time of settlement. Where did these views come from? What roles did they play? How did they affect Marlow views of liberty? We note that, even today, Marlow is one of very few N.H. towns without a Congregational Church. The local church is Methodist, founded in 1829. How Marlow moved from Baptist to Methodist is a bit of a mystery. The Methodists themselves, though closer to the Chruch of England, were a dissenting group. Perhaps Marlow's choice was a compromise or perhaps Marlow followed a few strong personalities. This seems a matter for further exploration.
Baptists Arrive First
Caleb Blood and Eleazer Beckwith, both with Lyme, Connecticut roots, were the first Baptist ministers in town.
Caleb Blood, Circuit Riding Preacher in Marlow
Caleb Blood, a circuit-riding Baptist minister, kept in touch with his far-flung congregations by writing "circular letters". The messages and tone of these letters reveal the moral and religious turmoil brought on by the growing religious freedom in the colonies, especially in the frontier areas.
Eleazer Beckwith of Lyme, CT and Marlow, NH
Eleazer Beckwith arrived in Marlow directly from Lyme, Connecticut. Although he experienced many problems due to dissension among members of his congregation and stepped down as the town's preacher, he stayed and continued his work among the people.
William Tennent and George Whitefield, Lyme, CT
As the New Awakening swept Lyme, it brought fresh ideas, passions, and dissension which our Marlow settlers carried north to their new town. Read how itinerant preachers William Tennent and George Whitefiield roused Lyme congregations to fly into splinters.
Jonathan Parsons and George Whitefield in Lyme, CT
George Whitefield influenced Jonathan Parsons, Congregational minister of Lyme, Connecticut. The two had a profound influence, not only in religious matters, but also on attitudes toward liberty. Can this be the root of New Hampshire's "Live Free or Die" tradition?
Who Was Jonathan Parsons?
Jonathan Parsons' preaching had an effect on the people of Lyme, Connecticut that would travel with them to Marlow, N. H. What was his message? This is important because of the unorthodox attitudes of Marlow's settlers and because it was at the home of Marshfield Parsons, Jonathan's son, that the Marlow Proprietors last met before those meetings began to be held in Marlow. Jonathan's wife, Phebe Griswold, is a daughter of Lyme's wealthy founding family, and her brother Matthew became a governor of Connecticut. It is among these people and their friends that Marlow was born.
Ebenezer Mack, New Light Pedobaptist
Marlow's Baptist preacher Ebenezer Mack (1716-1792) was not the Ebenezer Mack (1697-1777) who was husband of Hannah Huntley and father of Solomon Mack (See the Huntley family below. See Solomon Mack below.) Marlow's preacher, Ebenezer Mack, was Solomon Mack's cousin, married to Abigail (Hill) Davis and father of Silas Mack who died in Marlow in 1836. (Silas' daughter, Freelove Mack, died in Marlow in 1807.) The Mack family history is confusing because there were two John Macks and two Ebenezer Macks from Lyme, Connecticut. The first John Mack, immigrant from Scotland, married Sarah Bagley. He and Sarah had sons John and Ebenezer. This Ebenezer is Solomon Mack's father. This Ebenezer's brother John married Love Bennet, and the pair had a son, Ebenezer Mack. Influenced by the waves of the Great Awakening flooding Lyme, Connecticut, this Ebenezer Mack became a New Light preacher and moved from Lyme, Connecticut to Marlow, N. H. to preach the new Pedobaptist doctrine. He and Solomon Mack share the grandparents John Mack, Sr. and Sarah Bagley.

By the way, there are two other Ebenezer Macks in New York State, one a newspaper editor in Ithica and one a miniaturist painter. Does anyone know if and how they are related to the Lyme/Marlow Ebenezer Macks?

Find Marlow's Ebenezer Mack, the Pedobaptist preacher, in David Benedict's 1813 treatise "A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America..." (Lincoln and Edmands, London) under "Groton Union Conference".

Great Free Will Baptist Stuff on Amazon 

Glenn Knoblock, a New Hampshire Humanities Council speaker, author, and expert on cemetery iconography, spoke to a Marlow, N. H. audience May, 15, 2008. He assured us that the images on many of the stones in our West Yard Cemetery reflect the Free Will Baptist presence: crowns, sun bursts, and such, images put a hopeful, joyous face on afterlife. He called the West Yard Cemetery a treasure. While he found that the red stone of Lyme was not brought to Marlow, Lyme iconography was.

