Chase Tavern History - Unity New Hampshire

HISTORY OF THE PROPERTY - The Tavern sits at the northern end of lot 75 in the second range of 100 acre lots (as originally granted by the proprietors of Unity in the 1760’s), looking out across the Town Common towards the site of the original town house (moved here from another location in town in 1829) and towards the old Baptist church (since 1877 the Town Hall). [Land inventory, Lotting, UPR passim, 1 UPR/SC 41-43] It is at the center of the town and faces the second rangeway, the principal east-west thoroughfare of the town, 100 yards from its intersection with the Second New Hampshire Turnpike.

The turnpike, chartered in 1799, was the principal focus of the town’s economic activity for the first half of the nineteenth century. [2NHT, 2NHT2]  During this period, until the Sullivan Railroad reached Claremont in 1849, it carried a large part of the traffic from this part of New Hampshire and from Vermont, headed towards Hillsborough, Nashua, and eventually Boston. [Baker, Waite 349]

There were branch turnpikes, from Lebanon, Cornish, and Charlestown, which joined the Second New Hampshire Turnpike in Lempster, bypassing Unity, and the Third, Cheshire, and Fourth turnpikes (from Walpole, Charlestown, and Lebanon, respectively) also provided alternative routes in the direction of Boston.  [Laws 1799-1805 passim] But there was enough traffic through Unity to support a number of stores and other commercial establishments, as well as Chase's Tavern. [Wood, Old turnpikes]

Asa Sheldon, in his memoir Yankee Drover,  specifically mentions passing through Unity in 1814 on his way from Massachusetts to Lake Champlain with a load of cannon shot for the U.S. Navy. [Sheldon]

The turnpike era, which coincided with the decades of prosperity resulting from the boom in sheep farming, saw the town reach a population of about 1300 between 1820 and 1840.  Not having any significant water power, Unity was unable to participate fully in the industrial economy of the late nineteenth century.  Its economy declined, and with it the population, reaching a low of 501 in 1930. [NH/OSP]

The northern end of lot 75 was owned from 1780 to 1848 by the Chase family, first by Abner Chase (1746-1838) and then by his son Francis Chase (1772-1850).  It had been purchased in 1780 by Abner from the son of the original grantee. [CCRD 6-111] Abner’s father, Francis Chase (senior), never moved to Unity but was a proprietor, and through his proprietorship and purchases became the owner of 100 acre lots 76, 106, and 107, all of which adjoin our lot 75, one to the west and two to the north. [UPR /SC 87-94]  With the purchase of these lots from his father in 1772 and the purchase of lot 75 in 1780, Abner had a virtual monopoly on land in what was to become Unity Center. [CCRD 6-109 & 6-111]  The turnpike had not yet been chartered, but it was probably obvious to a shrewd man that this land, lying on a potential route southwest from Claremont, might very well become valuable in the future.

Although the present tavern building appears not to have been built until about 1800, the “dwelling house of Abner Chase” figures prominently in town records from the second town meeting in 1774 onwards.  [UTR/SC town meetings 1774 et seq]  Almost every town meeting until about 1801, when a proper meeting house appears to have been built, was held at his house or in his barn.   The house referred to in the early years may have been at or near the present tavern or perhaps across the road on one of the other lots that Abner owned. Proprietors’ meetings began to be held in Unity in 1792 and were also almost always held at Abner’s house. [UPR/SC 1792 et seq]

Even after town meetings and proprietors’ meetings ceased to be held at the Chases’ house, the warrants for the meetings (as well as other legal notices) were almost invariably posted there.  It is identified as a tavern in one sheriff’s return and described as one of “the most public places in said Unity.”

 Although the first record of formally issued tavern  licenses dates from the early 1790’s, as early as 1783 Abner Chase is referred to as “innholder” in  documents and was usually so described in subsequent years.  He was first issued a tavern license in 1791 and these were reissued annually until 1797. [UTR/Tavern licenses]  In 1798 his son Francis received a license and licenses were reissued regularly to one or the other of them until at least 1837  (coincidentally the year in which the Second New Hampshire Turnpike surrendered its charter).   The tavern was clearly more than just a social center for the village and town.  Francis Chase (almost always referred to as “Esquire”) was postmaster for many years, in the 1820’s and 1830’s and as late as 1850, the year he died. He was selectman from about 1801 to 1809 and town clerk in 1800 and again in the late 1840’s. [Beals 39] He was a director of the Unity Scientific and Military Academy  from 1836 to 1842 and always listed first in the roster of officers, even though out of alphabetical order.   In 1837 thirty-one Academy students are listed as rooming at his residence (presumably not all at one time!)  [US&MA]

