BY JOHN SCALES OF DOVER, N. H.
Thomas Coffin Amory begins his biography of his grandfather, Gov. James Sullivan, as follows:
James, the fourth son of Master Sullivan, was born in Berwick, Me., 22d April, 1744. The cellar of the house occupied by his parents is easily distinguished by some portions of its walls still remaining in a field near Salmon Falls river, and within half a mile of Great Falls village. The barn which served to store away their harvests for the long winters of New England climate has only quite recently (1858) been destroyed by fire. Near by, but separated from the old dwelling by a public road, laid out in comparatively modern times across the farm, is the ancient cemetery, where Master Sullivan and Margery his wife, when their long protracted lives were over, were laid to their last repose amid the scenes of their humble labors and of the pleasures and various vicissitudes of more than half a century.
The above is incorrect in one particular: Gov. James Sullivan was not born in Berwick, Me.; he was born in Somersworth, N. H., then a parish in Dover. Mr. Amory made the mis-statement because he had not all the facts at hand in regard to the question. That particular part of Somersworth in which Master Sullivan lived is now in the town of Rollinsford, having been set off from Somersworth in 1849, and is now the village at Rollinsford Junction.
This village is one mile from Salmon Falls village and one mile from South Berwick village, at the lower fall where the fresh water meets the tide water; this is the ancient Quamphegan, and the point where the river changes its name to Newichawannick, which it holds till it gets to Dover Point, where it joins the Pascataqua, six miles from Quamphegan. The settlers on Dover Neck did not use the Indian name Newichawannick, but called it Fore River, and the river on the west side of the Neck they called Back River.
The Somersworth village in the days of Master Sullivan was much larger than the modern village of Rollinsford Junction; this is distant about four miles from the depot in the city of Somersworth. For more than a century it was the home of several of the leading men of New Hampshire. It was the home of Master Sullivan from 1723 to 1754. Here his children were born; here he did the most important part of his teaching; here he educated his sons to be governors, and leaders in the Revolution, and leaders after the American government was formed.
They were important factors in forming the state governments of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. At this village school of Master Sullivan the sons of many other men were taught in a way that fitted them to enter Harvard College, and fitted them to be leaders in the great struggle for independence. Here Master Sullivan not only kept school, but was also the scribe and counselor for his neighbors and fellow-citizens.
He was a fine penman, and wrote wills, deeds, mortgages, and such other legal documents as the needs of the parish demanded. Here he served in the local military company; here he swept the parish meeting-house and rang the bell for services on the Lord’s day; here he sat under the ministrations of Rev. James Pike, who was the faithful and able pastor of this parish for more than sixty years.
The farm which Mr. Amory speaks of in Berwick was purchased by Master Sullivan in August, 1753. He bought it of Mr. Samuel Lord, and there is no record that he bought any land anywhere before that date. It is on a beautiful elevation which overlooks the city of Somersworth, a mile away, across the Salmon Falls River. Much of the land is now cut up into streets and house lots in the fast-growing village of Berwick. A garden occupies the spot where Master Sullivan’s house stood; a street crosses the spot where he and his good wife were buried. Their remains were removed to the Sullivan cemetery in Durham, and now repose near the grave of their illustrious son, Gen. John Sullivan.
It is not known precisely when he moved his family to Berwick, but probably in 1754, and there they resided more than forty years. In Berwick he was a farmer, as well as a schoolmaster and scrivener for his townsmen. Tradition says that his wife was the better farmer of the two. He was so fond of his books that the weeds oftentimes got the better of his crops. His wife Margery cared nothing for books, and delighted in out-door work.