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The GeneralThe Friends of Stark NewsPark Newsletter starkpark.com |Summer 2018 Photo courtesy of Paule Houle; flickr.com/photos/paul_houle/collecons Stark Park in the Time Before America Inside this Issue: Part IV: The Starks Arrive By Matthew Labbe Stark Park in the Time Before America - Part IV: By the 1720s, the young community of Londonderry was thriving. The settlers were starting The Starks Arrive … 1 to make a name for the town by producing fine linen and it was the first community to intro- duce the potato into regular cultivation. As the town grew, the best pieces of land were pur- New at Stark Park… 3 FSP Summer Concert chased immediately, and latecomers to town were left with less than ideal plots to choose 4 Series… from. This caused them to spread into other area towns including Litchfield, Merrimack, Bed- ford, Hooksett, and Goffstown. Both A Patch of Color Garden 7 Tour… Londonderry and Chester tried to 7 Path of Wildflowers… claim the valuable fishing grounds at Amoskeag, but they were denied due A Special Thank You… 8 to survey errors in their grants. In- stead, the land remained part of an The Board: unincorporated plot of land less than President two miles wide, stretching between Kerry Schleyer Litchfield and Hooksett. The area Vice President around Amoskeag came to be known Tom Snow as Harrytown. Archibald Stark House, Elm Street, Manchester. Photo by Magicpiano Secretary The land disputes did not prevent people from making a home there anyway. Since New Ann Thorner Hampshire did not become an independent colony until 1741, Massachusetts was responsible Treasurer for granting settlers individual plots of land in the area. Several discrete villages appeared in Stephanie Lewry Manchester as a result. These included Goffe’s Falls around Cohas Brook, the Center along what would become Mammoth Road, and Amoskeag at the falls. The latter of these was first Brian Brady settled by James McNeil, John Riddell, and John Stark’s father Archibald Stark. Tom Christensen Diana Duckoff Archibald Stark was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1697. He attended the University of Edin- burgh, then moved to Ireland with his father. A short while later, he married Eleanor “Hellen” Matthew Labbe Nichols, another Scottish immigrant. In 1720, they set sail for New England. The journey was Robert Lord perilous, and all their children died during the voyage. The names of these children, probably Laura Patton fewer than four in number, have been lost to history. After being turned away from Boston Kris Pelletier due to fear of smallpox, their ship landed near Wiscasset, Maine where they faced a harsh win- ter. In the spring, they made their way south to New Hampshire to join the Scotch-Irish popu- lation in Londonderry. Contact us at ...Continued on page 2 [email protected]! The Friends of Stark Park is a 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to develop, revitalize, maintain, and protect the heritage and recreational use of Stark Park as a historic asset to the City of Manchester, NH. Stark Park in the continued Time Before America Archibald built a modest farm in a part of town that is now east Derry. He was trained as a joiner (a type of carpenter), and probably assisted in the construction of many of the local homes. The Starks finally had a stable living situation, and they began to regrow their family. Their son John Stark was born on August 28, 1728 and he was one of the last of seven children. Being an educated man, Archibald was eager to teach his own children, but his situation in a “savage” land was less than ideal. Stark Fort on Nutt’s Pond. Drawing by J. Warren Thyng after George Baker. Archibald and Eleanor made sure to educate the children in the Manchester. John Goffe’s house was already outfitted as a garri- home, preparing them to be successful and prosperous mem- son, but it was too small and poorly located to protect most of bers of the new community. Later in life, John reflected that he the inhabitants. In 1746, they decided to build a proper, cen- was grateful for this education but always felt inferior to those trally located fort. The chosen location was at the north end of with more formalized training. Swagger’s Pond, now known as Nutt’s pond. The fort was a Hardship visited the Starks again in 1736 when their house timber structure with stockade roughly 125ft x 150ft square. It burned down. Archibald decided not to rebuild, but instead was named Stark Fort in honor of Archibald Stark who was in- moved to Amoskeag where he was able to secure nearly 1000 strumental in having it built. The towns people braced for an acres of land that had been granted to Samuel Thaxter by the attack that never came, and the fort was discontinued just a few colony of Massachusetts. It began a bit south of what is now years later. In 1929, a historic marker was installed near the Salmon Street and extended north toward the Industrial School, including the land that later became Stark Park. Archibald built well by the Molly Stark Chapter D.A.R., and it is still visible a modest home at the south end of the property. It was a small today along the rail trail. cape with central chimney and a kitchen ell off the back. Alt- John Stark came of age on the family farm and was part of a hough the Stark House still exists on Elm Street, it was moved community of about 100 people living near the falls. The large there in the 1960s. It originally sat further south and closer to textile mills were still several decades away, and the economy the river, where the footings for Amoskeag Bridge are today. Archibald also invested in several sawmills, including one at the was based almost entirely upon agricultural pursuits. John was outlet of Dorr’s Pond where his son John learned the skills of a particularly adept at hunting, and probably spent much of his sawyer. time in the as yet uncleared forests of the town after his farm chores were done. He never lost this skill or interest and As Europeans filled the Merrimack Valley, disputes with the worked as a hunter as an adult. few remaining Native Americans continued. Sporadic raids con- tinued in other towns along the river, causing great fear among John had a history of interactions with Native Americans during the Europeans. The militia was called up on several occasions to his youth. Small bands of Indians frequently visited Amoskeag defend the area, and Archibald Stark was among the enlisted. during fishing season without violent incident. The fishing sea- Caleb Stark wrote of his grandfather, “His education fitted him son was a busy time for Europeans too. Each family had their for the walks of civil life, yet we find him a volunteer for the favorite fishing spots, and young John would have made fre- protection of the frontier against the ravages of the Indians.” quent use of them. He was also acquainted with a native named Christo or Christian who made his permanent home at The townspeople decided that Amoskeag. Christo had a wigwam along the brook at the south they needed a fortified structure end of the family farm until he moved to Canterbury around to protect the growing villages in About the Author: Matthew Labbe, a board member of the Friends of Stark Park, holds a M.A. in Anthropology from Texas A&M University and works as a Project Archeologist with Monadnock Archaeological Consulting. His previous research on the history of his hometown has been published by Historical New Hampshire. 1745. He was often accused of aiding area tribes in times of war, but New at Stark Park! whether he actually did is unknown. At one point, groups from Haverhill and Dunstable marched on his camp and burned it. Christo escaped and was able to join the militia as a scout during the Indian Wars of the 1740s and 1750s. These interactions left John with at least a modicum of understanding about the language and culture of local indigenous people. This un- derstanding would prove critical in 1752 when John and his traveling companions were ambushed by a group of ten Indians on one of their trips near the Baker River in the White Mountains. His older brother William managed to escape in a canoe, and David Stinson was killed, but John and Amos Eastman were taken north by the Abenaki to St. Francis, Quebec. They were held for six weeks. The prisoners were forced to run a gauntlet where they were at- tacked with clubs. Eastman went first and was severely beaten. When it was John’s turn, he grabbed one of the clubs and started fighting back. The village elders were reportedly delighted by the sport. When they tried to force him to hoe corn, he cut the corn Park Bench Installation: down and left the weeds. When that did not elicit a response, he The old cement and wood benches kept getting dam- threw the hoe in the river claiming the work was beneath him. They aged by both natural and human means, so they are be- were impressed by his boldness and he was treated as an honored ing replaced. Ten new steel benches, with beautiful guest for the rest of his stay. They were allowed to leave after ar- granite slabs underneath, have been installed so far. This ranging to pay their own ransoms: $103 for Stark and $60 for East- project has been made possible by your donations to the man.
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