Blake House Diary
Historical quotes from yesteryear and today by residents and others
Plane, 1932 - Laurel Lake Emergency
Peletiah Hodgkins 1815 Cheshire County Court Record
Be it remembered that Mirriam Minot of Fitzwilliam in said County single woman appears here in court and complains against Peletiah Hodgkins of Marlborough in said County painter and informs the Court that on the twenty four day of June in the year of our Lord 1815 she the said Miriam at said Fitzwilliam was delivered of two bastard mulatto children that the said Hodgkins is the father of said children that the said children were begotten on the said Miriam by the said Hodgkins at the dwelling house of Henry Thorndike Esq. in said Fitzwilliam on or about the thirtieth day of September in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and fourteen and that the said Mirriam previous to her delivery of said children, viz. on the first day of April in the year of our Lord 1815 did on oath before Lamuel Dakin Esquire one of the Justices of the Peace in and for said County of Cheshire voluntarily charge the said Hodgkins with being the father of said child or children and did therein declare the time when and the place where said children were begotten and that she the said Miriam has ever since continued constant in her said accusation and that she the said Mirriam at the time of her delivery of said children did declare to the persons attending her viz- to Amasa Scott physician and Thomas Richardson physician both of Fitzwilliam aforesaid that the said Hodgkins was the father of said children and Wherefore the said Mirriam prays that the said Hodgkins may be adjudged the father of said children and that he may be charged adjudgeable with their maintenance and be compelled to comply with the provisions with the statute in such case made and provided and The said Hodgkins appears and says he is not chargeable. And a jury is impannelled and sworn to try the truth of the allegations contained in the complaint aforesaid, who having heard the parties, their witnesses and evidence, make return of their verdict into Court and upon oath say that the said Peletiah Hodgkins ought not to be charged and Whereupon it is considered by the Court that the said Hodgkins recover against the said Minot his costs taxed at forty three dollars and ninety six cents.
Attest L. Hale Clerk
Colonel James Reed of Fitzwilliam, June 17, 1775, writing to the Committee of Safety before the Battle of Bunker Hill
"I repaired to Medford and their I met with Capt. Hinds, Whitcumbe, Town. Hutchins, Man, Marcy and Thomas. Whitcombe and Thomas I took out of Coll. Stark's Regiment for the 2 Companys that was assigned me-then I was informed by Coll. Stark that Medford was so full of soldiers that it was necessary for some to take some other quarters-then I aplayed myself to Gen. Ward and there received orders in these words."
And the General Orders were:
"That Coll. Reed quarter his Regiment in the houses near Charlestown Neck and keep all necessary Guards between his Barracks and the Ferry and on Bunker Hill." J. Ward, Sectary.
Rev. John Sabin 1842, impressed with the view of the mountain from many Fitzwilliam homes:
“Some almost wonder that this town was ever built on, and that a community should settle here. But in early days it was a land of high credit, and I am told by the old minister of Jaffrey, Mr. Ainsworth, that the Monadnock region since his remembrance has been as much extolled as now is any part of the West. Within two days I am told by a son of an early settler in this part of Jaffrey that the fear at first was there would not be stone for fencing. We can have no question but in its natural state this town had its beautifies, nor did its rocks appear as they have since.”
Some of the early settlers to Fitzwilliam were desperately poor and grateful for all they had. Their homes were one room with bark for a door, with or without a chimney even in the winter, and they ate plain meals with little hope of ever tasting a pie or cake. In the later part of the 18th century Dr. Cummings was known to remark:
“How should they be provided with writing materials, when they had not even the common implements for eating! I was informed a few days since by one of the mothers in Israel that she worked in the family of one of the proudest men in town in 1785, and lived on bean porridge, and eat it out of a brown earthen mug, which served as a dish for the whole family, it being the only one used in the kitchen. She also informed me that she was treated to the best lodging the Palace afforded, a cot bed on the floor with one sheet, there being but a single pair in the house. Her employment was spinning cattle’s hair, procured from the tanner, to be made into bed-covers.”