First Settlers of Binney Hill

- Rick Blanchette NIHS

First Settlers of Binney Hill

The story of Binney Hill began in 1760, when John and Elizabeth Walker, farmers from Lincoln Mass, settled on Lot 100 (see map) at the top of a hill in the Southwest corner of New Ipswich. They cut a “bridal road” (currently the dirt section of Binney Hill Road) from the nearest country road to their lot and began to clear their land and build a house. They had two children – Jesse and Anna. I will get back to Anna later.

Jesse served in the militias and Continental Army during the American Revolution, including at Fort Ticonderoga. Jesse served in 5 campaigns and earned the rank of Captain. He eventually settled on the west side of Barrett Mountain.

By 1770, the Walkers were joined on the farm by Oliver Wright, who lived in a second house on the farm. He also served at Ticonderoga during the revolution.

Oliver’s brother Simeon settled nearby on Lot 98. In 1778 he had a tragic accident. While chopping wood, his axe slipped and he badly cut his ankle. Simeon ran a few rods, then collapsed and died due to loss of blood.

By 1781, Oliver Wright had moved away. This is when John and Dinah Binney moved into the second house on the farm. Like the Walkers, they were farmers from the Lincoln Mass area. They were in their 50’s, and were accompanied by two teenage sons, John Jr and Thomas. John Sr. died three years after they arrived. Dinah died in 1791. They are buried in the New Ipswich Old Burial Ground.

A few years later (1793) John Binney Jr. and Anna Walker were married. They eventually inherited the farm. They had 9 children, two of whom died in infancy. In 1786 the Southwest School District (number 9) was formed with the school house established at the intersection of present-day Poor Farm Road and Binney Hill Road. The Binney children likely attended this school, walking up and down Binney Hill Road to attend.

Anna died in 1814 at age 47. Two years later, John Jr. married Lucretia Fox. At some point, John Jr. and Lucretia moved to New York state, where John Jr. died in 1844. None of the Binney children remained on the farm or in New Ipswich. By the late 1800’s this section of town was abandoned. All that remains are stone walls and a few cellar holes. The site of the Walker / Binney farm is now part of Northeast Wilderness Trust’s 550-acre Binney Hill Wilderness Preserve. A crumbled stone foundation and boundary walls are all that remain of the farm. The stone foundation can be seen on the north side of the dirt portion of Binney Hill Road, a few yards behind an opening in the stone wall which is approximately 200 feet east of the intersection with the Wapack Trail.

Anna Walker Binney was the only adult from this story to spend her entire life at the farm on Binney Hill. She is buried in the Smithville Cemetery on Binney Hill Road, with her two infant children, near the graves of her parents John and Elizabeth Walker and her brother Captain Jesse Walker. -Rick Blanchette

(Primary Sources: “The History of New Ipswich from its First Grant in 1736 to the Present Day” 1852 by Augustus Gould & Frederic Kidder; “The History of New Ipswich, New Hampshire 1735 -1914” by Charles Henry Chandler)

Online Sources:

Find a Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records

NH Stone Wall Mapper

Detail from “Map of New Ipswich, based upon the original plot of the town, by Augustus A. Gould, 1851” showing the Southwest corner of town. The Walker / Binney farm was on lot 100.

Grave of Anna Binney, Smithville Cemetery, Binney Hill Road, New Ipswich, NH.

Transcription

James Roger diary entry

March 3, 1909 (Tuesday)

Frost, slippery roads wind E to NE, cloudy.  David went for grain and took barrel of apples to Mr. Robbins, and fixed harness in afternoon.  I swept Church and little room.  Papers filled with account of the shooting of a French-Canadian at Temple the butler of General Miller by Rev. Mr. Eastman one of the posse who turned out to apprehend him yesterday afternoon.