Fac Simile of part of the Official Record of the Declaration of Independence, by NOAH EMERY, in 1777.
Original in the State Department at Concord. (See page 31.)

NOAH EMERY

Of Exeter:: Member of the
Provincial Congress :and
Clerk of the Assembly :: in
New Hampshire:: in the
Revolution

By his great= grandson
i H. miJiS EMER } ' SI E I ENS

Decori decus addit avito

PRIVATELY PRINTED
In the year eighteen hundred eighty-six

2-7- SO
75 copies only of which this is
No. (?J

This jEmoir loas read at the Rennion of the
Descendants of John and Anthony Emery (of
lohom more than 200 were present) held in Boston,
September 10, ^SSj, the 2^oth year from the
Eandino- of the Brothers in Massachusetts.

NOAH EMERY.

NOAH EMERY of Exeter, the first ^ of the
name in that town, was the third son of
Noah Emery of Kittery and the fifth in descent
from Anthony Emery the Emigrant of 1635. He
was born in that part of Kittery which has since
been incorporated as a separate town by the name
of Eliot. The ancient town of Kittery, so named
from a small hamlet in England, is a noteworthy
part of the State of Maine. The shape of the
State is rudely that of a lozenge, having its longest
axis from northeast to southwest; and Kittery is
the southwest angle of the lozenge. Over against
it, across the Piscataqua River, lies the town of
Portsmouth in New Hampshire. On some islands

' The second son of Noah of Exeter was also named Noah ;
b. 1748, d. 1817, m. Jane flale, b. 1751, d. 1813, dau. of Dr.
Eliphalet Hale of E. and' gra. dau. of Col. William Pepperrell of
Kittery ; conspicuously ''active in the Revolution and succeeding
his father as Clerk of the Courts for Rockingham County.
Children were, Mary Hale, b.1772, d. 1856 ; Betsey, b. 1774, d.
in early childhood; Nicholas, b. 1776, d. 1861, instructor of

6 Noah Emery
near its shore and within its limits is the United
States Navy Yard, commonly called the Portsmouth
Navy Yard.
The beginnings of the State of Maine were at
Kittery. So early as 1623, seven years before the
settlement of Boston, the town began to be inhab
ited by people of English blood ; and through all
the early colonial period it was the chief seat of
justice. Here, in 1696, was born, and here lived
and flourished and died. Sir William Pepperrell,
the conqueror of Louisburg, the only New Eng-
lander born who was ever created a baronet, the
acting Governor of Massachusetts for a time, and
a person of such great possessions that it was said
he could travel along the coast of Maine for thirty
miles without leaving his own estates. The man
sion house and tomb of this eminent man still
exist in good preservation and are among the
Daniel Webster in Phillips Exeter Academy ( " the distinguished
counsellor at Portland " whom " I am proud to call master,"
says Webster in his Autobiography), afterwards one of the
Justices of the Supreme Court of Maine ; John, b. 1780, d. 1874 ;
Noah, b. 1782, d. 1813, m. Elizabeth Folsom (afterward Mrs.
Hurd); Jane Hale, b. 1788, d. 1801 ; Elizabeth Phillips, b. 1794,
d. 1883, m. Gideon L. Soule, LL. D., b. 1796, d. 1879, Principal
of Phillips Exeter Academy. Children of these were, Charles
Emery Soule of the New York Bar, Nicholas Emery Soule,
M. D. and Augustus Lord Soule, late one of the Justices of the
Supreme Court of Massachusetts.

of Exeter. 7
attractions of Kittery. This ancient town, thus
distinguished both by its topography and its history,
may properly be called the cradle of the Anthony
Emery race. Thither Anthony removed from Dover
where he had lived almost the whole time after his
landing in 1635. In what year he came to Kittery
is not known ; but it is certain that he was an
inhabitant of the town as early as 1651, since he
describes himself as such in a deed bearing date
of that year. In the next year, he and his son
James appear as signers, with many others, of a
" submission " acknowledging the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts over the town and people. In the
same year he became one of the selectmen of
the town. There he continued to reside until
1660, and there his posterity multiplied and from
thence spread abroad.
Among them was Noah, his great grandson,
who was born in the last year of the seventeenth
century. He was bred to the trade of a cooper,
but it seems the round of hoop and cask was too
narrow for his ambition. He aspired to a higher
and wider sphere of activity, and as he grew to
maturity turned his attention to the law. In 1725
he was admitted to the bar by taking the required
oath of office. He became a "practitioner in the
courts," as he styles himself in a certain deed.

8 Noah Emery
He thus attained the distinction of being, says
Willis, " the first lawyer who ever resided in the
State of Maine." His subsequent career proved
that he had not mistaken his calling. " He pos
sessed much legal acumen and accuracy," continues
the writer just cited ; and he goes on to add that
he was " a ready draftsman, of quick perceptions
and considerable ability which gave him an exten
sive practice." He was repeatedly commissioned as
King's Attorney for the Province of Maine. He
appears to have been a man of bookish tastes,
having an interest in the Social Library of Ports
mouth and having also a library of his own. By
his will he bequeathed to his sons in equal shares
his " books of law, physic, divinity and history."
One of these old law books has come down to
our day, and has a history. It is a copy of the
earliest extant edition of the Laws of the Colony
of Massachusetts — the edition of 1660. This
volume seems to have been one of those which
fell to the share of Noah of Exeter, from whom it
passed to his grandson. Captain Robert Emery of
Springfield. By him it was given to the Honor
able John Pickering, who in turn presented it to
the Massachusetts State Library where it is now
carefully kept under lock and key in the private
drawer of the librarian. "It is worth its weight

