© 2012 by Chris Benedetto, all rights reserved. The material on this website cannot be reproduced or quoted without written consent from the author. Endnotes indicating sources may be found at the bottom corresponding to numbers in the text.
As a parent, there is perhaps nothing worse than the feeling of sheer panic that creeps in when your child has suddenly disappeared from sight, into the wild or the arms of someone who may harm them. But this primal fear of every parent is by no means a modern one. Centuries ago, the rugged landscape of early New Hampshire was a treacherous place for children to wander, where some of them vanished, never be seen again. And even for those who were found, the tramautic experience of being alone in the wildnerness was one these New Hampshire children would never forget. Their stories remain haunting today.
In October 1756, Daniel Fowle and his slave Artimus began publishing the first newspaper in the colony, the New-Hampshire Gazette, a fascinating hodge-podge of international politics, maritime affairs, and local news and gossip. Just over a year later on December 9, 1757, perhaps the first printed notice of a missing child in New Hampshire's history appeared in their paper :
"We hear from Dover, that a Child about three weeks old having been Missing from its Parents for about five Weeks, was found dead last Sunday about a Mile and a half from Home: 'Tis almost incredible how it got thro' the bad Traveling, the Bushes, and over the rocks to the Place where it lay."
The identity of the parents and child of this tragedy remain unknown, but another New Hampshire family in Temple would suffer perhaps an even worse trauma a few years before the American Revolution.Thomas Maynard was born on December 18, 1764, to his parents Artemas and Miriam Maynard of Temple.(1) On the morning of August 7, 1769, young Thomas and his father went out to harvest some crops. After a while, the boy wanted to return home to see his mother and little sister, Lucy, who was eight months old. But when Artemas returned that evening from his labors, he learned from his wife that Thomas had never arrived! A neighbor said that she had seen the boy pass their home at about 11 AM, but by the next morning no trace of the child had been found. One can only imagine the stress and shock that Maynard family endured as each day passed with no news concerning the fate of their beloved son. On August 25, 1769, the following newspaper article appeard in the New Hampshire Gazette, discussing the mystery:
For several weeks, the residents of Temple scoured the surrounding forests and fields but all hope was lost for the child's survival. Then in October 1769, according to the town historian Amos Blood, men surveying some woods north of the town found remnants of clothing who were alleged to belong to young Thomas Maynard.(2) But no human remains were ever found. The boy's disappearance was so traumatic to the entire community that the local minister composed an elegy, a style of mourning poetry popular during the eighteenth century, which was recorded for posterity by the nineteenth-century historian of Temple. Below are a few of the most poignant stanzas:
Endnotes
1. Henry Amos Blood, The History of Temple, N.H. (1860), 260.
2. The History of Temple, 16-17.
3. Boston Newsletter, June 7, 1770.
4. John Foote Norton, The History of Fitzwilliam, N.H. from 1752 to 1887, 125-126.
As a parent, there is perhaps nothing worse than the feeling of sheer panic that creeps in when your child has suddenly disappeared from sight, into the wild or the arms of someone who may harm them. But this primal fear of every parent is by no means a modern one. Centuries ago, the rugged landscape of early New Hampshire was a treacherous place for children to wander, where some of them vanished, never be seen again. And even for those who were found, the tramautic experience of being alone in the wildnerness was one these New Hampshire children would never forget. Their stories remain haunting today.
In October 1756, Daniel Fowle and his slave Artimus began publishing the first newspaper in the colony, the New-Hampshire Gazette, a fascinating hodge-podge of international politics, maritime affairs, and local news and gossip. Just over a year later on December 9, 1757, perhaps the first printed notice of a missing child in New Hampshire's history appeared in their paper :
"We hear from Dover, that a Child about three weeks old having been Missing from its Parents for about five Weeks, was found dead last Sunday about a Mile and a half from Home: 'Tis almost incredible how it got thro' the bad Traveling, the Bushes, and over the rocks to the Place where it lay."
