LETTER FROM REV. T. ALDEN ON EARTHQUAKES. Rev. A. Holmes, D. D. Meadville, 13 July, 1815. REV. AND DEAR SIR, HAVING been very careful to gain what information was in my power relative to the earthquakes which took place in Portsmouth and the parts adjacent while I was stationed in that town, and to make a minute rec. ord of the same, I gave an account of these to our late distinguished mutual friend Dr. Eliot. A former account which I sent him appears in the 9th vol. Hist. Coll. Were it not for that circumstance, I should now make another disposition of the enclosed, which has been copied from my private MS. If worthy of a place in one of your future vols. it will serve to continue a history of earthquakes, which, probably, no other person has thought it worth while so minutely to notice. How. ever, it is at your disposal. Portsmouth, N. H. 14 August, 1807. Rev. John Eliot, D. D. Cor. Sec. Mass. Hist. Soc. REV. AND DEAR SIR, I resume my pen in order to continue to the time of this date, from the 2d of March, 1804, the account,* then submitted to the Historical Society, of earthquakes in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and District of Maine. A small shock was noticed at Augusta on Kennebeck river, according to several Gazettes, at about nine in the evening, on Wednesday, the sixth of February, 1805. At sundry places in the counties of Essex and Middlesex, many people supposed that there was an earthquake, at about two in the afternoon of Saturday, the sixth of April following. A slight jar was perceived. It may, however, be remarked that there were several See 9th vol. 1st Ser. Hist, Coll. pp. 232-4. claps of thunder, about that time, one of which might possibly produce an effect, which was mistaken for that of an earthquake. On Thursday, the twenty-fifth of the same month, a little before sunset, there was undoubtedly an earthquake of considerable extent. It was observed in all the lower towns of this state, and for twenty miles in a northwesterly direction; but nothing of it was noticeable much beyond the heights of land in Deerfield and Northwood, as, from repeated enquiries, I have been able to ascer tain. It was heard and felt, principally, in the counties of Essex and Plymouth and in those, which intervene, in Massachusetts; as appears from intelligence received, soon after, at Andover, Salem, Cohasset, Marshfield, and Bridgewater. In the south parish of the last mentioned town, the tremour was so great as to stop the pendulum of a clock. The noise was, in some places, described as equal to that of the earthquake, which happened on the first of March, 1801. On Lord's day, the twelfth of May, a little before eleven in the forenoon, we had a shock, which was generally perceived in most of the towns at the northward of Boston, in Massachusetts; in New Hampshire, from the sea coast to the middle of the state; and in various parts of the District of Maine, as far as Warren. It is worthy of remark, that, on the following day, the remains of a man, who fell from a gondola, about six months before, and was drowned in the Pascataqua river above Boiling Rock, so called, were found not far from the place on the Newington shore. The idea of some was, that they were brought from the bottom by the agitation of the water, which the earthquake occasioned. Must there not, probably, have been a tremendous earthquake at the north, early in the same year, to have detached from the polar regions such an immense continent of ice, as was seen in the spring covering the ocean, even to the latitude of Boston? You recollect the disaster of the Jupiter, and the wonderful preservation of a part of her crew, as well as the several statements relative to the uncommon extent of ice in the Atlantic, at the time to which 1 allude. There was a slight shock in the county of Kennebeck, either on, or about the thirteenth of June, 1806, the week before the total solar eclipse. On Tuesday night, not far from eleven o'clock, the thirteenth of January, of the present year, an earthquake, sufficient, in many instances, to rouse people from their sleep, was noticed in the counties of Rockingham, Strafford, Essex, and York. The impression, which some at first had, was, that their cellar walls were falling in. There was a distinct tremulous motion, and the noise was equal to that of a coach passing slowly over frozen ground. On the hill in Dover, upon which is the burial yard, and near it, a crack, in some places six inches wide, and several rods in length, was said to have been discovered soon after this earthquake, and was supposed to have been occasioned by it. In a few towns, and particularly at North Hampton, two or three small earthquakes were heard, about the middle of the day previous to the last mentioned. A little after two o'clock, in the afternoon of the twenty-second of February, on the Sabbath, an earthquake was generally perceived throughout the District of Maine, the lower part of New Hampshire, and in some parts of the county of Essex. It appears to have been similar to the one we had on the first of March, 1801, as to its duration and effects. The sound came from the northward and was more noticeable in the interiour of Maine, than in this quarter. It The last earthquake, which occurred in these parts, was on Wednesday, at sunset, the sixth of May. continued for fifteen or twenty seconds and was attended with a gentle clattering on shelves of crockery ware. It was observed in this and several neighbouring towns, but more particularly in the vicinity of Saco river. These earthquakes were, no doubt, more extensive, than, with all my endeavours, I have been able to ascertain. With regard to most of them, the producing cause was probably in some region north of the Pascataqua. Your respectful humble servant, TIMOTHY ALDEN. P. S. It has been stated in our newspapers, that, on the fifteenth of last April, there were two earthquakes at Montreal. A number of panes of glass were cracked in one house and, what may afford speculation for the curious, it is said the "cracks run uniformly in a diagT. A. onal direction." BILL OF MORTALITY FOR AMHERST, N. H. FOR TEN Those whose ages are not mentioned were children, and would not materially affect the above result. Remarks. The most considerable part of the foregoing was prepared the last year and intended to accompany the sketch of Amherst,* published in the second volume of the second series of the Collections. Much care and attention have been bestowed to render the above tables correct and intelligible. It appears from the first that the number of deaths in June, October, and November, were considerably less than in any other months, consequently we may suppose these were more favourable to health. The whole number which have died during the ten years is 225, (not including 8 strangers who have died in town) of whom 121 were of adult age. Of this The writer would take this opportunity of correcting a few errours therein, occasioned by misinformation Page 247, line 50, after Bedford, insert six miles; thence running west on Bedford Same page, it is said "the limits of the town were evidently more extensive than represented by the charter," &c. It was not till several years after the charter was granted, that Amherst acquired an extension of its limits. The adjoining town of Monson was divided, and a considerable part annexed to this town. After this addition it was "nearly ten miles in length and seven in width." Page 250, line 26 and 35. The Rev. Mr. Wilkins was ordained September 23, 1741, O. S. and died 1783. His son graduated 1764. |