of Exeter. g
in gold," said the librarian to the writer of this
sketch. When it is considered that only one or
two other copies are known to exist, this careful
ness will not seem excessive.^ The volume is
authenticated as having belonged to Noah Emery
of Kittery by his autograph signature across the
title page with the accompanying statement, also
autographic, that it was " bo't by him at vendue
at Portsmouth in the year 1737."
* There is a copy in the library of the Antiquarian Society at
Worcester, and there may be one in the library of Harvard
University and possibly one in the Lenox Library. The full
title of this rare book is as follows :
riTE
BOOK OF THE GENERAL
LAVVES AND LIBERTYES
CONCERNING THE INHABITANTS OF THE MASSA
CHUSETTS, COLLECTED OUT OF THE XEC-
ORDS OF THE GENERAL COURT, FOR THE
SEVERAL YEARS WHERIN THEY
WERE MADE AND ESTABLISHED
And
Now Revised by the same Court, and disposed into an Alphabetical
order, and published by the same Authority in the General
Court holden at Boston, in May
1649.
Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance
of God and they that resist receive to themselves damnation. Rom : 13. 2.
Cambridge,
Printed according to Order of the GENERAL COURT.
1660.

to Noah Emery
The old lawyer appears also to have been a
military man of some local consequence. A muster
roll, yellow with age, now before me, has this title :
" List of Officers and souldiers in the upper foot
company in Kittery under the command of Captain
Noah Emery taken at Kittery on the 2 2d day of
April 1756." The ensign of this company was
Caleb Emery, and there were eight other Emery's
among the rank and file. It looks almost like the
case of a patriarch commanding household troops,
and favors the tradition that there was a place
thereabouts which was anciently called " Emery-
town." Another scrap of old writing of that date
connects Captain Emery with Sir William Pepperrell,
then in chief command of the military forces of the
State. The writing is a brief note from Sir William
to Captain Emery requiring him to have four men
impressed from his company at the ferry at a given
hour in readiness to march to Boston. This was
in the time of the French war, when military
business was not altogether of the holiday sort.
The house where Noah of Kittery lived and
Noah of Exeter was born would, if standing, be
at least one hundred and sixty years old. Probably
it would be fifteen or twenty years older, since it
had been the homestead of Daniel, the father of
Noah of Kittery, who was dead in 1722 and had

of Exeter. 1 1
by his will devised to that son what he calls " the
new part " of his house. Whether so old a
structure could now be found became an interest
ing problem. A personal exploration soon led to
a satisfactory solution. On the road leading to
South Berwick from the railway station in Eliot,
about two miles from the station and on the left
hand side of the road, stands the remnant of a
very ancient house. It is the ell or rear part of
a dwelling house of two stories which formerly
joined it on the front but which was long since
consumed by fire. This, it became clear in the
end, was the Mansion-house of the old King's
Attorney. Here he lived and transacted his busi
ness as a lawyer, and here he died. This old ell
of one story and three or four rooms is at present
occupied by Harriet Emery one of his lineal
descendants. Blessed with the longevity of the
race, a lady of four score and six years, she is
still vivacious and clear, with a firm grasp on the
family traditions. As we sat and talked in the
old low-studded room, her words and the look
of the apartment alike carried conviction. "This
very room where we are sitting was his law
office," said she. The statement brought to mind
a provision of his will in which he says that his
son John is to have for seven years the use of

1 2 Noah Emery
the " writing room." Continuing our conversation.
Miss Emery said, pointing to a field .across the
road : " there is where he was buried, but there
is no stone to show whereabouts he lies." This
recalled another provision of his will. " My body,"
he says, " is to have a decent funeral without much
show or expense, without any mourning or show
of mourning." The nameless, unknown grave is
wholly in the line and spirit of this testamentary
direction. It is to be added that it is also in
conformity with the ancient custom in those parts,
where, in various spots, — in a place unenclosed by
the roadside, in a grove among the roots of trees,
and in private grounds, — are to be seen many
graves marked only by unchiselled fragments of
stone. To the old house now identified, Noah Emery
brought home his first wife Elizabeth Chick, the
mother of Noah of Exeter. Of her we have unfor
tunately but the slightest knowledge. Neither
church record nor tradition helps us much. We
know the date of her marriage and the date of
her death ; and we may now say with much confi
dence that we know the place of her birth and
wooing. Driving along the road from the old
house towards the bridge across Sturgeon Creek,
we came to a house where still lives a descendant

of Exeter. 13
of the Chicks. In answer to our inquiries, she
pointed out a spot near by, where, on a slight
shoulder of land, stood the original dwelling house
of her ancestor. The spot is perhaps a quarter of
a mile from the bridge and a mile and a half from
the Emery house. Noah and Elizabeth were
neighbors, therefore, according to country dis
tances. They had doubtless attended the same
school and church, and perhaps enjoyed prepara
tory intimacies at husking frolics and sleigh rides.
We might go on with an imaginary history, but
with the meagre facts already given her posterity
must be content.
Noah and Elizabeth were married on the 2 2d
day of January, 1722, and of these parents and in
this house Noah Emery of Exeter was born just
at the time when his father was entering on his
legal career. The date of his birth was on Fore
fathers Day, December 22, 1725, 105 years after
the Landing of the Pilgrims. Of his childhood
and early years we know as little as we do of his
mother's history. Her death occurred when he
was fifteen years of age, and whatever moulding
of his character _ came from her was impressed
within that period. The minister of the Eliot
church at the time of his birth and for more than
forty years after was the Rev. John Rogers, a

