Person:Daniel Annis (2)

DANIEL ANNIS was born December 1, 1711 at Newbury, Massachusetts; died 1790 at Warner, New Hampshire; married August 1, 1732, Catherine Thomas at Newbury. Their marriage was performed by Reverend Jonathan Tufts. Daniel's wife was Catherine Thomas, but family tradition holds that her name was originally Keren Huppuck Thomas, and that her name was probably Anglicized. Their first two children died during a "throat distemper" epidemic (1735-1737), after which they removed to Bradford, Massachusetts. Daniel stayed at Bradford until 1745, at which time he sold his land and removed the east side of the Merrimack River at Rumford (now Concord), New Hampshire. On January 2, 1748, while residing at the fort on the Merrimack River at Concord, Daniel signed a petition that was addressed to Governor Benning Wentworth of Massachusetts requesting soldiers and arms for protection against depredation by hostile Indians. Daniel was perhaps the most adventuresome, and traveled, of Charles Annis' grandsons, and in 1757 he removed to Hopkinton, New Hampshire where he remained until 1762. While residing at Hopkinton, Daniel was appointed to a committee of five persons to make provisions for the ordination of Mr. Scales, the first minister of the town. With his daughter, Hannah, son-in-law Reuben Kimball {1738-1811}, and nephew, John Annis, Daniel than removed to, and helped found the village of Warner, New Hampshire. This area was of course very sparsely populated at that time, and Indian trails were the primary means of transportation to many of the early settlements. In November 1762, "an instrument certifying the actual settlement and occupation of township No. 5 under the privileges of the Mason grant" was signed by a large number of claimers, including Daniel and his younger brother John. According to the Kimball family genealogy entitled, David Kimball of Bradford, MA, and the History of Barnet, Vermont, Daniel Annis and his son-in-law, Reuben Kimball, were the first settlers at Warner, New Hampshire. Hannah and Reuben built a log home and primitive barn and moved into that home on June 30, 1762. Hannah, had the distinction of giving birth to the first white baby in Warner.

HEADS OF FAMILIES AT THE FIRST CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES TAKEN IN THE YEAR 1790 NEW HAMPSHIRE HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY. KERSARGE GORE

Name of head of family: Annis, Daniel Free white males of 16 years and upward, including heads of families: 2 Free white males under 16 years: 2 Free white females, including heads of families: 6

Excerpts from: "HISTORY OF WARNER", New Hampshire By: WALTER HARRIMAN page 66.

SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN A peculiar interest attaches to those who happen to have been the first settlers in any town or place. We naturally desire to know who they were, where they came from, and how they fared. We are also interested in ascertaining the exact spot on which they settled, and the exact time when the event occurred. The curiosity of the readers of this volume will be gratified in these respects, for the author has been unexpectedly successful in searching for facts in relation to these points. In the spring of 1762, the first settlements in Warner were made. Daniel Annis and Reuban Kimball, with their families, made these settlements. Kimball was the son-in-law of Annis, and they both came from Hopkinton. The Salisbury and Amesbury proprietors, not relinquishing their claim to the township, began to make renewed exertions to people it as soon as 1761. They gave assurances that if they should maintain authority in the premises they would accord most generous treatment to any and all who should become settlers in Number One. They were, indeed, hampered, and, one would think, utterly defeated in their enterprise, by the complications which have been referred to; -but they still persisted in claiming the township as rightfully theirs; and after a struggle of several years more, and the expenditure of large sums of money, they were victorious. As already stated, the first two families to settle in Warner were from Hopkinton , our nearest neighboring town on the south-east. The home of Daniel Annis was on the south-west slope of Putney 's Hill. He owned lot No. 5, on the west side of South Range, and lot No. 5 on the east side of the same range; and he lived on one of these lots. He also owned land on Sugar hill, and two intervale lots on the south side of Contoocook River. He had not been long a resident of Hopkinton,-not more than five or six years: indeed nobody had been there a great while. Charles Annis was born in Enniskillen, Great Britain, in 1638. He came to Essex county, Massachusetts, in 1666; and he is believed to be the common ancestor of all the Annises in New England. We soon find them in Newburyport, Amesbury, Bradford, and Haverhill. We find Daniel and John (brothers) in Bradford, Mass., as early as 1740. The proprietors and settlers of Penacook (Concord) belonged in Haverhill, Bradford, and that vicinity. About 1745, Daniel Annis disposed of his property in Bradford, and moved to Concord,New Hampshire. He settled the east side of the Merrimack, perhaps at or near the spot where the village of East Concord now stands. He was assigned, among others,in 1746, "to man the garrison near Captain Ebenezer Eastman's. "In 1748 he united, with others, in a petition to "His Excellency Benning Wentworth, Captain General and Governor of His Majesty's Province of New Hampshire," praying that a small number of soldiers might be placed in the garrison near Henry Lovejoy's grist-mill, "which he had erected at great expense, which was a good mill, and at a place the most advantageously to accommodate the three towns of Rumford now Concord, Contoocook now Boscawen, and Canterbury. "The petitioners set forth that "the ill consequences of abandoning the garrison the past year hath been severely felt by us. "Lovejoy's mill was at West Concord, on the stream which is the outlet of Penacook lake. Hopkinton, though granted by Massachusetts, in 1735, to citizens of Hopkinton in that province, soon found itself, as did Warner, outside the limits of that jurisdiction. A new charter had to be obtained, as in the case of Warner, and it had to come from the Massachusetts proprietors. When this took place, most of the old Hopkinton grantees retired. The few original members that remained called a meeting in 1750, at Concord, NH, to admit new proprietors, and to stimulate settlement. Daniel Annis, and several families of the Kimballs, enlisted in this enterprise, and became settlers in Hopkinton. Annis became also a proprietor (he being a man of considerable means), but he did not move to Hopkinton till about 1757. Reuban Kimball's home, or that of his father (Jeremiah), was on Putney's Hill. The first Kimball that is found in this country is Henry. He came over in the Elizabeth, from Ipswich, England, in 1634, and settled in Watertown, Mass. A nephew of his, by the name of Caleb, came to Ipswich, Mass., and was killed in King Philip,s war, at Bloody Brook, 1675. Richard, a brother of the latter, settled in Bradford, Mass. And raised a large family. Thomas, another brother, was an early settler at Bradford, and was killed by the Indians, May 3, 1676. At the same time his wife and five children were taken prisoners, and carried forty miles into the wilderness. On the 13th day of June following they were set at liberty, and allowed to go home. The Kimballs soon abound in Essex county, and in other parts of Massachusetts. At as early a day as 1746, a number of them are found in Concord, N.H. These came from Bradford and that vicinity. They are also among the early settlers of Hopkinton. Some of these came direct from Essex county, while others, like Daniel Annis, came first to Concord, thence to Hopkinton. They settled near Kimball Fort, which stood on the highest point of land on the Concord road, a mile below Hopkinton village. They settled, also, on and around Putney's Hill. Jeremiah Kimball came from Bradford, Massachusetts. He died in May, 1764, aged 56, and was buried at the Old Fort on Putney's Hill. He was the father of Reuban, who married Hannah, daughter of Daniel Annis, and settled in Warner in 1762. These two men, not being quite satisfied with their situation in Hopkinton, took a tramp up into township Number One. This they did in the early summer of 1761. It was but a short trip, and they came and returned the same day. They were pleased with the country, as well as with the liberal propositions which the proprietors of the township were making. They made a second journey, tarried longer, and selected their lots. During the summer and fall of this year they cleared a number of acres, sowed winter rye, and made preparations for building. Annis selected the ground where Paine Davis now resides. It was Lot 72 in the first survey, containing sixty acres. Kimball went up south-west, a third of a mile, and selected a forty-acre lot, which for many years constituted one half of the old Origen Dimond farm. It was Lot No. 26, of the first survey, but the lots were not surveyed and numbered till after these men had made their settlements. Annis had a large family,-not less than four sons and three daughters, now young men and young women. The sons were Daniel, Jr., Thomas, Moses, and Solomon, and the daughters were Hannah (Mrs.€Kimball), Rachel, and Ruth. In the spring of 1762, these families "came to stay". Mr. Annis, the first of May, had his house completed. It stood on the little plat of ground between the main road and the railroad, just above Paine Davis's shed. The front door of the house was within ten feet of the present wall. The humble barn of this pioneer stood on ground which the present large barn on that place covers, and the barnyard was where the shed now is. Across the road, on the side-hill, -perhaps five rods from the front of the house, -was a living spring, from which the family for years obtained their supply of water. But the spring became dry long years ago, and those who drew there from thirst no more. Here, after fifty years of vicissitude and toil, Daniel Annis pitched his tent for the remainder of his life. He pitched wisely.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 David Annis of Hopkinton and Bath, N.H. - website visited Jan-2007 at http:/www.angelfire.com/mi/annisall/David.html; It contains.
2. ↑ web-Ancestry.com.