The militia muster field was located behind the tavern, down the road to Acworth, either on the 35 acre lot on which the Tavern sat or on the 85 acre south section of lot 75 sold to Daniel Huntoon in 1835. The tavern must have been a very busy place, especially when the Academy was in session or on muster days. [Highlights 32, SCRD 14-387]

Town records show that the Chase’s were definitely engaged in the tavern business for many years, architectural evidence establishes convincingly that the building was built as a tavern, and land ownership records tie the Chases to this lot of land from 1780 to 1848. In 1826 it passed from Abner to Francis and finally , in 1848, it was sold to John  Beard (whose name is attached to it on the 1860 Sullivan County Map).  [SCRD 6-475 & 44-245] In an 1844 deed it is said to be “known by the name of the Chase Tavern Stand” and in 1842 it is referred to as “one certain messuage containing about thirty-five acres of land with a tavern house and other buildings.”  [SCRD 38-175 & 39-146]  In 1838 it is described as “about 50 acres of land…with a dwelling house, barns, sawmill, etc. thereon…, it being the same place now occupied by the said [Francis] Chase as a tavern.” [UHS/HB Glidden vs. Chase]

There are several slight complications regarding the Chase’s ownership of this land, which the present researcher has not been able to resolve completely.  First is the fact that in 1822 Abner Chase and Francis Chase executed almost identical deeds in which they sold to Josiah Stevens of Claremont parts of  lots 106 and 107 (across the road from the tavern) as well as “a dwelling house in said Unity and the land on which it stands, which dwelling house is the same which now is and for many years past has been occupied by Francis Chase and his family including his father the said Abner Chase.”  [SCRD 89-423 & 89-425] The location and metes and bounds of this tract are not specified but it is hard to believe that it is not the Tavern.  There is no record of ownership having returned to the Chases, but in 1826 Abner must have thought he owned it, because he deeded it to his son.  [SCRD 6-475] Perhaps the pertinent  deed was one of those destroyed in the 1885 Sullivan County courthouse fire.   Or, conceivably, the Chases didn’t actually live at the Tavern but rather in a house across the street (on lot 106). 

The second confusion regarding the Chases’ ownership stems from deeds executed in 1832 and a lawsuit brought ten years later.  In 1832 the Chases sold their land to a mysterious Francis G. Chase (then “of Boston”), perhaps a young lawyer, who then leased it back to them in a life tenancy.  [SCRD 6-474 & 8-296]  In 1842 they successfully sued to regain ownership, alleging that they had been “kept out of the …premises” by Francis G. Chase.  The family relationship of Francis G. to Abner and Francis, if any, has not been determined. [UHS/HB Chase vs. Chase, SCRD 26-10]

The upper reaches of the Little Sugar River flow through the 35 acre lot and at the northwest corner there was a sawmill.  In the 1840’s Francis Chase first leased and then sold the one acre tract at the mill site.  [SCRD 29-387 &36-289]  The remains of the mill are still visible, but they are not on the present Tavern lot.

  Some time before 1835 Francis Chase sold a tiny piece of land (28’x44’) at the northeast corner of the lot.  [SCRD 12-480] A building was erected on this lot, used as a shoe shop or store.  The building was gone by about 1900 and the lot was reintegrated into the main lot early in the twentieth century. [SCRD 130-642]

  After Francis sold the property to John Beard in 1848 there is little indication that it continued as a tavern (and it may not have been one for about ten years), although Beard did receive a license in 1852 to sell spirituous liquors.  Beard was a selectman in 1852, but he sold the property in 1860 and was living in Kansas by 1879.  [SCRD 44-245 & 74-342, Wheeler 299, Beals 18]

From this time forward the property no longer maintained its importance as a focus of community life.  It was simply a large single-family dwelling and by the late 1920’s or early 1930’s had even been divided into separate apartments.

It went through a fairly rapid succession of owners, none of them apparently affluent enough to make any significant changes. [SCRD passim]  Charles and Marjorie Coe, who owned the property from 1960 to1964, took a real interest in the historic features of the property.  James Fusscas, owner from 1969 to 2001, made some fairly major changes and also undertook major repairs.  Unfortunately, the property sat vacant and unheated during most of the 32-year period and suffered some serious damage, especially in the basement.
 