14 Noah Emery
descendant of the Martyr. Both from such descent
and from the long continuance of his ministry, we
may fairly conclude that he was a minister whose
influence in the town would be sensibly felt, and
felt for good. Under this influence young Noah
grew up. Mr. Rogers was his pastor and religious
teacher. By him we may presume he was baptized,
by him also catechized ; and catechizing in those
days was a serious business and the neglect to
enforce it a punishable offence. It is of record
that on one occasion the selectmen of this very
town were presented by the grand jury for not
having the children of the town catechised. It
was almost Spartan regimen, but wholesome withal.
To maternal and clerical moulding is to be added
that of his father's unique example as a lawyer.
This was so potent that, as we shall see hereafter,
he himself became a member of the same learned
profession. In that little " writing room " there
was much educational force in this direction. Then,
there was the sterner training which comes of
growing up amid the rumors and realities of savage
warfare. More than once Kittery had been attacked
by the Indians, with accompanying bloodshed and
burnings. Such an attack had been made not
very long before his birth, and so continual was
the fear of savage surprises that all through

of Exeter. 15
the period of his youth and as late as 1744,
the people went armed to church and worshipped
leaning on their muskets. The effect of such
experience must be taken account of as strength
ening and stiffening the fibre of his nature.
There is not much more : he was but a country
youth leading a country life without adventure and
uneventful. But he was self-reliant, with a spirit
of enterprise and that irrepressible push which
has so often sent the New England boy away
from the paternal homestead to seek his fortune
in other parts. So, very early, — in what year
we do not know, but certainly while yet in his
minority, — we find him in Exeter. In 1746 he
is already settled there with wife and child ; ^ and

^John, the eldest, b. 1746, d. 1787, m. Margaret Gookin, b.
1745, d. 1788, dau. of Rev. Nath. Gookin. Children of John and
Margaret: Hannah Tracy, b. 1771, d. 1793, m. Benjamin Abbot,
LL. D., Principal of Phillips Exeter Academy ; and Captain
Robert Emery of the merchant service, b. 1773, d. 1841, m. (i)
Eunice Orne, only child of whom was Margaret Theresa, b. 1796,
d. 1865 ; (2) Sarah Barnard, dau. of Rev. Thomas Barnard of
Salem, Mass., (3) Mary Lyman, dau. of Samuel Lyman, Judge
of Probate for Hampshire Co., Mass. and Member of Congress
during Washington's administration, and Mary Pynchon of
Springfield. Children of Captain Robert and Mary were : Cap
tain Charles Emery of the merchant service, John Abbot (d. a
senior in H. U.) and Mary Lyman (m. Charles B. Pierce of
Dorchester^ Mass.) Captain Charles Emery m. Susan Hilton
Kelly, dau. of John Kelly, Judge of Probate for Rockingham

1 6 Noah Emery
as his wife was born there and by him found
there, it is reasonable to conclude that he himself
was there at least one or two years before that
date. His marriage was a remarkable one because
of the extreme youthfulness of the bride. From
a careful comparison of dates, including that upon
her tombstone and that of the birth of her oldest
child, it appears that the marriage took place
when she was only about twelve and a half years
old and he not far from twenty. Dr. Franklin
had not yet given to the world his wholesome
advice in favor of early marriages ; but evidently
this young couple needed no such sanction. It
has been said that the young lady, if we may call
her such, passed at once from mud pies to matri
mony. But it must also be said that with the
lapse of years she fully vindicated the step she
had taken. She became the mother of nine

County and member of the Governor's Council, and a descend
ant of Edward Hilton who, as Agent of Gorges and Mason, had
a principal hand in the settlement of New Hampshire in 1623,
being, inter alia, founder of the city of Dover ; and also of
Colonel Winthrop Hilton who, early in the last century, was
long the terror of the Indian foe, and at last, in 17 10, their victim,
" New Hampshire sustaining a heavy loss by his death," says
Belknap. The children of Captain Charles Emery and Susan
Hilton Kelly are descended from both John and Anthony Emery,
the Emigrant Brothers of 1635, ^"^ ^^'^ the first two Governors
of Massachusetts, John Winthrop and Thomas Dudley.

of Exeier. 17
children,^ and to-day a numerous posterity rise up
and call her blessed. The family tradition is that
she was endowed with both wit and beauty, and
a fine ivory in the possession of one of her
descendants^ justifies the latter part of the descrip-

' Elizabeth, the third child, m. Colonel Samuel Folsom else
where mentioned. Their children were, Nancy, b. 1781, d.
1837, m. Joseph Tilton, Esq., a lawyer of E. ; Elizabeth, b. 1785,
d. 1874, m. (i) her cousin. Captain Noah Emery of the merchant
service, (2) Rev. Isaac Hurd, D. D., b. 1785, d. 1856, pastor of
the 2d Cong'l Church in E. and Instructor in theology and
Preacher to the students in Phillips Exeter Academy; and
Joanna, b. 1787, d. 1873, m. Samuel Bingham Stevens (see note
2, below.) The only surviving child of Dr. Hurd and his wife
Elizabeth, Francis Parkman Hurd, M. D., b. 1820, d. 1884,
unmarried, by the bequest of $50,000 to Phillips Exeter Acad
emy became next after its Founder the most munificent bene
factor of that institution. Children of Samuel B. Stevens and
his wife Joanna were : Samuel Folsom, Elizabeth Emery (m.
Prof. W. A. Norton), Annie, and Solon Bingham.
^ Mrs. Elizabeth Emery Norton, wife of Professor William
Augustus Norton late of Yale College ; dau. of Joanna Folsom
and Samuel Bingham Stevens, a merchant of E. ; and gra. dau. of
Colonel Samuel Folsom of Revolutionary fame, whose guest Gen
eral Washington was while in E. during his tour through New
England. Samuel Bingham Stevens, b. 1783, d. 1826, was grand
son of Captain Phineas Stevens whose heroic and successful
defence of the frontier fort in Charlestown (Number Four), in
1747, with thirty men against several hundred French and
Indians, won for him the gift of an elegant sword and the thanks
of Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts. Another grandson of the
famous Indian fighter, Enos Stevens of Charlestown, was put in
nomination for Governor of New Hampshire by the old Whig
Party.

