Samuel Hayes (1694 - 1777)

Born 16 Mar 1694 in Dover, New Hampshire

Ancestors

Husband of Leah (Dam) Hayes — married 1720 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire

Descendants

Died 1777 at about age 82 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, United States

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Biography

Samuel Hayes was born 16 Mar. 1694/5 in Dover, N. H., according to an old town record; died about 1777, as indicated by Probate record, in a house since known as the “Dam” or “Drew” Garrison House, when it stood on its old site at Back River, Dover; buried probably in the Dame burying ground on the bank of Back River.

He was married (1) in 1720 to Leah Dam (Dame), b. 17 Feb. 1695/6, daughter of William and Martha (Nute) Dame, as recorded in an old Town Record: “Samuell Hayes and Leah Dame wear Joyned togeather in marridg the 7th of July 1720”; but Dr. Ham in his ms. of Dover Marriages gives the date 23 Nov. 1720, and Dr. Quint gives it 30 Nov. The name Dame was spelled Dam and Damme until the sixth generation, when the spelling Dame became general. Samuel Hayes married (2) widow Joanna Ceitchett as early as 1754. He was married (3) 31 Aug. 1769 to widow Abigail (Hodgdon) Thomas.

Samuel Hayes, “husbandman” and “yeoman,” lived at “Back River,” Dover, from 1720, to the time of his death about 1777, in the old Garrison House, since moved to the Woodman Institute in Dover for preservation. This home of Samuel and Leah Hayes one of the oldest houses in Dover and one of the most interesting in New Hampshire. It has survived the changes of more than two-hundred fifty years and sheltered some of the early settlers of Dover. The house was built of massive hewn logs more than twenty feet long and was not boarded on the outside. It was originally surrounded by a stockade for defense against Indians and there is a record in the New Hampshire State Papers of the services of soldiers assigned to guard “Will Dam’s garrison” in 1695 and 1696 (vol. xvii:648;655-656). Leah’s father “William Damme” died in the Garrison House in 1718 and is buried nearby. Soon after his death, Leah married Samuel Hayes, and here Samuel lived for nearly sixty years, and here both he and his wife died. Samuel’s granddaughter, Leah Nute, married Joseph Drew in 1771, and after a hundred years of being known as the “Damme Garrison” it became known for the next hundred and fifty years as the “Drew Garrison.” It remained in the hands of a descendant until it came into the possession of the Woodman Institute by the gift of Mrs. Ellen S. Rounds; in October 1915 it was taken from its original site and moved into the heart of the city of Dover, where it now stands, sheltered within an arcade, and connected with the Woodman Institute. Further particulars of the history of the Garrison House may be found in the “History of Dover” by John Scales and Old Time New England of October 1926.

As early as 1718/19 when Samuel was 24 years of age, he began to purchase land, perhaps in anticipation of his marriage to Leah Dame, which occurred the next year. His first recorded purchase was from Timothy and Paul Gerrish of 30 acres “nigh the new Saw mill Sett up on Bellermines Bank River’’ (Prov. Deeds, xi:443). This was located southwest of Barbados Pond on Bellamy River. He did not settle on this land, for when he married Leah Dame in July 1720, she brought with her a share in the Garrison House, and additional property which he exchanged for the place where they settled. At the time of the death of Leah’s father, the administrators had granted to her some 19 acres in the Back River region together with 5 acres, being part of "ye Spruce pasture,” as well as a part of the Dame Garrison and barn, indicated by the administrator’s plan of the interior shown in Probate Court Record, Original No. 437, in the Archives of the New Hampshire Historical Society at Concord.

According to the deeds, Samuel upon his marriage exchanged most of Leah’s land for the “eleavean acres of Land” which had been granted to Leah’s sister, Sarah (Dam) Twombly, wife of John, Jr., and the exchange included the Twombly part of the dwelling house (Prov. Deeds, xi:477; .xii:171).

Samuel secured more land by buying for £70 from Daniel Jacobs 20 acres in the Back River neighborhood where he already lived (xiii:249); from Daniel Field for £60, 30 acres that adjoined his own land (.XIX:356); 13 acres more from Field for £78 in 1735 in the same neighborhood (.xxii: M): and finally in 1737 he bought out the said Field by purchasing for £160 his home place with dwelling that was on the road that leads to Durham (xxiii;83).

The older of Samuel’s daughters, Martha, was married to Tristram Pinkham some time previous to 8 Dec. 1746, for on that day Samuel deeded to his daughter “Martha Pinkum,” 8 acres on the southerly side of the road that leads over Mast Bridge (32-496). This land apparently was not as welcome to the Pinkhams as money would have been, for they sold the land back to Samuel for £200 (32-498).

A lengthy Inventory of the estate of Samuel Hayes was submitted to the Probate Court 20 July 1777 by the appraisers, Joshua Wingate and Clement Meserve. The estate was appraised at about £1400 and included, besides real estate, such items as warming pan, tables, great wheel, clock-reel, lamps, rundlets, pewter, candle sticks, Bible, arithmetic, notes due from Joseph Chesley, Elijah Drew, Col. Stephen Evans, etc. (Strafford Probate Record, vol. i:249- 254). A warrant was issued to Joshua Wingate, John Gage, Clement Meserve, Andrew Torr and John Burnam Hanson to divide the real estate. In the division of the estate 8 Dec. 1778, 1/3 was given to the Widow Abigail. The other two thirds, given to his grandchildren, was divided equally into two shares, one share going to the children of Samuel’s daughter Mary Nute, of whom there were three, Samuel Nute, Leah Drew and Mary Tuttle; and the other going to the children of Samuel's daughter Martha Pinkham, of whom there were nine, Samuel, Tristum, Richard, and William Pinkham, and Martha Giles, Leah Nute, Mary Jones’ Elizabeth Grace, and Abigail Pinkham (Strafford County Probate, iv:221).

Sources

Source S33

Type: Book

Text: Burrage, Henry S. and Albert Roscoe Stubbs. The Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 3, published online by Google Books, 2006 (http://books.google.com/books?id=3X-4t4qKo-IC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false); original publisher: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., NY, 1909.

• John Hayes, of Dover, New Hampshire; a book of his family v.1. pg 45-47. Richmond, Katharine F. (Katharine Fall)

• Source: S-1565197645 Repository: #R-1682019832 Title: Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Page: Ancestry Family Tree Data: Text: http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=13559115&pid=501

• Repository: R-1682019832 Name: Ancestry.com