The identity of the parents and child of this tragedy remain unknown, but another New Hampshire family in Temple would suffer perhaps an even worse trauma a few years before the American Revolution.Thomas Maynard was born on December 18, 1764, to his parents Artemas and Miriam Maynard of Temple.(1) On the morning of August 7, 1769, young Thomas and his father went out to harvest some crops. After a while, the boy wanted to return home to see his mother and little sister, Lucy, who was eight months old. But when Artemas returned that evening from his labors, he learned from his wife that Thomas had never arrived! A neighbor said that she had seen the boy pass their home at about 11 AM, but by the next morning no trace of the child had been found. One can only imagine the stress and shock that Maynard family endured as each day passed with no news concerning the fate of their beloved son. On August 25, 1769, the following newspaper article appeard in the New Hampshire Gazette, discussing the mystery:
For several weeks, the residents of Temple scoured the surrounding forests and fields but all hope was lost for the child's survival. Then in October 1769, according to the town historian Amos Blood, men surveying some woods north of the town found remnants of clothing who were alleged to belong to young Thomas Maynard.(2) But no human remains were ever found. The boy's disappearance was so traumatic to the entire community that the local minister composed an elegy, a style of mourning poetry popular during the eighteenth century, which was recorded for posterity by the nineteenth-century historian of Temple. Below are a few of the most poignant stanzas:
"And now behold his parents dear,
and friends in many a bitter tear;
They sigh and grieve continually,
And for him weep most bitterly.
Now when he died, we cannot tell,
No mortal else, we know full well;
We s'pose that he did sigh and cry,
Till with great hunger he did die."
To read the whole work, click here: http://books.google.com/booksid=KCUwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA179&dq=casualties++nh&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TrufUbukMfOn4AOVz4GQBg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=maynard&f=false
The following year, there were a few missing children cases in New Hampshire that fortunately had happier endings. In May 1770, seven year old Thomas Wentworth of Middleton went missing, and after searching for seven days, the searchers gave up and assumed he had "been carried off and devoured by some wild beast!"(3) However on the fifteenth day of his disappearance, Thomas Wentworth was found eating wild berries in the woods and news of miraculous deliverance reached as far as Boston.
During the fall of 1770, the three year old daughter of John Mellen, Lucretia, also got lost in the woods near her home in Fitzwilliam. Her family and dozens of other townspeople searched the forest for hours with pine boughs as torches until they found her resting under an uprooted tree with her dog. While this story had a happier ending then the one in Temple, the historian of Fitzwilliam claimed that "this lost child carried the effects of this fright all through her life." She lived nearly a century, dying in 1861 at the age of ninety-five.(4)
In a future post, I will discuss the cases of children of the past who were not lost but forcibly abducted from the homes. It is not as modern a trend as you might think...
The following year, there were a few missing children cases in New Hampshire that fortunately had happier endings. In May 1770, seven year old Thomas Wentworth of Middleton went missing, and after searching for seven days, the searchers gave up and assumed he had "been carried off and devoured by some wild beast!"(3) However on the fifteenth day of his disappearance, Thomas Wentworth was found eating wild berries in the woods and news of miraculous deliverance reached as far as Boston.
During the fall of 1770, the three year old daughter of John Mellen, Lucretia, also got lost in the woods near her home in Fitzwilliam. Her family and dozens of other townspeople searched the forest for hours with pine boughs as torches until they found her resting under an uprooted tree with her dog. While this story had a happier ending then the one in Temple, the historian of Fitzwilliam claimed that "this lost child carried the effects of this fright all through her life." She lived nearly a century, dying in 1861 at the age of ninety-five.(4)
In a future post, I will discuss the cases of children of the past who were not lost but forcibly abducted from the homes. It is not as modern a trend as you might think...
Endnotes
1. Henry Amos Blood, The History of Temple, N.H. (1860), 260.
2. The History of Temple, 16-17.
3. Boston Newsletter, June 7, 1770.
4. John Foote Norton, The History of Fitzwilliam, N.H. from 1752 to 1887, 125-126.