1 8 iNoah Emery
tion. Bright, dark blue eyes, a sweet feminine
mouth, a nose delicate without weakness, a round
full chin and a regular contour of countenance
present an assemblage of features which show
what must have been her youthful charms.
Withal, she was a woman of spirit and ruled
her household, including a negro slave, with a mis
tress hand. And this regal temper was her right
ful inheritance, for Mistress Emery was the great
great grand-daughter of that sturdy and masterful
puritan, Thomas Dudley,' the second Governor of

'Thomas Dudley, 2d Governor of Massachusetts, b. 1576, d.
1653, m. Dorothy  , b. about 1582, d. 1643; from whom
Rev. Samuel Dudley, their eldest child, 2d minister of E., settled
in 1650, and some years before minister of Portsmouth, b. 1606,
d. 1683, m. (3d) Elizabeth  living at E. in 1702; from
whom Stephen Dudley, Esqr., b. about 1651, d. 1734, m. Sarah Gil-
man, b. 1667, d. 17 13 ; from whom
Joanna Dudley, b. 1696, d. 1762, m. Nicholas Ferryman,
Esqr., of E., b. in Eng. 1692, d. 1751 ; from whom
Joanna Ferryman, b. 1732, d. 1815, m. Noah Emery, Esqr.,
of Exeter.
A personal inspection of Gov. Dudley's will in the Suffolk Pro
bate Office (filed 1653) enables me to authenticate
this his seal of arms. In the margin of the will is
cut a notch f of an inch square, and the piece, partly
separated, is folded back, sealed down and covered
with red wax upon which the seal was impressed.
The impression is not perfect, but is sufficiently so to show what
a perfect impression must be. The crescent (for difference), very
minute, is distinctly visible without a magnifier, and the lion

of Exeter. 19
Massachusetts. Her name was Joanna Ferryman,
and at her marriage she was the sole surviving
child of Joanna Dudley and Nicholas Ferryman,
Esquire, the lawyer of Exeter in those days.
rampant, single tailed, is complete except where lack of wax
makes it uncertain whether or not the head was langued. The
shield is raised above the plane of the seal within the border and
the charges of the shield are also in relief. There is no crest
nor motto. Of course the tinctures here given (or and vert)
cannot be gathered from this source ; but they were used by his
posterity and possibly by him. So far as I am aware, this is the
only authentic evidence of the arms belonging to Gov. Thomas
Dudley. Those given by Dean Dudley {Dudley Getiealogies) as
the arms of Gov. Thomas are now admitted by him (Letter to
the author Jan. 2, 1886) to be those of his son, Gov. Joseph
Dudley. The engraving gives the size of the seal.
This seal of arms, says Whitmore {Elements of Heraldry), was
" undeniably engraved in England." Whatever inheritance any
one may have in the arms of an ancestor, the descendants of
Joanna Ferryman may have in these.
The Pedigree of Gov. Thomas Dudley is given by Adlard, a
learned genealogist {Sutton-Dudleys of England), as follows :
John Sutton {alias Dudley) ist Baron Dudley who assumed the
name of Dudley, b. 1401, d. 1488; Edmund, his eldest son, d. in
the lifetime of his father; his eldest son, Edward, 2d Baron
Dudley, b. 1459, ^- ^SS^i ^^^ f°^ ^^'^ third son, Thomas, d. 1549.
The eldest son of this Thomas was John, d. 1545 in the lifetime
of his father ; the second son of John was Roger whose eldest
son was Gov. Thomas Dudley. This pedigree, although the
result of much research, is not, however, beyond dispute.
Collaterally: second son of ist Baron Dudley was Sir John
whose only grandson was John, Duke of Northumberland, b.
1502, beheaded r553, father of Ambrose, Earl of Warwick,
Robert, Earl of Leicester, Guilford, husband of Lady Jane
Grey, and Mary, mother of Sir Philip Sydney.

20 Noah Emery
Touching the negro slave a word or two needs
to be added in the way of explanation and abate
ment. For this we must once more recur to the
will of Noah of Kittery. Following his signature
to that instrument comes this postscriptum : "My
will is further, that from and after my decease,
my negro Fann shall serve with my son Noah
and his heirs, and that my said son Noah shall
pay to each of his brothers ;^50. old tenor equal
to Massachusetts old tenor,' as their shares in
her." We thus have the relief of being assured
that " Fann " came into the family by inheritance
and not by purchase. Nor was this a solitary case
of slaveholding. From a census of Exeter taken
at that period, we learn that in a population of
1 74 1 persons thirty-eight "negroes and slaves"
were enumerated.
With a wife so rare and competent Noah Emery
began his career in Exeter. As we have already
seen, he had been turned to the law by the
example of his father, and now the influence of
his father-in-law went in the same direction. He
accordingly became a lawyer and did what he
could in that way for the support of his grow-

' Bills of credit emitted before 1742 were denominated "old
tenor," those emitted after that date, " new tenor." See Potter's
Hist, of Manchester., p. 274, for fac similes of old tenor bills.