This book provides an overview of the development of thought, beliefs, and practices which eventually came to Marlow with the Lyme settlers. It also shows some of the controversies which probably led to the in-fighting which held up the construction an actual church building for about twenty years.
Early History of Free Will Baptists The Original Free Will Baptists in America (1727-1830)

Early History of Free Will Baptists The Original Free Will Baptists in America (1727-1830)

by: William Franklin Davidson

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Jones Hall: Marlow's Meeting House Today 

The Meeting House That Took Twenty Years to Build

Marlow's early citizens proposed in 1772 to build a meeting house at public expense. Twenty years later, in 1792, Marlow's first meeting house was built on Marlow Hill. What took so long? A meeting house was begun near the West Yard Cemetery, but, since townsfolk could not agree as to who would be the minister paid through a town ministerial tax, it was eventually dismantled and the materials used for a barn. In the meantime, the population center shifted to Marlow Hill. Because of constant disagreement over the choice of preacher and the ministerial tax, a series of Baptist ministers came and went. Sunday meetings continued to be held in private homes. Finally, a Huntley donated land on Marlow Hill, and the meeting house was built by subscription. Dissension continued. Lemuel Miller (son of Nichodemus. See above.) was jailed for refusing to pay the ministerial tax. Some Marlow citizens traveled miles to Washington, N.H. to meet with the Universalists. Washington is the same village that gave birth to the Seventh Day Adventists. That's something to think about.

We speculate that the problem which delayed Marlow's meeting house was disagreement among Free Will Baptists, Pedobaptists, and other similar persuasions, dissenting beliefs which spun from the preaching of Jonathan Parsons of Lyme and his mentor, George Whitefield. With new Marlow citizens arriving on the scene and water-powered mills being constructed along the Ashuelot River, in 1845 the building was moved to "the Plains," or Marlow's present village. By then it was a Methodist church.

The Methodists who remained on Marlow Hill were furious and immediately built a second Methodist Church on the Hill. That too was soon moved to the present village, so the two stand nearly side by side. The old meeting house is a fine example of early architecture much like the famous meeting house in Rockingham, Vermont, but its structure was altered somewhat when it no longer served a religious purpose. Used by Marlow Academy, begun in 1838, it came to belong to Quincy Jones who gave it to the town early in the twentieth century. Today it is used for concerts and other public events and downstairs houses Marlow Library. It is Marlow's only building presently on the National Register of Historic Places. If only those old wide boards could speak, what tales they would tell!

Marlow Village Today 

The Past Is Still with Us.

This Marlow vignette is one of the most photographed scenes in New Hampshire, perhaps in all of New England. Note Marlow's old meeting house (Jones Hall) on the right, the Methodist Church (Marlow's only active church today) in the middle, and the old Marlow Academy (now an Odd Fellows Hall) on the left. Unseen is Murray Hall, Marlow's short-lived Universalist Church which has undergone several transformations. Known locally as "The Grange," it is now under renovation by the Marlow Historical Society which owns it.

Eleazer Beckwith's Grave in Marlow 

Eleazer Beckwith came to Marlow, N. H. from Lyme, Connecticut as a Baptist minister. The Reverend Beckwith and his wife, Hannah, are buried in Marlow's West Yard Cemetery close to Baker's Corner near the foundation of the vanished Baptist church he had hoped to found. The tone of their inscriptions speaks volumes.

Reverent ELEAZER
BECKWITH,
died 16, April 1808.
AE 67, years.

Here lies a neighbor kind indeed,
To all mankind that stood in need,
But, friendly acts can never save,
From death arrest nor from the grave.
He on a sudden ceas'd and gone,
And left his friends behind to mourn.
But while they mourn they hope and trust,
He's gone to reign with God most just.

Beside him lies his wife Hannah.

In memory of
HANNAH BECKWITH,
who died
August 16, 1823.
aged 80,
Relict of
Rev. Eleazer Beckwith

Though drear afflictions long she bore
Yet she the robe of patience wore
From virtues path she never stray'd
Or duty to her God delay'd

See the link to Beckwith's story above.

The Way of Duty: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America 

by Joy Day Buel and Richard Buel, Jr.

The Way of Duty: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America

The Way of Duty: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America

by: Joy Day Buel, Richard Buel

This is the story of Mary Fish and her family in Revolutionary Connecticut. It is based on her personal correspondence and diaries. It is especially interesting because it does much more than show us the tenor of the times. Mary's father, as the orthodox Congregational minister of Stonington, at first welcomed the "New Light" preachers to his pulpit as did the ministers of Lyme. Soon he found himself undermined and condemned by them as not authentic, and his congregation fell away. In the end, there were not enough left to support him properly. We see, through Mary's diaries and letters, what it is like to be on this side, to hear one's parent in the pulpit challenged and condemned by his congregation. Even though Stonington is not Lyme, it is not far away, and we can gain understanding of the mood of the people and the events surrounding the splintering that took place. We see too how it is all bound up in the Revolution.

