Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/408

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37°

��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

��the representatives and the people secretly condemned the selfish and mercenary acts of the royal governor. The impetuous leader was apprehended in his wild scheme, and being in arms against the government, he was tried for high treason and sentenced to death, and his estate confiscated to the crown of England. The younger Gove was pardoned on account of his youth. The bold and daring Edward was sent to England and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He re- mained incarcerated for three years, during which time, on account of frequent petitions to the king, his case had been reconsidered, and in 1686 he was granted a pardon and returned to his home, and his confiscated es- tate was restored to him. Meantime the obnoxious Cranfield, whose adminis- tration had been a constant source of irritation to the people of the province, who bore their grievances with ill- suppressed restraint, was forced to ask leave of absence, which, being granted, he privately embarked on board a ves- sel for Jamaica, whence he sailed for England and neglected to return.

In 1758, died at Hampton, Ebene- zer Gove, the second son of the lib- erty-loving Edward, who died in July, 1 69 1. The sons of Ebenezer were five, from one of whom came Jona- than, who married Hannah Worthen, and settled in Seabrook, where Elijah was born May 28, 1 75 1, who mar- ried Sarah Mills July 12, 1773. They settled in Weare, where, in .1787, was born John Mills Gove, who married Anna Montgomery, of Francestown, and settled in Whitefield in 1821.

��Of the descendants of this family, as they at present exist within the little world of our personal knowledge, the brief space of a magazine article will hardly admit mention ; but the lives of John, and Anna his wife, passed in Whitefield, were full of triumphant years, and are found recorded in town and church records, in fruitful fields and in the memories of the survivors of their own generation and those that imme- diately followed. Early identifying him- self with the interests of the town, he became in all respects one of its most prominent citizens. Financially he was among the first, and his purse and judgment were requested and given in aid of most of the enterprises of his day. Following the ownership of Asa King, he owned at one time the saw and grist mills at the village, and the old tavern-stand was his, beside several dwellings and many broad acres. He represented the town at gen- eral court for the years 1824 and 1826, and again in 1852 and 1853. He built the church of the Adventists, and furnished, we believe, one half the funds for its erection. Mr. Gove was an enterprising and thrifty farmer, and for many years to come will the sunny lands, just south of Whitefield village, be known as the " old Gove farm."

John M. Gove died at the age of 83, and was buried in the " sacred place of the family," just at the top of the village hill, to which quiet spot his wife Anna had gone five years be- fore, and their monument is all around them.

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