of Exeter. 21
ing family. Gov. Bell says, in his notice of the
lawyers of Rockingham County, that Noah was
in practice before 1769. It is probable, however,
that he was in practice long before that date.
He was then forty-four years of age, he had been
married twenty-four years, and from anything that
appears he had never had any other business or
profession. Moreover, according to Gov. Bell
he had studied his profession with Nicholas Fer
ryman ; but it appears of record that Ferryman
was dead in 1757.' It follows that the beginning
of Noah's professional life must certainly antedate
that year. The fair presumption is that he may
have been in practice as early as the middle year
of the century.
We learn little of his professional activities.
They were doubtless of a somewhat primitive
character. He had been educated in a busy office ;
Bell says that " his legal instructor appears pretty
frequently in suits after the year 1730," and that
" he did much of the conveyancing of the time."
Patient, plodding office work with quiet suits in
court was therefore likely to be his lot. Con-

' According to a genealogical chart which has been in the
family for many years the decease of Nicholas Ferryman
occurred August 9, 1751,

2 2 Noah Em,ery
veyancing was then an important part of practice.
Of this he too had more or less to do, and he
did not a little of it on his own account. His
father had devised to him and his brother Richard '
jointly all his landed estates in New Hampshire, and
these were quite extensive. By purchase from the
heirs of John Tufton Mason the old lawyer of Maine
had acquired what were known as " proprietors
rights " in the townships of Middleton, Tuftonbor-
ough, Dartmouth, Monadnock, Dunbarton, Bow,
and perhaps still other towns, two-thirds of which
fell to the share of Noah. Of these from time to
time he made conveyances which are of record,
and which are of value to us chiefly as furnish
ing facts and dates by which to follow the thread
of his life. Most of these deeds are transactions
of no special interest, but in the midst of them
occurs one which is so honorable to him and of
such public interest as to justify me in giving

' Richard, fourth son of Noah of Kittery ; in the second expedi
tion against Louisburg ; captain of the 6th company (90 men) in
Col. Meserve's regiment in the expedition against Crown Point
in 1757; at Fort William Henry in the same year, suffering
losses in that disaster; Major of Col. Goffe's regiment in the
expedition against Canada in 1760 ; and apparently in command
(temporarily, perhaps) of the New Hampshire regiment at Crown
Point in 1762, indicated by his ordering a regimental court mar
tial and approving its findings.

df Exeter. 23
the text of the instrument. It was in the year
1769 that Dr. Eleazer Wheelock founded Dart
mouth College, and it was in the same year that
Noah Emery was moved to execute a deed of
gift in furtherance of that great Charity. His
words conveying this gift, conveying also his
sentiments touching the college and the charity,
were these :
To all people to whom these presents shall come.
Greeting : Whereas it has pleased his Excellency
John Wentworth Esquire, Governor and Commander
in chief of the Province of New Hampshire with the
advice of his Majesty's Council for said Province for
the benefit and Instruction of the Indian youth
begun and for several years last past carried on by
Eleazer Wheelock Doctor in Divinity, as well as for
the liberal education of any others who will accept
the same, to erect and constitute a College in the
Western part of said Province by the name of
Dartmouth College, and by a Charter under the
Great Seal of s** Province to endow the same with
many noble Franchises and Privileges as well as to
make generous Donations towards a Fund for sup
porting the same — Therefore in consideration of the
extensive Charity of the Design and in Addition to
said Fund, I Noah Emery of Exeter in the Province
of New Hampshire Esq'', Have given and granted
and by these Presents Do absolutely give, grant,
convey and confirm to the Trustees of said Dart
mouth College and to their successors in that Trust
for the use and benefit of said college One whole
Right or Proprietor's share of Land throughout the

54 Noah Emery
township of Dartmouth in said Province be the same
more or less. . . . To have and to Hold the said
granted premises to them said Trustees and to their
successors in said Trust for the use benefit and
behoof of the said College forever.
The "township of Dartmouth," out of which
this gift was made, is now the town of Jeffer
son, known and frequented by all lovers of the
mountain scenery of New Hampshire.
Noah Emery continued to live the quiet life
now outlined until the age of fifty, when a wider
theatre opened before him on which he was to
play a not inconspicuous part. This was the theatre
of the Revolution, and the crisis found him pre
pared to enlist with all his soul in the cause of
his country. He was fortunately situated for such
service, since Exeter at once became the centre
of the revolutionary movement in New Hampshire
and the seat of the new government. The town
of Portsmouth, where was the Province House,
where was the residence of the royal governor
and where were concentrated all loyal influences,
was not a desirable place for the meeting of men
meditating rebellion. Accordingly, Exeter, then
the third town in the province for population and
wealth, was selected as the place for the assem
bling of the Provincial Congress. Its meetings

of Exeier. 25
were held in the ancient town house which then
stood conspicuously in the street with the road
way passing on each side. The site was at a
point opposite the old Folsom Tavern (still pre
served), which at a later day was made precious
and memorable by the entertainment of General
Washington within its walls. By the meetings of
the Congress the town house thus became the
state house ; and there the farmers of New Hamp
shire transacted treason against King George.
The President of the Fourth Provincial Con
gress was Mathew Thornton, one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence, and its Dep
uty Secretary was Noah Emery. In the Fifth
Congress, also, he held the same official position;
and when this last body was merged in the new
government which it organized, he became the
Clerk of its House of Assembly and so continued
through the greater part of the Revolutionary
Period. Of both Congresses he was a member
as well as the recording officer, and he was
active in both capacities. As a member of the
Fourth Congress he represented the town of
Exeter with four other delegates ; in the Fifth
Congress he had only one colleague. His name
first appears in the records under the date of
June 27, 1775, when he, as chairman, and four