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The Puritan Way of Death: A Study in Religion, Culture and Social Change 

by David E. Stannard

This scholarly book contains a wealth of primary sources including an essay by Jonathan Parsons, [See above] "Account of the Revival of Religion in the West Parish of Lyme, Connecticut." The author comments on the colonial period essays and draws interesting conclusions. We can read and draw our own.
The Puritan Way of Death: A Study in Religion, Culture, and Social Change

The Puritan Way of Death: A Study in Religion, Culture, and Social Change

by: David E. Stannard

This book is most remarkable for us in Marlow, New Hampshire and Lyme, Connecticut because in it we hear Jonathan Parsons himself speak about the great religious and social changes which rocked Lyme, the very ideas which created and rocked early Marlow.

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The Great Awakening and the American Revolution 

"New Lights" and Liberty

This book contains primary sources, speeches by well-known orators of the Colonial Period.
A Speaking Aristocracy: Transforming Public Discourse in Eighteenth-Century Connecticut (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia)

A Speaking Aristocracy: Transforming Public Discourse in Eighteenth-Century Connecticut (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia)

by: Christopher Grasso

This book is for the serious student of the relationship bewteen Colonial religious thought and the American Revolution. It suggests the probable origin of the ideas of unfettered religion and liberty which made their way to Lyme, Connecticut and followed its settlers north to Marlow, New Hampshire.

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From Puritan to Yankee: Character and the Social Order of Connecticut 

by Richard Bushman

Here is a serious, but entertaining analysis of the currents of thought and action moving in Connecticut from 1690 to 1765 including the information and discussion of the dissenters, "New Lights," and resulting changes. On page 152, Bushman mentions that Jonathan Parsons, Congregational minister of Lyme, Connecticut renounced the Saybrook Platform.
From Puritan to Yankee: Character and the Social Order in Connecticut, 1690-1765 (Center for the Study of the History of Liberty in America)

From Puritan to Yankee: Character and the Social Order in Connecticut, 1690-1765 (Center for the Study of the History of Liberty in America)

by: Richard L. Bushman

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Marlow Men Play Major Roles 

Where the heck is Marlow, New Hampshire? What is this place anyway?

Marlow, N. H., which seems so remote from the world, even today, had citizens who touched the mainstream of history.
Solomon Mack, Our First Settler
Solomon Mack, cousin of The Reverend Ebenezer Mack, was the first citizen of Lyme, Connecticut to settle in Marlow. He was here before the Marlow Charter of 1761. He played a role in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. We find him learning to make salt peter (presumably for gun powder) just before the Revolution and being called from town to town to teach others. We find him taking his sons to sea as privateers. His grave is in Gilsum, N. H. There is much else about him to discover. For instance, his daughter Lucy married Joseph Smith, Sr. and became the mother of Joseph Smith, Jr., the Mormon founder. Given the dissenting views of Marlow's settlers from Lyme, how surprising is this? But we'll leave pursuit of that topic to you and let Solomon speak for himself in his own published narrative.
Elisha Mack's Enthusiasm for Liberty
Elisha Mack, another of Solomon's cousins, moved from Lyme, Connecticut to Marlow, N. H. to Gilsum near Marlow. He was an impetuous and enterprising young man. Following his family's footsteps, he was active in the cause of liberty. Read about his attempt to eliminate Tories in Keene, N. H.
Elisha Mack's Inventiveness
Elisha Mack is credited with building several early bridges and dams, including a Gilsum bridge and the first bridge to span the Connecticut at Bellows Falls, Vermont. Elisha eventually moved down the Connecticut River to Montague, Massachusetts. Hayward's History of Gilsum, N. H. explains that he had invented a leather diving suit which allowed him to work in the water dry. Perhaps this is really a holdover from working on ships afloat. Read about Elisha's adventures in Montague.
Stephen Mack, Sr.
What did Solomon Mack's son Stephen, who was born in Marlow, do after he left New Hampshire? Plenty! After young manhood in the area of Sharon, Vermont, he went West. In Michigan, he started a fur trade which he eventually sold to John Astor of the American Fur Company. He established a town. He built a road between Pontiac and Detroit, one end of which is Mack Avenue, still the main artery in Detroit today.