Bibliography

    Connecticut River Watershed (CIW), 11-26-39, 6-46 (National Archives)

    U.S.A.A.C. 1942 (M46), 403-12 (National Archives)

    U.S.D.A. / A.S.C.S. / 10-13-1953 / DVA-11M-26

Aero Service Corporation, 5-7-63, 1320 20 450

U.S.D.A. / A.S.C.S. / 10-23-75 / 33019 774-141

Baker, George P. / The formation of the New England railroad system / Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1937

Baptist Church, Unity, NH / Book of Records [1829-1853, 1877] / Manuscript / In Unity Town Records / [Baptists/UTR

Baptist Church, Unity, NH / Records [1806-1872] / Manuscript / At NH Historical Society / [Baptists/NHHS]

Beals, Kathleen C. / Early families of Unity, NH / Albany, CA: the author, 1997

Benjamin, Asher / The country builder’s assistant / Greenfield, MA: Thomas Dickman, 1797

Benton, C. (and S. F. Barry) / A statistical view of the number of sheep in the several towns and counties in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,…. Cambridge, MA: Folsom, Wells and Thurston, 1837

Chase, John Carroll (and George Walter Chamberlain) / Seven generations of the descendants of Aquila and Thomas Chase. Derry, NH, 1928

Cheshire County Registry of Deeds, Keene [CCRD]  

Conroy, David W. / In public houses: Drink & the revolution of authority in colonial Massachusetts / Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 1995

Field, Edward / The colonial tavern…. / Providence, RI: Preston and Rounds, 1897

Garvin, Donna-Belle (and James L. Garvin) / On the road north of Boston: New Hampshire taverns and turnpikes 1700-1900 / Concord, NH: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1988

Garvin, James / A building history of northern New England / Hanover: University Press of New England, 2001

Highlights in history of Unity, N. H. / [Unity] The Historical Committee for the Bicentennial, 1964

Historical Records Survey, New Hampshire / Records / manuscript / In Special Collections, Dimond Library, University of New Hampshire / Especially Box 11, folders 394-395, Inventory of the records of the Proprietors of the Second Turnpike Road In New Hampshire [HRS / UNH]

Hurd, D. H. & Co. / Town and city atlas of the State of New Hampshire / Boston: D. H. Hurd & Co., 1892

Land inventory map, Town of Unity, 1980 / Scale 400 feet to one inch [Map 1980]

Laws of the State of New Hampshire [from 1679 to 1835] 10 volumes / Concord: 1910-1922

Lotting maps of the town of Unity / originals in the Unity Historical Society and copies in the Sullivan County Registry of Deeds and New Hampshire Historical Society

New Hampshire Office of State Planning / Population of New Hampshire counties, cities and towns, 1790-1960. Concord, 1965 [NH/OSP]

Old turnpikes prior to 1853. 11-28-89 / typescript

Rice, Kym S. / Early American taverns / Chicago: Regnery, 1983

Second New Hampshire Turnpike / The act of incorporation and bye laws of the Proprietors of the Second Turnpike Road / Amherst: 1804 [2NHT]

Second New Hampshire Turnpike / [Unity tollbooth records] Manuscript / In New Hampshire Historical Society [2NHT2]

Sheldon, Asa G. / Yankee drover / Hanover: University Press of New England, 1988 / originally published in 1862 as Life of Asa G. Sheldon

Sullivan County Registry of Deeds [SCRD]

U.S. Census returns for Unity, 1790-1880 [Census]

Unity Historical Society / Helen Bailey collection of legal documents [UHS / HB]

Unity Scientific and Military Academy / Catalogue of the officers and students…for the year ending…. / 1836-1838, 1840-1842 [USM&A]

Unity Proprietors’ Records / original records in the custody of the Town Clerk [UPR]

Unity Proprietors’ Records / state’s copy / manuscript transcriptions of early records, at New Hampshire State Library [UPR / SC]

Unity town records / original records in the custody of the Town Clerk  [UTR]

Unity town records / state’s copy / manuscript transcriptions of early records, at New Hampshire State Library [UTR / SC]

Waite, Otis F. R. / History of the town of Claremont / Manchester, 1895

Walling, Henry Francis / Topographical map of the County of Sullivan, New Hampshire. NY: Smith & Morley, 1860

Wheeler, Edmund / The history of Newport, New Hampshire / Concord, 1879

Wilson, Harold Fisher / The hill country of northern New England: Its social and economic history, 1790-1830 / N.Y.: Columbia University Press, 193

Wood, Frederic James / The turnpikes of New England….Boston: Marshall Jones & Co., 1919


Chase Tavern Data compiled by Jim Romer