26 Noah Emery
others were appointed a committee to draw up
a " Resolve for taking up deserters." It having
been decided to remove the province and county
records from Portsmouth to a place of greater
safety, on the 28th he and others were appointed
a committee to provide such a place in Exeter.
The day following it was further "voted that the
Inferior Court and Quarter Sessions offices, rec
ords, etc., be kept at the house of Noah Emery
Esquire." And on the 8th day of July it was
finally voted that Noah Emery and others " take
care and keep Respective records lately left in
their custody till further order." As no further
order appears of record, it is to be presumed that
the specific records committed to Noah Emery
remained with him at his house during the rest
of the Revolutionary Period.
Passing on to December 23d of the same year,
we find him under that date " added to " a very
important committee appointed to make a " Draft
of some Solemn obligation to be entered into by
the members of this Congress." That was what
the Continental Congress did when, on the 4th
of July, 1776, they pledged to each other their
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. And
here we find the Provincial Congress of New
Hampshire proposing for themselves the same sol-

of Exeter. 27
emn covenant more than six months before. This
serious step was immediately followed up by one
still more serious; for on the 27th, only four
days later, a committee was chosen " to draw up
a Plan for the Government of the Colony during
the Contest with Great Britain," and of this
Committee also was Noah Emery, in company
with Mathew Thornton and Meshech Weare. The
Committee appear to have speedily perfected their
Plan, for, on the 5th of January, in the ever
memorable year 1776, it was solemnly resolved
that the Congress assume the name, power, and
authority of a House of Representatives or Assem
bly of the Colony of New Hampshire. A Council
of Twelve was provided for, to be chosen by the
House, and a Secretary of the Colony to be
appointed by both branches. This Act of Inde
pendence antedates the Declaration of Independ
ence by exactly six months.
Old things having thus passed away and all
things becoming new, on the 9th of January
Noah Emery and two others were appointed a
Committee of the House to join a Committee
of the Council to revise the system of laws
previously in force and report alterations. A
week later, he was placed on a joint committee
to prepare and bring in a bill for establishing

28 Noah Emery
the fees or compensation of the several offices
in the Colony ; and on the 26th of the same
month he was appointed on still another com
mittee to administer the oaths of office and take
bonds of the officers, and also to care for the
safety of the deeds and the probate and state
records. After an adjournment the Assembly met again
in June. By this time the monetary question
had become urgent. The evil which we felt
during the late civil war — lack of small coins —
our fathers also felt during the Revolutionary war.
They also hit upon the same remedy. Accord
ingly, on the 17th of June, the Assembly voted
to emit a quantity of small bills in amounts from
three pence up to four shillings. These bills to
be of value were to be signed by some one of
a committee appointed for the purpose ; and of
this responsible committee Noah Emery was one.
Still another and different responsibility was laid
upon him, when, on the 17th of September fol
lowing, he was appointed to inspect all letters
going to or from one Col. Asa Porter, who
seems to have been a person of consequence,
and who had been apprehended and confined as
" an enemy to the Liberties of the state."
With the opening of the new year the exigency

of Exeter. 29
of the situation required the issue of more cur
rency and in larger amounts. So, on the 14th
day of January, 1777, an Act was passed pro
viding for the issue of ^5. and ;i^io. notes, and
for the signing of the same by the Treasurer
of the Colony and the countersigning of the
same by Noah Emery and John Smith. At a
later day it appears that they were to be coun
tersigned by Noah Emery alone. But by this
time he had ceased to be a member of the
Assembly. He had now become the permanent
recording officer of that body, and in the new
election his seat was filled by another. The
period of his service, though comparatively brief,
had been crowded with demands upon him for
the discharge of various and most important
functions. He had been made a custodian of
the public records, inspector over a prisoner of
state, one to draft a solemn league and cove
nant, a framer of the organic law of the new
state. It may be doubted if any other member
of the Assembly was, during that short period,
charged with more various and weighty duties.
And in it all we discern a tribute alike to his
integrity and his ability. There were doubtless
greater men in the Assembly than Noah Emery —

30 Noah Emery
men of greater experience in public affairs and
of greater reputation, such as Mathew Thornton
and Meshech Weare. But it may safely be said
there was no one more active and useful, and
more thoroughly trusted.
We have seen that he was the Deputy Sec
retary of the Fourth and Fifth Congresses and
the Clerk of the new Assembly. His first appoint
ment as Deputy Secretary was made on the 4th
of July 1775, and his second on the 21st of
December of the same year, on which day the
Fifth Congress first assembled. His appointment
as Clerk of the new Assembly was made on the
8th day of January 1776; and to this office he
was annually re-elected until the year 1780. The
earliest records of the new state government,
therefore, came from his hand. During the
Revolutionary Period they were kept at Exeter,
but now are carefully preserved in the office of
the Secretary of State at Concord. Among them
is the record of the Declaration of Independence,
and it was the great good fortune of Noah Emery
to have this piece of work to do. The Conti
nental Congress had ordered a copy of the Dec
laration to be sent to each of the United States
with the request that it should be entered among

of Exeier. 31
its records.^ The copy for New Hampshire,
attested by the signatures of John Hancock and
Charles Thompson, was officially received by Noah
Emery who signalized his sense of the moment
ous meaning of the Declaration and of his own
share in perpetuating its words by recording it
in a large, bold, legible hand, with red ink, sym
bol of the blood with which those words were
to be made good. Plainly for him and his the
day of that record was a red letter day.
Besides the offices already enumerated, he
seems to have held that of state printer as it
would now be styled. Under the date of Nov.
II, 1779, it was "voted that Noah Emery Esq.
receive out of the Treasury ;^iooo. to pay for
paper and printing the laws of the state."
Again, in September 1780, an order was made