 

Industry Changes Marlow's Face

This often-photographed pond, so much a part of Marlow's character today, was not here when the first settlers arrived. It is a product of a dam built by the second generation of settlers to provide waterpower for the several industries that sprang up along the Ashuelot River. Solomon Gee and his sons from the Haddams, next to Lyme, Connecticut built our first mills. There were few cabins here. Mills provided lumber for substantial colonial homes as described by Elgin Jones in his "History of Marlow, New Hampshire," and surely Lyme money built them. It seems that Marlow's early settlers planned to replicate in the wilderness their Connecticut life style.

General Marlow References 

Overviews of Marlow history, when approached with a fine toothed comb, often yield important clues. They are also helpful to those doing genealogical research
Gazetteer on Marlow, N. H.
Nineteenth century gazetteers take a different view than we might today. After an "Our Town" introduction to each town, (Gazetteers must be a source of Thornton Wilder's inspiration.) the authors summarize the stories of "important people." That would include successful framers and businessmen and probably the authors' friends.
1790 Census, Marlow, N. H.
Our first national census shows about 65 heads of households in Marlow, most of them from Lyme, Connecticut and some from nearby Connecticut towns such as Saybrook, Haddam, Essex, and New London. (There were others not found by the census taker.) Most are interrelated. We can see it's a family affair!
Marlow Historical Society Forum
This interactive forum posts a great deal of information about Marlow, N. H. history including excerpts from early town records, stories of local conflicts, and some military information. The most popular part of the Forum is the genealogy section. The Forum is a work in progress with more information added as we discover it. Our Forum members have been most helpful in providing new information. Thank you, all out there!

Echoes of Marlow's Past, Sounds of the Present and Future 

Conserving Marlow Today
This Marlow Conservation Commission lens shows the natural and historical resources of Marlow, N. H. as they exist today and describes how the community is acting to assess and conserve them.

Calling All Genealogy Buffs 

These are the genealogical research starting places we have found most useful.
N.H. - Cyndi's List
For those who would like to explore the early and continued family links between Marlow, N. H. and Lyme, Connecticut, try Cyndi's List - New Hampshire. Cyndi's List is a list of genealogical lists, the most comprehensive of its kind.
Connecticut - Cyndi's List
For exploration of the early and continued family links between Marlow, N. H. and Lyme, Connecticut from the southern end, try Cyndi's List - Connecticut.
Huntley Association
"Notes on History of the Town of Marlow, N.H." by Elgin Jones. Sentinel Printing Co. Keene, N.H. 1941 (Thank you Penelope.) shows on pp. xii and xii that ten Huntley heads of households purchased a total of 38 parcels of Marlow land between 1767 and 1826. These were all purchases from the original Proprietors to whom the Marlow grant was made. (There may have been more land transfers to Huntleys during this time, second-hand, so to speak.) These parcels range from one to 500 acres, but most are substantial, 40 to 100 acres. These Huntleys trace their ancestry back to John Huntley of Lyme, CT, mostly through his son Aaron. "Images of America: Old Lyme, Lyme, and Hadlyme" . Kathryn Burton . Arcadia Publishing . 2003. 19-20 (Thank you, Penelope.) shows two photographs of the rather grand Lyme Huntley homestead and informs us, "John Huntley received a grant from the British crown for a home lot on July 12, 1666." We find that, after passing out of the Huntley family, the house served as home for some of the wealthiest people in Lyme until it was demolished in 1898. Through generations Huntleys have been prominent in Marlow town affairs, and many of their descendants still live here. That is why we are providing a link to the Huntley Association. It, in turn, provides helpful links to Huntley genealogy and the affairs of the organization such as the annual national Huntley Reunion.
Huntley Genealogy Forum
Here is an extraordinary genealogy forum frequently posted by Virgil Huntley who has researched his family for a lifetime and written three volumes on the descendants of John Huntley of Lyme, Connecticut. Virgil has passed his ninetieth birthday. He shares a wealth of Huntley information.
Mack Family Tree
The Mack family in general has been unusual in its participation in bringing about the new American liberty and making good use of it. Although there are many resources on Mack genealogy, this one is particularly helpful because it allows us to see the entire family at a glance. This goes back to John Mack, an immigrant, which is as far as anyone has been able to follow so far. If you have an interest in the family, you will want to pursue it beyond this link, but this is a start.
A Mack and Huntley Meeting Place
Here is a link showing the relationship of these two important families as well as a connection to the famous seafaring Dewolf family of Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Marlow's West Yard Burying Ground
Here is a transcription of the inscriptions from Marlow's oldest cemetery in which the stones bear legible writing. In another cemetery, not far away, the stones either had no inscriptions or are no longer legible. The West Yard Cemetery is beside Baker's Corner, the location of Marlow's first settlement. Almost all of the people buried there were born in Lyme, Connecticut or are children of those born in Lyme.

