220 RIDDELLS of bedforD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NO. 1.
"Rev. Mr. Houston's and Gawn Riddle's farms joined each other.
One Saturday they met and had some sharp and unneighborly talk to-
gether about their fences and cattle. Some townsmen were present and
heard their altercation. On the next day (Sabbath) Mr. Riddle was
punctually at meeting. Some of his neighbors, who had heard the con-
test on the day before, looked astonished, and said, 'Mr. Riddle, we
thought you would not be at meeting to-day, to hear your neighbor
Houston preach, after having such a quarrel with him.' Said Mr. Riddle,
'I'd have ye to know, if I did quarrel with my neighbor Houston yes-
terday, I did not quarrel with the gospel.'"-History of Bedford. He
died Dec. 29, 1779, and his head-stone stands in the cemetery at Bedford
Centre. The following is a fac-simile of his autograph:-
Gan Redell
SECOND GENERATION.
Lieut. John Riddle² (1), eldest son of Gawn¹ (1), was born in Bed-
ford, N. H., March 26, 1754; married Mary McAffee, and secondly,
Sarah Hartshorn, and had by them eleven children, of whom hereafter.
He built and resided in mill house, now (1884) occupied by Mr. Isaac C.
Cutler. In 1780 he was surveyor of highways; 1781, ensign; 1784, com-
mittee to do what shall be needful to be done on "Scataquog bridge";
1785, surveyor of highways and committee on county bridge; same
year, pew No. 4 in meeting-house sold to him for $36; 1786, tyth-
ingman, juryman, committee to build a pound, and "lieutenant." He
was a volunteer in the Revolution, and signed the "Association Test,"
which read as follows: "We the subscribers do hereby solemnly engage
and promise, that we will, to the utmost of our power, at the risk of our
lives and fortunes, with arms, oppose the hostile proceedings of the
British Fleets and Armies against the United American Colonies." Mr.
Riddle fulfilled his promise by entering the active service. He was a
millwright by trade, and built nearly all the mills that were in operation
in this section of the country at that time. He was a very industrious,
hard-working man. He died Nov. 18, 1812.
Gawn, visited the place where the early Riddells settled; we climbed "Riddle's
Hill," a beautiful elevation overlooking Bedford village, and there we could see the
farms given by Gawn to his sons; beautiful lands now under a high state of culti-
vation, stretching away over hills and through valleys nearly as far as the eye
could reach. We visited the cemetery where the Riddle fathers rest, and there saw
the elegant granite tomb, erected and owned by the family. Mr. Riddle pointed
out to me the lands owned by the ancestors of the family, and the homes of those
families who were intermarried with the early generations; we visited the old Rid-
dle mansion, where several generations of this family were born, and viewed many
relics and antique articles of furniture that had long been in the family. The por-
traits in oil of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Riddle were seen, and a curious cane brought
from Russia, with which Mr. Riddle walked in his latter years. This ancient
residence is situated upon an elevated and commanding position; is large and im-
posing, and embosomed in a beautiful grove of maples. A large green lawn sur-
rounds the house, guarded by a circular wall of stone. The farm connected with
this house is large and valuable, now owned and occupied by the three brothers,
Isaac N., John A., and Silas A. Riddle; all unmarried. (See view of the Riddle
mansion.)