' "In Congress January iS"", 1777. Ordered that an authen
ticated copy of the Declaration of Independence with the Names of
the Members of Congress subscribing the same be sent to each
of the United States, and that they be desired to have the same
put on record. By order of Congress, John Hancock, President.
Attest Cha" Thompson Se"^.
A true Copy, John Hancock, President.
Entered & Recorded pr N. Emery, Clk D R in New Hamp
shire." [N. H. State Papers, V. 8, p. 203.J

3 2 Noah Emery
for him to have f^io. to enable him to go on
printing the laws : and in October following he
is directed to distribute the law books in his
hands lately printed, and in November comes
an order for ^125. for the same business. He
may also have been charged with the duty of
printing the bills of credit as well as with that
of signing them, for on the 12th of July 1781
he, with the Treasurer, was ordered " to break
up or separate the Types and Flowers " with
which the bills had been printed. With this
order the name of Noah Emery disappears from
the public records.
In a year and six months more came the
Peace, and with it an end to the long strain
upon the spirits and resources of the people.
For Noah Emery there remained five years more
of life, but of its details we have little knowl
edge. In 1776 he had been appointed Clerk
of the Courts and this office he continued to
hold till the close of his life. Of his nine
children two had died^ and four others had
married before the year of the Peace, leaving

^Nicholas, the fourth child, born in 1753, died abroad; the
fifth named Richard, born in 1756, died in infancy and is not to
be confounded with Richard the eighth child, mentioned in the
text.

of Exeter. 33
only the two youngest and one other with him
at home. In the next year his youngest son
Richard took to himself a wife,^ and within two

'Liberty Hale, b. 1766, d. 1829, dau. of Eliphalet Hale, Esqr.
of E., b. r74i, d. ante 1804, and Dorothy Bartlett,* m. 1762 ; gra.
dau. of Dr. Eliphalet Hale of E., b. 1714, d. 1764, and Elizabeth
Jackson, b. 1714, d. 1756, m. 1736 ; gr. gra. dau. of Dr. George
Jackson of Salem, Mass., b. 1684, d. 1744, and Joanna Pepper
rell, b. 1692, d. 1725 ; and gr. gr. gra. dau. of Colonel William
Pepperrell, b. in Tavistock Parish, Devonshire, Eng. 1646, d.
1733, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and Margery Bray,
b. in Plymouth, Eng. 1659, d. 1741, parents of Sir William Pep
perrell. The only child of Richard Emery, b. 1762, d. post 1804,
and Liberty Hale, Catharine Hale Emery, b. 1785, d. 1864, m.
Boswell Stevens of Pembroke, b. 1782, d. 1836, Judge of Probate
for Merrimack County : children of whom were Charles Emery
(the writer of this Memoir), William, b. 1817, d. 1828; Eliza
beth Emery Hurd, b. 1818, d. 1850 (m. Rev. Seth Warriner
Banister, b. 1811, d. 1861), and Ivan of the Essex (Mass.) Bar,
b. 182 1, d. 1880.
This escutcheon, surmounted with the helmet of an esquire
(omitted here), is sculptured on the Tomb of
Judge Pepperrell at Kittery Point where it may
be seen to-day " as plain as when first cut " 148
years ago. How it came to be there appears
from the following passage in a letter written by
Sir William to his London correspondent under ^>@f^||^^
date of Dec. 6, 1737 : " I must ask another favor ^*4i4>^
of you to procure for me and send a handsome marble tomb
stone to put over my dece* Father's Tombe with proper marble
pillars or supporters to set it on. I would have his Coat of
arms Cutt on it which is three pine apples but you will find it in
y" Herald's Office, it being an Ancient Arms." Nine years after
* See note at the end.

34 Noah Emery
or three years after sailed away for the West
Indies as supercargo, was shipwrecked, rescued,
impressed into the British service and for many
years iniquitously detained from his native land
and from the knowledge of his friends. At last
a letter written by him in December 1804, on
board His Majesty's ship Triumph then lying in
Portsmouth Harbor, revealed his hapless situation.
Steps were forthwith taken to secure his release
but they were without avail. He was never
heard from again. After his departure there
remained with the patriarch only his two unmar
ried daughters both of whom lived far into the
present century. One of the two, Joanna, the
sixth child, was born in 1758 and died in 1837.
The other, Margaret, born in 1772, will be spoken
of presently.
(Nov. 15, 1746), Sir William was created a baronet and at the
same time had for a grant of arms from his sovereign the above
described coat with the augmentation of a canton charged with
a fleur de lis. There were, therefore, two distinct Pepperrell
Coats; Sir William's, date of 1746, and an "ancient coat"
recorded in the Herald's office, so ancient that Dr. Parsons says
{Life of Sir William) it existed before crests were used, i. e. before
the 14th century. This ancient escutcheon, — Argent, a chevron
gules between three pine cones vert (Burke, Extinct Baronet
cies), — belonged to Judge Pepperrell, according to his son Sir
W. ; and all his descendants, including those through Jane
Hale (see note, p. 5) and Liberty FIale, have inheritance
therein.

of Exeter. 35
Some years before the close of the War his
daughter Theresa' had become the wife of Dr.
Joseph Orne of Salem, one of the founders of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
whose life of brilliant promise was cut short by
an early death. This marriage and the removal
from Exeter consequent thereupon furnished an
unusual occasion for correspondence by letters
between father and daughter. Two of these let
ters written by the former afford a glimpse of
the living man and exhibit him to his posterity
in the most amiable light. They are written in
a clear, compact chirography and are composed
with epistolary grace and skill. Endearing epi
thets and expressions disclose the tenderness of
his heart, taking on a deeper tone when in the
second letter he condoles with his daughter upon
the untimely death of her young husband. Inter
mingled with these are pious expressions of res
ignation to the will of God such as well become
a christian man. That he was in truth such
must remain a matter of hope and trust.
The last of the letters contains intimations of
bodily infirmities and failing health. He lived

'Theresa, the seventh child, b. 1761 d. 1843 "^- Joseph Orne
M. D. b. 1749, d. 1786: their only child Theresa, b. 1782 d.
1869 m. Charles Norris of E.