Great Huntley Stuff on Amazon 

Virgil Huntley's History of John Huntley and His Descendants, Vol. 3

Volume 3 of this extensive, well-researched genealogy on the descendants of John Huntley is on the Aaron Huntley branch. It was Aaron Huntley, Jr. who came to live in Marlow joined by many of his family.
JOHN HUNTLEY OF BOSTON & ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS AND LYME, CONNECTICUT, 1647-1996 AND SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS BOOK III AARON LINE (Volume 3)

JOHN HUNTLEY OF BOSTON & ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS AND LYME, CONNECTICUT, 1647-1996 AND SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS BOOK III AARON LINE (Volume 3)

by: Virgil W Huntley

Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009) Buy Now

Virgil Huntley 

Virgil, at 92, enjoying his new computer

Amazing Grace on Amazon 

The Force of Wilberforce

I suppose that going back to first causes, reduced to absudity, would eventually lead to Marlow's role in the original "Big Bang," but bear with one more move backward. From where did the radical ideas of human rights (and here we give a nod to John Locke) and religious freedom come from? Who moved them from theories discussed in drawing rooms to political reality, and what on earth does this have to do with Marlow, New Hampshire?

Methodist Anglican preachers such as George Whitefield, who journeyed from England to preach up and down the American east coast and had such a great influence on the men who made Marlow, moved in the same circles as this influential British Parliamentarian, William Wilberforce. Togther they left the official milquetoast religion behind and were moved to action by their own sense of Spirit.

To quote from the introduction of this book: "Taken all together, it's difficult to escape the verdict that William Wilberforce was simply the greatest social reformer in the history of the world. The world he was born into in 1759 and the world he departed in 1833 were as different as lead and gold. Wilberforce presided over a social earthquake that rearranged continents and whose magnitude we are only now beginning to fully appreciate."

Wilberforce championed republicanism in the finest sense of the word, taking individual responsibility for social ills and improving the physical and moral condition of all people. If the splinter group who came to Marlow continued to follow the temper of their origins, it is improbable that they brought slaves from Lyme, Connecticut into Marlow's forests, something we have wondered about.
Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery

by: Eric Metaxes, Eric Metaxas

This book traces the life of William Wilberforce from infancy through his nearly life-long battle for abolition of slavery to his death and then, ironically, the culmination of his life-work. It details the influences on him and his vast influence on those around him and on today's world.

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Amazon Price: $18.99 (as of 07/11/2009) Buy Now

Reader Feedback 

Our little town seems to have a big reach. It reflects the great controversies which were wracking the nation at the time of its charter (1761) and beyond. We would love to hear from you - questions, observations, information, or insights. Please join in to help us uncover our mysterious history.

Lensmaster

AppalachianCountry wrote...

Great lens giving such awesome history & detail on Lyme. Thank-you for all the work. 5 stars*****

ReplyPosted July 06, 2009

Lensmaster

Nice lens. Thanks for sharing this information with us. This information is very important for us. income protection

ReplyPosted April 19, 2009

Lensmaster

evan j wrote

Great site, Great info.... trying to find additional info (listed at DAR) of Richard Douglas b.1746 d. 1828 in New London. veteran... any info on units he served in?

Also: Samuel Smith of Lyme late 1600s... his sons and grandsons...names? info... any revolutionary connection? evan at finnstarhockey.com

Reply Posted November 05, 2008

Lensmaster

cannedguds wrote...

Always love to know a lot of stories of past lives. I'm so obsessed with this kind of activity that I really want to learn family genealogy, you know, finding family history and all that kind of stuff! Really would be amazing to know how your past family have lived in the past, so to speak...lol....maybe, one of my great-great granddaddy's was a President of the US,hmm...lol...anyway, thanks for sharing this 5-star lens of yours! I really love reading it!

ReplyPosted October 12, 2008

Lensmaster

OhMe wrote...

I really enjoyed this history lesson. I come from a small historic town also and love all the stories. Great lens. 5* and favored

ReplyPosted July 27, 2008

 
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