36 Noah Emery
not quite two years longer and died on the 17th
of January 1788, in the sixty-third year of his
age. The Mansion-house where he had long
lived and where he died was familiarly spoken
of by his descendants as the Ark, in allusion
doubtless to his patriarchal name. After his
death it continued to be the residence of his
widow Joanna who survived him for twenty-seven
years. At her decease, his youngest daughter,
Margaret Emery,' became its mistress and so
remained until her death in 1862 at the age of
ninety. She was the last survivor of Noah's
children, and dying unmarried left no one behind

' Margaret Emery was a character in her day. She was a
woman to hold a drawing-room, like a queen. All personal
attributes conspired to distinguish her. A stately figure, a mas
sive face with large regular features, large coal black eyes, very
dark complexion and deep resonant voice entered into her per
sonality. Her manner was most gracious, on occasion. She
could at will command a winning smile or a forbidding frown.
She was not a person to take liberties with or to be careless
towards. Strong sense, culture, and a special aptitude for soci
ety helped to secure for her social pre-eminence. She established
intimacies with some of the most cultivated and best known fam
ilies in Boston and became a figure in their society. At a party
in that city Daniel Webster introduced her to Henry Clay as
" the most agreeable woman in New England." For many years
she kept a festal birthday when chosen friends assembled at her
table to do her honor. On her goth birthday she adjourned
disease for the customary festivity, then took to her bed and in
a week gave up the ghost.

of Exeter. 37
to care for the venerable structure and its ante
cedents. Presently it was removed to another
spot where it was shortly after consumed by fire.
The site on which it stood for more than a
century is marked by a stately elm, once within,
but now outside of the enclosure. In a sense
it is a historic spot ; for here in the Ark, as
in a place of safety, were kept the Records of
the Revolution for New Hampshire. Hard by
stands the ancient house of Colonel Oilman, the
Treasurer of the Revolutionary Period, where is
still shown the small room, with stout iron sock
ets for the window bars, in which were kept the
funds of the state, and where, it is altogether
probable, Noah Emery sat and signed the Bills
of Credit which were thus converted into current
money. The remains of Noah and Joanna rest side by
side in the old burial ground on Exeter Plains
where the simple headstones that mark their
graves may still be seen and read.

38 Noah Emery
NOTE
Referred to on Page 33.
I conjecture and think it highly probable that Dorothy Bartlett
was the grand-daughter of the Honorable Ephraim Dennet of
Portsmouth, a mandamus councillor during the administration
of Governor Belcher. There is in my possession a family manu
script of last century, with contemporary memoranda of births,
deaths and marriages, from which it appears that "March 17,
1757," Dr. Eliphalet Hale married for his second wife "Elizabeth
Bartlett who was Elizabeth Dennet daughter to Ephraim Dennet
Esq' & Catherine his Spouse of Portsmouth.'' From the same
manuscript it appears that Dr. Hale's son Eliphalet by his first
wife was, October 21, 1762, married to Dorothy Bartlett. It is
an obvious supposition that Dorothy Bartlett who married the
son was the daughter of the widow Bartlett who married the
father. The widow was not then thirty-six; her daughter (if
Dorothy were such) could hardly have been more than fifteen,
while Dr. Hale's son was only sixteen. The union of the
parents would bring the children together, with the natural
result of their own union five years later. This view is helped
by an ancient silver pitcher marked "E. D. H." also in my
possession. I cannot account for this heir-loom except on the
supposition that it belonged to Elizabeth Dennet Hale, that it
went from her to her daughter Dorothy, and from Dorothy to
her daughter Liberty Hale, and so on.
If I am right in my conjecture, then, curiously enough, Lib
erty Hale was descended from both the wives of Dr. Hale :
through her father Eliphalet from the ist Elizabeth, through her
mother Dorothy from the 2d Elizabeth; through the ist Eliza
beth from Judge Pepperrell of Kittery, Maine, through the 2d
Elizabeth from Councillor Dennet of Portsmouth, New Hamp
shire. A "mandamus councillor," such as Mr. Dennet, was one
appointed by a writ of mandamus issuing from the sovereign,
directed to the governor of the province and commanding him
"forthwith to swear and admit the said (E, D.) to be of Our

of Exeter. 39
Council in Our Province," etc. As the place was conferred by
the sovereign so it was held during the royal pleasure. " The
fees to be paid for a writ of mandamus were about 30 guineas ; "
the compensation of a councillor was eight shillings per diem.
Ephraim Dennet was sworn to be of the Council in 1732, and
he remained such till 1740. For many years previous he had
been a member of the House of Assembly. There is abundant
evidence in the records that he was active and influential in both
Houses. He lived, as already stated, in Portsmouth, where
" the large Dennet house sometimes called the Beehive," was
standing so late as 1859, it being then, says Brewster {Rambles,
etc.), more than 140 years old.
In somewhat less than three years after the death of Dr. Hale
in 1764, his widow, Elizabeth Dennet, was married for the third
time, and now to the Honorable John Phillips, LL. D., the
Founder of Phillips Exeter Academy. By his death she was a
third time made a widow, in which sanctity she remained until
her own decease in 1797 at the age of seventy-six.

PKESS OF
LtrCIUS PAULINUS aODDAKD,
MAIN & FBOKT STS.
¦WOEOESTBE.